Gothic Fiction
A genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance, feeding on a pleasing sort of terror.
The Last Man [en] (1826) 
Mary Shelley
A futuristic story of tragic love and of the gradual extermination of the human race by plague, The Last Man is Mary Shelley's most important novel after Frankenstein. With intriguing portraits of Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, the novel offers a vision of the future that expresses a...
Genres: Gothic Fiction, Science Fiction
Dracula [en] (1897)
Bram Stoker
A true masterwork of storytelling, Dracula has transcended generation, language, and culture to become one of the most popular novels ever written. It is a quintessential tale of suspense and horror, boasting one of the most terrifying characters ever born in literature: Count Dracula, a...
Genres: Gothic Fiction, Horror
Wuthering Heights [en] (1847)
Emily Brontë
Perhaps the most haunting and tragic love story ever written, Wuthering Heights is the tale of Heathcliff, a brooding, troubled orphan, and his doomed love for Catherine Earnshaw. His desire for her leads him to madness, however, when Catherine is made to marry a wealthy lord, sending...
Genres: Gothic Fiction, Romance
Jane Eyre [en] (1847)
Charlotte Brontë
Romantic melodrama or feminist classic, Jane Eyre is one of the most enduringly popular and compelling novels in the literary canon. Overlooked or dismissed by critics in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it first began to attract serious critical attention in the 1970s as New...
Genres: Gothic Fiction, Romance
Frankenstein [en] (1818)
Mary Shelley
A monster assembled by a scientist from parts of dead bodies develops a mind of his own as he learns to loathe himself and hate his creator. Shelley's suspenseful and intellectually rich gothic tale confronts some of the most important and enduring themes in all of literture--the power of...
Genres: Gothic Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction