Peregrine Hill by Nina de Gramont takes place in Gilded Age New York and follows Mariah Bishop and her mother Isabelle in the wake of a family tragedy. When Isabelle's husband and children (other than Mariah) perish in a steamboat accident, mother and daughter must find a way to survive by making an advantageous marriage.… Continue reading Review: Peregrine Hill by Nina de Gramont
Oubliette by LV Russell is a short and macabrely "sweet" gothic tale about a young woman isolated in a crumbling manor with her mother. A mix of Victorian Psycho and a 1960s Roger Corman Hammer film (most on par with The Fall of the House of Usher), Oubliette follows Rue as she contends with her… Continue reading Review: Oubliette by LV Russell
At HNS 2026, I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Essie Fox. I read The Fascination when it first came out and enjoyed Essie's dark and gothic aesthetic and writing style. As such, Dangerous and her newest novel, Catherine - a Wuthering Heights retelling, have been on my TBR since they came out.… Continue reading Review: Dangerous by Essie Fox
Following up her solid debut of Eleanor of Avignon, Elizabeth DeLozier is back with Victorian gothic tale The Whitechapel Full Moon Society. Opening in 1888, Caroline Foster journeys to London to discover the fate of her brother after his sudden disappearance. His last known whereabouts? The Whitechapel Full Moon Society boardinghouse. Unaccustomed to the grim… Continue reading Review: The Whitechapel Full Moon Society by Elizabeth DeLozier
Victorian Psycho is a wonderfully grotesque and uniquely written work of historical fiction about a governess beginning a new job with the Pounds family. This one is short and not so sweet, and Feito's deftly detailed and wholly original writing style will knock your socks off. Her abnormally delicious way of describing events, both expected… Continue reading Review: Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito
Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher is a delightfully gory* novel set in late 19th century North Carolina following scientific illustrator Sonia Wilson as she begins a new job with a reclusive, surly naturalist with a penchant for insects and parasites. A stark departure from her usual botanical illustrations, crafting insects and their life cycles proves… Continue reading Review: Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher
Burn Down Master's House by Clay Cane takes place over about thirty years stretching from Pennsylvania to South Carolina, with the overarching story's inciting event taking place in Goochland, Virginia. Author Clay Cane based these four interconnected stories off of his own ancestry, as well as real events in the 19th century American South pulled… Continue reading Review: Burn Down Master’s House by Clay Cane
The Sea Child by Linda Wilgus follows poor widow Isabel newly arrived back in her home village of Helford in Cornwall three years after the death of her husband at the Battle of Trafalgar. Isabel is no stranger to the sea--her late husband was a midshipman, her adopted father was an admiral, and most intriguingly,… Continue reading Review: The Sea Child by Linda Wilgus
Daughter of Strangers by Maybelle Wallis rounds of the trilogy which began with Heart of Cruelty and was followed by The Piano Player. The third book in the Doughty trilogy, Daughter of Strangers relegates William and Jane to the background and focuses instead on William's colleague from Dublin, now in New York with the Doughtys,… Continue reading Review: Daughter of Strangers by Maybelle Wallis
The House of Two Sisters by Rachel Louise Driscoll (titled Nephthys in the UK) follows Clementine "Clemmie", daughter of a famed Victorian Egyptologist and "mummy unwrapper." Clemmie ventures alone to Cairo to return one of her father's (pilfered) artifacts that Clemmie believes has cursed her family. (Read into that the colonialism and superstition as you… Continue reading Review: The House of Two Sisters by Rachel Louise Driscoll
