Top ten siblings' stories

Will Eaves was Arts Editor of the Times Literary Supplement from 1995 to 2011 before moving to the University of Warwick, where he is Associate Professor in the Writing Program. His new novel, This Is Paradise, is now out in the UK.

One of his top ten siblings' stories, as told to the Guardian:

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Constance and Merricat Blackwood are sisters and neighbourhood pariahs who live in the shadow of scandal: Constance was once arrested for poisoning the rest of the family. She has been acquitted, however, and seems to have settled down to a quiet life when a money-grabbing cousin knocks on the door. Merricat, whose fidelity to the idea of family unity no one is in a position to question, comes to her aid. Scary, mad and gleeful, Jackson's marvellous thriller is also a clever meditation on sibling protectiveness. And insanity.

Read about the other titles on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue