Since its literary inception in 1764 with the publication of The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, the Gothic genre has never truly left us. Beyond its dark atmosphere, Gothic stories have become identifiable in our culture through elements like domestic spaces that become prisons, the metonymy of horror, female characters in distress, ancient prophecies, generational trauma, and psychological hauntings.1 The Gothic also explores the repression of trauma, desires, and societal transgressions on a micro and macro-level (think about the Creature in Frankenstein – he forces Victor to confront his own moral ambiguity and ambitions as he gains autonomy). So what does this say about our society in 2026, now that Gothic film adaptations and retellings (i.e. Poor Things, Nosferatu, Frankenstein) are on the rise? Maybe we’re entering another Gothic renaissance, craving stories that explore the taboo for us. Either way, we’ve got a list of modern Gothic retellings for adults of all ages to enjoy.
Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine is a Good Morning America BOOK CLUB PICK that “celebrates the power of liberation…even in the face of terrifying forces” (People). Protagonist Junie is a sixteen-year-old enslaved girl living on a plantation in Alabama, tending to the master’s daughter Violet. During the day, she works while daydreaming about a world in which she can be free. At night, she secretly roams the forest on the plantation’s property, processing her grief over the death of her older sister, Minnie. But Junie’s hopes for freedom are taken away when wealthy guests arrive from New Orleans, hinting at a marriage proposal for Violet. Knowing this would upend her life, Junie commits a desperate act to save herself and stop Violet’s marriage – accidentally rousing her sister’s spirit from the grave in the process. Junie’s journey toward freeing herself and Minnie’s spirit from being trapped in the wrong world leads to the discovery of dark secrets rotting within the plantation. Grappling with grief, ghosts, and the search for autonomy, Junie is the modern Gothic tale readers need if they wish to root for their main character from beginning to end.
Plagues, possessions, the occult: what isn’t to love about Isabel Cañas’ Gothic tale set in Zacatecas, Mexico? It’s 1765 when Alba, her family, and her fiancé must flee their home to seek refuge from the plague. They find such refuge in an isolated silver mine, where they hope to survive until the worst of the incurable disease leaves Zacatecas. But the safety they hoped to find soon shatters when Alba begins acting strangely. Sleepwalking, violent convulsions, hallucinations, physically deteriorating…what in the world is wrong with Alba? Her fiancé’s cousin Elías suspects demon possession is what is tearing Alba apart from the inside, but without a priest or any help from outside the mine, he doesn’t know how to help. With a deadly plague lurking beyond the mine’s walls and a deadly demon lurking within Alba’s flesh, Alba’s family must come together to save Alba and themselves – before it’s too late. Published by Berkley last summer, this haunting story of demons and disease is a fantastic choice for readers who want a fresh take on possession in the Gothic.
In The Hong Kong Widow by Kristen Loesch, more than just the past haunts protagonist Mei in Hong Kong. It’s the 1950s when young Mei, a refugee of the Chinese Communist revolution in Shanghai, receives a shocking invitation from her new city: to participate in a competition among six spirit mediums in one of the city’s most notoriously haunted houses. Six séances over six nights until a single winner emerges – Mei has every right to refuse this (terrifying) invitation, but decides to go when she realizes the hostess is the wife of the man who destroyed Mei’s old life in Shanghai. The winner of this competition is promised to receive a fortune, but what Mei truly wants is revenge. Readers will love Loesch’s Gothic story rooted in séances, the past haunting protagonists, and vengeance.
Can’t get enough of Frankenstein’s Creature this year? Check out Jeanette Winterson’s take on Mary Shelley’s classic by reading Frankisstein: A Love Story. Set in 1816 Lake Geneva, this retelling braids the lives of nineteen-year-old Mary Shelley, transgender doctor Ry, celebrated professor Victor Stein, and future billionaire Ron Lord together with evocative prose, defying “conventional expectations [while existing], brilliantly and defiantly, on its own terms” (Sarah Lotz, New York Times Book Review). Queerness, invention in the age of AI, and transhumanism: all is explored in this unconventional Gothic tale longlisted for the Booker Prize.
As the Washington Post calls it, Elizabeth Hand’s A Haunting on the Hill is a “gripping horror novel [that is both] strange and wonderful” (and with a gorgeous cover too!). Protagonist Holly Sherwin is a struggling playwright without the money, resources, or time needed to develop her play Witching Night. Enter a sudden grant and Gothic element #1: an isolated mansion known as Hill House, tucked away in the kind of remote village that Holly knows would be perfect for developing her play without distractions. Joined by her girlfriend Nisa and a troupe of actors, Holly rents the house for a month, hoping to finally bring her vision to life. But what waits for Holly and her friends is not a quiet creative space fit for new beginnings, but a house haunted by the past…and maybe something else.
As one of my all-time favorite short story collections, The Bloody Chamber is a feminist Gothic retelling masterpiece, loved by literary scholars and feminist revisionists (including me!) for over 45 years. Carter reimagines the Gothic through retellings of classic fairy tales like Bluebeard, Little Red Riding Hood, and Beauty and the Beast. Carter dares to ask: what if Bluebeard’s wife escaped the chamber? What if it were the Beast who feared Beauty? What if women could haunt back? Now a Penguin Classic, The Bloody Chamber terrifies and entices readers with Carter’s infamous “purple prose” – seducing you with so much detail and wondrous dialogue that you forget who or what you were supposed to fear the most within her pages.
When it comes to the Gothic, we can never get enough of its eerie atmosphere and strange ghosts. If you have any other recommendations of modern Gothic retellings for adults, please comment them below!
1 Harris, Robert. Elements of the Gothic Novel. 19 Oct. 2020, https://www.virtualsalt.com/elements-of-the-gothic-novel/.
Alexandra Rae is a feminist writer, editor, and revisionist from Ohio. She is a submissions reader for Narratively and editorial assistant for Brink Books. Find her on Instagram @theresonationofalexandra.
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