Autumn is nigh! And my annual "mist and gloom"-cravings are here. I am not looking for horror but more horror-adjacent litfic and historical fiction – I could also be swayed to pick up fantasy. I'm looking for something written in the past 15-ish years and preferably not much longer than 300 pages, as I'm only just getting out of a reading slump. I'd also love if the ending wasn't gruesome and tragic (a tall order, I know).
Atmospheric books I've read and loved: Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss, Uprooted by Naomi Novik, The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield & Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.
Books that didn't work for me plot-wise but I loved the vibes: The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke & The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson
I'm currently (re)reading a German childhood classic: Krabat by Otfried Preussler, and that is exactly the kind of vibes I love. Unsettling and dark, but not really horror.
by captain-ignotus