Welcome to Fall! I don’t know about you but I’m a Fall/ Winter kind of girl, so I’m extremely happy to welcome the quieter, cooler time of the year. This is the time of year when I have more time for writing and reading. Although let’s not kid ourselves…I find at least a moderate amount of time for both all year long. But there’s just something about Fall.
This week I pulled together some of the most recent (or upcoming) and promising Gothic novels to inspire your Fall/ Winter 2022/2023 reading list.
Nightshade: A Dark Paranormal Gothic Romance by Keri Lake
Nightshade is a Gothic romance story of a young woman who lives in a city haunted by those her father calls messengers – dark beings that hide in the recesses of the night. Farryn is consumed with ferreting out the truth and it isn’t long before her research takes her to a decaying cliffside cathedral where she encounters Jericho, one of the elusive, raven-winged beings that could be her undoing.
Reviewers mentioned that this one’s spicy (definitely an adult romance), so keep that in mind.
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
What Moves the Dead is a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher.
When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that his childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, he races to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania. What he finds there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves. Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all. (Amazon)
The Haunting of Las Lágrimas by W. M. Cleese
“A phantasmagoric mixture of M. R. James, The Shining and The Turn of the Screw set among the otherworldly Argentinian Pampas.” – EDWARD PARNELL, author of Ghostland
The Haunting of Las Lágrimas tells the story of Ursula Kelp, a young English gardener who comes to Argentina to restore the gardens at a long-abandoned estate. But as she faces terrible warnings from the locals and evidence of a haunting, she sets out to uncover the secrets of the estate. She discovers that a malevolent force is lurking in the trees, watching her, hellbent on possessing Las Lágrimas for itself.
Begars Abbey by V. L. Valentine
Begars Abbey is a historical, Gothic mystery that begins in Brooklyn in 1950. In the wake of her mother’s death and her own crumbling life, Sam Cooper uncovers old telegrams that point to a family and an inheritance in Yorkshire, England.
But when she arrives, she finds a decaying home, a wheelchair-bound grandmother who can no longer speak and a strangely unnerving housekeeper. However, she also discovers her mother’s teenage diaries and sets out to unlock the secrets of her family.
The Hollow Kind by Andy Davidson
If you love Southern Gothic Horror, give Andy Davidson’s The Hollow Kind a try. When Nellie Gardner, who’s desperate to escape an abusive marriage, receives word that she has inherited her grandfather’s estate, she takes her eleven-year-old son, Max, and flees to Georgia.
Max quickly sees what his mother does not [yet]: that something is wrong with Redfern Hill. There’s something ancient and hungry lurking in the soil. This is a story about the dark horrors that hide in the corners of family history.
Unnatural Creatures: A Novel of the Frankenstein Women by Kris Waldherr
Waldherr’s novel, Unnatural Creatures, tells the story of the three women closest to Victor Frankenstein: his mother, Caroline, his bride, Elizabeth, and the family servant, Justine.
“Worthy of comparison to Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea . . . Unnatural Creatures is a splendid achievement from a writer at the height of her powers.”-Historical Novels Review (Editors’ Choice)
”This book has it all. Unnatural Creatures is an atmospheric, reimagined classic about the lines we cross for loyalty and love.” – Foreword Reviews
The Dark Between the Trees by Fiona Barnett
In 1643, seventeen soldiers were ambushed in an isolated part of Northern England and fled into Moresby Wood – an unnatural realm of witchcraft and shadows, where the devil is said to go walking by moonlight. Only two were ever seen again and they returned with stories of something dark and hungry.
Today, Dr Alice Christopher, an historian, leads a group of five women into Moresby Wood to discover, once and for all, what happened to that unfortunate group of soldiers. Armed with modern technology, the group enters the wood ready for anything. Or so they think.
The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn by Amber A. Logan
“Cracked doesn’t always mean broken.
Grieving her mother’s death, Mari Lennox travels to Kyoto, Japan to take photographs of Yanagi Inn for a client. As she explores the inn and its grounds, her camera captures striking images, uncovering layers of mystery shrouding the old resort―including an overgrown, secret garden on a forbidden island. But then eerie weeping no one else in the inn seems to hear starts keeping her awake at night.
Despite the warnings of the staff, Mari searches the deep recesses of the old building to discover the source of the ghostly sound, only to realize that her own family’s history is tied to the inn, its mysterious, forlorn garden . . . and the secrets it holds.” (Amazon)
Never the Wind by Francesco Dimitri
Set in the same world as The Book of Hidden Things, Dimitri brings us a new tale with Never the Wind.
Thirteen-year-old Luca moves with his family to the Italian countryside, where his parents dream of converting an old farmhouse into an inn. There he meets Ada Guadalupi who takes him out to explore the surrounding fields and empty beaches.
But as Luca’s family struggles to survive, the two youths’ adventures bring them face-to-face with old family rivalries as they search to uncover the truth.
One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig
With One Dark Window, Gillig brings us a Gothic Fantasy tale of a maiden who must unleash the monster within in order to save her kingdom.
“She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.
But nothing comes for free, especially magic…as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction to a mysterious highwayman intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly, darkly, taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.” (Amazon)
These reading list posts take a bit of time to research and put together, but I have to admit that I loved gathering this one. All of these look to be very intriguing works. I’m looking forward to reading them myself. Let me know what you think of them!
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