Best Gothic Fiction

In the deep woods of East Texas, Henry supports his family by selling bootleg liquor. As both their worlds spin violently out of control, Henry must make an impossible choice: protect the broken woman who’s claimed a piece of his soul, or put everyone he loves at risk in order to do the right thing. Eliza Maxwell is the author of The Grave Tender and The Kinfolk .

A chilling psychological suspense novel, The Grave Tender explores the dark boundaries people cross to save loved ones, and the limits of family bonds tested by the deepest of betrayals. The hunt for answers takes a determined Hadley deep into the pine forests, in search of sunlight that will break through the canopy of lies long enough to reveal the truth. " The Grave Tender will grasp you in its hooks from the beginning as you try to figure out the truth behind each character, because no one is truly what they seem... Addicting, easy to read, and hard to put down."

Inside the peculiar case, he discovers a journal, written by the renowned Robert Louis Stevenson, which divulges ominous particulars about his creation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde . Stevenson fears that the nightmare he thought had ended in Whitechapel has come halfway across the world “to resume its dreadful enterprise.” The focus shifts to an environmental scientist in present-day California, then back to Stevenson’s creation of his legendary personification of human evil in the late 19th century. Rafe Salazar, a Bureau of Land Management employee who makes a meager living tracking coyotes, spends his time between his rented trailer in Topanga Canyon and camping in the wilderness, hoping to observe enough about the coyotes’ behavior to make a compelling case for their welfare.

It was only when Glen took her home to his family’s lakeside Victorian mansion in the snowy Jersey hills that Diana realized how much more there was to learn about the handsome stranger to whom she’d given her heart. Her sixty-year writing career and the publication of seventy-six books, which together sold over fifty million copies worldwide, established her as one of the most successful mystery and romantic suspense writers of the twentieth century and earned her the title “The Queen of the American Gothics.”. Whitney resided in several places, including New Jersey.

Wilde famously said that Dorian Gray “contains much of me”: Basil Hallward is “what I think I am,” Lord Henry “what the world thinks me,” and “Dorian what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps.” Wilde’s comment suggests a backward glance to a Greek or Dorian Age, but also a forward-looking view to a more permissive time than his own, which saw Wilde sentenced to two years’ hard labor for gross indecency. Nicholas Frankel has done a great service to Oscar Wilde's readers in preparing this new edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray . ...This Harvard edition of the untouched typescript is thus a necessary acquisition for any serious student of Wilde's work...After this enthralling novel has left you shaken and disturbed, look for deeper understanding in Nicholas Frankel's superb annotated edition. He has skillfully restored Wilde's original version, and in the manner of other great annotated editions, supplied readers with everything anyone would need to know about Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray , and their lives and times...The entire product--novel and critical/biographical material--makes fascinating reading. It is not often that a piece of serious scholarship is accorded such deluxe treatment, and in this case it is a cause for real celebration, for Frankel has provided a wealth of supplemental material and visual matter, as well as a "Textual Introduction" and a series of notes that explain references and cultural context, help the reader understand the editing processes, and point out the passages that were singled out for deletion...This annotated version [is] a treasure for scholars and for anyone with a serious interest in Wilde, the 1890s, and Aestheticism. Splendid...Profusely illustrated and annotated, the edition's most interesting feature will be a comparison of the original hand-emended typescript with the two main published versions, each of which toned down the novel in a vain effort to avoid the notoriety that descended on both the work and its author...Frankel's edition is a major contribution to the studies of Wilde and of late Victorian legal, sexual, and social contexts...Required reading for students and scholars of Wilde and his period.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Christmas is the season of the heart, and #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber is here to warm yours with a delightful holiday novel of first impressions and second chances. Merry Knight is pretty busy these days. Chapter One. “Mom, I need to work overtime, so I won’t be home to help with dinner.”. Robin Knight struggled with mobility issues due to complications with multiple sclerosis. Matterson Consulting, the firm where she worked as a temp, was involved in a huge project, its biggest one to date, for the Boeing Company. All the normal, fun things that were part of this time of year, but for those employed by Matterson, it didn’t matter. Patrick was a dear boy, but he tended to dirty every dish in the house when he cooked. Bogie was Patrick’s golden retriever, who had an appetite that rivaled that of an entire high school football squad. I’ll stop off at the store on my way home and pick some up.” While she was there she’d grab a few other essentials, too, like milk and bread. Her father was in pharmaceutical sales and traveled extensively around the Pacific Northwest and was often on the road. Merry had taken the twelve-month temp job with Matterson Consulting to save tuition money for college. She’d been hired by Matterson Consulting specifically for this Boeing project and had worked extensively on inputting the data. They considered her part of the team and often turned to her with questions, as she had replaced the department head. Most everyone else went to a local café around the corner, where the food was fast, cheap, and tasty. When do I have time to date?” Merry had a fairly good idea what had prompted the question. Her younger brother was involved with a special group that held dances and other events that allowed him to socialize with other teens who had Down syndrome. As a high school senior, he was active in drama and part of the football team. She hoped the state of her social life would change once she could afford to return to school. “Mom, have you seen all the forms and questionnaires that need to be filled out for those dating sites? Her best friend Dakota had met the love of her life online at Mix & Mingle. She started filling out the forms but quickly gave up, exasperated by all the busywork. I have plenty of time to get out there.” Merry didn’t need the reminder about her friend’s happy ending. After Dakota met Michael on the site, she had sung the website’s praises to Merry like a wolf howling at the moon. “Yes, Mom, I heard.” Merry reached for her sandwich and was about to take another bite when the vice president of the company, Jayson Bright, walked past her desk. Her boss’s gaze landed on the sandwich she had on her desk, and for a moment she toyed with the idea of offering him half, but as she doubted he’d find any humor in it, she restrained herself. “Sorry, no, I was distracted.” From Mr. Bright’s look, Merry had to wonder if there was something written in the employee handbook about eating at her desk. The space was often crowded and it was uncomfortable bumbling around, scooting between those at the tables and those waiting in line for a turn at the microwave. The rumor mill in the office said he was related to the Matterson family; the company president was his uncle. Merry’s thoughts drifted to Jayson Bright and she mused at how attractive he would be if he smiled. He was about six feet tall, several inches taller than her five-five, with dark brown hair and eyes. Wanting to be generous in spirit, Merry supposed he carried a heavy responsibility. By the time Merry arrived at home, hauling a ten-pound bag of Bogie’s favorite dog food, it was after eight o’clock. As soon as she walked in the door, Patrick rushed to help her with the heavy sack. “Merry’s home,” he shouted, taking the dog food out of her hands and carting it to the kitchen pantry. Her mom leaned heavily on her walker, now exhausted and fatigued, because she grew tired at the end of each day. “We got you an early birthday gift this afternoon and it’s the best one ever.” Patrick rubbed his hands together, unable to disguise his eagerness. Born on December 26, the day after Christmas, Merry had felt cheated as a child when it came to her birthday gifts. Those with Down syndrome could legally drive in Washington State, but the family couldn’t afford a second car. “You get to pick for yourself, but I’ll help if you want.” From the way his eyes lit up, Merry knew he’d be terribly disappointed if he didn’t get a say in this. Bogie pranced around in his eagerness for Patrick to fill the dish so he could eat. “Now, Mom, now?” Patrick asked, jumping up and down after he poured the dog food into the bowl. Merry hugged her brother and, wrapping her arms around his torso, she gave him a gentle squeeze. Patrick took hold of her hand while their mother opened the laptop and pulled out a chair to sit down. Debbie Macomber , the author of Any Dream Will Do, If Not for You, Sweet Tomorrows, A Girl’s Guide to Moving On, Last One Home, Silver Linings, Love Letters, Mr. Miracle, Blossom Street Brides, and Rose Harbor in Bloom, is a leading voice in women’s fiction.

Moving from Addis Ababa to New York City and back again, Cutting for Stone is an unforgettable story of love and betrayal, medicine and ordinary miracles--and two brothers whose fates are forever intertwined. John Irving has been nominated for a National Book Award three times--winning once, in 1980, for the novel The World According to Garp . In 2000, he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules --a film with seven Academy Award nominations. I’ve not read a novel wherein medicine, the practice of it, is made as germane to the storytelling process, to the overall narrative, as the author manages to make it happen here.

Now, with the opportunity to spy for the Allies inside the German High Command, Pino endures the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation by fighting in secret, his courage bolstered by his love for Anna and for the life he dreams they will one day share. “Sprawling, stirring, like the richest of stories, and played out on a canvas of heroism and tragedy, Beneath a Scarlet Sky is like one of those iconic World War II black and white photos: a face of hope and tears, the story of a small life that ended up mattering in a big way.” —Andrew Gross, New York Times bestselling author of The One Man. Sullivan shows us war as it really is, with all its complexities, conflicting loyalties, and unresolved questions, but most of all, he brings us the extraordinary figure of Pino Lella, whose determination to live con smania —with passion—saved him.” —Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of Suspicion and The Switch.

The urbane authority that Vladimir Nabokov brought to every word he ever wrote, and the ironic amusement he cultivated in response to being uprooted and politically exiled twice in his life, never found fuller expression than in Pale Fire published in 1962 after the critical and popular success of Lolita had made him an international literary figure. "This centaur-work, half poem, half prose…is a creation of perfect beauty, symmetry, strangeness, originality and moral truth. Pretending to be a curio, it cannot disguise the fact that it is one of the great works of art of this century." "Of all [Nabokov's] inventions, Pale Fire is the wildest, the funniest and the most earnest.

A #1 New York Times best seller for more than a year, an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults (2000) and Best Book for Reluctant Readers (2000), and with millions of copies in print, this novel for teen readers (or “wallflowers” of more-advanced age) will make you laugh, cry, and perhaps feel nostalgic for those moments when you, too, tiptoed onto the dance floor of life. His first film, The Four Corners of Nowhere , premiered at Sundance Film Festival.

“Catherine Ryan Hyde delivers once again with this feel-good story guaranteed to be a hit…” — Redbook. When Pete Solomon, a neglected twelve-year-old boy, and Justin bring a wounded wolf-dog hybrid to Dr. Lucy, the outcasts soon find refuge in one another. Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of thirty-three published books. Her bestselling 1999 novel, Pay It Forward , adapted into a major Warner Bros. motion picture, made the American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults list and was translated into more than two dozen languages for distribution in more than thirty countries. More than fifty of her short stories have been published in many journals, including the Antioch Review , Michigan Quarterly Review , the Virginia Quarterly Review , Ploughshares , Glimmer Train , and the Sun , and in the anthologies Santa Barbara Stories and California Shorts , as well as the bestselling anthology Dog Is My Co-Pilot . Her short fiction received honorable mention in the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest, a second-place win for the Tobias Wolff Award, and nominations for Best American Short Stories , the O. Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize.

But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family's long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption. Based on one of America's most notorious real-life scandals--in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country--Lisa Wingate's riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong. "Lisa Wingate takes an almostunthinkable chapter in our nation's history and weaves a tale of enduring power.That Georgia Tann and her Memphis Tennessee Children's Home Society couldactually exist, unraveling the lives of countless children, stealing their pastsand changing their futures, will give you chills. - Paula McLain, New York Times bestselling author of Circlingthe Sun "A powerful taleof family, of sisters, of secrets kept and secrets shared. - Susan Meissner, author of Secrets of a Charmed Life " Before We Were Yours , Lisa Wingate's heart-racing tale of a family ripped apart by the TennesseeChildren's Home Society scandal, r. ang so true I couldn't sleep until I knewtheir fate. . [Lisa] Wingate is a master-storyteller, and you’ll find yourself pulled along as she reveals the wake of terror and heartache that is Georgia Tann’s legacy.” — Parade. It is almost a cliché to say a book is ‘lovingly written’ but that phrase applies clearly to Lisa Wingate’s latest novel, Before We Were Yours . This story about children taken from their parents through kidnapping or subterfuge and then placed for adoption, for a price, clearly pours out of Wingate’s heart. “This story is heartfelt and genuine, especially as Wingate explores the idea of home and family from a youngster’s point of view.” — Historical Novels Review. “Lisa Wingate takes an almost unthinkable chapter in our nation’s history and weaves a tale of enduring power. But the real feat of this stirring novel is how deeply Wingate plunges us into the heart and mind of twelve-year-old river gypsy Rill Foss. Rill’s utterly singular voice will stay with you long after the last page is turned, as will Wingate’s courage to follow her anywhere. Vivid and affecting.” —Paula McLain, New York Times bestselling author of Circling the Sun. I’m still basking in the afterglow, in shock at the true-crime elements, in awe at the journey of these characters who seem to have immortal souls.” —Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

King Severn Argentine’s fearsome reputation precedes him: usurper of the throne, killer of rightful heirs, ruthless punisher of traitors. Richard III is near-obligatory context for reading about King Severn Argentine; readers less fond of the Bard can refer to Kylo Ren instead. This is the first title in Wheeler’s projected Kingfountain series, about Owen Kiskaddon, initially the eight-year-old son of a traitorous duke being held hostage at the royal court of Ceredigion.

Desperate to know whether he has an heir, the dying magnate hires Bosch, the only person he can trust. At the same time, unable to leave cop work behind completely, he volunteers as an investigator for a tiny cash-strapped police department and finds himself tracking a serial rapist who is one of the most baffling and dangerous foes he has ever faced. Swift, unpredictable, and thrilling, The Wrong Side of Goodbye shows that Michael Connelly "continues to amaze with his consistent skill and sizzle" ( Cleveland Plain Dealer ). Few mystery novelists make background facts and simple descriptions sing the way this writer does. And no writer exploits Los Angeles - its geography, its historical power wars, its celebrity culture, its lore - as compellingly as Connelly....he must be read." "If any novelist is worthy to walk once more through the front door of Raymond Chandler's iconic Sternwood mansion, it's Michael Connelly. For over two decades, Connelly has been brilliantly updating and enlarging the possibilities of the classic L.A. hard-boiled novel, first bestowed upon the world in 1939 with Chandler's debut, The Big Sleep . Moving effortlessly between Bosch's private and public cases, he ratchets up the tension...pulling off in the final few chapters a California noir sleight of hand that would make Ross Macdonald envious." "In each novel, Connelly has dug deeper into Harry's psyche, as he skillfully does in The Wrong Side of Goodbye ....Connelly's melding of the police procedural, private detective novel and intense character study remains solid. "....it is immensely satisfying to see Bosch's sustained and deepened passion for his mission- "Everybody count or nobody counts" - undiminished by age or circumstance, even as a younger generation of detectives of all colors and orientations share the stage to carry on the work that has given Bosch, and this series, such an enduring appeal.

People say Beartown is finished. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world. A thoroughly empathetic examination of the fragile human spirit, Backman's latest will resonate a long time.” ( Kirkus Reviews ). While the story is dark at times, love, sacrifice, and the bonds of friendship and family shine through ultimately offering hope and even redemption.” ( Publishers Weekly ). "The sentimentally savvy Backman (A Man Called Ove, 2014) takes a sobering and solemn look at the ways alienation and acceptance, ethics and emotions nearly destroy a small town and young people." Backman cements his standing as a writer of astonishing depth and proves that he also has very broad range plus the remarkable ability to make you understand the feelings of each of a dozen different characters. The story is fully packed with wise insights into the human experience causing characters and readers to ponder life’s great question of who we are, what we hope to be and how we should lead our lives.” ( The Washington Times ).

Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. "The Shack" cuts through the cliches of both religion and bad writing to reveal something compelling and beautiful about life's integral dance with the Divine. Through my tears and cheers, I have been indeed transformed by the tender mercy with which William Paul Young opened the veil that too often separated me from God and from myself. With every page, the complicated do's and don't that distort a relationship into a religion were washed away as I understood Father, Son and Holy Spirit for the first time in my life.

An immersive entertainment experience unlike any other, A Song of Ice and Fire has earned George R. R. Martin—dubbed “the American Tolkien” by Time magazine—international acclaim and millions of loyal readers. Now here is the entire monumental cycle: A GAME OF THRONES. A CLASH OF KINGS. A STORM OF SWORDS. A FEAST FOR CROWS. A DANCE WITH DRAGONS. “One of the best series in the history of fantasy.”— Los Angeles Times Winter is coming. Meanwhile, across the Narrow Sea, Prince Viserys, heir of the fallen House Targaryen, which once ruled all of Westeros, schemes to reclaim the throne with an army of barbarian Dothraki—whose loyalty he will purchase in the only coin left to him: his beautiful yet innocent sister, Daenerys. It’s a fantasy series for hip, smart people, even those who don’t read fantasy.”— Chicago Tribune “Martin amply fulfills the first volume’s promise and continues what seems destined to be one of the best fantasy series ever written.”— The Denver Post, on A Clash of Kings “Martin has produced—is producing, since the series isn’t over—the great fantasy epic of our era.

The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway's most enduring works. Yet Santiago is too old and infirm to partake of the gun-toting machismo that disfigured much of the author's later work: "The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks. Just before it was dark, as they passed a great island of Sargasso weed that heaved and swung in the light sea as though the ocean were making love with something under a yellow blanket, his small line was taken by a dolphin. If a younger Hemingway had written this novella, Santiago most likely would have towed the enormous fish back to port and posed for a triumphal photograph--just as the author delighted in doing, circa 1935.