There’s something about fall that makes books feel cozier, movies feel a little more creepy, and sweatshirts feel like a warm hug. The sun starts ghosting us at 5 PM, and suddenly, we all want to be a governess living in a crumbling mansion (fitted with modern conveniences), write mysterious letters to friends, and be swept off our feet by a mysterious, brooding, devastatingly gorgeous, but morally grey hero.
Welcome to Gothic season. 💀
Here’s your Fall Vibes Primer… a curated blend of books, films, activities, and mood-lifting distractions to scratch that particular autumnal itch.
Less pumpkin spice, more candlelit suspense. (I’m an apple cider lover myself)
BOOKS: ROMANCE WITH SHADOWS
Let’s step away from summer romance tropes and lean into brooding looks, stormy estates, and heroines with questions.
🖤 Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
A playful parody of Gothic tropes that still manages to indulge them. Catherine Morland is the perfect guide into a world where nothing is as dramatic as it seems—or is it? P.S. This gorgeous edition is on sale right now.
🖤 Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt
Governess. Isolated mansion. Dead wife. Mysterious employer. You know the drill and Holt does it with addictive precision. This is textbook Gothic romance, and it goes down like cozy mug of cocoa on a cold night.
P.S. This is an classic so you might have to go on a treasure hunt to find it.
Bonus Gothic Reads
Bride of Montrose by Cynthia Keyes (currently reading)
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Widow of Greywater Keep by Clarissa Wetherell
MOVIES: MOODY & ATMOSPHERIC
Crimson Peak (2015)
Guillermo del Toro’s love letter to Gothic fiction. Think: haunted mansion, blood-red clay, forbidden romance, and ghosts that warn, not scare. Visually lush and gloriously dramatic.
Northanger Abbey (2007)
A charming, slightly cheeky adaptation of Austen’s most Gothic-flavored novel. It lovingly pokes fun at dark corridors and brooding strangers, while still letting you swoon and shiver a little. Felicity Jones is pitch-perfect as Catherine Morland.
Jane Eyre (2011)
This version leans into the eerie, windswept loneliness of the moors and the emotional volatility of the source material. Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender bring Brontë’s brooding intensity to life. It’s basically required viewing for fall.
YOUTUBE DEEP DIVE: WHAT IS GOTHIC LITERATURE?
Set the mood and sharpen your mind. This short lecture nails the foundations of the genre and explains why Gothic stories still haunt us:
▶️ What is Gothic Literature? | A Brief Introduction
▶️ The Gothic: A Case for Reading
ACTIVITIES FOR A FOGGY AFTERNOON
🕯️ Light a candle. Now light five more.
🕯️ Read aloud by flashlight or candlelight. Bonus points for a dramatic accent.
🕯️ Walk through a cemetery (quietly, respectfully, with with reverence).
🕯️ Bake something Victorian: seed cake, jam tarts, or gingerbread.
🕯️ Thrift a vintage nightgown or velvet robe and pretend you’re the tragic heroine.
A client of mine wrote the other week, “It is said that you die twice, once when you stop breathing and the second time when someone says your name for the last time.”
That sentence haunts me.
It makes me want to go to the cemetery and read the names as I walk through to keep them all alive for another lifetime.
WEAR THE VIBE
Need a sweatshirt that matches your reading list? This sweatshirt is my vibe. Cozy enough for an all day reading marathon. Dramatically dark enough for your candlelit reading.
FICTION WITH GOTHIC UNDERTONES
Historical Fiction:
🕯️ The First Witch of Boston by Andrea Catalano
A haunting reimagining of the real-life case of Margaret Jones, the first woman executed for witchcraft in colonial Boston. Told through diary entries, imagined transcripts, and raw emotion, this is a feminist gothic rooted in real history.
Contemporary Romance:
🖤 Beautiful Villain: A Dark & Spicy Modern Jay Gatsby by Rebecca F. Kenney
A Southern Gothic Gatsby retelling with vampires, secrets, and intense chemistry. Moody, atmospheric, and full of doomed desire. Gatsby has never been this morally gray or this hot.
Dim the lights, pour the tea, and let a little darkness into your heart, in the most delightful way.
Let me know your favorite gothic reads and watches
For every membership upgraded for $5, I donate a historical fiction or romance book to a local women’s shelter.
Affiliate links are used at no extra cost to you, but they help me earn a small amount, just enough to grab a tea and keep writing! ☕
more Holt! I found an e-copy at my library through Overdrive. thank you!
AMAZING! I just published a reading list for the gothic novels I’ll read this month, would love to hear your thoughts 💖
https://open.substack.com/pub/thesavantslair/p/an-october-gothic-reading-list?r=6eoc9f&utm_medium=ios