Ah, summer. There’s just something about these months of sun-soaked, sun-dappled, sunscreened sunniness that makes me long for the dark and drizzly days of autumn. I live for the rare thunderstorms, rejoice in the occasional foggy morning, and generally spend my afternoons pretending I’m curled under a quilt and not hugging the nearest AC vent like a well-placed comma.
It’s little surprise that I save my darkest, eeriest reads for this season of heat and humidity, escaping into the tall grasses of ill-maintained estates, wandering through long corridors of questionably sentient shadows, and basking in the perilous angst of another gaslit heroine.
I was around ten years old when I first discovered the thrill of the gothic novel. I remember studying the cover of Elizabeth Von Armin’s Vera—a towering house ominously angled to best showcase the nightgown-clad main character—with rapt interest. I’d sneak-read pages of it while my mother was at work, devouring whole chapters with greedy glee. I riffled through her other paperbacks, delighted with each handsome but distant husband, every possibly dead first wife. Each story oozed atmosphere. The houses were both friend and foe. The heroines’ clothing was impractical but brilliantly perfect for a chase through moon-soaked forests and windswept peaks.
In short, readers, I was hooked.
Here are some of my favorite gothic novels, guaranteed to give you goosebumps no matter how high the temperatures might get.
Wylding Hall—Elizabeth Hand
If you found yourself wishing that Daisy Jones and the Six had a little bit more murder and a whole lot more weird, Wylding Hall is for you. This novella details a British folk band as they spend a summer at an old country estate, recording their most infamous—and final—album. I legitimately gasped aloud in the final chapter. Hand also has one of my favorite reads of the year coming out October 3—A Haunting on the Hill, the first book ever authorized by Shirley Jackson’s estate, bringing readers back into the world of Hill House.
The Silent Companions—Laura Purcell
This gothic tale has it all—a young and newly widowed bride trapped at her husband’s crumbling manor with only unfriendly servants to keep her company, until she discovers a collection of life-sized wooden figures who don’t stay as stationary as they should. . . .
Strands of Bronze and Gold—Jane Nickerson
It’s no secret that I adore fairy tales, and the most gothic one of them all is the story of Bluebeard and his hidden hoard of dead brides. Nickerson’s version of this classic unwinds in the backwater bayous of Mississippi. Wyndriven Abbey’s atmosphere drips from the pages, and the spirits that haunt the damned parish are every bit as eerie as the claustrophobia-inducing Spanish moss and kudzu.
The Only One Left—Riley Sager
A disgraced caregiver finds herself assigned to the enigmatic and infamous owner of Hope House. Decades ago, the Hope family was murdered, leaving oldest sister Lenora as the only survivor. Though many believe she orchestrated the massacre, she was never found guilty. After suffering a stroke, Lenora is unable to speak but finds a way to tell her story, word by unnerving word.
Malice House—Megan Shepherd
The daughter of a celebrated novelist must return to her childhood manor to deal with her late father’s estate. There, she uncovers a collection of terrifying fairy tales and a whole lot of dark secrets. An added bonus—Midnight Showing, the second novel in the Malice Compendium, comes out October 3, just in time for spooky season!
The Spite House—Johnny Compton
A spite house is a structure built for the sole purpose of irritation—usually squeezed onto a parcel of land too small, towering high enough to block views and serve as a constant reminder of the owner who commissioned it. Masson House—billed as the most haunted place in Texas—brings gruesome and unexpected twists to many gothic horror tropes and will linger with you long after the last page.
The Death of Jane Lawrence—Caitlin Starling
Going into this book, I thought I knew everything to expect—a young woman who marries an aloof man she knows little about, a house with a spotty history, and enough rainstorms to soak an entire countryside. I was delightfully mistaken! Starling turns every gothic trope on its head and weaves a tale of dark magic and science most terrible.
Within These Wicked Walls—Lauren Blackwood
This fresh take on Jane Eyre tells the tale of Andromeda, an almost-licensed debtera—Ethiopian exorcist—who has been called to the house of a wealthy young man in the hopes that she might cleanse the estate from the wicked spirits that haunt it. Even the house’s malevolence cannot dampen the attraction Andromeda feels for her new patron, giving readers a heated, aching romance to root for.
A Multitude of Dreams—Mara Rutherford
Rutherford pens a brilliant twist on Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death.” Three years ago, the kingdom of Goslind was struck by a ruthless and bloody plague, prompting the king and all his court to wall themselves within the castle as their ruler slowly goes mad. In an unexpected twist, Imogen, the youngest princess, is not who she says she is, and when rumors of the plague’s end begin to whisper through their boarded corridors, she must face terrors most unexpected and grim.
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