Dark Academia

Dark Academia is a subgenre of books that features an academic setting and usually has a dark twist or sinister undertones. Books in this subgenre are often either fantasy, mystery, thrillers, or literary fiction.


Updated August 21, 2024
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Catherine House : a novel
Thomas, Elisabeth
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
Awad, Mona
Paper Book
THE TIKTOK SENSATION Meet 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 ATWOOD We call...
If we were villains
Rio, M. L.
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...
The secret history
Tartt, Donna.
Paper Book
Truly deserving of the accolade Modern Classic, Donna Tartt's cult bestseller The Secret History is a remarkable achievement - incredibly compelling, dramatic and playful. Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at...
Babel : or the necessity of violence : an arcane history of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
Kuang, R. F.
Paper Book
THE #2 SUNDAY TIMES AND #1 NYT BESTSELLER 'One for Philip Pullman fans' THE TIMES 'This one is an automatic buy' GLAMOUR 'Ambitious, sweeping and epic' EVENING STANDARD
Ninth house
Bardugo, Leigh
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<...
Hell bent
Bardugo, Leigh
Paper Book
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING SEQUEL TO NINTH HOUSE THE GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST FANTASY OF 2023 __________________ Wealth. Power. Murder. Magic. Alex Stern is back and the Ivy League is going straight to hell.<...
The atlas six
Blake, Olivie
Ebook
A deadly education : a novel
Novik, Naomi
Paper Book
The Sunday Times bestseller! FINALIST FOR THE LODESTAR AWARD In the start of an all-new trilogy, the bestselling author of Uprooted and Spinning Silver introduces you to a dangerous school for the magically gifted where...
My dark Vanessa : a novel
Russell, Kate Elizabeth
Paper Book
An era-defining novel about the relationship between a fifteen-year-old girl and her teacher ALL HE DID WAS FALL IN LOVE WITH ME AND THE WORLD TURNED HIM INTO A MONSTER Vanessa Wye was fifteen-years-old when she first had sex with her English teacher. ...
Piranesi
Clarke, Susanna
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2021 WINNER OF THE KITSCHIES' 2021 SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE THE TIMES,...
The historian : a novel
Kostova, Elizabeth.
Paper Book
THE SUMPTUOUS INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER. 'A smart retelling of the Dracula story' New Yorker 'Quite extraordinary....Kostova is a natural storyteller....She has refashioned the vampire myth into a compelling contemporary novel, a late-night page...
The starless sea
Morgenstern, Erin
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'...
Vita nostra
Di︠a︡chenko, Marina
Paper Book
Our life is brief . . . The definitive English language translation of the internationally bestselling Russian novel - a brilliant dark fantasy combining psychological suspense, enchantment, and terror that makes us consider human existence in a fresh and provocative way. 'A book that has the...
Never saw me coming
Kurian, Vera
Paper Book
'Utterly Gripping' Sunday Telegraph Meet Chloe. First-year student. Ordinary girl next door. Psychopath. Chloe Sevre can be whoever you want her to be. A cool girl, a best friend, someone to tell secrets to over midnight snacks. She has an impressive...
Plain bad heroines : a novel
Danforth, Emily M.
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 ...
For your own good
Downing, Samantha
Paper Book
SOME LESSONS CAN BE DEADLY . . . The unputdownable new thriller from the author of international sensation and Richard & Judy pick, MY LOVELY WIFE 'Dark, sly and delicious . . . totally original - and totally compelling' JP DELANEY, bestselling author of...
An education in malice
Gibson, S. T.
Paper Book
'A delectable jewel of a tale, shimmering with dark, beautiful prose' Tori Bovalino, author of The Devil Makes Three, on A Dowry of Blood Love is sacrifice. One of us was always going to bleed for the other. Deep in the forgotten...
A discovery of witches
Harkness, Deborah E.
Paper Book
A discovery of witches
Harkness, Deborah E.
Paper Book
The Divines : a novel
Eaton, Ellie
Paper Book
Set in the final days before a shocking tragedy forces an elite boarding school to shut its doors for good, Ellie Eaton's The Divines is a razor-sharp debut that asks the question: were you really as good as you remember? I am Divine.<...
The maidens
Michaelides, Alex
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 maidens
Michaelides, Alex
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 reformatory : a novel
Due, Tananarive
Paper Book
A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephen Jones as he's sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.
I have some questions for you
Makkai, Rebecca
Paper Book
**A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK FOR OPRAH DAILY, TIME, NPR, USA TODAY, BUSTLE, STAR TRIBUNE, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING AND MORE** 'Whip-smart and uncompromising' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 'Quietly riveting' IRISH TIMES 'It's the perfect crime' NEW...
The will of the many
Islington, James
Paper Book
At the elite Catenan Academy, where students are prepared as the future leaders of the Hierarchy empire, the curriculum reveals a layered set of mysteries which turn murderous in this new fantasy by bestselling author of The Licanius Trilogy, James Islington. Vis,...
The things we do to our friends : a novel
Darwent, Heather
Paper Book
'Satisfyingly dark, cleverly plotted and pleasingly Donna Tarttish' Emma Flint, Little Deaths 'Seamlessly blends Gone Girl and Promising Young Woman. Smart, sophisticated, seductive' S J Watson, Before I Go To Sleep 'A deeply...

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