My Gothic Era Diary

I posted about My Gothic Era on Instagram today. I don’t like to leave things unsaid because of our limited word count, so this is the companion piece to that post with the full shopping guide. It’s a little bit sorted out for folks who need a place to start with Gothic or just need some new books to add to their already growing Gothic reading list. My new book (title and cover to be announced soon) will be an extensive and curated reading guide, so watch for that in the Fall of 2025.

Genuinely Scary Gothic Horror Books:
The Silent Companions
It Will Just Be Us
A Good House for Children

The Tropiest and Vibeyiest (these are not real words, I made them up to describe Gothic books with the most delicious tropes & vibes)
The Whistling
The Woman in the Mirror
Wakenhyrst
Wylding Hall
Strega
Foxash
Ghost Mother
DIAVOLA
The Bone Weaver’s Orchard

Classics (so many Gothic books build upon these foundational books)
The Yellow Wallpaper
Rebecca
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
The Haunting of Hill House
Dracula
Frankenstein
The Woman in Black
Jane Eyre
The Turn of the Screw
Wuthering Heights
The Fall of the House of Usher
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Raven & Other Poems

Historical & Feminist
Mexican Gothic
The Hacienda
This Cursed House
The Death of Jane Lawrence
The Ghost Woods
King Nyx
The Devil & Mrs Davenport
Vampires of El Norte
Sanctuary

Queer (Feminist)
Plain Bad Heroines
A Dowry of Blood
Madam
Where I End (scary and shocking too)
What Moves the Dead (Poe Retelling)
She is a Haunting
A Long Time Dead
Grey Dog
The Secret Skin

Murder Mysteries
The Wilding Sisters
The Daughters of Block Island
Little Eve (quite shocking too)
Salt & Broom
The Folly
Immortelle

Dark Fantasy
Starling House
Midnight Rooms

Cursed Families:
The Little Stranger
Small Angels
A House with Good Bones
Woodworm

Anthology:
When Things Get Dark

On My List to Read!
The Black Feathers
The Underhistory
Strange Beasts
The House of Footsteps
The Black Hunger
Beneath the Poet’s House
Fyneshade
Through the Midnight Door
Lucy Undying
My Darling Dreadful Thing
Parting the Veil
Curdle Creek

xx-Sadie