Hill House stood abandoned, six miles off the road. Four people came to learn its secrets - Dr Montague, an occult scholar; Luke, a spendthrift heir; Theodora, escaping a love affair; and Eleanor, who is lonely and vulnerable - to the house.
'The Lottery' is considered a classic work of short fiction, remarkable for its combination of subtle suspense and pitch-perfect descriptions of both the chilling and the mundane.