10 bewitching reads for Halloween
BY Ally Wilkes
26th Oct 2023
I’m convinced that Halloween – not Christmas – is the most wonderful time of the year. It’s a time for ghosts and hauntings, for gloomy weather and longer nights, and exploring our own darker sides through fiction. In this reading list, featuring CBC former students and the teaching team, I’ve picked out something for everyone; so curl up with a hot chocolate and let’s get bewitched…
FOLK & OTHER HORRORS
Devil’s Day by Andrew Michael Hurley
John Pentecost returns to his isolated childhood home, where rumours of the Devil seep from the sheep-scattered moorlands. This book by CBC tutor Andrew Michael Hurley just screams October, from the autumnal setting of the Lancashire countryside to its folk beliefs and rituals. Curl up and lose yourself in this very creepy, atmospheric story about the dark side of nature.
Pine by Francine Toon
Pine opens on a trip through the remote Highlands to go ‘guising’ – the Scottish version of Trick or Treat – when Lauren and her father stumble upon a mysterious woman in the road. She appears; she disappears. Lauren must look for answers in the forest. In this spellbinding novel, Francine Toon expertly weaves together supernatural horror with a very real, heart-breaking story about rural poverty, small-town claustrophobia, and disappearances.
Demon by Matt Wesolowski
If you prefer your horrors grounded in reality, and enjoy the true-crime genre, then Matt Wesolowski’s Six Stories books will be impossible to put down. Told as a podcast unearthing ‘six stories’ about a supernatural-inflected ‘true crime’, these books can be read in any order, but Demon – the last in the series – seems most appropriate for Halloween, with its dark Satanic mills and grimly recognisable story of child murderers. Pitch-dark and compulsive reading.
Things We Do To Our Friends by Heather Darwent
The debut novel from CBC alumna Heather Darwent is perfect for readers who enjoy moody, rainy dark academia: it’s set in Edinburgh amongst a close-knit group of friends who have wicked plans for outsiders (and each other). Toxic friendships, shifting loyalties, and the clever setting combine to make this a thriller which needs no supernatural hook.
HAUNTED HOUSES
Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt
What if all the bigotry and fascism in modern Britain found its repository in a – very real – haunted house? That’s the question posed by this spine-tingling, graphic, and shocking debut, which tackles issues of transphobia and trauma. Tell Me I’m Worthless tells the story of Ila and Alice, who went into a House one night and have been dealing with its after-effects ever since. A novel with wide-reaching intelligence, and real teeth!
The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
Laura Purcell probably needs no introduction to those who love a spooky tale. Inspired by Shirley Jackson and Susan Hill, this haunted-house novel – in which newly married and widowed Elsie is sent to her late husband’s crumbling estate, only to find there’s something there waiting – is genuinely scary, building up its frights between multi-layered, extremely Gothic storylines. Absolutely immersive.
The Apparition Phase by Will Maclean
Readers of a certain age might remember Ghostwatch: the hoaxed ‘national séance’ broadcast on 31st October 1992, which terrified viewers and caused mayhem at the BBC. Disruptive poltergeists and ghost-hunters are also on display in this addictive novel, which follows Tim, a misfit desperate to find some proof that ghosts exist – or uncover what happened to his missing sister. Moving from 70s suburbia to a haunted mansion in MR James country, The Apparition Phase builds to an unforgettable climax.
The Others of Edenwell by Verity Holloway
The Others of Edenwell is a deceptively quiet ghost story set at a Norfolk hospital during the First World War; two young men find that something more than loss and grief stalks its halls. Strange, infinitely sad, and ambiguously haunted, this is perfect for readers who prefer their scares absolutely rooted in time and place.
WITCH, PLEASE!
Fyneshade by Kate Griffin
What could be more Halloween than… witches? And in Fyneshade, Kate Griffin blends a witchy heroine with a dark, compelling, utterly modern twist on the governess Gothic. Marta, sent to teach little Grace in a crumbling country house filled with secrets, is more than a match for what she finds there; fans of classic British horror will find a delicious surprise buried in the novel’s denouement.
Weyward by Emilia Hart
Kate, fleeing an abusive relationship, finds sanctuary in an enchanting cottage; Altha, an alleged witch, recounts her supposed crimes while waiting for trial; and Violet must navigate the fraught world of 1940s womanhood and her own relationship with nature. The connection between the three women and three timelines unfolds in an exhilarating story tinged with magic and a sly, dark power; let CBC alumna Emilia Hart help you discover your own witchy side this Halloween.
All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes is out now!
Her second book Where the Dead Wait will be released early 2024.
Some of the books linked in this blog can be found on our Bookshop.org shop front. Curtis Brown Creative receive 10% whenever someone buys from our bookshop.org page.
See more Halloween book recommendations on our TikTok.
Ally Wilkes, the Bram Stoker Award–nominated author of All the White Spaces and Where the Dead Wait, grew up in a succession of isolated—possibly haunted—country houses and boarding schools. After studying law at Oxford, she went on to spend eleven years as a criminal barrister. Ally now lives in Greenwich, London, with an anatomical human skeleton and far too many books about Polar exploration.
Ally was a student on our six-month Writing Your Novel course in 2017. Our flagship online Writing Your Novel courses are designed for writers who are serious about developing their novel to its full potential.
Applications are open for our upcoming Writing Your Novel courses (both online and in London).
You can find Ally on Twitter/X (@UnheimlichManvr) and Instagram (av_wilkes).