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The 17 Greatest Gothic Novels of All Time

by YPB Team

Crumbling abbeys, locked attics and vampires, spread across two and a half centuries of fiction.

  1. Dracula — ranked #11
    Dracula
    Bram Stoker's 1897 epistolary novel about the Transylvanian count's move to England.
    1000pts
  2. Frankenstein — ranked #22
    Frankenstein
    Mary Shelley's 1818 novel about a scientist who animates a creature from dead matter.
    919pts
  3. The Turn of the Screw — ranked #33
    The Turn of the Screw
    Henry James's 1898 novella of a governess and two possibly haunted children.
    741pts
  4. Interview with the Vampire — ranked #44
    Interview with the Vampire
    Anne Rice's 1976 novel told by the vampire Louis in New Orleans.
    600pts
  5. Melmoth the Wanderer — ranked #55
    Melmoth the Wanderer
    Charles Maturin's 1820 novel of a scholar who sold his soul for 150 more years.
    529pts
  6. Mexican Gothic — ranked #66
    Mexican Gothic
    Silvia Moreno-Garcia's 2020 novel set in a decaying mansion in 1950s Mexico.
    529pts
  7. Rebecca — ranked #77
    Rebecca
    Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel about a second wife haunted by the first at Manderley.
    529pts
  8. The Castle of Otranto — ranked #88
    The Castle of Otranto
    Horace Walpole's 1764 novel, generally credited as the first Gothic novel.
    529pts
  9. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde — ranked #99
    Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
    Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella of a doctor and his murderous other self.
    448pts
  10. The Mysteries of Udolpho — ranked #1010
    The Mysteries of Udolpho
    Ann Radcliffe's 1794 bestseller of an orphan imprisoned in an Apennine castle.
    448pts
  11. Carmilla — ranked #1111
    Carmilla
    Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 novella about a female vampire, 25 years before Dracula.
    448pts
  12. The Monk — ranked #1212
    The Monk
    Matthew Lewis's scandalous 1796 novel of a Capuchin monk's fall.
    353pts
  13. Northanger Abbey — ranked #1313
    Northanger Abbey
    Jane Austen's 1817 novel that gently parodies the Gothic craze.
    353pts
  14. The Haunting of Hill House — ranked #1414
    The Haunting of Hill House
    Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel of four guests in a house that is not sane.
    353pts
  15. Jane Eyre — ranked #1515
    Jane Eyre
    Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel of a governess and the secret in Thornfield's attic.
    240pts
  16. Wuthering Heights — ranked #1616
    Wuthering Heights
    Emily Brontë's 1847 novel of Heathcliff, Cathy and the Yorkshire moors.
    240pts
  17. The Picture of Dorian Gray — ranked #1717
    The Picture of Dorian Gray
    Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel about a portrait that ages in its owner's place.
    0pts

#Books93#Horror77#Classics494#Gothic3

Comments

Frankenstein's first print run in January 1818 was 500 copies in three volumes. How the book compares with Wuthering Heights and Dracula: https://youpick.best/articles/frankenstein-ranked-many-ways

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ypb-team·1h ago·
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