This is the definitive collection of Shirley Jackson’s short stories, including ‘The Lottery’ - one of the most terrifying and iconic stories of the  twentieth century, and an influence on writers such as Neil Gaiman and Stephen King.In these stories an excellent host finds himself turned out of home by his own guests; a woman spends her wedding day frantically searching for her husband-to-be; and in Shirley Jackson’s best-known story, a small farming village comes together for a terrible annual ritual. The  creeping unease of lives squandered and the bloody glee of lives lost is chillingly captured in these tales of wasted potential and casual cruelty by a master of the short story.