Books like 'A Sudden Light'
Readers who enjoyed A Sudden Light by Garth Stein also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical fantasy mystery supernatural horror action / adventure historical-fiction paranormal ghosts coming-of-age
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The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection by Edgar Allan Poe
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsUniversally acclaimed as the maestro of horror and the morbid, Edgar Allan Poe's dark gift has for more than a century and a half set the standard for the genre.Now, Caedmon Audio presents a classic collection of Poe's most terrifying tales performed by two of the most brilliant interpreters of his work ever to be recorded: Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone...Categorized as:
drama gothic historical-fiction literary-fiction paranormal spooky suspense action-adventure -
Boy's Life by Robert McCammon
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsAn Alabama boy’s innocence is shaken by murder and madness in the 1960s South in this novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of Swan Song. It’s 1964 in idyllic Zephyr, Alabama. People either work for the paper mill up the Tecumseh River, or for the local dairy. It’s a simple life, but it stirs the impressionable imagination of twelve-year-old aspiring writer Cory Mackenson...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family gothic historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism paranormal -
The Complete Fiction by H.P. Lovecraft
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Nameless CityThe FestivalThe Colour Out of SpaceThe Call of CthulhuThe Dunwich HorrorThe Whisperer in DarknessThe Dreams in the Witch HouseThe Haunter of the DarkThe Shadow Over InnsmouthDiscarded Draft of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"The Shadow Out of TimeAt the Mountains of MadnessThe Case of Charles Dexter WardAzathothBeyond the Wall of SleepCelephaïsCool AirDagonEx OblivioneFacts...Categorized as:
drama gothic historical-fiction literary-fiction paranormal spooky suspense 20th-century -
The Lady of the Loch by Elena Collins
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratings‘Although I believe I will die here in this castle, my spirit will never be silent.’Ravenscraig Castle, Scotland. 1307When the castle she works in is sacked by the army of Prince Edward of England, kitchen maid Agnes Fitzgerald manages to escape north of Inverness to throw herself at the mercy of the Lord and Lady at Ravenscraig Castle... -
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Serafina and the Twisted Staff by Robert Beatty, Lale Günseli Bayır
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsSerafina's defeat of the Man in the Black Cloak has brought her out of the shadows and into the daylight realm of her home, Biltmore Estate. Every night she visits her mother in the forest, eager to learn the ways of the catamount...Categorized as:
family gothic historical-fiction outdoors paranormal suspense action-adventure animals -
Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children Boxed Set (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #1-3) by Ransom Riggs
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsThe New York Times #1 best selling series Includes 3 hardcover novels by Ransom Riggs and 12 collectible peculiar photographs. The movie adaptation of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is in theaters December 2016...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal action-adventure book children fiction -
Haunting the Deep by Adriana Mather
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Titanic meets the delicious horror of Ransom Riggs and the sass of Mean Girls in this follow-up to the #1 New York Times bestseller How to Hang a Witch, in which a contemporary teen finds herself a passenger on the famous “ship of dreams”—a story made all the more fascinating because the author’s own relatives survived the doomed voyage... -
Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsIn an unforgettable novel that traces a centuries-old curse to its source, beloved author Alice Hoffman unveils the story of Maria Owens, accused of witchcraft in Salem, and matriarch of a line of the amazing Owens women and men featured in Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism paranormal spooky -
Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsNew York City.1927.Lights are bright.Jazz is king.Parties are wild.And the dead are coming...After battling a supernatural sleeping sickness that claimed two of their own, the Diviners have had enough lies. They're more determined than ever to uncover the mystery behind their extraordinary powers, even as they face off against an all-new terror...Categorized as:
ghosts historical-fiction lgbtq magical-realism paranormal spooky suspense action-adventure -
The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 57 ratingsThe eerie tales of Edgar Allan Poe, from the 1830s and 40s, remain among the most brilliant and influential works in American literature... -
Root Magic by Eden Royce
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA historical ghost story set in South Carolina in the 1960s—a tale of courage, friendship, and Black Girl Magic.It’s 1963, and things are changing for Jezebel Turner. Her beloved grandmother has just passed away. The local police deputy won’t stop harassing her family...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family ghosts historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal spooky action-adventure -
Callie by Bill Thompson
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDeep in the bayous of southern Louisiana, an ancient mansion called Beau Rivage sits empty and abandoned. Arceneaux family members built the house and lived there for two hundred years. The house is inherited by Callie Pilantro, a down-on-her-luck granddaughter of Juliet Arceneaux, its most recent owner who died there a few months ago...Categorized as:
ghosts gothic haunted-places historical-fiction paranormal spooky action-adventure adult -
Fear by Ronald Kelly
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt was a legend in Fear County... a hideous, flesh-eating creature - part snake, part earthbound demon - that feasted on the blood of innocent children in the cold black heart of the Tennessee backwoods. But ten-year-old Jeb Sweeny knows the horrible stories are true. His best friend Mandy just up and disappeared...Categorized as:
coming-of-age ghosts gothic historical-fiction paranormal action-adventure audiobook book -
Forgotten Men by Bill Thompson
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe once-famous Hotel Iberia was where society's finest gathered in the days before 1859 when Victory, Louisiana became a ghost town. A building where people had laughed, dined and passed the time among friends became something dark, sinister and evil. The town was dead, so no one complained when the Victory Institution for the Criminally Insane opened in the old hotel...Categorized as:
ghosts historical-fiction paranormal suspense action-adventure adult archaeology book -
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The Ghost of Midnight Lake by Lucy Strange
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom award winning author Lucy Strange comes a thrilling ghost story about a strong willed heroine who will follow even the most restless spirit in order to untangles the dark mystery of her own past.It's 1899. The Earl of Gosswater has died, and twelve-year-old Agatha has been cast out of her ancestral home - the only home she has ever known - by her cruel cousin, Clarence... -
Sleepy Hollow: Bridge of Bones by Richard Gleaves
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"My earliest memory is of discovering my grandfather's severed head." The HEADLESS HORSEMAN has risen and rides. JASON CRANE is the Horseman's target. But Jason must stay and fight, to protect those he loves. For Sleepy Hollow is falling to evil. Now Jason Crane lives under a tyrannical guardian. Jason Crane must descend into fearful darkness. And Jason Crane has an appointment with death.. -
The Complete Short Stories by Ambrose Bierce, Jerome Hopkins
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBefore he trailed off into the wilds of Mexico, never to be heard from again, Ambrose Bierce achieved a public persona as "bitter Bierce" and "the devil's lexicographer." He left behind a nasty reputation and more than ninety short stories that are perfect expressions of his sardonic genius...Categorized as:
ghosts gothic historical-fiction literary-fiction paranormal action-adventure adult anthologies -
Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 69 ratingsA boy with extraordinary powers. An army of deadly monsters. An epic battle for the future of peculiardom.The adventure that began with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and continued in Hollow City comes to a thrilling conclusion with Library of Souls... -
House of Secrets by Darcy Coates
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSophie and Joseph’s escape from Northwood is short-lived. The beast survived, and attached itself to Joseph’s young cousin, Elise. Garrett writes to beg for their help. Joseph and Sophie travel to meet him at Kensington, a long-abandoned mansion that overlooks a dead town.The house offers a small hope: its original owner had dedicated her life to researching the monster that possesses Elise...Categorized as:
ghosts gothic haunted-places historical-fiction paranormal spooky suspense action-adventure -
Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsThe longing of dreams draws the dead, and this city holds many dreams.After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O’Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. With her uncanny ability to read people’s secrets, she’s become a media darling, earning the title “America’s Sweetheart Seer.” Everyone’s in love with the city’s newest It Girl…everyone except the other Diviners...Categorized as:
ghosts historical-fiction lgbtq magical-realism paranormal spooky suspense action-adventure -
Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe, Gary Kelley
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSpiral into a dimly lit world, down streets lined with madmen and their black deeds, through the cold twists of the catacombs, and into rooms where secrets dwell. From the tortured mind of Edgar Allan Poe, these three tales, "The Black Cat," "The Fall of the House of Usher," and "The Cask of Amontillado," speak to the hidden places inside us all...Categorized as:
ghosts gothic literary-fiction paranormal spooky suspense action-adventure anthologies -
Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 54 ratingsFifteen-year-old Oscar Drai meets the strange Marina while he's exploring an old quarter of Barcelona. She leads Oscar to a cemetery, where they watch a macabre ritual that occurs on the last Sunday of each month. At exactly ten o'clock in the morning, a woman shrouded in a black velvet cloak descends from her carriage to place a single rose on an unmarked grave...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama gothic historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism paranormal spooky -
The Willows by Algernon Blackwood
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsTwo friends are midway on a canoe trip down the Danube River. Throughout the story Blackwood personifies the surrounding environment—river, sun, wind—and imbues them with a powerful and ultimately threatening character...Categorized as:
ghosts gothic historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism outdoors paranormal spooky -
Guardian Spirits by Jordan L. Hawk
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsPsychic medium Vincent Night and his lover Henry Strauss have spent months striving to uncover the dark secret harbored by Vincent’s dead mentor, James Dunne. Their only clue comes from a journal: Dunne was seeking to restore the Grand Harmonium, an artifact meant to breach the walls between life and death... -
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The Stars We Walked Upon by M.L. Bullock
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCarrie Jo Stuart's dream catching has gotten out of control and threatens to wreck her happy home. She decides to tell her husband a secret that changes everything, but Ashland has ghosts of his own. Ashland's childhood friend Detra Ann Dowd battles a frightening supernatural being but travels across time to receive help from an unexpected ally... -
The Stars That Fell by M.L. Bullock, Emily Lawrence
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSecrets Never Stay Hidden Just Ask Any Ghost When Carrie Jo and Ashland Stuart uncovered the truth about the ghosts of Seven Sisters, they were sure that the supernatural activity would end. When they return home to Mobile after their honeymoon, they soon realize they were wrong”"not everyone is at rest. Something or someone is reaching out to the dream catcher... -
Shadows Stir at Seven Sisters by M.L. Bullock
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhere is Calpurnia Cottonwood? Find the Answers in Shadows Stir at Seven Sisters Seven Sisters, an antebellum restoration in downtown Mobile, has come to life recently...and not in ways historian Carrie Jo Jardine had expected...Categorized as:
ghosts gothic historical-fiction paranormal suspense 21st-century action-adventure adult -
Carousel by Jordan L. Hawk
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsNote: “Carousel” first appeared in the anthology Another Place in Time. It takes place between the events of Stormhaven and Necropolis. When a child goes missing in Widdershins, ex-Pinkerton detective Griffin Flaherty fears sinister forces are at work in the town... -
Tales of Terror from the Black Ship by Chris Priestley, David Roberts
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA follow up to Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror, this is another creepy middle grade story collection with a chilling frame. This time, the stories are all tales of the sea: pirates and plagues and storms a plenty.. -
The Ghosts of Tullybrae House by Veronica Bale
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTHE PATH TO HER DESTINY LIES IN SOLVING A CENTURIES-OLD MYSTERY Emmie Tunstall is in over her head. Not yet thirty, and she’s been hired as curator at Tullybrae House. A three-hundred year old manor in the Scottish Highlands, Tullybrae has more antique and historically significant artefacts than a museum. It will fall to Emmie to inspect, research and catalogue every last one... -
Time for Andrew: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAunt Blythe's house gives Andrew the creeps -- full of dark rooms, creaky noises, and the sound of a woman sobbing somewhere in the shadows. Then, in the middle of the night, Andrew awakens to find a boy standing in his room...a boy who is Andrew's double, except he looks as if he's come from the grave. He wants to follow him -- to a place where he will meet the spirits of long-dead ancestors..Categorized as:
coming-of-age family ghosts historical-fiction paranormal spooky suspense action-adventure -
House of Shadows by Darcy Coates
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsSophie's world is shattered when disaster bankrupts her family. She's still reeling from the news when she's offered an unexpected solution: Mr Argenton, a wealthy stranger, asks for her hand in marriage... -
Behind the Attic Wall by Sylvia Cassedy
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThey were watching...and waitingAt twelve, Maggie had been thrown out of more boarding schools than she cared to remember. "Impossible to handle," they said nasty, mean, disobedient, rebellious, thieving anything they could say to explain why she must be removed from the school.Maggie was thin and pale, with shabby clothes and stringy hair, when she arrived at her new home...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family ghosts gothic historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal suspense -
The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhat if the ordinary things in life suddenly…disappeared?Aila Quinn’s mother, Juliet, has always been a mystery: vibrant yet guarded, she keeps her secrets beyond Aila’s reach. When Juliet dies, Aila and her younger brother Miles are sent to live in Sterling, a rural town far from home--and the place where Juliet grew up.Sterling is a place with mysteries of its own... -
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The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal by K.J. Charles
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsA story too secret, too terrifying—and too shockingly intimate—for Victorian eyes. A note to the Editor Dear Henry, I have been Simon Feximal’s companion, assistant and chronicler for twenty years now, and during that time my Casebooks of Feximal the Ghost-Hunter have spread the reputation of this most accomplished of ghost-hunters far and wide... -
The Terror by Dan Simmons
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 49 ratingsThe men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth...Categorized as:
drama gothic historical-fiction literary-fiction paranormal spooky suspense 21st-century -
The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsThe Night Gardener follows two abandoned Irish siblings who travel to work as servants at a creepy, crumbling English manor house. But the house and its family are not quite what they seem. Soon the children are confronted by a mysterious spectre and an ancient curse that threatens their very lives... -
How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsIt's the Salem Witch Trials meets Mean Girls in a debut novel from one of the descendants of Cotton Mather, where the trials of high school start to feel like a modern day witch hunt for a teen with all the wrong connections to Salem’s past.Salem, Massachusetts is the site of the infamous witch trials and the new home of Samantha Mather...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family ghosts historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal spooky suspense -
The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsL. M. Boston's thrilling and chilling tales of Green Knowe, a haunted manor deep in an overgrown garden in the English countryside, have been entertaining readers for half a century.There are three children: Toby, who rides the majestic horse Feste; his mischievous little sister, Linnet; and their brother, Alexander, who plays the flute. The children warmly welcome Tolly to Green Knowe..Categorized as:
family ghosts gothic historical-fiction magical-realism outdoors paranormal 20th-century -
The Spook's Tale and Other Horrors by Joseph Delaney, Patrick Arrasmith
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsThis is 3 stories inside, one about Alice and grimmalkin and those two that hav been published with 3 additional stories in the stort story collection as Spooks`s Stories witches (uk) or A Coven of witches (us) but with the additions World book day story Spooks`s tale included in this edition.The Last Apprentice series follows the terrifying adventures of the Spook's apprentice, Thomas Ward...Categorized as:
coming-of-age ghosts gothic historical-fiction paranormal spooky action-adventure audiobook -
The Curse of the Blue Figurine by John Bellairs
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsJohnny Dixon doesn't believe that the ghost of mad Father Baart haunts the town church. But then he takes an old scroll and a seemingly harmless figurine from the church basement, accepts a magic ring from a mysterious stranger--and is plunged into a terrifying adventure that may cost him his life...Categorized as:
ghosts gothic historical-fiction paranormal spooky suspense 20th-century action-adventure -
Midnight is a Lonely Place by Barbara Erskine
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAfter a broken love affair, biographer Kate Kennedy retires to a remote cottage on the wild Essex coast to work on her new book until her landlord's daughter uncovers a Roman site nearby and long-buried passions are unleashed! In her lonely cottage, Kate is terrorized by mysterious forces...Categorized as:
ghosts gothic historical-fiction paranormal suspense action-adventure adult audiobook -
Scritch Scratch by Lindsay Currie
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA ghost story about a malevolent spirit, an unlucky girl, and a haunting mystery that will tie the two together. Claire has absolutely no interest in the paranormal. She’s a scientist, which is why she can’t think of anything worse than having to help out her dad on one of his ghost-themed Chicago bus tours...Categorized as:
family ghosts historical-fiction paranormal spooky suspense action-adventure audiobook -
Hold Back the Tide by Melinda Salisbury
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom internationally bestselling, acclaimed author Melinda Salisbury comes a darkly seductive story of murder, betrayal, love, and family secrets in a small town in the Scottish Highlands.Here are the rules of living with a murderer.One: Do not draw attention to yourself.Of course, when you live with a murderer, this is impossible. Even the subtlest of spectres is bound to be noticed...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal spooky suspense action-adventure -
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Moonlight Falls on Seven Sisters by M.L. Bullock
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen a young, wealthy heiress, Calpurnia Cottonwood, disappears from Seven Sisters in 1850, rumors swirl. But no trace of the girl had ever been found--until now. Historian Carrie Jo Jardine and her handsome employer, Ashland Stuart, find clues to the heiress' whereabouts and even more mysteries are revealed. With Carrie Jo's ability to dream about the past, she watches a sinister plot unfold... -
Sleepy Hollow: Rise Headless and Ride by Richard Gleaves
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsNOTE: This E-Book edition INCLUDES "THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW" by Washington Irving (full text)!"May I present the Last Descendant of Ichabod Crane..."JASON CRANE just turned seventeen years old.He's a STAR WARS fan and a history geek. He doesn't believe in ghosts or the afterlife. He doesn't believe in psychic powers or tarot cards. He doesn't believe in the Headless Horseman...Categorized as:
ghosts gothic historical-fiction paranormal suspense action-adventure audiobook book -
Dangerous Spirits by Jordan L. Hawk
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsAfter the events of Reyhome Castle, Henry Strauss expected the Psychical Society to embrace his application of science to the study of hauntings. Instead, the society humiliates and blacklists him. His confidence shaken, he can't bring himself to admit the truth to his lover, the handsome medium Vincent Night... -
Butterflies by K.J. Charles
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJournalist Robert Caldwell is still smarting from his first encounter with ghost-hunter Simon Feximal. Their night in a haunted house was thrilling, but the aftermath leaves Robert hurt, disappointed, and resolved not to see Simon again.But just a few days later their paths cross once more, this time investigating a pair of mysterious deaths: two corpses shrouded in butterflies... -
The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts by K.C. Tansley
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsKat Preston doesn’t believe in ghosts. Not because she’s never seen one, but because she saw one too many. Refusing to believe is the only way to protect herself from the ghost that tried to steal her life. Kat’s disbelief keeps her safe until her junior year at McTernan Academy, when a research project for an eccentric teacher takes her to a tiny, private island off the coast of Connecticut...Categorized as:
ghosts gothic historical-fiction paranormal action-adventure book fiction historical -
The Reckoning by Alma Katsu
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsIn the second installment in her supernatural Taker trilogy, Alma Katsu, author of the highly acclaimed The Hunger, takes you on a breathtaking 200-year journey through the landscape of the heart.Lanore McIlvrae is the kind of woman who will do anything for love. Including imprisoning the man who loves her behind a wall of brick and stone...
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