Two imposing literary figures are at the center of this captivating novel: Shirley Jackson, best known for her short story 'The Lottery,' and her husband, Stanley Edgar Hyman, a literary critic and professor at Bennington College. When a young graduate student and his pregnant wife - Fred and Rose Nemser - move into Shirley and Stanley's home in the fall of 1964, they are quickly cast under the magnetic spell of their brilliant hosts. While Fred becomes preoccupied with his teaching schedule, Rose forms an unlikely, turbulent friendship with the troubled and unpredictable Shirley. Fascinated by the Hyman's volatile marriage and inexplicable drawn to the darkly enigmatic author, Rose nevertheless senses something amiss - something to do with nightly unanswered phone calls and inscrutable accounts of a long-missing female student.