The most recommended Gothic fiction

Agnes maintains such a gentle strength throughout this novel that it’s hard not to fall in love with her.

She goes through the stresses and trials of being the governess to absolute chaos demons and maintains her morality throughout (where a lesser human would have crumbled). She is kind and honest, and through her interactions with others, Bronte is able to explore a number of different hard-hitting aspects of the human condition.

Be it the contrast between a priest who does more harm than good for the sake of his own vanity and a priest who heals through compassion and decency, or her exploration of the different ways jealousy presents itself in friendships. 

I found this story collection by Machado to be not only dark and sad, but wickedly funny. How often does our laughter turn to tears, or vice versa? These things are not mutually exclusive, and Machado lives within that uncomfortably liminal space with obvious relish.

I also appreciate it's unabashed feminism. So much of the horror genre is seen through a male lens that leaves me feeling cold and left out. In Machado's writing, I feel not only seen but celebrated, and I will happily live within her ferociously accepting stories of darkness as many times as she offers them.

This book was so much fun. It rolls in so many nuances from historic gothic reads while adding its own special takes in clever ways. It brought back fond memories of so many other writers and books for me as I was reading it. It is clearly influenced by many of the greats. But it also stands on its own two feet with rich and layered language and detail. The twist near the end is crafty and pulls it all together. Paulette Kennedy knows what she is doing!

Here is another period piece, set in the 1850s and inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Our Hideous Progeny is a Gothic, magical novel that begs to be brought (no pun intended) to life. It’s a rich, delicious adventure through time and across several countries while Mary, the name of the main character, tracks down the secrets of her great uncle, Victor Frankenstein, in an effort to build back some of the money lost by her husband, Henry, a gambler.

Like the series, Lessons in Chemistry (also an adaptation) and others, there is a feminist current running through the book, which modern audiences might appreciate, in the trials a woman had to overcome in a time when there were no “scientists”, only “men of science.” And, of course, a queer love story.

Author C.E. McGill has already ruminated on possible actors to play the key roles in an adaptation, including Sophie… show more.

In a Glass Darkly is a collection of unusual Gothic tales. The shorter stories provide the foreboding inevitability of the genre, with atmospheric hauntings and ghostly floating eyes. Fans of M. R. James or H. P Lovecraft will appreciate these.

In addition, the collection features two novella-length stories. Carmilla, an early and influential vampire story, and "The Room At The Dragon Volant", which is a romance horror. Carmilla inspired many of the elements Bram Stoker used in Dracula. Both these longer stories are atmospheric and wonderfully picturesque in their descriptions of the people and places.

Author Alix Nathan discovered an advertisement in a 1797 publication: A scientist offered a reward of 50 pounds a year for life to a man who would live alone in an underground bunker for seven years.

As a writer, I was intrigued: How would the author portray the man who would propose such an experiment, and who in the world would subject himself to it? Nathan’s scientist is himself a social misfit, and the man who comes forward for his experiment is a poor laborer.

Some say that writing spoils one for reading, and I constantly find myself trying to dissect how the writer works her magic. But I was so absorbed in The Warlow Experiment that I forgot to engage in this writerly analysis. It is a truly fascinating read.

This suspense story takes an already deadly dangerous setting – one of the world’s highest peaks – and sets a female journalist and climber to identify and survive a murderer.

The author writes so well from her personal experience, that I can feel every frozen breath and learn every step needed to stay alive. All this spectacular scenery, well-developed characters, and a mystery to solve too. 

The Gothic is a vast subject, ranging from medieval architecture and debates over the origins of English democracy to literature and cinema, music, and fashion. Groom does superbly to introduce all these highly diverse elements in an accessible and engaging manner, opening up a variety of avenues for those who wish to explore further. The relationship between what is now called ‘Gothic’ and the original Goths ranges from tenuous to almost non-existent, which explains the limited attention paid here to the Goths of history—indeed, I wrote my own book on the Goths in part to provide that historical framework, while drawing gratefully on Groom’s work for many of the themes which have shaped how Goths and the Gothic are understood today. 

Along with vivid characters, this book gives great house–a gorgeous and notorious Italian villa, which was the site of an infamous murder in the 1970s.

One friend, now hyper-successful, invites her old buddy to join her in the villa. The invitee becomes obsessed with solving the long-unsolved murder, and is increasingly sketched out by her old friend’s motives for asking her to come.

The story jumps back and forth from the swinging ‘70s to the present day, with tensions building in both past and present. The ending jump-scared me.

I’ve always loved a good Gothic novel, but Moreno-Garcia raised the bar with this book.

Part mystery, part romance, part haunted house story—this novel runs the gamut from eerie to enchanting. The menacing secrets of High Place, set against the backdrop of glamorous 1950s Mexico, drew me into an intriguing plot that was as captivating as it was frightening.