Gothic Historical Fiction

Shattered Innocence by H. Wilhelm Starkweather is a gripping psychological fiction novel set against the tumultuous backdrop of Revolutionary America. This evocative tale delves into the complexities of love, betrayal, and the human psyche, painting a vivid picture of the era's struggles and the internal conflicts of its characters. Step into a world where innocence is shattered by the harsh realities of war, and the quest for personal truth leads to unexpected revelations. Explore the intricate relationship between Montraville and Valerie as they navigate the trials of love and duty. ...

The Mill in The Village by H. Wilhelm Starkweather is a gripping psychological fiction novel set in the ancient city of Winton in Hampshire, during a haunting period of familial conflict and dark secrets. The primary genre of the book is Psychological Fiction. This compelling tale invites readers into a mysterious and atmospheric setting where the past and present collide, exposing the shadowy corners of the human psyche. A mill steeped in ancient curses and family secrets. Three brothers entangled in a web of psychological turmoil. A mysterious girl with a supernatural aura who disrupts ...

Madness of the Water by H. Wilhelm Starkweather is a psychological fiction book set in early 19th century London. The novel unfolds against the backdrop of an exclusive gambling club, exploring themes of madness, loss, and the human psyche. This psychological fiction masterpiece delves into the minds of its characters, presenting a gripping narrative that blends historical and psychological elements. In this intense and thought-provoking journey, readers are taken deep into the intricacies of human emotions and motivations. An exclusive gambling club in 19th century London where fortunes ...

1892: James Norbury, a shy would-be poet newly down from Oxford, finds lodging with a charming young aristocrat. Through this new friendship, he is introduced to the drawing-rooms of high society and finds love in an unexpected quarter. Then, suddenly, he vanishes without a trace. Alarmed, his sister, Charlotte, sets out from their crumbling country estate determined to find him. In the sinister, labyrinthine city that greets her, she uncovers a hidden, supernatural world populated by unforgettable characters.

"Dog days and the fresh bodies are arriving once again." So begins the fall term at South Carolina Medical College, where Dr. Jacob Thacker is on probation for Xanax abuse. His interim career - working public relations for the dean - takes an unnerving detour into the past when the bones of African American slaves, over a century old, are unearthed on the campus. Out of the college’s dark past, these bones threaten to rise and condemn the present.

Venice, 1717. Fifteen-year-old Luisa has only wanted one thing: to be the best at violin. As a student at the Ospedale della Pietà, she hopes to join the highest ranks of its illustrious girls’ orchestra and become a protégé of the great Antonio Vivaldi. Luisa is good at violin, but she is not the best. She has peers, but she does not have friends. Until Maddalena. After a scandal threatens her noble family’s reputation, Maddalena is sent to the Pietà to preserve her marriage prospects. When she meets Luisa, Maddalena feels the stirrings of a friendship unlike anything she has known.

At The Mercury Theatre in London's West End, rumours are circulating of a curse. It is said that the lead actress Lilith has made a pact with Melpomene, the tragic muse of Greek mythology, to become the greatest actress to ever grace the stage. Suspicious of Lilith, the jealous wife of the theatre owner sends dresser Jenny to spy on her, and desperate for the money to help her family, Jenny agrees.

El fantasma de la Ópera es la historia de un tenebroso personaje, quien, a pesar del tormento que le provoca su fealdad, lucha por vivir para satisfacer su pasión por la belleza.

No matter what her family and friends say, Jenny knows she will never fall in love again. How can she, when her childhood sweetheart was one of the countless killed at Waterloo? So when the Earl of Danfield proposes a marriage of convenience, it seems the perfect solution. He will secure his inheritance, and she will be spared the necessity of being paraded in society, forced to dance and flirt and do all the things her broken heart cannot do. His proposal will give her what she wants most. Peace

"For the love of God, cut off my head." The last request in Uncle Silas's will shocks everyone speechless, everyone except his favorite niece, Anna. More than death itself, the claustrophobic Silas fears a premature burial. Will her elders carry out his request? Anna is certain they will not. It's up to her to do the right thing, even if it is a bit grisly. Armed with butcher knife and candle, Anna heads for the crypt underneath the church in the dead of night. All does not go according to Anna's careful planning.

Thea Hope longs to be an alchemist out of the shadow of her famous mother. The two of them are close to creating the legendary Philosopher’s Stone — whose properties include immortality and can turn any metal into gold — but just when the promise of the Stone’s riches is in their grasp, Thea’s mother destroys the Stone in a sudden fit of violent madness.

Paris, 1750. 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.

She tried to best him at his own game! Arabella Cullingham's latest flirtation leaves her blue-deviled when the handsome colonel leaves without saying good-bye. Her brother determines that a London Season is what his pretty sister needs to mend her broken heart. Enter the dashing Earl of Magdalen, a confirmed bachelor whose female acquaintances run to women of dubious reputation. They meet quite by accident and circumstances allow him to deduce she is a light-skirt!

A suspenseful Gothic fiction book set in Cornwall, England during the early 19th century.In the heart of Cornwall in the year 1829, the eerie story of the Genna Manor and its haunted inhabitants unfolds. As the book opens, the reader is introduced to the dying matriarch Mrs. Minor, her loyal servants, and the enigmatic housemaid Angela Heston. The tension builds as Mrs. Minor entrusts Angela with a disturbing task which inextricably entangles her in the Manor's sinister past. The secrets of the Manor, once shrouded in mystery, are slowly revealed after the consequential departure of Angela....

Winner of the Costa Book of the Year 2015. The Lie Tree is a wonderfully evocative and atmospheric story by Frances Hardinge, award-winning author of Cuckoo Song and Fly by Night. Faith's father has been found dead under mysterious circumstances, and as she is searching through his belongings for clues she discovers a strange tree. The tree grows healthy and bears fruit only if you whisper a lie to it.

It begins with a rumor, an exciting whisper. Anything to break the tedium of the harem for the shah's eldest daughter. People speak of a man with a face so vile, it would make a hangman faint, but a voice as sweet as an angel's kiss. A master of illusion and stealth. A masked performer known only as Vachon. For once the truth will outshine the tales. On her birthday the shah gifts his eldest daughter, Afsar, a circus. With the circus comes a man who will change everything.

Orphans Clara and Jacob Marley live by their wits, scavenging for scraps in the poorest alleyways of London, in the shadow of the workhouse. Every night, Jake promises his little sister ‘tomorrow will be better’, and when the chance to escape poverty comes their way, he seizes it despite the terrible price. And so Jacob Marley is set on a path that leads to his infamous partnership with Ebenezer Scrooge. As Jacob builds a fortress of wealth to keep the world out, only Clara can warn him of the hideous fate that awaits him if he refuses to let love and kindness into his heart....

When famed poet Hugh de Bonne is discovered dead of a heart attack in his bath one morning, his cousin Robert Highstead, a historian turned postmortem photographer, is charged with a simple task: transport Hugh’s remains for burial in a chapel that has been locked and abandoned for 16 years, housing the remains of his beloved wife, Ada. However, Ada’s grief-stricken niece refuses to open the chapel for Robert unless he agrees to her bargain: Before he can lay Hugh to rest, Robert must record Isabelle’s story of Ada and Hugh’s ill-fated marriage over the course of five nights.

On a hot June day in 1965, two six-year-old boys, Gareth and Jack, compete to see who can climb higher up a tree. When Jack falls and loses his eye on a thorn bush, the accident sets off a series of events that will bind the boys together for the rest of their lives. When the best friends meet albino twins Clara and Blanca, a shared fate unfolds. With Gareth and Jack's help, the twins are able to reclaim their lives and leave their nightmarish past behind them.

Donna Weaver has put everything she has into restoring The Breakers, an old bed and breakfast on a remote stretch of beach in Galloway. Now it sits waiting - freshly painted, richly furnished, filled with flowers - for the first guests to arrive. But Donna's guests, a contentious group of estranged cousins, soon realize that they've been here before, years ago. Decades have passed, but that night still haunts them: a 16th birthday party that started with peach schnapps and ended with a girl walking into the sea.