Dark Academia

Wikipedia defines Dark Academia as "a social media aesthetic and subculture concerned with higher education, writing/poetry, the arts, and classic Greek and Gothic architecture." Here are the books that fit its bill.
Updated September 19, 2022
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The Secret History
Donna Tartt
Paper Book
Truly deserving of the accolade Modern Classic, Donna Tartt's cult bestseller The Secret Historyis a remarkable achievement - incredibly compelling, dramatic and playful. Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at...
If We Were Villains
M.L. Rio
Paper Book
Oliver Marks has just served ten years for the murder of one of his closest friends - a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he's released, he's greeted by the detective who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened...
Plain Bad Heroines
Emily M. Danforth
Paper Book
'Brimming from start to finish with sly humour and gothic mischief' SARAH WATERS 'Beguilingly clever, very sexy and seriously frightening' GUARDIAN 'Atmospheric, sexy, creepy...totally addictive' KATE DAVIES, author of In At The Deep End ...
Ninth House
Leigh Bardugo
Paper Book
'Impossible to put down' STEPHEN KING __________________ THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER THE GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST FANTASY OF 2019 AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF OCTOBER 2019<...
Ace of Spades
Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Paper Book
How can you play the game when the cards are stacked against you? AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERWINNER OF THE 2021 BOOKS ARE MY BAG READERS' AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULT FICTIONNOMINATED FOR THE CARNEGIE MEDAL 2022"One of 2021's biggest books." gal-demACE OF SPADES is Gossip Girl meets...
The Atlas Six
Olivie Blake
Ebook
Catherine House
Elisabeth Thomas
Paper Book
'A delicious, diverse, genre-bending gothic, as smart as it is spooky' Chloe Benjamin During your three years at Catherine House you will have no contact with those in the outside world. Each of our students has been selected...
Bunny
Mona Awad
Paper Book
THE TIKTOK SENSATIONMeet BUNNY: the darkly funny, spellbinding trip of a novel that EVERYONE is talking about'No punches pulled, no hilarities dodged, no meme unmangled. O Bunny you are sooo genius!' MARGARET ATWOODWe call them Bunnies because that is what they call...
The Raven Boys
Maggie Stiefvater
Paper Book
  The first electrifying book in Maggie Stiefvater''s The Raven Cycleseries. "There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark''s Eve... Either you''re his true love... or you killed him." Part of a clairvoyant family, Blue has spent sixteen...
The Maidens
Alex Michaelides
Paper Book
We all keep secrets. Even from ourselves. 'A thrilling, heart-in-throat ride' STEPHEN FRY'An absolute jaw-dropper' LUCY FOLEY'Elegant, sinister, stylish' CHRIS WHITAKER'Grips from start to finish' HARRIET TYCE* * * * * From the #1 New York...
The Plot
Jean Hanff Korelitz
Paper Book
The autumn's most thrilling page-turner from the author of The Undoing, the major series on HBO.
A Lesson in Vengeance
Victoria Lee
Paper Book
Age range 14+ The history of Dalloway School lives in the bones it was built on. Five violent deaths in the first ten years of its existence. Sometimes you can still smell the blood on the air. It wasn't...
Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro
Paper Book
From the acclaimed author of The Remains of the Day comes a moving new novel that subtly reimagines our world and time in a haunting story of friendship and love. A tale of deceptive simplicity, Never Let Me Go reveals an extraordinary emotional depth and resonance - and takes its place among Kazuo...
How We Fall Apart
Katie Zhao
Paper Book
Crazy Rich Asians meets One of Us is Lying in this electrifying YA thriller where students at an elite prep school are forced to confront their secrets when their ex-best friend turns up dead.Nancy Luo is shocked when her former best friend, Jamie Ruan, top-ranked junior at Sinclair...
Confessions
かなえ 湊
Paper Book
When Yuko Moriguchi's four-year-old daughter died in the middle school where she teaches, everyone thought it was a tragic accident. It's the last day of term, and Yuko's last day at work. She tells her students that she has resigned because of what happened - but not for the reasons...
Legendborn
Tracy Deonn
Ebook
Hex
Rebecca Dinerstein Knight
Paper Book
'A really beautiful book about obsession, longing and science' RAVEN LEILANI'Wise, funny, suspenseful' JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER'Sardonic and strange ... With its dark humour and loopy lyricism, it bewitches' DAILY TELEGRAPH'Reads like a botanist's cross-breeding of The...
The Starless Sea
Erin Morgenstern
Paper Book
The spellbinding new novel from the Top Ten bestselling author of The Night Circus. 'Radiates with the excitement of someone discovering a magical world within the pages of a book. An enchanting read... an ode to stories and storytelling itself, and the joy of reading'...

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