Books like “The Shadow of the Wind”

What to read after “The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafón: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
The Thirteenth Tale
Diane Setterfield · 2006
From the same world: “Gothic”
- Gothic
- Twist Ending
A bookseller's daughter is summoned by a reclusive author who has never told the truth about her life. As the old woman finally recounts her childhood at a crumbling country house, the listener realises the story hides one more secret. A gothic tale about stories, sisters and the gaps between them.
2
The Mysteries of Udolpho
Ann Radcliffe · 1794
From the same world: “Gothic”
After her parents die, Emily St. Aubert is left to the care of an aunt who marries an Italian nobleman. Taken to the gloomy castle of Udolpho, she is surrounded by unexplained sounds, sealed rooms and sinister men, while she tries to keep her love and her safety.
3
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Mark Haddon · 2003
Same genre: “Bildungsroman”
- Missing Person
- Coming of Age
Fifteen-year-old Christopher discovers the neighbour's dog stabbed to death and sets out to solve the mystery in the style of his favourite detective stories. His investigation uncovers hidden truths about his own family and forces him into a world he finds overwhelming.
4
Shutter Island
Dennis Lehane · 2003
From the same world: “Gothic”
In 1954 two US marshals travel to a hospital for the criminally insane on an island off Massachusetts to find a patient who has disappeared. As a storm cuts the island off, one of them begins to suspect the investigation is not what he was told.
5
The Last House on Needless Street
Catriona Ward · 2021
From the same world: “Gothic”
At the end of a quiet street live a man, his daughter and a cat, keeping to themselves. When a new neighbour comes looking into a child's long-ago disappearance, the house's careful routine bends and the story it protects begins to break apart.
6
Lady Audley's Secret
Mary Elizabeth Braddon · 1862
From the same world: “Gothic”
- Gothic
- Twist Ending
When a new, much younger wife arrives at Audley Court, her charm hides an unsettled past. Her husband's nephew's idle curiosity about a missing man turns into a quiet investigation of the woman everyone else adores, and of the secret she has buried.
7
Jamaica Inn
Daphne du Maurier · 1936
From the same world: “Gothic”
- Gothic
- Forbidden Love
After her mother's death, Mary Yellan goes to live with her aunt at Jamaica Inn on the bleak Bodmin Moor. Her uncle keeps the inn closed to travellers and answers to dangerous men from the coast. Mary must work out what her one remaining family is hiding before the moor and its secrets close over her.
8
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë · 1847
From the same world: “Gothic”
An orphan becomes a governess at the brooding Thornfield Hall. A bond grows between her and its stern master, but the house hides a dangerous secret that threatens the life she is beginning to hope for.
9
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Anne Brontë · 1848
From the same world: “Gothic”
- Gothic
- Forbidden Love
A young widow, Helen Graham, moves into the half-ruined Wildfell Hall and keeps to herself, refusing to explain her past. The farmer Gilbert Markham falls for her, then hears rumours about her and her son. Helen's hidden diary slowly reveals the marriage she fled and why she lives in hiding.
10
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter
Theodora Goss · 2017
From the same world: “Gothic”
- Gothic
Mary Jekyll, orphaned and poor, sets out to find her father's old colleague, the missing Doctor Hyde. Instead she gathers a family of young women who are the daughters or creations of famous scientists, from Moreau and Jekyll to Rappaccini. Together they investigate a series of murders in Victorian London.
11
Uncle Silas
J. Sheridan Le Fanu · 1864
From the same world: “Gothic”
- Gothic
Orphaned heiress Maud Ruthyn is sent to Bartram-Haugh, the remote house of her uncle Silas, a man once suspected of murder. Isolated there with him, his strange son and a governess, she slowly realises the household is closing in on her.
12
Rock Paper Scissors
Alice Feeney · 2021
From the same world: “Gothic”
- Gothic
- Twist Ending
A couple whose marriage is failing take a weekend trip to a remote chapel in the Scottish countryside. Cut off and cold, they each keep a secret, and the anniversary gift they open is not what either of them expects.