9 literary horror novels: a genre I’m becoming obsessed with
The unhinged woman in fiction is a thing that I really, really love, and I’m also learning that I love when that meshes with literary horror too - usually in the form of body horror.
I’m generally a wuss; you won’t ever find me watching a horror movie. Ever. But reading literary horror? It’s really becoming something that I love. A lot of horror is horror for horror’s sake and usually features women being killed or hurt or targeted, but literary horror seems to focus very much on the woman doing the damage and taking revenge on a society that has harmed her repeatedly.
This is a mixture of those I’ve read and those that are on my TBR and currently reading.
‘Youthjuice’ by EK Sathue - this is my current read, about a writer who joins a new NYC beauty brand discovers how far she’ll willing to go to stay young and beautiful. (out 4 June from
‘The Eyes are the Best Part’ by Monika Kim - I just finished this! This is a delicious horror about a young Korean American woman who becomes obsessed with the idea of eating the bright blue eyeballs of her mum’s new racist, misogynistic boyfriend (out 4th July from Brazen)
‘Natural Beauty’ by Ling Ling Huang - I read this a few months ago about a musical prodigy who joins a wellness brand in NYC whose products do more that begin to change her more than she could have ever expected. Will she survive her new beauty? (out now from Dutton)
‘Chlorine’ by Jade Song - this strange, ethereal story about Ren, a champion swimmer, who believes she is a mermaid and the only way to freedom is making that a reality. Haunting and gorgeously written - a favourite from this year so far! (out now from Footnote Press)
‘Freakslaw’ by Jane Flett - this queer literary horror set in a small Scottish town in the 90s sees a funfair come to town that stir up hidden feelings among the townspeople that bring about violence in the town - doesn’t it sound amazing? It’s next up on my TBR! (out 20 June from Transworld/Doubleday)
‘Our Wives Under the Sea’ by Julia Armfield - one of my favourite books of 2022! A beautiful, haunting novel about Miri and Leah when Leah finally returns after a deep-sea mission that went wrong, and she comes back forever changed (out now from Picador)
‘Boy Parts’ by Eliza Clark - full confession time, but I DNFed this back when I tried it in 2020, but now that I’m in the genre mood, I want to try it again. Irina takes explicit photos of the men of Newcastle and her new life pushes her into a damaging spiral (out now from Faber & Faber)
‘The Centre’ by Ayesha Manazir Siddaqi - this is another one on my TBR, and I’m hoping to convince Sarah to put this on the line-up for the next season of our podacst… Anisa is a translator for Bollywood films, and her boyfriend has a startling aptitude for languages. He introduces her to an exclusive, invite-only centre that promises immediate fluency in any language… (out now from Picador)
‘Nightbitch’ by Rachel Yoder - I devoured ‘Nightbitch’ in one sitting in 2022. An artist home full time with her toddler is struggling with juggling herself and her duties, and she’s about to lose her mind. Until she starts to change at night - new hair, new instincts, new appetities (out now from Doubleday)
These novels are often short, sharp punches of novels with big characters, powerful messages and some really disturbing imagery in the body horror that straddles the lines of reality, fantasy and surrealism so if you have sensitivities around that, please do check the content warnings before diving in. StoryGraph is a great place to check those out.
If you have any recommendations for books along these lines, please do let me know! I can’t get enough.
Written by Sophie
