The Turn of the Screw

A young governess takes charge of two orphaned children at a remote country estate called Bly. She begins seeing the ghosts of two former servants — Peter Quint and Miss Jessel — and becomes convinced they are attempting to corrupt the children. The housekeeper Mrs. Grose sees nothing. The governess's obsession escalates: she confronts Flora, who denies everything and falls ill; she corners Miles, demanding he confess to Quint's influence. Miles cries out 'Peter Quint — you devil!' and dies in the governess's arms. Whether the ghosts are real or the governess is delusional remains the most debated question in literary criticism.

The novella opens with a frame narrative: a group gathered around a fire on Christmas Eve listens as Douglas reads aloud a manuscript written by a young woman, now dead. She was a clergyman's daughter, twenty years old, who accepted a position as governess to two orphaned children at Bly, a country ...