Not since the Twilight craze of the early 2000s have we witnessed such a widespread fascination with all things supernatural and twisted.
Meyer’s bloody teen vampire romance captured the hearts and imaginations of all ages across the globe. Vampire fiction was no new feat, but the desire for a deeply brooding, undying/undead love affair in a contemporary world was deemed fascinating enough to yield both global acclaim and critical disdain.
The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long – and the vamp-ification of the early 2000s and 2010s quickly dissipated. Horrifying mysteries and spine-tingling romances featuring creatures of the night have nevertheless undergone undulating waves of popularity throughout history. From Henry James and Bram Stoker to Edgar Allen Poe, there’s yet to be an era more obsessed with the ghostly and macabre than the Victorian, perhaps until now.
Born out of increasing feelings of hopelessness, dislocation and religious uncertainty, Gothic literature shifted in the 19th century from tales of hidden princesses in sublime, crumbling towers to better encompass the metaphysical and preternatural. Unlike the first ever Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto (1764), popular serial literature such as The Turn of The Screw (1898) featured haunted mansions with untold horrors behind each hidden corridor and an endlessly spiralling staircase.
Naturally, this is where the origins of contemporary supernatural fiction lie. H.P. Lovecraft built on the Victorian fascination with the supernatural, writing instant classics such as Cthulhu (1926) and The Dunwich Horror (1928). These tales of pure horror and mayhem gave way to Stephen King’s eye-wateringly expansive oeuvre, written mostly throughout the late 1970s and 1980s.
Then, from Neil Gaiman in the 1990s and the subsequent Vampire Era that we’ve already touched upon, we arrive at a rather overdue reignition of popular interest in supernatural literature spearheaded by authors such as Leigh Bardugo, T Kingfisher, and Katherine Arden. In the Romantasy realm, authors such as Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros have taken centre stage.
Within each of us there lies an intense fascination with the macabre, the thought of which might have sent us weeping into our parents’ bedrooms as children. Nevertheless, we’d struggle not to remain inherently curious about all things morose, scaring ourselves silly with tales of vampires and werewolves on the off chance that supernatural creatures might really exist.
The peaks and troughs of supernatural popularity reflect an intense desire, even as adults, for the deepest realms of magic to be true. Not just for the proto-religious implications, but for the potentiality to conquer death no matter the price. As Shirley Jackson writes in the groundbreaking The Haunting of Hill House (1959), “No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality.”
We’ve curated a selection of the best historical and contemporary supernatural novels to devour. Keep scrolling to get spooked.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
A deeply moving psychological horror which not only served as inspiration for the works of Stephen King and Neil Gaiman, but for the 10-part Netflix series of the same name – the influence of Jackson’s terrifying 1959 novel within the realm of supernatural literature and media cannot be understated.
The story follows anthropologist Dr. John Montague who has an innate interest in the supernatural. Intent on using the supposedly haunted Hill House as a case study for the paranormal, he invites Eleanor Vance (reported to have had a brush with a poltergeist as a child) and Theodora (a potential psychic) to join him on a three-month sojourn.
Buy now £9.05, Amazon
‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
There’s something about supernatural fiction taking place within small towns in the United States which affects the soul like no other. Stephen King is the master of such work, and ‘Salem’s Lot might just make you believe in vampires once and for all.
It takes place in a small New England town in which strange occurrences are commonplace. The frame narrative is spearheaded by Ben Mears, who returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot in Maine to write a novel about the local haunted house which fascinated him from a young age.
Buy now £10.11, Amazon
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
The first of the Winternight Trilogy, The Bear and the Nightingale follows protagonist Vasya Petrovna – a young girl from a small village in medieval Russia who can commune with mythological creatures.
When her mother dies, Vasya’s father seeks a new wife in Moscow and brings home a strictly devout Catholic stepmother who takes charge of their snow-covered homestead – preventing the family from honouring the household spirits with pagan rituals. Yet the rituals which appease such spirits are far beyond superstition, and misfortune begins to befall Vasya’s home.
Buy now £9.99, Waterstones
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
Addie La Rue believes she has cheated death when she makes a Faustian bargain with the devil for immortality. Yet every supernatural deal comes with a catch, and while Miss LaRue may live forever, she is doomed to be forgotten by everyone that she meets. From her home in 18th-century France on a journey across the globe and through time, Addie learns to live with her curse. Yet one day, in a small second-hand bookshop in Manhattan, she meets someone who remembers her.
Buy now £9.19, Amazon
Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
In a world that hasn’t seen sunlight for decades and vampires have waged war against humanity, Gabriel de León is the last sworn brother of the holy Silver Order dedicated to defending against creatures of the night. Known as The Last Silversaint, Gabriel is imprisoned by the monsters which have devoured his world and begins to tell the story of humanity’s last remaining hope – The Holy Grail.
Buy now £8.49, Amazon
The Turn of The Screw by Henry James
One of the first horror narratives to begin with a retrospective tale told around a crackling fire, James’ beloved novella begins with a man named Douglas who tells the story of his sister’s old governess who was said to have encountered paranormal apparitions. We learn that the governess is given charge of two young pupils named Miles and Flora whom she grows to adore. Yet the poor governess is slowly plagued by ghosts which appear throughout the manor where they reside, threatening the lives of them all.
Buy now £14.29, Amazon
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Whether you’ve consumed countless retellings of the Dracula myth in popular literature or are exploring the realms of vampiric history for the first time, there is no tale of supernatural horror quite like Stoker’s historical feat. Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to aid his wealthy client Count Dracula in purchasing a London home. While staying within the Count’s castle walls, Harker makes a series of gruesome discoveries which seem to correlate with spontaneous, violent events across England.
Buy now £4.49, Amazon
What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher
Inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, Kingfisher’s best-selling novel follows a retired lieutenant of the Gallacian army named Alex Easton who rushes back to their remote, pastoral hometown of Ruritania when they learn that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying. When Alex arrives at Madeline’s side at the request of her brother Roderick, they realise that the home is slowly being consumed by the supernatural.
Buy now £10.99, Amazon
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
Yet another brilliant haunted house yarn by T. Kingfisher, A House With Good Bones is about the family secrets which plague the homestead of a suburban family in North Carolina. The Southern Gothic novel follows the strange occurrences which plague Samatha Montgomery when she returns to a home surrounded by vultures circling above.
Buy now £15.03, Amazon
The Call of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft
A Lovecraftian classic and perhaps his most impressive novel, The Call of Cthulhu is narrated by Francis Wayland Thurston as he recounts the series of notes and papers left behind by his late uncle. The documents detail a mysterious cult which worships the monstrous entity Cthulhu – a menacing, chimeric combination of human, octopus and dragon which resides in the sunken city of R'lyeh.
Buy now £7.65, Amazon
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Stephen King declared Bardugo’s best-seller to be “the best fantasy novel [he’s] read in years, because it’s about real people.”
We follow the life of Alex Stern, a high school dropout and the sole survivor of a horrific unsolved multiple homicide, as she enters her freshman year at Yale. A free ride at one of the world’s most prestigious institutions supported by mysterious benefactors inevitably comes with a catch, and Alex is tasked with monitoring the activities of Yale’s darkest secret societies – otherwise referred to as tombs.
Known for producing esteemed members of the global elite, Alex uncovers the occult secrets of the university’s haunted societies – but at what cost?
Buy now £9.19, Amazon
The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith
Think of A.J. Hackwith’s Hell’s Library trilogy as a deeper, darker imagining of Cornelia Funke’s beloved Inkheart.
It takes place within the folds of the Devil’s library – a shadowy annexe which exists within the most cavernous circle of the inferno. Within its sprawling stacks exists the Unwritten Wing, a neutral space where unfinished novels are filed away. Presided over by a Librarian named Claire, our protagonist oversees many menial librarian tasks, including organising and cataloguing. However, she must also keep an eye on restless stories whose characters run the risk of escaping into the circles of hell.
When a tempestuous hero escapes a novel in search of his author, Claire must track and capture him with the help of some colleagues – a chase that, of course, goes horribly wrong.
Buy now £9.99, Waterstones
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
Vampires, ghouls and werewolves have truly never been more appealing - and we don’t mean in the romantic sense. In the Black Leopard, Red Wolf trilogy, Marlon James breathes new life into the otherwise tired fantasy tropes by drawing on African history, mythology and his own unfathomable imagination. One of Time’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time, James’ story follows a mercenary who is hired to find a missing child, as he travels through the thirteen kingdoms with a band of dangerous companions – including a witch and a shape-shifting leopard.
Buy now £21.14, Amazon
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
Set within a world where select humans are capable of skills which vary from the ability to manipulate matter, control the desires of others, and communicate telepathically, The Atlas Six is the story of six of these magic-wielding beings who are invited to compete for membership in the highly secretive Alexandrian Society.
Led by the enigmatic Atlas Blakely, the Alexandrian Society are magic-wielding custodians of lost knowledge from ancient civilisations. Over the course of a year, our six protagonists must practice and innovate their supernatural abilities from within the hallowed halls of the society’s London-based headquarters. The winner is invited into the mystical fold of the supernatural society, while the losers may not survive at all.
Buy now £8.99, Amazon
Hex by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight
Deliciously twisted, many readers have a love-hate relationship with Dinerstein Knight’s poison-coated novel due to its satirically pretentious narrative style. A cult-favourite nonetheless, the story follows Nell Barber – an expelled PhD candidate in biological sciences who becomes irrevocably obsessed with her mentor, Dr. Joan Kallas.
A treatise on the danger of infatuation and the all-consuming nature of illicit relationships, Hex is a witchy, queer fantasy romance whose narrative reflects the thesis of our protagonist – can one truly toe the line between poison and antidote without succumbing to its destructive effects?
Buy now £7.25, Amazon
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
A fantasy novel written with romantics and dark academia enthusiasts in mind, A Discovery of Witches is about a centuries-old vampire, a reluctant witch and a mysterious alchemical manuscript hidden in the depths of Oxford’s Bodleian library. An object desperate to be discovered, Diana Bishop unwittingly comes across the ancient, bewitched text during the course of her research – and it changes the course of her existence forever.
Buy now £8.94, Amazon
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
For those who have raced through Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone trilogy, The Six of Crows is also set within the mystical Grishaverse. It follows criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker and his crew of six dangerous outcasts. Faced with the challenge of an impossible heist which could make the Crows richer than they ever thought possible, the motley bunch of flight risks, criminals and shadow-dwellers must work together to avoid definite destruction.
Buy now £7.30, Amazon
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Based on tales of Mexican folklore and mystery, Moreno-Garcia’s magical novel is the coming-of-age tale of Casiopea Tun. Desperate to escape the walls of her wealthy yet abusive grandfather’s home, Miss Tun finds an unlikely accomplice in the form of a Mayan god who offers her the promise of a new beginning.
Buy now £9.99, Waterstones
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
When two of Britain’s most famous, inimitable fantasy authors come together to write a novel – the result is bound to be an enthralling hit. Outrageously funny and astonishingly clever, Pratchett and Gaiman’s tale begins when the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, a witch from the mid-17th century, decide to come true. The world is said to end next Saturday, but an unlikely angel and demon duo would like a put an end to it. First things first, where on earth is the Antichrist?
Buy now £15.11, Amazon
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
While Pullman’s beloved trilogy has since been brought to the silver screen, we highly recommend delving into the original masterfully crafted fantasy world before watching the acclaimed adaptation. Hailed as a modern classic, His Dark Materials follows the journey of an orphan called Lyra who inhabits a magical realm where science, theology and the preternatural overlap in wondrous ways. Throughout the trilogy, we follow Lyra on her hunt for a missing friend as she uncovers a dark conspiracy which plagues both her world and countless others.
Buy now £14.99, Amazon
