First published in the U.S. in the anthology collection The Two Magics in 1898, Henry James's classic ghost story The Turn of the Screw has been enthralling readers for over a century and shows no sign of losing popularity as new generations continue to discover this chilling masterpiece.

An unsettling new collection of Henry James's best short stories exploring ghosts and the uncanny 'There had been a moment when I believed I recognised, faint and far, the cry of a child; there had been another when I found myself just consciously starting as at the passage, before my door, of a light footstep' 'I see ghosts everywhere', wrote Henry James, who retained a fascination with the supernatural and sensational throughout his writing career. This new collection brings together eight of James's tales exploring the uncanny, including his infamous ghost story, 'The Turn of the Screw', a work saturated with evil, in which a fraught governess becomes convinced that malicious spirits are menacing the children in her care. The other masterly works here include 'The Jolly Corner', 'Owen Wingrave' and further tales of visitations, premonitions, madness, grief and family secrets, where the living are just as mysterious and unknowable as the dead. With an introduction and notes by Susie Boyt General Editor Philip Horne

A young woman starts working as a governess at the isolated estate of Bly outside London. There, she is greeted by the two orphaned children she is to take care of, an ambiguous housekeeper, and an icy, supernatural atmosphere. Soon, a couple of peculiar figures begin to appear unannounced, and a creeping horror tightens its grip on both the governess and the reader. The Turn of the Screw is one of the most classic ghost stories of all time, written by the master of the psychological novel, Henry James. Perhaps more than anyone from his time, James came to inspire our modern horror mythologies, from the image of innocence as evil to schizoid labyrinths a la Roman Polanski. HENRY JAMES [1843-1916] was born in New York but emigrated early to Europe. He is one of the most important names in Anglo-Saxon literature, renowned as a great stylist and as a link between the Victorian era and modernism. Among his most famous novels are The American [1877], Portrait of a Lady [1881], and especially The Turn of the Screw [1898].

In 1898, Henry James wrote a novella that would become one of the most famous and critically discussed ghost stories ever written, The Turn of the Screw. Three other examples of James’s tales of the supernatural, “The Altar of the Dead,” “The Beast in the Jungle,” and “The Jolly Corner,” are included in this edition. These texts reveal on both the thematic and narrative levels James’s deepest concerns as a writer. The texts in this edition are all drawn from the New York Edition of James’s works. The introduction traces the extensive critical debate around The Turn of the Screw, and situates the texts in contemporary discussions of the supernatural. Appendices include material on the tales’ reception, James’s writings on the supernatural, and the study of the supernatural in the nineteenth century.

One of the greatest ghost stories ever told, The Turn of the Screw is now a feature film from Universal Pictures premiering January 24th, produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Finn Wolfhard and Mackenzie Davis This unsettling collection brings together eight of Henry James's tales exploring ghosts and the uncanny, including his infamous ghost story, "The Turn of the Screw," a work saturated with evil. James's haunting masterpiece tells of a nameless young governess sent to a country house to take charge of two orphans, Miles and Flora. Unsettled by a dark foreboding of menace within the house, she soon comes to believe that something malevolent is stalking the children in her care. But is the threat to her young charges really a malign and ghostly presence or something else entirely? This collection also includes "The Jolly Corner," "Owen Wingrave," and further tales of visitations, premonitions, madness, grief, and family secrets, where the living are just as mysterious and unknowable as the dead. In these chilling stories, Henry James shows himself to be a master of haunting atmosphere and unbearable tension.

The Turn of the Screw is an 1898Horrornovella by Henry James that first appeared in serial format in Collier's Weekly magazine (January 27 - April 16, 1898). In October 1898 it appeared in The Two Magics, a book published by Macmillan in New York City and Heinemann in London. Classified as both gothic fiction and a ghost story, the novella focuses on a governess who, caring for two children at a remote estate, becomes convinced that the grounds are haunted.

Reproduction of the original: In the Cage by Henry James