Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022
The Southern Gothic genre is a distinctly American spin on traditional Gothic literature. Set in the American South and thick with atmosphere, these novels feature themes of racial and social tension, questionable family legacies, and a past real enough to be a character itself. Mixing literary fiction with thrillers, mystery, and horror (sometimes with the supernatural lurking around the edges) and always rolling at a low boil, this genre's been heating up recently. Here are several examples of Southern Gothic novels, all published in the last five years or so. When you're done with reading authors like Faulkner, McCullers, Hurston, and O'Connor, check some of these titles out.