English Gothic

In 1886, a respectable young woman must acquire a husband. But Violet Pring does not want to marry. She longs to be a professional artist and live on her own terms. When her scheming mother secures a desirable marriage proposal from an eligible Brighton gentleman for her, Violet protests. Her family believes she is deranged and deluded, so she is locked away in Hillwood Grange Lunatic Asylum against her will. In her new cage, Violet faces an even greater challenge: she must escape the clutches of a sinister and formidable doctor and set herself free.

A wealthy and notorious clan, the Bellefleurs live in a region not unlike the Adirondacks, in an enormous mansion on the shores of mythic Lake Noir. They own vast lands and profitable businesses, they employ their neighbors, and they influence the government. A prolific and eccentric group, they include several millionaires, a mass murderer, a spiritual seeker who climbs into the mountains looking for God, a wealthy noctambulist who dies of a chicken scratch.

Stephen Norman is to inherit her father’s vast fortune and estate. She seeks to ask Leonard Everard (a wastrel) to marry her, but only to prove that she can ask a man to marry her and defy 19th-century convention which says a man can only ask a woman to marry. This sets into motion a showdown between two old rivals for her hand in marriage, as Harold An Wolf (a gentleman) is in love with her.

The time is 1902. The setting, eastern Oregon. Magic Child, a 15-year-old Native American girl, wanders into the wrong whorehouse looking for the right men. She finds Cameron and Greer, two gunmen taking a timeout from the game after an aborted job in Hawaii. Their violent past doesn't concern Magic Child. She wants them to kill a monster for her, one she says lives in the ice caves under the basement of Miss Hawkline's yellow house, and one she says has killed before. But the more she tells them about the monster, the more her story unravels.

The Westgate Galleria Mall was once a sprawling, shining monument to American consumerism and suburban growth. Now, it is a crumbling reminder of how both have fallen - an architectural ghost, haunting the outskirts of society. That makes it the perfect filming location for a YouTube channel devoted to the exploration of abandoned places. But the mall isn't as empty as it seems, and the residents have sinister obscene plans for them. Now, with the daylight still hours away, both the hunters and the hunted will fight to stay alive...and desperately try to make it home.

Sacrifices—that’s what females make to live in Serendee—an urban utopia. We give up our family, our choices, our bodies. Some people call it a cult, but they don’t understand. We give it our all, and in return, Serendee gives back by providing a safe, idyllic home. Starting with The Order. I don’t expect the perfect mate, but when I’m matched with Rex—the rebellious, handsome, and destructive heir of Serendee—I’m stunned. Until I find out why I’ve been chosen.

I'm not who I used to be. Valentine Morningstar, my own father, tried to ruin my life, and instead he made me stronger. But my own power will consume me if I don't learn how to control it, how to channel it to help everyone, not just myself. I have to learn how to be this new person I've become. GC - my handsome false god, Pazuzu - my dark demon, Sariel - my fallen archangel, and Francis - my...I know what he is now, but it hurts to say it. They keep me grounded. They keep me sane, and they keep me good. Without them, I'm afraid I might just turn into a villain.

Charlemagne was easily one of the most fascinating figures of Western civilization, as well as the most heroic and romantic. The 47 years of his reign marked some of the most significant and far reaching events of the Middle Ages. Undoubtedly, it was his enlightened vision for Europe that resulted in the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of cultural flowering that never really ceased to develop, and which led in a straight line directly to that period of astonishing achievement we now call the High Gothic. Even in the 21st century, we still hear the echoes of his deeds in the historical events that unfold today.

When her beloved sister Caroline dies suddenly, Deirdre is heartbroken. However, her sorrow turns to bone-chilling confusion when she receives a message Caroline sent days earlier warning that her death would be no accident. Long used to being a pariah to her family, Deirdre covers her tattoos and heads to Manhattan for her sister’s funeral. The message claimed Caroline’s husband, Theo, killed his first wife and got away with it.

Here 19 classic tales from masters of the genre. The collection comprises 'Schalken the Painter' by J. S. Lefanu; 'Sredni Vashtar' by Saki (H. H. Munro); 'The Room in the Tower' by E. F. Benson; 'Charles Ashmore's Trail' by Ambrose Bierce; 'The Mark of the Beast' by Rudyard Kipling; 'The Castle of Ratcliffe Cross' by J. Wadham; 'The Bead Necklace' by Alice Perrin; 'The Oval Portrait' by Edgar Allan Poe; 'The Leather Funnel' by Arthur Conan Doyle; 'Berenice' by Edgar Allan Poe; and many more.

Three Gothic Novels is a compelling collection that brings together three quintessential works of Gothic literature: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla, and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Each novel delves into the macabre and the supernatural, exploring themes of fear, horror, and the unknown, while also probing deeper questions about humanity, morality, and the boundaries of science and nature. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley tells the haunting tale of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who defies natural laws to create life, only to be horrified by the monstrous being he brings into existence.

When David stumbles upon a tragic young woman in a sordid Limehouse pub, he has no idea she’d recognize him as the last vampyre alive, nor that she’d be the one to pull out his story. Yet as he recalls his life from the sweltering vineyards of ancient Rome to the cold horrors of medieval Romania—as well as his tumultuous past with the mad and mysterious Lucius—he realizes she is much more than what she seems. Gothic horror and mythological fantasy blend seamlessly together in this thrilling adventure, breathing new life into vampire lore as it reveals its true origins.

Idyllic Avril Island, owned by the Bennett family, is where their hundred-year-old cottage sat nestled in acres of forest. Forty-year-old June Bennett believed that the island had been sold after the summer of her father's disappearance when she was only 12 years old. It's months after the shocking death of her older sister, May, in a fatal car accident that June finds out that the cottage was never sold. Avril Island is still owned by the Bennett family, and now it's hers. Still reeling from the grief of losing her sister, June travels back to Avril Island in search of answers.

Satan’s final judgement on Victoria sums up a shocking novel, set in Venice at the end of the 15th century, that tracks the path of its heroine from abused victim to fully fledged criminal. Her conscious embodiment of vice seems to know no limits. Depicting unfettered desire and gratuitous cruelty, and challenging taboos of race and class, this tale of lust, betrayal, and multiple murder has Dacre moving beyond the limits of contemporaneous gothic heroes into a truly hellish zone of her own.

This story of raging comedy and despair centers on the tempestuous marriage of an heiress and a Vietnam veteran. From their "carpenter Gothic" rented house, Paul sets himself up as a media consultant for Reverend Ude, an evangelist mounting a grand crusade that conveniently suits a mining combine bidding to take over an ore strike on the site of Ude's African mission.

After Miranda Lewis escapes from her controlling ex, she ends up on a foggy island off the Maine coast. Miranda, at last, feels safe - especially when she's with Owen Larsen, a gruff, reclusive woodworker with a kind heart. But Miranda's ex won't let her go without a fight, and the island hides perils of its own. After a terrible fire hints at secrets that divide the island, Miranda must decide who to trust, even as she's falling hopelessly in love with Owen, and even as danger threatens both their lives.

Darius is back. Edinburgh thought that it had seen the last of this seductive dragon king, but that was before Darius found something worthwhile. He just can't stay away from the impossibly beautiful Dr. Sophie Martin, even though he knows that a passion this strong could prove detrimental for them both. Sophie tried to forget her encounter with smoking-hot Darius to no avail. He's in her dreams, tempting her.

All children mythologize their birth... So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter's beloved collection of stories, long famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale. The enigmatic Winter has always kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she summons a biographer to tell the truth about her extraordinary life: Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth remains an ever-present pain.

I’m ordered to execute her.... I never expected to see her again. We shared one wild night several years ago. She had no idea that I work for the mafia. I’m a savage, ruthless killer, but she’s innocent. She saves lives. I take them. She’s a pediatric oncology nurse. Could she be any more of a saint? She entered the wrong hotel room. There can’t be any witnesses. My boss wants her dead. Her life is in my hands. I intend to make her my wife to protect her. She’ll hate me, but at least I can keep her safe.

H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, and M.R. James: The Ultimate Collection is a fully indexed collection containing over 75 stories and poems from the three most beloved horror and ghost writers in modern literature. Read by three Audie-winning narrators.