Readers Place

About the Book

A young governess is sent to a great country house to care for two orphaned children. To begin with Flora and Miles seem to be model pupils but gradually the governess starts to suspect that something is very wrong with them. As she sets out to uncover the corrupt secrets of the house she becomes more and more convinced that something evil is watching her.

Starting Points for Discussion

• How does the phrase “the turn of the screw”, meaning an unexpected unfolding of events, apply to the governess’s tale?

• The governess’s letter to her employer is very important to Mrs. Grose and so important to Miles that he steals it. Why is this letter so significant?

• Before his heart stops, Miles shouts out, “Peter Quint—you devil!” Who is being named as the devil?

• Is The Turn of the Screw a ghost story or a psychological tale?

• Do you believe the governess’s version of events actually happened? Or does she imagine it?  

• The Independent describes The Turn of the Screw as ‘the most hopelessly evil story that we have ever read in any literature’. Do you agree?

• How does James create an atmosphere of suspense and fear in the novel?

Other Books by Henry James

• 

  The Awkward Age

  The story of young Nanda Brookenham’s struggle to preserve her honesty in the…

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  The Bostonians

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  The Golden Bowl

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  The Portrait of a Lady

  Isabel Archer s main aim in life is to protect her independence. She is not …

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  The Turn of the Screw and …

  A young governess is sent to a great country house to care for two orphaned …

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• 

  The Wings Of The Dove

  In this extraordinary variation on the theme of the eternal triangle, Henry …

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  What Maisie Knew: and The …

  Caught in the crossfire of her parents acrimonious divorce, witness to their…

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Suggested Further Reading

• A Christmas Carol ~ Charles Dickens
• The Vintage Book of Ghosts ~ Jenny Uglow ed.
• Legend of Sleepy Hollow ~ Washington Irving
• The Canterville Ghost ~ Oscar Wilde
• Frankenstein ~ Mary Shelley – read our guide
• The Woman in Black ~ Susan Hill – read our guideThe Woman in White ~ Wilkie Collins – read our guideDr Jekyll and Mr Hyde ~ Robert Louis Stevenson – read our guideDracula ~ Bram Stoker – read our guide
• The Gormenhast Trilogy ~ Meryyn Peake