English Gothic

NEW AND IMPROVED SECOND EDITION - 2025 Initially published by Peter Owen Publishers, 2013 FROM THE BACK PAGE Henry III’s reign was the longest of any king in medieval Europe, spanning an unprecedented 56 years from 1216 until 1272. The first child king in England for 200 years, his time on the throne oversaw more significant change than any other monarch, in which England prospered. Though often overlooked by historians, Henry III was a unique figure emerging from this chivalric yet gothic era. A compulsive builder of daunting castles and glorious cathedrals, Henry was an intelligent, ...

🖤 From New York Times, USA TODAY, Amazon top-15, #1 Thriller and Dark Fantasy Bestsellers Tamara Rose Blodgett / Marata Eros ✨ Comes a searing literary survival thriller for fans of The Road, Station Eleven and The Last of Us When the lights die - what remains? ⚠️ An unexpected EMP blackout plunges America into silence. 🌎 Powerless. Lawless. Irrevocably changed. Three lives ignite the spark of a new reality: ✔️ A Navy SEAL and his new bride flee into night as their wedding turns to war. ✔️ A hardened prepper will risk everything for his family’s safety. ✔️ And a ...

Rhode Island, 1846. Estranged from his family, writer Merritt Fernsby is surprised when he inherits a remote estate in the Narragansett Bay. Though the property has been uninhabited for more than a century, Merritt is ready to call it home—until he realizes he has no choice. With its doors slamming shut and locking behind him, Whimbrel House is not about to let Merritt leave. Ever.

Laying in the darkness, pain wrenches me, sending electrical currents throughout my body. My breaths are shallow, but I cannot let on that anything is amiss, for danger is all around. I need blood, even though I am human, but I won’t give my captors the satisfaction of knowing. My thoughts go immediately to Lance: his touch, his dark, chiseled good looks, his bright green eyes. When love finds you, you recognize it, commit it to memory, and lock it in your heart forever. You know it in your soul. You sacrifice everything for it. As I lay in the darkness, I remind myself that there are ...

THE CHILD WAS STRAWBERRY-SWEET AND LOVING…BUT THE MAN WAS FORBIDDEN FRUIT. Annette Jordan had accepted the unavoidable reality that she must toil as a governess to provide for herself. Thankfully, her charge was a joy—a vision of youthful beauty, owning a spirit of delight. But it was Annette’s employer, Lord Gareth Barrett, who proved to be the trial—for she soon found herself living in the all-too-cliché governess’s dream of having fallen desperately in love with the man who provided her wages. The child loved her, but could she endure watching hopelessly as the beautiful woman...

In a world of shadows, love defies every curse. In Victorian London, a dark, forbidden love unfolds in this spellbinding gothic romance retelling of Beauty and the Beast. When the enigmatic Lord Ravenwood—cursed, tormented, and haunted by betrayal—encounters the spirited Lavinia Ashcroft, their fates become irrevocably entwined. Bound by secrets and driven by a relentless desire to defy an enchanted curse, their union becomes a battleground between the man and the beast within him. As Ravenwood’s monstrous past threatens to consume him, Lavinia’s mystical gift reveals hidden truths ...

Beneath the brilliance that was behind The Age of Innocence and Ethan Frome was a dark side. A dark side which produced magnificent tales of the unseen influences in our lives, such as "Mr. Jones", "The Eyes", "Kerfol", "The Ladie's Maid's Bell", and "The Looking Glass".

Saddles and tobacco are not all they are selling in the shops today. Annalise Coton is to be sold to the highest bidder. At eighteen, she has met her usefulness as a nursemaid to her half-brother. With no natural parent to protect her from the outcome, she will go home with the man offering the best price by the close of business today. Proposal of marriage optional. But if the choice were hers, the attractive lord who entered the leather shop is the one she would consider. He was obviously used to having his desires met, but there was a gentleness about him that belied the harder, angular ...

From New York Times best-selling author Erik Larson comes his first venture into fiction, an otherworldly tale of intrigue and the impossible that marshals his trademark approach to nonfiction to create something new: a ghost story thoroughly grounded in history. Pioneering psychologist William James leads an expedition to a remote isle in search of answers after a family inexplicably vanishes. Was the cause rooted in the physical world...or were there forces more paranormal and sinister at work?

Books 5, 6, and 7 in the international #1 bestselling series, Vampire for Hire, including: VAMPIRE DAWN (Book #5) Mother, wife, private investigator... vampire. Seven years ago, federal agent Samantha Moon was the perfect wife and mother, your typical soccer mom with the minivan and suburban home. Then the unthinkable happens, an attack that changes her life forever. And forever is a very long time for a vampire. Now in Vampire Dawn, Samantha Moon tackles her most frightening case yet. Someone is leaving victims drained of blood, and all signs point to the killer not being a vampire. ...

He needed a clever woman to rule his home, reach for her papa, and lie ravished in his bed with a whimsical, sated smile. In return, he would bind her to him and release her spirit. Rosemary Thayer, suddenly alone in America, could finally do as she wished. It was the most frightening and exciting thing that had ever happened to her. She intended to capitalize on the opportunity by getting away from the man who wanted to marry her, avoid homelessness, and prostitution. Marriage would come eventually, but in her limited experience, men were trouble. If her secrets were out, no respectable ...

When Sonya MacTavish inherits the huge Victorian mansion on the coast of Maine, she has no idea that the house is haunted. The footsteps she hears at night, the doors slamming, the music playing, are not figments of her imagination. In her dreams she sees glimpses of the past. In the present she finds portraits of brides. And when she has visions of an antique mirror, she is drawn to it, sensing it holds dark family secrets.

Some houses are haunted by ghosts. Pemberley is haunted by its master. When Elizabeth Bennet arrives at the great estate to care for the ailing Miss Darcy, she finds more than shadows behind closed doors. Whispers echo through the west wing. Mirrors reflect memories that are not her own. And Fitzwilliam Darcy—her former suitor—roams the halls with a gaze hollowed by secrets. What tragedy silenced Pemberley's music? Why does the scent of foxglove cling to Lady Anne’s locked rooms? And why does Darcy speak as if his heart no longer belongs to him? Drawn into a web of suspicion, desire, ...

The sprawling highways and quiet small towns of Texas hide a dark and brutal history. Beyond the headlines and whispered local legends lie the definitive, blood-curdling stories of the state's most horrifying crimes. True Crime - Gore in Texas is not for the faint of heart. This meticulously researched anthology rips open the case files on the Lone Star State's most infamous and psychologically disturbing criminals. From the sadistic "Candy Man" Dean Corll to the shocking acts of family annihilators and the cold, calculated slayings of cartel hitmen, these accounts detail the manhunts that ...

On a warm summer's day by the English seaside, 23-year-old Freya spies a pale, pillared house: Byrne Hall. Before she can think twice, she's stepped inside to an ornate foyer featuring a striking portrait that evokes her late sister, Stella, whose untimely fall from a cliff years before still haunts Freya and her father. When an inexplicable longing leads her back to Byrne Hall several weeks later, she meets Cory, a handsome and enigmatic young artist who remains in the house to care for his ailing mother.

A ghost story with a true crime twist. Based on the largest, unsolved art heist in history, GHOST AT THE GARDNER is a gripping, paranormal suspense mystery with a bit of added romance. Supernatural occurrences unfold as an old museum ghost and a young art intern team up to solve an investigation that has remained an FBI cold case for over 20 years. Readers won’t be able to put down this fast-paced novel full of ghostly spirits, mystical séances and first kisses in a spooky graveyard.

A mountain girl in the early 1900’s copes with a marriage arranged by her dad. Her story is titled from an old saying “I own my land, heaven-high and hell-deep.” “Your pa gave his consent for us to marry,” he said the words as though it was a simple matter. It wasn’t a romantic proposal of love and devotion. It wasn’t a proposal at all. I opened my mouth but nothing came out. I tried again. “I don’t know your name,” I managed to say as I felt my chest constrict. There was a pain in me that started at my toes and went to the roots of my hair. Dad had come up with a ...

Blind, trapped, and surrounded by enemies, Grace must strike a dangerous bargain with 'The Devil'—one that could cost her soul. England, 1880. After a violent childhood attack left her blind, Grace has honed her gift as a medium, using it to bring peace to restless spirits. But when she stumbles upon the body of a dead girl in the woods, Grace’s life takes a dark turn. With the threat of imprisonment in a cruel asylum, her only hope for freedom lies with Devlin, a notorious pirate with a dangerous reputation. But the price for his protection is steep—Grace must move into his haunted ...

In 1933, nine-year-old Stella is left in the care of her grandmother, Motty, in the backwoods of Tennessee. The mountains are home to dangerous secrets, and soon after she arrives, Stella wanders into a dark cavern where she encounters the family's personal god, an entity known as the Ghostdaddy. Years later, after a tragic incident that caused her to flee, Stella - now a professional bootlegger - returns for Motty's funeral, and to check on the mysterious 10-year-old girl named Sunny that Motty adopted.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, last necromancer of the Ninth House, has been drafted by her emperor to fight an unwinnable war. Side-by-side with a detested rival, Harrow must perfect her skills and become an angel of undeath - but her health is failing, her sword makes her nauseous, and even her mind is threatening to betray her.