Book picks similar to
Return to Vienna by Nancy Buckingham
gothic
buckingham-nancy
tbr-shelf
wishlist-gothics
Old House of Fear
Russell Kirk - 1961
Logan is continually thwarted and threatened on his journey. But no matter how bad his travels, his arrival onto the island brings much worse trouble. Carnglass is under the control of evil genius Dr. Edmund Jackman, a Soviet-educated political revolutionary convinced that Logan is a spy who must die. Will Jackman's plot be thwarted? Will Logan be able to rescue the lovely niece of the noble owner of Old House? Will anyone get off the island alive? Debuting in the 1960s, Old House of Fear was Russell Kirk's most popular book, selling more than all his other books combined. Yet this Gothic tale is more than just a fascinating work of fiction. As in all of Kirk's stories, a deeper meaning emerges -- in this case, a satirization of Marxism and liberalism -- demonstrating the acute sense of the moral that sets Kirk apart from other genre writers.
Classic Tales of Horror
Edgar Allan Poe - 1964
Sheridan La Fanu --Hurst of Hurstcote / E. Nesbit --The mysterious stranger / Anonymous --The bottle imp / Robert Louis Stevenson --Dracula's guest / Bram Stoker --Wandering Willie's tale / Sir Walter Scott --Circumstance / Herriot Prescott Spofford --The lifted veil / George Eliot --One summer night / Ambrose Bierce --The dream woman / Wilkie Collins --The lost ghost / Mary E. Wilkins Freeman --Carmilla / J. Sheridan La Fanu --The banshee's warning / Mrs. J. H. Riddell --Clarimonde / Theophile Gautier --The upper berth / F. Marlon Crawford --Thrulow's Christmas story / John Kendrick Bangs
The Clockwork Girl
Anna Mazzola - 2022
In the midst of winter, as birds fall frozen from the sky, a new maid arrives at the home of a celebrated clockmaker and his clever, unworldly daughter. But rumours are stirring that Reinhart's uncanny mechanical creations - bejewelled birds, silver spiders - are more than mere automata. That they might defy the laws of nature, perhaps even at the expense of the living...But Madeleine is hiding a dark past, and a dangerous purpose - to discover the truth of the clockmaker's experiments and record his every move, in exchange for her own chance of freedom.Meanwhile, in the streets, children are quietly disappearing - and Madeleine comes to fear that she has stumbled upon a greater conspiracy. One which might reach to the heart of Versailles...
Cold Bath Street
A.J. Hartley - 2018
In order to save his soul he must brave his greatest fear - Cold Bath Street. A gothic thriller - think Hunger Games crossed with Artemis Fowl - that will keep you gripped to the end. Stunning black and white illustrations throughout.
That Woman
Helen Monks Takhar
The suspense keeps you hooked right until the last page!’ Goodreads reviewer, 5***** There’s a new girl at work.Young, beautiful, confident, she’s everything you used to be. You’re flattered when she befriends you.So when your boss starts giving her your work, at first you think it’s a mistake.But then, one Sunday, the new girl turns up in your local pub. The next week, she starts dressing like you…Now she’s taking control of everything. Because she doesn’t just want your job – she wants your life…‘A truly creepy tale of jealousy and obsession.’ Woman & Home‘A hypnotic dance of gaslighting and revenge.’ People‘Guaranteed to start the mother of all office fights.’ I News*A previous version of this novel was published with the title Precious You.*___Your favourite authors can’t stop talking about That Woman:‘Dark, disturbing, compulsive. I was genuinely terrified reading this.’ Adele Parks‘An intergenerational clash between two women, played out to a shocking finale. Nail-biting.’ Harriet Tyce‘Creepy and unnerving… a breathtaking debut.’ Samantha Downing‘A deliciously dark, addictive and twisted page-turner.’ Alice Feeney‘What a debut! Twisty, explosive, and hugely compelling, with hints of Gone Girl.’ Will Dean‘Twisted, dark and shocking. Absolutely terrific.’ Jo Spain‘Will change the way you look at your colleagues forever.’ Phoebe Morgan‘Supremely twisted and completely riveting’ Katie Lowe
The Peacock Summer
Hannah Richell - 2018
Set in a fading family estate nestled within the Chiltern Hills, this is the story of two summers, sixty years apart, woven together to reveal one dramatic family story.
Roots of Evil
Sarah Rayne - 2005
Lucy rather enjoys Lucretia's legend - although most of the family would prefer it to be quietly forgotten. But when a body is found in the now-derelict studios, brutalised in a macabre echo of the 50-year-old case, disturbing facts about the past begin to emerge... Facts which point back to the eerie legend of the child known simply as Alraune. The child named after Lucretia's most famous film. The child who may never have existed at all. In the ensuing murder investigation, Lucy is to discover the truth about her family's dark and often poignant history - a history which spans the glittering concert halls of 1920s Vienna to the bleak environs of wartime Auschwitz. And at the heart of it all lies the shocking truth about the mysterious child called Alraune.
The Lamplighters
Emma Stonex - 2021
Black rocks roll beneath the surface, drowning ghosts. And out of the swell like a finger of light, the salt-scratched tower stands lonely and magnificent.It's New Year's Eve, 1972, when a boat pulls up to the Maiden Rock lighthouse with relief for the keepers. But no one greets them. When the entrance door, locked from the inside, is battered down, rescuers find an empty tower. A table is laid for a meal not eaten. The Principal Keeper's weather log describes a storm raging round the tower, but the skies have been clear all week. And the clocks have all stopped at 8:45. Two decades later, the wives who were left behind are visited by a writer who is determined to find the truth about the men's disappearance. Moving between the women's stories and the men's last weeks together in the lighthouse, long-held secrets surface and truths twist into lies as we piece together what happened, why, and who to believe.In her riveting and suspenseful novel, Emma Stonex writes a story of isolation and obsession, of reality and illusion, and of what it takes to keep the light burning when all else is swallowed by dark.
Painting the Lake
Jody Wenner - 2016
George has always plunged into the season with a sense of contentment, but as the snow begins to fly he hits a patch of icy luck. Newly retired, he heads up north to escape his troubles and do some painting. There he meets a young woman who begins pursuing him for more than his art. When she takes him on a wild ride, George isn't surprised to find Detective Nancy Simmons at his cabin door. For Nancy, winter comes with a much harsher reality. She feels the bite as she investigates who dumped a young woman's body in Lake Superior's frigid waters. Maybe George isn't as innocent as he seems.
The Castle of Fear
Barbara Cartland - 1974
Later, her wit and intelligence captivated him. He would possess her -- at any cost. But Tatika did not love him and would not marry him.Desperate and alone, she fled to Scotland. There she took refuge in Castle Craig with the Dowager Duchess and her son.The Duke was young and extraordinarily handsome. Yet there was something hidden in his past, a dreadful secret people only whispered about.How could anyone love such a man, Tatika wondered. Yet there was a strange magnetic quality about the Duke. Tatika found herself drawn to him more and more . . .
The Middle Ages
Jennie Fields - 2002
Take forty-something Jane Larson. Although she views her situation with wry humor, her life feels frozen. An architect, she's had the same job for eighteen years, designing chain banks, grocery stores, and dry cleaners instead of the beautiful houses she craves to create. Living in Brooklyn with her difficult teenage daughters, she's lost all hope for the possibility of love or excitement.Then she's let go from her firm and is suddenly free to pursue her career dreams. And when she contacts her old college flame, an exhilarating long-distance correspondence with him reawakens that part of her she's long ignored. Does Jane have the courage to gamble with her heart? Can happily-ever-after be a reality for people who've done it all before?With warmth and humor Fields explores the territory of middle age, proving that it's never too late to reinvent your life, or to take the risks that bring us the pleasures we all deserve.
Tainted by Temptation
Katy Madison - 2011
or her own?Cruel false gossip and scandal follow Velvet Campbell everywhere she goes in London—and for the sake of her sanity she must get away. Accepting a position as governess at an estate in remote Cornwall, Velvet hopes to start over, untainted by rumor. But she finds to her dismay that her new employer—the darkly handsome Lucian Pendar—is, himself, the subject of whispered insinuations...that he hurled his wife to her death from nearby treacherous cliffs. But angel or demon, Lucian affects Velvet in ways she never dreamed possible, causing her heart to race, stealing the breath from her body with a look. As their mutual attraction grows, there is no resisting the passion that flares between them. Yet, as secrets from both their pasts rise to the surface, Velvet is haunted by one inescapable question: has she found a kindred spirit, her destined love...or placed herself in dire peril?
The Companion
Kim Taylor Blakemore - 2020
She claims she’s innocent. But Lucy has been known to tell lies…1855, New Hampshire. Lucy Blunt is set to hang for a double murder. Murderess or victim? Only Lucy knows the truth.In the shadow of the gallows, Lucy reflects on the events that led to her bitter downfall—from the moment she arrived at the rambling Burton mansion looking for work and a better life to the grisly murders themselves.In a mysterious household of locked doors and forbidden affections, Lucy slips comfortably into the shadows, where she believes the indiscretions of her past will remain hidden. But when Lucy’s rising status becomes a threat to the mistress’s current companion, the delicate balance of power and loyalty begins to shift, setting into motion a brewing storm of betrayal, suspicion, and rage.Now, with her execution looming closer, Lucy’s allies fight to have her sentence overturned as the tale she’s spinning nears its conclusion. But how much of her story can we trust? After all, Lucy’s been known to bend the truth…
Bedlam Stories
Christine Converse - 2013
While researching her expose, Nellie meets a young patient, Dorothy, who has delusions of a fantasy land she calls "Oz".Digging deeper into the dark history of the asylum, Nellie uncovers evidence of human experimentations on another inmate, a young girl named Alice, who's "Wonderland" mirrors Dorothy's imaginary world.Nellie is determined not to let Dorothy share Alice's fate as a human guinea pig. But the horrific experiments open a portal to these other worlds.When the dark and twisted inhabitants of Oz and Wonderland clash for control, Nellie realizes that they aren't delusions at all - they are terrifyingly real.
Island Justice
Elizabeth Winthrop - 1998
A beautifully observed novel in the tradition of Anne Tyler and Alice Hoffman, Island Justice sets an independent woman's struggle to trust the pull of her heart against the backdrop of a community that must come to terms with its own conscience and the true meaning of justice.