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Hello, my 13-year-old is studying Gothic fiction at school and to be honest is reluctant to read any of it because she finds it quite scary. Could you recommend anything for a sensitive 13-year-old?
Thanks for the question! That’s a tough one, since part of the point of Gothic fiction is being scary, haha.
I’d recommend Carmilla by J. Sheridan le Fanu. It’s short and the writing is pretty accessible. It does have a few scary elements, especially toward the end when they track down and kill Carmilla, but much of the focus is on the friendship between the two young girls.
You might also try The Castle of Otranto. It might be a bit more challenging for a 13-year-old to read, but much of the “horror” is pretty over-the-top and ridiculous, such as the giant helmet that falls out of the sky and kills someone in the first pages.
Hey there! I’m working on a blog for my school, but I’m not exactly sure how to format it. I was drawn to this website because I am a huge gothic lit fan and I was hoping to create a blog on ‘gothic’ topics.
Welcome! And good luck with your blog.
Love the blog! Would you have any personal recommendations for short Victorian Gothic tales about about benevolent ghosts/spirits? Struggling to find some obscure ones for some research!
Great question! Here’s what I can think of off the top of my head:
Twin-Identity by Edith Stewart Drewry (1891) – I found this in Women’s Weird, vol 2, published by Handheld Press. It involves the ghost of a murdered woman helping a female detective finder her murderer.
On the Northern Ice by Elia Wilkinson Peattie (1898) – I found this in Sunless Solstice, a collection from the British Library’s Tales of the Weird series. A young man is led safely across a frozen lake with a dangerous crack in the ice by the ghostly form of his recently deceased lover.
I’ll try to think of some others!
I know very little about Gothic , im going to sneak my look around .