The three remaining Blackwoods have since grown accustomed to their isolation, leading a quiet, happy existence. The people of the village believe that Constance got away with murder, leading them to exclude the family. Constance, the only member of the family who didn't put sugar on her berries, was arrested and charged with murder, but ultimately the verdict proved her not guilty. Julian was also poisoned, but survived Merricat was not present at the time as she had been sent to bed without dinner as punishment. Six years prior to the story, Constance and Merricat's parents John and Ellen, their aunt Dorothy, and their younger brother Thomas died after being poisoned with arsenic, which was mixed into the family's sugar bowl and sprinkled onto blackberries at dinner. Uncle Julian, who uses a wheelchair, obsessively writes and re-writes notes for his memoirs, while Constance takes care of him. Constance has not left their home in six years, going no farther than her large garden. Mary Katherine 'Merricat' Blackwood lives with her elder sister Constance and their ailing Uncle Julian in a large house on extensive grounds, in isolation from the nearby village. Its first screen adaptation appeared in 2018, based on a screenplay by Mark Kruger and directed by Stacie Passon. It has been described as Jackson's masterpiece. The novel was first published in hardcover in North America by Viking Press, and has since been released in paperback and as an audiobook and e-book. Six years before the events of the novel, the Blackwood family experienced a tragedy that left the three survivors isolated from their small village.

The novel is written in the voice of eighteen-year-old Mary Katherine 'Merricat' Blackwood, who lives with her agoraphobic sister and ailing uncle on an estate.

It was Jackson's final work, and was published with a dedication to Pascal Covici, the publisher, three years before the author's death in 1965. We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a 1962 mystery novel by American author Shirley Jackson.

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