The gothic novels worth reading in 2025 are not necessarily new in spirit, even when they are newly published. They do not shout. They do not reassure.
This is not a list for those chasing novelty. It is for readers who suspect that darkness, properly handled, still has something important to say.
People love to pretend they know Mary Shelley. “Oh yes, Frankenstein, the monster, torches, pitchforks, misunderstood creature… etc. ”Cute. Wonderful. Now name one of her short gothic tales. Just one. Exactly.
Mary Shelley didn’t just write the novel that altered science fiction forever. She also wrote a collection of short tales dripping with grief, dread, obsession, and emotional violence so elegant it almost feels rude.
These stories expose the side of Mary Shelley that academic summaries don’t bother to show:
a woman dissecting grief, desire, terror, longing, morality, the absurdity of immortality, and the strange corners of identity long before psychology bothered to exist.
