The best Gothic novels with dark and haunting family secrets

The shocking twists alone are enough to satisfy readers eager for turmoil and drama in an unsettling Gothic environment, but Marshall deftly creates a shadowy world with its own rules, with a sure hand.

As mist settles over the landscape as well as our protagonist’s memories, something rotten in this ancestral home calls to her through a labyrinth of architecture that is slightly off. The antagonistic distant family intimidates Helen as the house settles into her bones and dreams, steeling readers for a stunning final act that will keep their hearts pounding well after setting this book down.

This is one of the most thoroughly enjoyable books I’ve read in recent memory.

The groundbreaking Gothic novel that invented many of the conventions of Gothic literature today is still as breathtaking today as it was when it was first published.

From star-crossed lovers to crumbling castles to stumbling upon skeletons, this has everything you could ask for in a macabre tale. Montoni is a deliciously evil villain whom readers will love to hate, while Emily navigates a cold, unforgiving world bathed in shadows and conspiracies.

The varied environments give the story plenty of ground to cover, and plenty of horrors to wrest with, as circumstances grow ever more dire for our heroine. This is the inspiration for my book and remains my favorite book of all time.

Isolated locations are the cornerstone for building tension in a slow-burning mystery such as this.

With a strange family keeping secrets from our protagonist, to the quiet unease of something not quite right, the mounting dread of this Gothic tale takes readers on a journey both unique and unsettlingly familiar.

It crawls under your skin and remains, unbidden, like Noemi’s dreams of blood in a house that doesn’t want to let her go, just as the cousin she’s come to rescue seems destined to succumb under the rule of an oppressive family.

The resurgence of Gothic literature this new classic has inspired made it possible for my book to see the light of day.

Roiling fog and shadows cloak the evil at the heart of this tale of hidden pasts and restrained magic.

Strange occurrences and vague prophecies push our cast of characters together, even if they would rather not be, creating an unsettling dynamic between the forces at work in the small town of Four Paths.

Violet doesn’t seem to fit in, but as a descendant of one of the founding families, it’s her destiny to confront what awakens in the woods, as well as her ties to a mysterious and dark legacy. In my opinion, this book is a perfect marriage of a Gothic novel and YA.

Anne Rice is a master of atmosphere, and the Mayfair Witches may be her greatest creation, in a sweeping saga of dread-inducing nights and unparalleled depravity.

Hypnotic echoes of the distant past converge upon a modern New Orleans, bringing with it keys to long-lost mysteries, seduction, and death. As magic whirls through this world of witchcraft and creatures shambling from the shadowy crypts of Rice’s imagination, a storm brews, propelling readers toward an explosive climax of unbridled passion and evil that could devour Rowan whole.

As one of my first introductions to what a Gothic novel can do incredibly well, this will always have a special place in my heart.