It is my earnest belief that two things will generally make a novel, if not necessarily better, at least more entertaining and/or interesting:
1. Queerness
2. A bog or a bog body (tell me that Sense and Sensibility and Bog Bodies wouldn’t totally slap, I dare you).
Because I love bogs so much that I even incorporated them into my penname (‘van Veen’ means ‘of [the] bog’ in Dutch), I am thrilled to share with you today a handful of novels that know the value of a good bog (body)!
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What even is a bog?
But first, allow me to explain what bogs are and why you should want to see more of them in fiction. Bogs are the most common type of wetland (the others being swamps, fens, and marshes) and are characterised by the acidity of their water and the accumulation of peat, which consists of partially decayed plant matter and is a great source of fuel.
In prehistoric times, people seem to have worshipped the bogs (or entities they believed to live there), as evidenced by the precious objects from that time period that have been found in bogs in Northern Europe. These objects include jewellery, swords, kettles, and sometimes even people, who were sacrificed through a threefold killing: stabbing, strangulation, and drowning.
Yet ritualistic murder is not the only way that people could end up becoming a bog body, i.e. a human cadaver found within the peat. The most recent bog bodies belong to soldiers from the Soviet Union who were killed during the Second World War; other bodies may be victims of highway robbery who were thrown into the bog to hide them. Others aren’t murder victims at all, but must have wandered into the bog, gotten stuck like Atreyu’s horse in The Neverending Story, and drowned. Finally, a number of archaeological sites such as the Windover site in Florida in the USA show that bogs could also be used as a general cemetery.
All of this is utterly fascinating, not in the least because—with the exception of those Soviet soldiers and perhaps the bodies interred through underwater burials in Florida—we will never know exactly why these people ended up in the bog in the first place. Add to that the fact that bogs are quite good at preserving corpses due to their high level of acidity, their low temperatures, and their lack of oxygen, and you can see how bogs and bog bodies are excellent material for a thriller, mystery novel, or scary story.
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Bog Gothic or Bogothic?
Although bogs are not as popular a setting for thrillers and horror novels as, say, a crumbling estate or a city crippled by corruption, there have definitely been some authors who have drawn inspiration from this type of wetland, myself included. We might call this subgenre ‘Bog Gothic’ if it were not for the fact that this term already exists: it was coined by Patrick McCabe to describe his gothic stories set in rural Ireland, the most famous of which is The Butcher Boy (1992). Having a bog is not required for a novel to be considered ‘Bog Gothic’, because ‘bog’ here refers to Ireland and Ireland’s dark past rather than the actual wetland. To avoid confusion and because people on social media love a good portmanteau, I suggest that we use bogothic (from bog and gothic, as coined by my wife) to refer to gothic books that incorporate bogs and bog bodies.
What follows now is a list of bogothic books provided with their score on the bog-o-meter (a highly-accurate, totally objective tool). Let’s see which ones really put the ‘bog’ into bogothic!
Jamaica Inn (1936) by Daphne du Maurier
Synopsis: Set in nineteenth-century Cornwall, Jamaica Inn focusses on Mary Yellan. Her mother’s dying request forces her to travel through the Cornish bogs to Jamaica Inn, a coaching inn that is run by Joss Merlyn and his wife, Mary’s aunt Patience. Mary is an upstanding citizen and would rather have nothing to do with the cruel, boorish Joss and whatever criminal activities he has going on at the inn, but she can’t abandon her aunt, either. Yet the longer she stays, the harder it is to extricate herself, not in the least because she starts to develop feelings for Joss’ younger brother.
Are there bogs? There are, and they are even relevant to the plot: Mary Yellan gets stuck in one early on, which allows the rakish love interest to rescue her and hammers it home to both her and the reader that escape from Jamaica Inn is not an option.
What about bog bodies? None that we learn of, although Mary did almost become one herself.
Bog-o-meter score: 5/10
Verdict: This is an amazing gothic romance and mystery in its own right, and a decent introduction to this subgenre. Great for those who prefer their bogothic to be heavy on the gothic but light on the bog!
My Darling Dreadful Thing (2024) by yours truly (a.k.a. Johanna van Veen)
Synopsis: It’s 1954, and the Netherlands is still reeling from all the horrors of the Second World War. Yet there is money to be made out of such horrors, if only you know how: Roos and her abusive mother host sham séances to swindle the bereaved. It’s not all a lie, though. Ever since she can remember, Roos has had a spirit companion she named Ruth. Ruth has been dead for over two millennia and looks awful on account of having been in a bog all this time, but she is undeniably the best thing in Roos’ life. That is, until one day, wealthy widow Agnes Knoop attends one of Roos’ séances.
Are there bogs? Yes; Agnes’ estate is surrounded by them.
What about bog bodies? Ruth is one of the main characters, and she’s a walking, talking bog body!
Bog-o-meter score: 10/10
Verdict: If Patrick McCabe was allowed to coin a term to describe his books specifically, then I think I am allowed to coin the term bogothic and hold up my own books as a shining example. Besides, what other gothic book has a walking, talking bog body? Exactly!
Ghost Wall (2018) by Sarah Moss
Synopsis: Together with her parents, teenager Silvie joins a group of students and a professor for an anthropology course that has them live as Iron Age Britons did. Silvie’s father is a domineering man who is utterly obsessed with prehistory, especially with sacrifices to the bog. As the group becomes ever more committed to living exactly as their ancestors did, what could be more fitting than a human sacrifice?
Are there bogs? Although not present throughout the majority of the book, there are fragments of a young prehistoric girl being brought to the bog to be sacrificed, so yes.
What about bog bodies? Yes; see above. Although she doesn’t take up much page-time, her presence is unsettling, haunting, and very effective.
Bog-o-meter score: 8/10
Verdict: A lovely novella and a good example of what bogothic is all about.
Version 1.0.0
“The Bog Girl” (2016) by Karen Russell
(can be read in The New Yorker and in her short story collection Orange World and Other Stories (2019))
Synopsis: During his parttime job as a turf-cutter, fifteen-year-old Cillian uncovers the body of a two-thousand-year-old bog girl. It is love at first sight, but what happens when the bog girl’s true nature doesn’t match Cillian’s projections and fantasies?
Are there bogs? Yes there are! They make up almost the entirety of the island on which Cillian lives and are where he earns his money. Russell has a wonderful way with words; her descriptions of the bog are evocative and accurate.
What about bog bodies? Not only is there a bog body in the title, she is also the focus of the story.
Bog-o-meter score: 10/10
Verdict: “The Bog Girl” is genuinely one of the best short stories I have ever read, and although some people may argue with me that it doesn’t truly belong on this list because it also fits the requirements for another subgenre, namely magical realism, people can pry this story out of my cold, dead, bog-tanned hands.
Blood on Her Tongue (2025), also by yours truly
Synopsis: 1887, the Netherlands. After a bog body is uncovered on her husband’s estate, Sarah Schatteleyn quickly falls ill. The doctor believes it’s a fever of the brain, but can that really explain the way the flesh seems to melt off her bones, her mad ravings, and, worst of all, her sudden hunger? Her twin sister Lucy doesn’t think so. Maybe, when they dragged the body out of the bog, something else was unearthed as well, something ancient, intelligent, and hungry…
Are there bogs? Although the main action takes place within Sarah’s home, the land surrounding that home is as boggy as they come.
What about bog bodies? Dozens of them, although, to be entirely fair, there is only one that really matters to the story. The rest are there to enhance the vibes.
Bog-o-meter score: 12/10
Verdict: I wrote this, so I am naturally not exactly impartial, but I think this one deserves bonus points for including that many bog bodies.
The Bog Wife (2024) by Kay Chronister
Synopsis: Centuries ago, the Haddesley family entered into a covenant with the bog: they will tend to the bog and inter their patriarchs there. In return, the bog will feed and shelter them, and provide them with a bog wife to produce the next generation of Haddesleys. Yet when their patriarch dies but no bog wife appears, the five remaining Haddesley siblings – oldest daughter Eda, unwilling patriarch Charlie, middle child Wenna who is the only one who managed to get away from the madness of it all, jealous second son Percy, and lonely youngest child Nora – all resort to unique, desperate measures to deal with this betrayal of their covenant.
Are there bogs? Yes! As far as the eye can see, in fact. This bog is a cranberry bog in West-Virginia, for which it gets bonus points; people don’t usually know there are bogs in the USA, too.
What about bog bodies? Several, and since all the Haddesley wives are produced by the bog, that means every Haddesley is part bog as well, so in a way, almost every single character in this book is a bog body.
Bog-o-meter score: 1000/10
Verdict: A cult that worships the bog, turns their patriarchs into bog bodies, and marries a wife dredged up from the bog? Take all my money! This is the poster child of bogothic for sure.
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