Six Degrees of Separation: from The Lottery to Fallen Angel

Published on by Margaret

It’s time again for Six Degrees of Separation, a monthly link-up hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. Each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the other books on the list, only to the one next to it in the chain.

The chain this month begins with  a (frightening) short story, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson.

The Lottery is a short story written by Shirley Jackson, first published in the June 25, 1948, issue of The New Yorker, (the link takes you to the story.) The lottery is an annual rite, in which a member of a small farming village is selected by chance. This is a creepy story of casual cruelty, which I first read several years ago. The shocking consequence of being selected in the lottery is revealed only at the end.

Once again I found it difficult starting my chain, and after several attempts I finally settled on an obvious choice of another one of Shirley Jackson’s stories for the first link.

First link: The Haunting of Hill House. Dr. Montague, a doctor of philosophy with a keen interest in the supernatural and psychic manifestations had been looking for a ‘haunted’ house to investigate all his life. So, when he heard the stories about the strange goings on at Hill House he decided he would spend three months living there and see what happened, and he set about finding other people to stay there with him. The house is connected with a number of tragedies – scandal, madness and a suicide. But nothing is what it first appears to be and I felt as if I was sinking into the story in a most unpleasant way.

The Second link: is to another house, in The House by Simon Lelic. It is set in a creepy house, full of junk, with an overgrown garden and with hints of the supernatural. Jack and Syd move in and then Jack found something nasty in the attic. There’s been a murder and this is a story about despair, domestic violence, dark secrets and the effects of the past on the present.

The third link: Simon Lelic also wrote The Search Party in which 16-year-old Sadie Saunders goes missing and five of her friends set out into the woods to find her. At the same time the police’s investigation, led by Detective Robin Fleet and Detective Sergeant Nicola Collins, is underway. When the friends get lost in the woods they make an incoherent phone call to the emergency services. The caller doesn’t know their location other than it is ‘somewhere in the woods‘ near an abandoned building.

The fourth link: Cal Hooper is also searching for a teenager in The Searcher by Tana French. Cal and thirteen-year old Trey Reddy live in Ardnakelty, a remote Irish village. Cal has recently moved to the village, wanting to build a new life after his divorce. He is a loner and wants a quiet life in which nothing much happens. But he finds himself getting involved in the search for Brendan, Trey’s older brother who had gone missing from home.

The fifth link: The Wych Elm also by Tana French Toby Hennessy, the narrator, is twenty eight. He is brutally attacked by burglars in his flat, leaving him in a terrible state, physically and psychologically damaged. He seeks refuge at the family’s ancestral home, the Ivy House. But not long after his arrival, a skull is discovered, tucked neatly inside the old wych elm in the garden. As detectives begin to close in, Toby is forced to examine everything he thought he knew about his family, his past, and himself. This is a psychological thriller, a standalone book, about a family in crisis, as dark family secrets gradually came to light.

The sixth link: The Temple family in Chris Bookmyre’s Fallen Angel is another family in crisis. The family is spending the summer at its seaside villa in Portugal for a reunion after the death of the head of the family, Max Temple, who was a psychologist. The last time they were all there together was in 2002 when one of the children had disappeared from the villa, and was presumed drowned. None of the family members are very likeable and there’s plenty of tension as they don’t get on well with each other! It’s a novel about a family in crisis, about toxic relationships and about the psychology of conspiracy theories. 

From a short and scary story my chain links two novels about scary houses, or rather the occupants of scary houses, two books about searches, and two about families in crisis.

Next month (November 6, 2021), we’ll start with Sigrid Nunez’s What Are You Going Through.

30 thoughts on “Six Degrees of Separation: from The Lottery to Fallen Angel”

        1. This chain took me ages too and I was getting really fed up with it, so I wondered whether to stop as well. But I thought I’d try the next one and even though I haven’t read the starting book I’ve already done an outline chain very quickly. So, I’m carrying on. Hope it’ll work out that way for you too!

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  5. I reckon when it’s hard to get going just go with an obvious one because after that you will head off on your own path, as you have. I haven’t read any of these books, but I did enjoy your linking. I’m not into horror, but I wonder whether I should read a Jackson novel.

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    1. I’ve only read The Lottery, The Haunting of Hill House. and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which I preferred, so I’m not sure what to suggest you might read. They are creepy, and dark rather than full on physical horror, which I don’t like at all.

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      1. Another blogger mentioned I might like Shirley Jackson’s fictionalised memoir of her life with her children, Life Among the Savages, a collection of short stories edited into novel form. I haven’t read it but think it sounds interesting.

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  8. You made a really effective chain here, Margaret. I remember reading The Lottery many years ago for the first time, and being completely shocked. Even though I’ve read it more than once since then, I’m still impressed with the way that story unfolds. And it was nice to see some Tana French among your choices, too. I think she’s very talented, and I ought to get back to reading her.

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  9. The Haunting of Hill House is in my chain too, but at the end rather than the beginning. I didn’t struggle too much with this month’s chain but have no idea how I’ll get started with next month’s!

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  13. Plenty of us going down the dark and creepy path with our chains this month, Margaret. You have some scary titles here! And a number of yours feature houses in some form as do a number of mine. I’m glad you kept at it this month – a great chain 😊

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