A Gothic tale of the macabre, with strong accents of cruelty, about the adventures of an irrepressible young woman named Zora Korteniemi, who combines traits of Pollyanna with those of the Marquis de Sade. Set in the fictional state of Karelia, on the murky border between Finland and Russia in the days of horseback and hearth fires, this surreal novel--inspired by Norse mythology--won the 2013 Robert-Cliche Prize. 2017.
Gothic fiction
- Author:Arseneault, PhilippeSummary:
- Author:Brontë, EmilySummary:
On the wild moors of Yorkshire, childhood friends Catherine and Heathcliffe form a passionate bond that threatens all around them. Jealousy, vengefulness, unspeakable cruelty — this is Gothic fiction at its best. Published to mixed reviews, Brontë died not knowing that her one book would be considered the greatest of the Brontë sisters’ novels.
- Author:Whitney, Phyllis A.Summary:
From a New York Times-bestselling author: In nineteenth-century Manhattan, a young woman is hired to care for a child haunted by murder. Having just lost her brother and mother in a tragic accident, dressmaker Megan Kincaid has never felt so vulnerable and alone. Then comes the startling request from the wealthy Brandon Reid of Washington Square to work as a private caretaker to his violently tempered nine-year-old stepson, Jeremy. Megan reluctantly accepts, despite the facts of Jeremy's troubled past. Two years ago, the boy accidentally shot and killed his own father, a brilliant and esteemed New York district attorney. Everyone in the Reid family tries to bury-and hopefully forget-this fatal incident, but as Megan struggles to help her lost young ward, she begins to fear that her new employers-including Brandon, to whom she is passionately, irresistibly, and dangerously drawn-also have secrets. Now, as Megan delves further into the mysterious Reid family past, she's torn between a child she must save, a man she's come to love, and the desire to run for her life. A recipient of the Agatha Award for Lifetime Achievement, Phyllis A. Whitney has once again penned a "superior whodunit" (New York Morning Telegraph). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Phyllis A. Whitney including rare images from the author's estate.
- Author:Jackson, ShirleySummary:
Six years after four family members died of arsenic poisoning, the three remaining Blackwoods live together in pleasant isolation, which they ensure through an idiosyncratic system of rules and protective magic. But one day, a stranger manages to penetrate into their carefully shielded lives.
- Author:Whitney, Phyllis A.Summary:
A New York designer is reunited with her estranged family in Arizona after her father's murder in this novel of "romantic suspense at its wildest" (Cosmopolitan). Manhattan fashion designer Lindsay Phillips isn't surprised to hear her estranged father was beaten to death in a Las Vegas hotel room. A sordid end to a sordid life. What she knew about the reckless and philandering low-life wasn't pretty'least of all the way he treated her dying mother. But what does surprise Lindsay is the anonymous letter she receives implicating her volatile half-sister Sybil in the murder. Under the guise of mourning, Lindsay follows the stranger's advice and heads for Sybil's home in Sedona. Caught in a web of betrayal and lies, Lindsay will discover the truth about her mother's death, her father's murder, and her own haunted past. And as this strange and confusing new world closes in on her, she'll have nothing, and no one, left to trust but her own instincts for survival. Set against the backdrop of the colorful Southwest and Native American folklore, Edgar Award winner Phyllis A. Whitney's Vermilion is perfect for fans of Tony Hillerman, Anne Hillerman, and Margaret Coel. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Phyllis A. Whitney including rare images from the author's estate.
- Author:Fanu, J. Sheridan Le.Summary:
Family secrets and sinister plots abound in this beautifully atmospheric Victorian gothic thriller from a celebrated Irish author. For Maud Ruthyn, life is lonely in a mansion with no family besides her melancholic father. But when Madame de la Rougierre is hired to be her governess, Maud finds herself in the clutches of a mysterious and malevolent woman. When her caregiver is eventually dismissed, Maud is relieved to have the woman out of her life. But it isn't long before she encounters the madame again. With the passing of her father, Maud is sent to live with her Uncle Silas at Bartram-Haugh until she can inherit the family estate. Feeling increasingly trapped in her uncle's home, Maud is shocked to learn that Madame de la Rougierre is at her uncle's service. And when Madame is instructed to escort Maud to London, the young girl begins to see through the shadows of deceit: No one intends for her to leave Bartram-Haugh alive. J. Sheridan Le Fanu's most famous novel, Uncle Silas is an eerie psychological thriller and has been translated into several languages as well as adapted for film. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
- Author:Whitney, Phyllis A.Summary:
From the "Queen of the American gothics": In turn-of-the-century New York, a strange inheritance lures a vulnerable governess into a trap (The New York Times). Camilla King knows little of her family history, having never met her estranged relatives. Her late father wanted it that way. But when she receives a startling invitation from her immeasurably wealthy and ailing grandfather, Orrin Judd, to return to Thunder Heights, the crumbling mansion on the Hudson where her mother died under mysterious circumstances, Camilla complies, partly out of curiosity for the family she never had, and partly because of whispers of an inheritance. What she finds there is a demanding and unwelcoming tyrant, two wraithlike aunts haunted by an unnamable grief, a cunning idler living off the Judd fortune, and her grandfather's rigid and suspicious aide. When a series of accidents befall Camilla, she has reason to fear her homecoming may be a carefully designed trap-the same one her own mother fell prey to many years ago. New York Times-bestselling and Edgar Award-winning author Phyllis A. Whitney "is, and always will be, the Grand Master of her craft" (Barbara Michaels). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Phyllis A. Whitney including rare images from the author's estate.
- Author:Collins, WilkieSummary:
When Walter Hartwright encounters a solitary, terrified, beautiful woman dressed in white on a moonlit night in London, he feels impelled to solve the mystery of her distress. The story, full of secrets, locked rooms, lost memories, and surprise revelations, features heroine Marian Halcombe and drawing-master Walter Hartright as sleuthing partners pitted against the diabolical Count Fosco and Sir Percival Glyde. This gothic psychological thriller, a mesmerizing tale of murder, intrigue, madness, and mistaken identity, has gripped the imagination of readers since its first publication in 1860. The breathtaking tension of Collins's narrative created a new literary genre of suspense fiction, which profoundly shaped the course of English popular writing.
- Author:Whitney, Phyllis A.Summary:
A woman investigates the mysterious death of her mother in Santa Fe in this New York Times bestseller by a "master of suspense" (Mary Higgins Clark). Between jobs and relationships, Manhattan illustrator Amanda Austin decides it's finally time to take her grandfather up on his request to visit him in Santa Fe. Near death and anxious to reconnect with his granddaughter, Juan Cordova has summoned her to New Mexico so she can get to know her late mother's relatives. Amanda hasn't been back since she was five years old, when her mother died under mysterious circumstances'a tragedy no one has spoken of since. One thing's certain: This isn't going to be a pleasant reunion. In the cold and gloomy Spanish hacienda that guards its secrets like a tomb, Amanda is greeted by all like an unwelcome guest. Only when she investigates on her own does she begin to fear the real reason why she was asked here. It isn't to explore the past, but to bury it for good. Now Amanda's life is on the line in this house of flesh-and-blood strangers'because one of them is a killer. The Turquoise Mask is a chilling tale of suspense from the Edgar Award-winning author the New York Times called "the queen of the American gothics." This ebook features an illustrated biography of Phyllis A. Whitney including rare images from the author's estate.
- Author:James, HenrySummary:
A governess is hired to look after two orphaned children living at their absentee uncle’s grand estate and soon becomes convinced that her charges are controlled by the ghosts of the former governess and her lover. Famous for its rich gothic atmosphere and its eerie defiance of interpretation, this novella bears rereading.
- Author:Whitney, Phyllis A.Summary:
From the New York Times-bestselling "master of suspense": A woman's mysterious past is unearthed during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake (Mary Higgins Clark). Sara Bishop was raised in Chicago, but her heart belongs in San Francisco, where her childhood sweetheart, Ritchie Temple, has moved to pursue a career in architecture. Convinced he feels the same way for her, she hopes his fiancee, the manipulative Judith Renwick, is just a passing fancy. And now Sara has packed her bags to prove it. Sarah's mother is not only concerned by her daughter's pursuit of an elusive romance, she's also scared of the city itself-and the secret she and Sara's father buried there years ago. Once Sara arrives on the far side of the Golden Gate, she finds herself in the midst of a tantalizing puzzle involving Ritchie, Judith, and Judith's mysterious brother. She soon discovers a monstrously wicked matriarch nursing a strange and unfathomable vengeance in her Nob Hill mansion. And one fateful morning, when the earth moves and the city is set afire, the pieces of Sara's past will emerge from the ashes-but will it be too late to save her' A recipient of the Agatha Award for Lifetime Achievement, Phyllis A. Whitney is the acknowledged "Queen of the American gothics" (The New York Times). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Phyllis A. Whitney including rare images from the author's estate.
- Author:Poe, Edgar AllanSummary:
First published in a 1843 edition of The Pioneer, The Tell-Tale Heart is one of Poe's best-known stories. In it, an unreliable narrator is increasingly troubled by the clouded eye of the old man he lives with. Similar to The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart focuses on the effects of mental instability, crime, and guilt.
- Author:Hall, PollySummary:
Caught up in a passionate love affair, Scarlett unravels her obsession with her lover's taxidermy. The delicate balance of loneliness and jealousy, entrapment and freedom that they so intimately share tips when her twin brother shows up.
- Author:Stevenson, Robert LouisSummary:
Utterson and Enfield are worried about their friend, Dr. Jekyll, who has been spending his time on a mysterious research project. When they stake out Jekyll’s laboratory, they observe a known killer emerging. Now they must figure out what their high-minded friend could possibly have to do with this sinister fellow — and how to protect him.
- Author:White, Andrew JosephSummary:
New York Times bestselling author Andrew Joseph White returns with the transgressive gothic horror of our time! A blood-soaked and nauseating triumph that cuts like a scalpel and reads like your darkest nightmare. Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all. London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old trans, autistic Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife. After a failed attempt to escape an arranged marriage, Silas is diagnosed with Veil sickness--a mysterious disease sending violet-eyed women into madness--and shipped away to Braxton's Finishing School and Sanitorium. When the ghosts of missing students start begging Silas for help, he decides to reach into Braxton's innards and expose its guts to the world--so long as the school doesn't break him first. Featuring an autistic trans protagonist in a historical setting, Andrew Joseph White's much-anticipated sophomore novel does not back down from exposing the violence of the patriarchy and the harm inflicted on trans youth who are forced into conformity.
- Author:Moore, ChristopherSummary:
New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore channels William Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe in this satiric Venetian gothic featuring the irresistibly mischievous Pocket, the eponymous hero of Fool Venice, a really long time ago. Three prominent Venetians await their most loathsome and foul dinner guest, the erstwhile envoy from Britain who also happens to be a favorite of the Doge: the rascal-Fool Pocket. This trio of cunning plotters have lured Pocket to a dark dungeon, promising a spirited evening. Their invitation is, of course, bogus. These scoundrels have something far less amusing planned for the man who has consistently foiled their quest for power and wealth. But this Fool is no fool ... Once again, Christopher Moore delivers a rousing literary satire: a dramedy mash-up rich with delights, including (but not limited to): foul plots; counterplots; true love; jealousy; murder; betrayal; revenge; codpieces; a pound of flesh; occasional debauchery; and water (lots of water). Not to mention a cast Shakespeare himself would be proud of: Shylock; Iago; Othello; a bunch of other guys whose names end in "o"; a trio of comely wenches; the brilliant Fool; his large sidekick, Drool; Jeff, the pet monkey; a lovesick sea serpent; and a ghost (yes, there's always a bloody ghost). Wickedly witty and outrageously inventive, The Serpent of Venice pays cheeky homage to the Bard and illuminates the absurdity of the human condition as only Christopher Moore can.
- Author:Poe, Edgar AllanSummary:
During a dark night in December, a man sits in his room sadly thinking about his lost love, Lenore. Suddenly, he hears a tapping on the door, but no one is there. The noise moves to the window and the man opens it, only to see an ominous raven. The raven only has one thing to say and, as the night goes on, his haunting call of "Nevermore" begins to make the man more and more paranoid. This unabridged version of Edgar Allan Poe's eerie poem, first published in 1884, is accompanied by Gustave DorE's stunning woodcut illustrations.
- Author:Whitney, Phyllis A.Summary:
From a New York Times-bestselling author: After the Civil War, a young Confederate bride finds herself living in the shadow of her husband's first love. Having lost her fiance in battle, Lora Blair knew it was the heartache of war, not true love, that drew her to Union soldier Wade Taylor, a grieving widower who still mourned his late wife, Virginia. Married quickly in the ravished little Southern border town where Lora was born, they headed back North to Wade's Staten Island mansion, where he lives with his motherless son and bitterly unwelcoming family. It's not just Lora's Southern roots among wealthy Yankees that are met with severe disapproval. Lora knows that she'll forever be in the shadow of Wade's adored, devotedly maternal, and peerlessly beautiful first wife. Though her most dangerous opposition is yet to come, Lora must face the secrets hidden in the Taylors' past-including those Virginia took with her to an early grave. The recipient of the Agatha Award for Lifetime Achievement, Phyllis A. Whitney is "a superb and gifted storyteller" (Mary Higgins Clark). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Phyllis A. Whitney including rare images from the author's estate.
- Author:Griffiths, EllySummary:
Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur sees nothing out of the ordinary in the death of a ninety-year-old woman with a heart condition. But the woman's caretaker, Natalka, had a reason to be at the police station: while clearing out Peggy Smith's flat, she noticed an unusual number of crime novels, all dedicated to Peggy and with the postscript: PS: for PS. When a gunman breaks into the flat to steal a book and its author is found dead shortly thereafter, Detective Kaur begins to think that perhaps there is no such thing as an unsuspicious death after all. Kaur must reckon with how exactly authors can think up such realistic crimes...
- Author:Gaskell, ElizabethSummary:
Gaskellâ's gothic masterpiece weaves the tale of a lonely old woman whose curse upon the murderer of her cherished dog unleashes unintended consequences. The impulse of revenge is turned to contrition after the discovery of an unexpected connection between her and the accursed. Through Ireland to Yorkshire and finally London, a young lawyer discovers a beautiful young woman mysteriously followed by her own demonic doppelganger, and sets out to learn if the curse can be broken.