The Turn of the Screw has recently been called “the greatest ghost story ever written” (Barbara Everett, TLS, December 23 & 30, 2005). An unnamed governess, at Bly (a country house in Essex), is seemingly confronted by two former employees – the master’s valet (called Peter Quint) and the previous governess (a Miss Jessel) – who, she comes to believe, have returned from the dead to reclaim the two children (Miles and Flora), now put in her charge (along with that of the housekeeper, Mrs Grose). The story ends calamitously for the children, with, it would appear, the girl driven to something like madness, and the boy frightened to death. The governess’s career, nevertheless, seems …
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Citation: Cornwell, Neil. "The Turn of the Screw". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 January 2006 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7993, accessed 25 April 2024.]
