Need a gothic horror book

[Rayn]

Need to find a good horror gothic book. My friend used to be a big reader in her teens and hasn't read a book since for twenty years!
She wants to get back into reading so want to buy a her a novel for Xmas. She loves horror and gothic in general but don't want to get anything too heavy as it may put her off!

Any recommnedations? I thought about The corset by Laura Purcell as I love that!

What about the classics like Dracula, Frankenstein or The hound of the Baskerville's I've been reading classics lately and funnily enough there's a reason they are classic as they are really good.

Except Lady Chatterley's lover which just goes on to much for my liking.

You could try titles like:

The Whistling
Mexican Gothic
and the Six Stories series by Matt Wesolowski

Edgar Allen Poe
Angela Carter - Bloody Chamber

M R James, classic gothic ghost stories. 'Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You' gives me the shivers just thinking about it.

Another one for you OP that isn't Bram Stoker kind of gothic but I really like how she writes her characters the women are very well rounded is Charlaine Harris, she does the True Blood series that was adapted for TV but also Aurora Teagarden series.

Laurel K Hamilton’s Anita Blake series starts off well. I used to enjoy them…but stopped after about book 10. Similarly Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files. Although I guess these are more supernatural crime…than Gothic.

Maybe you could get her some old point Horror books on EBay? I’ve enjoyed re-reading the ones I was obsessed with as a kid?

Or Stephen King?

Just though of another: Pine by Francine Toon is in my TBR pile.

Wuthering Heights.
I don't know why people think it's romantic, it's very Gothic. Brilliant book.

EF Benson’s ghost stories are surprisingly weird and very good.

“The Elementals” by Michael McDowell. Set on a sandy island in the Deep South, it’s atmospheric, genuinely frightening, especially towards the end, and pretty much guarantees you’ll never look at a beach in the same way again…..

These are perfect! Will have a look at them all! I am just reading Dracula myself but think it may be too long winded for her.

Again love Stephen King but they are 'big books' and quite long.

I've recently read This House Is Haunted by John Boyne and last Halloween I read The Woman in Black by Susan Hill, both quite creepy and gothic in feel

Rawblood by Catriona Ward is utterly wonderful, gothic horror at it's finest, in my opinion. Vastly different to The Last House on Needless Street in theme (in case you've read that)?

I'll also ALWAYS recommend NOS4A2 by Joe Hill (Stephen King's son), especially as a Christmas gift

Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver: proper dark and really creepy. Great writing, too (not all purple prose and fannying about like some so-called gothic fiction).

I highly recommend The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

The Silent Companions - Laura Purcell
Thin Air - Michelle Paver
The Familiars - Stacey Halls

Shirley Jackson - We have always lived in the castle

Thomas Tryon - Harvest home

Dark Matter - Michelle Paver

Blimmin brilliant

The Silent Companions - Laura Purcell

Patrick Mcgrath books can be quite gothic too... Asylum is very dark!

Interview with the Vampire. Read in my teens and loved it.

A Head Full of Ghosts is also quite good.

The Haunting of Hill House is probably the best though. It hasnt left me since I read it. Very well written and just mind bendingly scary.

Not a novel but a collection of short stories called “The Bloody Chamber”.

It’s a dark take on classic fairytales.

@MarshmallowSwede

Not a novel but a collection of short stories called “The Bloody Chamber”.

It’s a dark take on classic fairytales.

On my list!

I saw the title and was going to recommend Laura Purcell and Stacey Halls but you and others have beaten me already. I love Bone China.

Slade House - David Mitchell, but one part of it I found very sad