Shirley Jackson, The Lottery and Other Stories, 1949

One of the darkest, most nightmarish stories of the twentieth century, Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” created a sensation when it was first published in 1948. This lucid tale of a sleepy town’s annual lottery―and the monstrous desires it awakens―endures as an essential classic of American fiction.

The Lottery and Other Stories unites “The Lottery” with twenty-four wonderfully strange and equally terrifying short stories from the legendary Shirley Jackson. Together they demonstrate Jackson’s remarkable range―from the hilarious to the horrible, the unsettling to the ominous―and showcase a true master at the height of her haunting powers. [Source]