[Editorial] 5 Female Focused Horror Book Recommendations

Content Warning: This editorial contains mention of sexual assault and themes surrounding anorexia.

5. Bunny by Mona Awad

If you like cults, sacrificial parties, and lesbian undertones then Mona Awad’s Bunny is the book for you. Samantha, a student at a prestigious art university, feels isolated from her cliquey classmates, ‘the bunnies’. The bunnies are known across the campus for their obsessive feelings for the others in their group and cultish behaviours. Samatha, after being initiated at one of their ‘smut salon’ parties, joins their group, and gets dragged into a twisted cult lifestyle. Heathers meets Frankenstein in this charmingly sinister horror-comedy.

4. The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Han Kang’s, The Vegetarian, is a short and psychological novel about a young woman's wish to break free from social constraints and return to nature. Though this is not explicitly horror, it’s filled with nightmarish imagery and dark themes. Yeong-Hye has disturbing and graphic dreams of animal slaughter and violence and decides that she needs to become vegan. As her renouncement of meat develops she believes that she herself should not be made of flesh either and begins to ‘transform’ herself into a plant as well in an extreme attempt to return to her true form. The novel is in three parts each from a different person's observation of Yeong-Hye’s deteriorating mental health and implied eating disorder. Though the page count is a mere 183, this is by no means a casual read. The Vegetarian is deeply thought-provoking and an unforgettable read. 

3. Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

Signa Farrow is a young woman who can’t die but is followed by death. After moving to the eerie and secretive Thorn Grove estate, she finds herself thrown into a murder mystery that she must solve with the help of other residents of the state and the Grim Reaper himself. As the book progresses she finds herself with conflicting feelings both to a stable hand she has befriended and the charming personification of death. If you, like me, love gothic romance and macabre literature but struggle with the commitment of Ye Old English then Belladonna by Adalyn Grace will be perfect for you. Adayln Grace writes in such a poetic and alluring way that I could not put this down until my eyes were burning.

LISTEN TO OUR HORROR PODCAST!

2. Annihilation (Southern Reach #1) by Jeff VanderMeer

Without a doubt, Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation is the best book with only female characters and also written by a man that I’ve read. Whether you watch the iconic film (starring Natalie Portman, one of my loves) first or after is irrelevant as both are incredible fictional representations of women in science without romance as the focus. You follow four unnamed women through the perspective of a biologist embarking on an exhibition into the mysterious and unknown, Area X. This area, which is cut off from the world, is filled with surreal natural horrors and has previously caused mass suicides, murder and sudden illnesses. The novel is haunting and immersive and an amazing read for lovers of sci-fi horror.

1. Salt Slow by Julia Armfield

If short stories are more your speed, Julia Armfied’s Salt Slow is a collection I would highly recommend. This collection of stories blends womanhood and queer fiction with twisted horror and as each tale is totally different from the last, you’ll experience a delightful whiplash when going from one to the next. While some are more real and ‘new fear’ inducing, others are absurd and fantastical. If you read only one of these (please read them all) I would recommend ‘The Great Awake’ which is not only beautifully eerie but also a tender queer romance. I absolutely adored this book and found myself mesmerised, comfortably disturbed and fell in love with Julia Armfield's writing immediately.

RELATED ARTICLES

---

---