Just an Ordinary Day cover

Just an Ordinary Day

by Shirley Jackson

Just an Ordinary Day began with the discovery of a cobweb-covered carton of files in a Vermont barn. In that box were lost, unpublished stories by the late Shirley Jackson, whose short story "The Lottery" has become a classic and whose novel The Haunting of Hill House has joined the works of Edgar Allan Poe as a perfect blend of art and terror. Edited by two of Shirley Jackson's children, these lost tales, along with other stories, form the first major collection of Jackson's work in thirty years. The fifty-four stories in this edition represent the great diversity of her work, from humor to shocking explorations of the human psyche.

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?