For some reason, I have certain books that appeal to me at different times of the year. Even if the book spans more than a calendar year in the lives of the characters, I will often think of it as a book for Fall or Winter or Spring.
Some books, like Wuthering Heights, I’ve read so many times that I’ve come to think of it exclusively in terms of a specific month: October. I try to read it every October (which doesn’t always happen, though I manage it often enough).
That said, I have some recommendations of Gothic books that just feel like Fall to me. A lot of these are classic works, mixed with a few more recent works. Regardless, I hope these give you that foggy, haunted Autumn feeling just like they do for me.
#1 – Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
I suppose we’ll kick it off with my October favorite: Wuthering Heights. When Mr. Earnshaw brings home an orphan gypsy boy, Heathcliff, he sets in motion a disastrous series of events. His son, Hindley, abhors the perceived usurper of their father’s affections. His daughter, Catherine, resents the boy and then later forms what will become an ill-fated friendship with and love for him. Wuthering Heights is a tale of obsession and revenge, full of the storms of family drama, madness and a love that even death can’t destroy.
#2 – The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
When a young governess accepts a post at a country house in England, she meets two orphaned children – the wards of their emotionally and physically detached uncle – whose secrecy points to a dark past. As the governess unravels the truth about what happened in the house and attempts to protect the children, she must battle ghosts who have claimed them for their own. This is a tale of psychological instability, the loss of innocence, and the extent to which children absorb the evil to which they are exposed. If you love books which hold all of their secrets in the shadows and which will leave you haunted by their veiled answers, this is the book for you!
#3 – The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
After eleven years of caring for her aged mother, Eleanor Vance receives an invitation to Hill House. There she joins a cast of four people who’ve been invited to participate in an investigation into the house’s paranormal activities. But the ghosts in the house bring out Eleanor’s demons, expose her mental instability and drive her into madness. This is an intensely psychological tale of desperation and the need for belonging and wholeness. Jackson does a spectacular job of using the house to parallel the increasing disorientation in Eleanor’s mind. It’s a thought-provoking journey into mental illness.
#4 – The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
This haunting tale tells the story of a young Londoner, Arthur Kipp’s past experience as a solicitor for the estate of Mrs. Alice Drablow. Set on the northeast coast of England, her secluded and mist-shrouded home bears a dark secret – one that regularly reappears in the form of a woman in black, a harbinger of suffering. This is a story of loss, the ghosts that haunt one after such a loss, and the ceaseless attempts a person will make to try to make sense of tragedy.
#5 – The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, written in 1820, tells the story of an astute but socially awkward schoolmaster, Ichabod Crane, who comes to the Dutch farming community of Sleepy Hollow. There he discovers a town of superstition in which the country wives gather to tell ghost stories, particularly one about a headless horseman, the ghost of a Hessian soldier, who haunts the area. Crane also discovers Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter of the leading farming family and sees in her a way to secure her father’s fortune, a goal that threatens the interests of Katrina’s beau, Brom. This is a classic story of greed and ghosts. Check out the original book by Irving or listen to/ watch the abridged reading by the Townsends live from Nutmeg Tavern.
#6 – Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
If you love stories about spooky carnivals and dark figures who offer gifts that come with terrible consequences, check out Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. This is something of a dark coming-of-age story in which two young boys, their families and the townspeople come face-to-face with a sinister character whose intentions pit the characters’ beliefs and fears against one another. The book examines the fear of aging and death, and the loss of innocence. A wonderfully creepy fall book.
#7 – ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
When a strange figure moves into an abandoned home in the town of Jerusalem’s Lot (“Salem’s Lot”), few people are willing to question and challenge that something evil has descended upon them. Hiding behind the comfort of their ignorance, this character – a centuries-old vampire – sets out to destroy the people of the town. As more and more of the townspeople are turned into vampires, it’s up to a young man to gather a small group of those willing to face the evil around them and attempt to destroy it before it destroys them. ‘Salem’s Lot is a classic vampire story set in a relatively contemporary [1970s] setting in America.
#8 – The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Set in Barcelona in the wake of the Spanish Civil War, a young boy, Daniel, awakens one day to discover that he has forgotten the face of his mother. To comfort the boy, his father, an antiquarian book dealer takes him to a secret library hidden in the city: The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. There he must choose a book that he will spend his life protecting and cherishing. He chooses a book that speaks to the boy’s soul to such an extent that he sets out to discover the story of its author, a man whose other works have mysteriously disappeared, gathered and burned by a scarred figure who would capture and destroy Daniel’s precious copy as well. This is a story replete with slow building drama, beautiful storytelling and a portrait of Barcelona and its people that won me over.
#9 – The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
When I first read the reviews for The Picture of Dorian Gray, numerous readers mentioned the dark weight of Dorian’s descent into depravity. I’m rarely affected by much, so I picked up the book to explore what made this such a dark book. Particularly since this is not a graphic book. Having read it, I completely agree with their assessment and yet, it’s hard to explain what gives this book such gravitas. I attribute it to the immersive character sketch that Wilde created. The character of Gray comes to life on the page. His indifference and boredom with life, in conjunction with his amoral belief system, leads him down a path of shadows that darkens with each step. A path that readers feel with all of their senses. To read about Gray’s journey is to experience his descent into depravity. It’s immensely thought-provoking, but not for the highly sensitive person.
#10 – Interview with The Vampire by Anne Rice
And last but not least, the first in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles: Interview with the Vampire. This is the story of Louis de Pointe du Lac, a former Louisiana plantation owner and current vampire, who longs to record his story. He tells the tale of the vampire Lestat who turned him and their love-hate relationship as vampire allies-enemies, along with their adoption of a young girl, Claudia, whose conversion leaves her trapped in the form of a child for all of eternity. In the book, Louis embarks on a mission to understand the origin of his new nature as a vampire and to reconcile himself to his identity as something that he believes to be beyond redemption. It’s a fascinatingly deep spiritual study alongside a captivating plot. The book demonstrates Rice’s deep understanding of the heart of the Gothic genre and her ability to make what was old – the vampire legend – new again.
Let me know if any of these are also your favorite Fall Gothic books and what about them appeals to you.
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