In the tradition of local award-winning author Sadie Hartmann’s newest release, “Feral and Hysterical: Mother Horror’s Ultimate Reading Guide to Dark and Disturbing Fiction by Women,” Hartmann and SPL Reader Services librarian Genesee Rickel share two lists featuring chilling tales written by women.
As in the book, these lists are curated to work in conversation with each other. This style of “vibes readings” focuses on finding the tones, themes and tropes present through several books. Reading them back-to-back makes for an immersive, satisfying experience.
Haunting Gothic horror
Imagine picking up a book and sinking into the pages to find yourself immersed in the atmosphere of a crumbling ancestral estate perched on a windswept cliff above a moody sea. You wander its dark halls illuminated only by candlelight. Beyond it lies a forest of gnarled branches, where crows burst into the moonlit sky at the snap of a twig. Here, there are family secrets, locked doors and a pervasive sense of dread.
“My Darling Dreadful Thing” by Johanna van Veen. Roos Beckman, haunted by a faithful ghostly companion and destined to be a medium for the rest of her life, meets a widow named Agnes at a séance who promises to change her life. Rich with Gothic mood and aesthetics, readers can expect to find themselves floating through the halls of an isolated estate and bewitched by sapphic longing.
“A Good House for Children” by Kate Collins. A modern, feminist Gothic haunted-house story told in the style of dual narratives by two very different women. Orla is persuaded by her husband to buy an isolated, rural home to raise their children by the sea. The same house Lydia lived in 40 years earlier as a live-in caretaker, both women come to realize something is very wrong with The Reeve, as the locals call it.
“House of Hunger” by Alexis Henderson. A genre-blend of Gothic, fantasy and horror, Henderson immerses readers in a world where the ultrawealthy elite feast on the blood of those less fortunate. Marion Shaw is offered the opportunity of a lifetime to serve as a bloodmaid at the House of Hunger. Countess Lisavet is immediately taken by Marion and the two become entangled in an intense game where Marion could lose everything and Lisavet must protect her own secrets, resulting in a powerful story of magnetic sapphic romance, classism and vicious competition.
“The Hacienda” by Isabel Cañas. A woman takes her destiny into her own hands to improve her station in life and marries a man with wealth and status. Shortly after arriving at his estate, she realizes her new husband is a man with a past, and the hacienda is willing to reveal his secrets. Beatriz makes some important friends in her quest to uncover the truth. This 2022 novel from Seattle-based Cañas is a perfectly balanced Gothic tale of ghosts, romance and history.
Contemporary horror set in the Pacific Northwest
Nature and Northwest cities loom large in these stories, blending familiar touchstones of real neighborhoods and imagined places. Woods and water, in particular, are important, turning our everyday beauty into foreboding landscapes. From the Eastside to Seattle proper to small coastal towns, the settings in these books highlight fear in our backyard.
“Overgrowth” by Mira Grant. Stasia is an alien, and she tells everyone she meets, but no one believes her until it’s undeniable. This novel is full of dry humor and introspection, and is flecked with heart-pounding scenes of first contact and body horror. It’s a critique of humanity’s violence toward one another and the Earth, dwelling on several philosophical dilemmas. Readers looking for thought-provoking, character-driven alien invasion stories will be deeply satisfied.
“Odd Blood” by Azalea Crowley. An act of kindness toward a stranger lands Josephine a job as a caretaker for a vampire with dementia, living in a household of unique personalities. A standout element to not only this book, but the entire series, is the repartee between Josephine, affectionately called “Baby Bat,” and her love interest, Eadwulf. This demisexual slow-burn horror romance is bound to capture your heart.
“Listen to Your Sister” by Neena Viel. Intergenerational trauma is visited upon a local Seattle family, turning literally nightmarish in this debut. Siblings pull together to survive each other and themselves throughout a moving and dread-inducing plot that travels through the city, the woods and dreams. Pick this up if you enjoy social horror with supernatural flair and appreciate true-to-life Seattle-based worldbuilding.
“The Good House” by Tananarive Due. A small town in Southwest Washington, a haunted house, possession and familial magic: What more could you want? This atmospheric and menacing tale opens with a painful scene, and the scares keep growing from there. Angela is grieving her son while also battling to set the Toussaint family mansion to rights. Written with Due’s characteristic deep description and complex characters, readers will appreciate this cinematic and moving story.