Gothic Historical Fiction

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.

For the first time, the untold story of the three women closest to Victor Frankenstein is revealed in a dark and sweeping reimagining of Frankenstein by the acclaimed author of The Lost History of Dreams and Doomed Queens. Unnatural Creatures shocks new life into Mary Shelley's beloved gothic classic by revealing the feminine side of the tale.

Set in regency-era Scotland along the beautiful shore of Loch Lomond, Prince of Foxes is based on the Scots tale of Gold Tree and Silver Tree, with Lord of Horses moving down to the dark streets of London and based on the tale of The Kelpie’s Bride. King of Forever, the final story in the trilogy, is set in the faerie realm itself and is based on the tale of Tam Lin and the myth of Hades and Persephone. Fall in love with the series listeners have described as delightful, compelling, and enchanting.

Ten-year-old Helen and her summer guardian, Flora, are isolated together in Helen's decaying family house while her father is doing secret war work in Oak Ridge during the final months of World War II. At three Helen lost her mother and the beloved grandmother who raised her has just died. A fiercely imaginative child, Helen is desperate to keep her house intact with all its ghosts and stories. Flora, her late mother's twenty-two-year old first cousin, who cries at the drop of a hat, is ardently determined to do her best for Helen.

A gothic horror novel set in the fictional principality of Otranto during the medieval period.Delve deep into the realm of antiquity and dark machinations, as you navigate through twisted corridors of ambition, desperation, and unfathomable horrors. A poignant embodiment of themes such as prophecy, death, darkness, and ambition, the narrative conjures a haunted atmosphere prevalent in gothic horror literature. Detailed SynopsisDomenico, Prince of Otranto, finds his life turned around when a chilling prophecy brings his world crashing down. A father torn between his weak son, Marco, and his ...

The Darkness of Rashid by Steven Detmers is a paranormal and supernatural mystery novel set in Victorian London during the late 19th century. This gripping tale weaves a web of intrigue, exploring the enigmatic life of Rashid-Zahirah and his uncanny abilities to manipulate and predict the future. In the heart of London's bustling theater district, a fresh interpretation of Shakespeare's Hamlet draws an elite crowd, but it is the mysterious Rashid-Zahirah who steals the spotlight. With his striking appearance and unsettling aura, Rashid captivates the audience and commands the attention of ...

Psychic Spirit by Steven Detmers is a paranormal novel, a supernatural mystery set in London during the late 19th to early 20th century. This gripping fiction delves into the hidden depths of the human soul, exploring the intersection of faith and the supernatural. Overview: Samuel Atwater, a renowned psychic researcher, crosses paths with Reverend Tyrus Spencer, a successful yet troubled clergyman, and his enigmatic senior curate, Timothy Coogan. Beneath the surface of Spencer's esteemed position lies a profound sadness, and an unsettling tension brews between him and Coogan. Intriguing ...

Convention-flouting Nora Harris is a determined young medical student in Gilded Age Manhattan. A surgeon’s daughter, she always leads with her head—until her father’s latest protégé, Euan Colquhoun, steals her heart. Love and logic bind the newly betrothed couple together, but a tragic accident cuts their bright future short. Grief-stricken, Nora finds surprising comfort in corresponding with Euan’s older brother, Malcolm. She decides to forsake her ambitions to retreat to the Colquhoun family farm deep in the tangled woods of upstate New York.

Disowned by the cruel father who has always despised her, she has nowhere to turn until she is taken under the wing of a glamorous relative she never knew: the former Duchess of Ellsworth, who has scandalized society by remarrying soon after her first husband's death. At the opulent seaside estate of Ellsmere, Oriel thinks she has found a safe haven - but the darkly handsome young duke, Herron, believes otherwise. Haunted by the death of his father, he suspects that Ellsmere is sheltering a murderer.

Perdido, 1928. Torn apart by the continuing tensions between Mary-Love and her daughter-in-law Elinor, the Caskey family must also confront other crises. As the economy plummets and relationships sour, something sinister is prowling the darkest recesses of the Caskey household. Patient, implacable, waiting to catch its next victim in its deadly web…

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.

Samsee Secretsby Harper Stanwick, Sr. is a mystery novel set in central Florida during the early 20th century. Ned Mackey, a naturalist and zoologist, embarks on a summer assignment to collect specimens in the dense, shadowy forests and meandering rivers of the Samsee River valley. His quiet life takes a dramatic turn when he encounters Edith DeCoster, the spirited niece of the wealthy Carl DeCoster, owner of the grand Swampy Krags estate. As Ned is drawn into the DeCoster family's enigmatic world, he learns of an old legend about a sunken treasure guarded by a monstrous sea creature. The ...

The patriarch of the Licht family, Abraham has raised a brood of talented con artists, children molded in his image, and experts in The Game, his calling and philosophy of life. Traveling from one small town to the next across the continent, from the Northeast to the frontier West, they skillfully swindle unsuspecting victims, playing on their greed, lust, pride, and small-mindedness. Despite their success, Abraham cannot banish a past that haunts him: the ghost of his ancestor Sarah Licht, a former con woman who met with a gruesome fate.

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.

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.

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

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.

Do No Harm by Harper Stanwick, Sr. is a captivating mystery fiction and psychological mystery fiction novel set in Victorian England. This story delves deep into the psychological and medical enigmas of the time, unraveling a dark and suspenseful plot that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. Follow Dr. Petrie, a dedicated physician, as he uncovers sinister plots and faces life-threatening dangers in the heart of London. Experience the chilling atmosphere of Victorian society, from its grandiose mansions to its shadowy alleyways. Encounter a web of secrets involving high-ranking ...

Deep in the French countryside - as the country reels through rebellion, beheadings, and starvation - a goat herder named Odette is trying to survive. Just that is on her mind - survival. Since she marched to Versailles with a group of Parisian women to protest the high prices of wheat, her life has spun out of control. She's fled the capital for the countryside. But what will happen to her? Can she stay in the Dordogne, where the kindly farmers have taken pity on her?

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.