Five Gothic Books for a Cold Winter's Evening.
Happy Halloween! Another year has passed and we have already reached the climax of spooky season!
As you must know by now, it’s one of my favourite times of the year. I love nothing better than dressing up in warm comfy home clothing after a long or even a very short day. Lighting candles for the atmosphere, especially when it’s already dark outside. Grabbing some of my fluffiest and coziest blankets, and cracking out a good book over a cup of hot tea, (usually green). I have already eaten my weight in sweet potato and pumpkin flavoured everything and I am not looking forward to when the clock strikes midnight and suddenly everything turns Christmas themed. If you, much like me, are obssessed with both Autumn and reading then perhaps you’ll love to read the list of my book’s I’ve devoured recently which are either gothic, slightly gothic and or erring on the side of the dark academia craze.
5. Catherine House by Elizabeth Thomas. This was a very strange book and I definitely have mixed feelings about it. The protagonist was thoroughly dislikable but the plot was a slow drip of suspense which had you wondering what on earth was going on. Published in 2020 , the book follows Ines as she is enrolled in a prestigious, highly selective yet highly private college. As someone who just needs somewhere to go the promise of fame, fortune, prestige and power for all it’s alumni is an after-thought to her. But as she delves deeper into the school’s secrets we are taken on a sinister journey of discovery. The book is a little sci-fi a little gothic and very dark academia. It made for compelling reading despite the somewhat bizzare storyline.
4. If we were villains by M.L. Rio. This book follows a young group of thespians at a liberal arts college in the U.S. specialising in the study and performance of Shakespearean plays. Their lives are turned upside down by the happenings during one semester at school and the main characters look up from their play scripts to find themselves right in the thick of a Shakespearean tragedy. This book definitely fills the void left behind for those who loved A Secret History by Donna Tart, a book which firmly established the genre of Dark Academia in pop literature.
3. Black Chalk by Christopher J Yates. Yet another book set within academia but this time set in the U.K, this book follows a group of first year students at the University of Oxford who get together to invent a highly competitive game with disastrous consequences for all involved. Mentions of secret societies with sinister agendas, a plot with so many twists and turns, this book is utterly gripping and I throroughly enjoyed being pulled along for the ride.
2. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. This book was so entertaining I’d happily read it again just to see if there were any major clues that I missed. The book is set in 1950s Mexico and follows the protagonist Noemi, a beautiful young socialite called to check in on her cousin after she receives a troubling letter from her in regards to her life with her new husband. This book was so well-written, so suspenseful that I found myself desperate to figure out what was going on and what was to become of her poor cousin Catarina. Furthermore, gothic books with bold and complex female protagonists are hard to come by (Although this list features two). This book is high on the list because the tale is so unique, and keeps you guessing right until the very end.
1. Dracula by Bram Stoker. I am sorry but is this list even complete with the GOAT!! (greatest of all time) gothic novel. I have read this book over and over again and each time I am blown away by the story telling. I even find myself being envious of the Victorian set who had the honour of reading this book without knowing essentially the entire premise and plot as we readers all do now. I imagine readers then having a cultural reset. This novel is now part of history informing every idea we in the West have ever had about Vampires and the supernatural. It truly is still a pop culture phenomenon and still feels like a perfectly modern read even today over 124 years after it’s publication date. I do not need to tell you what it’s about but if you, like many have seen the remake films, heard of vampires and Count Dracula but have never picked up the book itself, I strongly urge you to do so.
photo credit: @kerber
