Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë
An orphan hired as a governess falls in love with her brooding employer at his remote country house, in the classic Rebecca is often compared with.
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Books like Rebecca
Rebecca follows a shy young bride who moves into her husband's grand estate, Manderley, where the memory of his first wife still dominates the house. These six books bring more brooding houses, old secrets and slow-building dread.
Books to read next
My Cousin Rachel
Daphne du Maurier
A young Cornishman suspects his guardian's widow of something terrible, then cannot decide what to believe once she arrives, in another du Maurier novel of suspicion.
The Thirteenth Tale
Diane Setterfield
A reclusive bestselling novelist finally agrees to tell her real life story to a young biographer, who is drawn into a tale of an old English house and its strange family.
The Little Stranger
Sarah Waters
In postwar England a country doctor is called to a crumbling family mansion and drawn into the household, in a slow, unsettling ghost story shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Mexican Gothic
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
In 1950 a Mexico City socialite travels to a remote mountain mansion after her cousin sends a frightened letter, in a vivid, disturbing horror novel.
The Haunting of Hill House
Shirley Jackson
An occult scholar invites a few guests to spend a summer at a house with a bad reputation, in a slow, chilling 1959 classic of haunted-house fiction.
How to choose
Rebecca runs on atmosphere and unease, so choose by how scary you want to get. Jane Eyre is the older classic that shares its roots, and My Cousin Rachel is another du Maurier novel of suspicion and a grand house. For a family mystery wrapped in a bookish frame, The Thirteenth Tale suits you best, while The Little Stranger is a quiet, unsettling ghost story. For real fear, The Haunting of Hill House is the classic of slow dread, and Mexican Gothic is a more graphic horror novel that includes sexual violence, so check content notes first. All six are standalone novels, so you can read them in any order.
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