It’s time to get cosy! And what better way than with an autumnal read. I’ve got a great list of books from a range of genres to get you in the mood for the seasonal change.
Season of Fear by Emily Cooper
Blurb:
In the village of Heulensee, Ilse Odenwald dreams of being afraid. Because in Heulensee, fearfulness is next to godliness.
A monstrous forest borders the village – the Hexenwald. Its horrors attack every time the sky turns blood-red. The townsfolk’s only defence comes from the gruesome, ancient Saint of Fear, who demands the women and girls offer up their terror in return for its protection.
Born without the ability to feel fear, Ilse is an outsider. As hard as she tries, she cannot bring forth the dread that the Saint of Fear demands. When it discovers her divergence, the Saint levels a threat: Ilse must find her fear, or it will devour her sister.
Unable to lose Thea, the only person who understands her, Ilse enters the Hexenwald, hoping that the monsters it harbours will finally scare her. But the forest is hiding a multitude of secrets and Ilse is about to discover that there’s much more than fear to be found within…
Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Blurb:
Your daughters are cursed. They will pursue men, but the men will be like water in their palms. Your granddaughters will love in vain. Your daughters, your daughter’s daughters, and all the women to come will suffer for man’s sake…
Eniiyi has heard about the family curse her whole life. She’s never believed in it. She’s also heard, her whole life, that she is the reincarnation of her dead aunt, Monife. Same eyes, same left hand, same scar in the same place. She’s never believed in that, either.
Then she falls in love with a handsome local boy, and Monife begins to appear to Eniiyi: in her dreams, on the beach, in the mirror, pulling her, it seems, towards the same terrible fate. Can Eniiyi live her life on her own terms, or is history – and the curse – repeating itself?
Solace House by William Maclean
Blurb:
IN THE SUMMER OF 1993, broke student Alex Lane joins a team clearing out Solace House, a Victorian mansion bequeathed to the university by a reclusive hoarder called Flayne. The other students are a mixed bunch, but Alex quickly falls into a close friendship with the lively, redheaded Ella.
When the crew begins sorting through piles of junk, they stumble upon Flayne’s journals, in which he details his obsession with his missing mother, his discovery of a place called Bewise, and – most mysteriously – his belief in another realm lying parallel to ours, along with coded instructions as to how it might be reached.
As the students delve deeper into the house’s secrets, one of them becomes obsessed with deciphering Flayne’s strange opus and its promise of another world… and they may be willing to sacrifice everything, and everyone, to get there.
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Blurb:
Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle – and her followers are sick with envy. Her charming farmhouse on her working ranch is artfully cluttered, her husband is a handsome cowboy, her homemade sourdough boules are each more beautiful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers and industrial-grade ovens behind the scenes? What her followers don’t know won’t hurt them.
Then, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange, horrible version of reality. Her home, her husband, her children―they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Is this a hoax? A reality show? A test from God? Natalie knows just two things for sure: this isn’t her perfect life, and she must escape, by any means possible.
As darkly funny as it is shocking and gripping, Yesteryear is an electrifying examination of tradition, fame, faith and the grand performance of womanhood, from a thrilling new talent in fiction.
Look What You Made Me Do by John Lancaster
Blurb:
Kate, thirty years into her marriage, has a seemingly idyllic metropolitan, North London life.
Phoebe, a young screenwriter, is the creator of the year’s hit TV show, Cheating.
When Kate’s world takes a darker turn, she thinks she sees details and intimacies in the show that only she and her husband Jack could possibly have known. But who has betrayed who? Who gets to tell whose story?
A black comedy of resentment and entitlement, Look What You Made Me Do is the story of two very different women from two very different generations, heading toward a battle only one of them can win.
What’s your favourite autumnal read? Let me know in the comments. I’m also on Instagram, Twitter and Threads – @bookwormgirl_24
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