Shirley is about the brilliant American Gothic author Shirley Jackson, whose mid-20th century work has influenced many of the creators we admire today. Shirley specifically dramatizes the period that Jackson wrote the novel Hangsaman, by introducing a young, recently married couple into her home. Jackson and her husband Stanley Hyman, a literary critic and university professor, provide the couple room and board as the young husband seeks university tenure.

In exchange, Rose, the young wife, acts as a daily helper to Jackson who is struggling to write her book or finish chores around the home, let alone come up with a galvanizing idea to write her next great piece of fiction.

The set up is straightforward but the execution is anything but.

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