40 Best 「dark academia」 Books of 2024| Books Explorer

In this article, we will rank the recommended books for dark academia. The list is compiled and ranked by our own score based on reviews and reputation on the Internet.
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Table of Contents
  1. Bunny: A Novel
  2. Ace of Spades
  3. If We Were Villains
  4. Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution
  5. The Secret History (Vintage Contemporaries)
  6. Sleepwalking
  7. Shadow of the Lions
  8. Bunny: TikTok made me buy it!
  9. Portrait of a Thief: A Novel
  10. If We Were Villains: The Sensational TikTok Book Club pick
Other 30 books
No.1
100

NATIONAL BESTSELLERSoon to be a major motion picture"Jon Swift + Witches of Eastwick + Kelly 'Get In Trouble' Link + Mean Girls + Creative Writing Degree Hell! No punches pulled, no hilarities dodged, no meme unmangled! O Bunny you are sooo genius!" —Margaret Atwood, via Twitter"A wild, audacious and ultimately unforgettable novel." —Michael Schaub, Los Angeles Times"Awad is a stone-cold genius." —Ann Bauer, The Washington PostThe Vegetarian meets Heathers in this darkly funny, seductively strange novel from the acclaimed author of 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl and Rouge"We were just these innocent girls in the night trying to make something beautiful. We nearly died. We very nearly did, didn't we?"Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren University. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark imagination to that of most people, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort--a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other "Bunny," and seem to move and speak as one.But everything changes when Samantha receives an invitation to the Bunnies' fabled "Smut Salon," and finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door--ditching her only friend, Ava, in the process. As Samantha plunges deeper and deeper into the Bunnies' sinister yet saccharine world, beginning to take part in the ritualistic off-campus "Workshop" where they conjure their monstrous creations, the edges of reality begin to blur. Soon, her friendships with Ava and the Bunnies will be brought into deadly collision.The spellbinding new novel from one of our most fearless chroniclers of the female experience, Bunny is a down-the-rabbit-hole tale of loneliness and belonging, friendship and desire, and the fantastic and terrible power of the imagination.Named a Best Book of 2019 by TIME, Vogue, Electric Literature, and The New York Public Library

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No.2
93

Ace of Spades

Àbíké-Íyímídé, Faridah
Square Fish
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No.3
91
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No.5
88

A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK • ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME • INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A contemporary literary classic and "an accomplished psychological thriller ... absolutely chilling" (Village Voice), from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Goldfinch.One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 YearsUnder the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality.“A remarkably powerful novel [and] a ferociously well-paced entertainment . . . Forceful, cerebral, and impeccably controlled.” —The New York Times

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No.6
88

Sleepwalking

Wolitzer, Meg
Riverhead Books
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No.7
78

Shadow of the Lions

Swann, Christopher
Algonquin Books

How Long Must We Pay For The Crimes Of Our Youth? A Prestigious Boys' Boarding School. A Best Friend's Betrayal. A Decades-old Mystery Of A Missing Student. In This Sharp Literary Thriller, Matthias Glass Gets Drawn Into His Past As He Attempts To Come To Terms With The Long-ago Disappearance Of His Prep-school Roommate--and To Become The Man He Is Meant To Be In The Middle Of His Senior Year At The Blackburne School In Virginia, Matthias Glass's Roommate And Best Friend Fritz Davenport Runs Off Into The Woods After The Two Boys Have An Argument--and Vanishes Without A Trace. Ever Since, Matthias Has Felt Responsible, Thinking That Their Fight, About A Betrayal Of The School's Honor Code, Led To Fritz's Disappearance. A Decade Later, After An Early Triumph With His First Novel, Followed By Too Much Partying And Too Little Work, Matthias Realizes He Has Stalled Out, Become A Failure As A Writer, A Boyfriend, A Man. So When He Is Offered A Job At Blackburne As An English Teacher, He Sees It As A Chance To Put His Life Back Together. But Once On Campus, Matthias Gets Swiftly Drawn Into The Past, And Is Driven To Find Out What Happened To Fritz. Along The Way He Must Reckon With Fritz's Complicated And Powerful Washington, D.c., Family, The Shocking Death Of A Student, And Begin To Understand His Own Place In The Privileged World Of Blackburne. In The Spirit Of Film Noir, Shadow Of The Lions Is A Tale Full Of Unexpected Turns--a Thriller, But Also A Moving Story That Is As Much About The Mystery As It Is About The Redemption Of A Broken Friendship And A Lost Soul-- A Novel By Christopher Swann.

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No.8
78

The Vegetarian meets Heathers in this darkly funny, seductively strange novel about a lonely graduate student drawn into a clique of rich girls.\n'We were just these innocent girls in the night trying to make something beautiful. We nearly died. We very nearly did, didn't we?'\nSamantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren University. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark imagination to that of most people, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort – a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other 'Bunny', and are often found entangled in a group hug so tight they become one.\nBut everything changes when Samantha receives an invitation to the Bunnies' fabled 'Smut Salon', and finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door – ditching her only friend, Ava, in the process. As Samantha plunges deeper and deeper into the sinister yet saccharine world of the Bunnies, the edges of reality begin to blur, and her friendships with Ava and the Bunnies are brought into deadly collision.\nA spellbinding, down-the-rabbit-hole tale of loneliness and belonging, creativity and agency, and friendship and desire, Bunny is the dazzlingly original second book from the author of 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl.

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No.9
78

Portrait of a Thief: A Novel

Li, Grace D.
Tiny Reparations Books
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No.12
75
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No.13
73

Plain Bad Heroines: A Novel

Danforth, Emily M.
William Morrow

The Favourite Meets The Haunting Of Hill House In This Highly Imaginative And Original Highbrow Horror-comedy Centered Around A Cursed New England Boarding School For Girls, A Wickedly Whimsical Celebration Of The Art Of Storytelling, Sapphic Love, And The Rebellious Female Spirit--and The Highly-anticipated Adult Debut From The Award-winning Author Of The Miseducation Of Cameron Post. Our Story Begins In 1902, At The Brookhants School For Girls. Flo And Clara, Two Impressionable Students, Are Obsessed With Each Other And With A Daring Young Writer Named Mary Maclane, Author Of A Scandalous Bestselling Memoir That Transforms These Acolytes Into Bold Rebels. To Show Their Devotion To Mary, The Girls Establish Their Own Private Club And Call It The Plain Bad Heroine Society. They Meet In Secret In A Nearby Apple Orchard, A Seeming Paradise, The Setting Of Their Wildest Happiness And, Ultimately, Of Their Macabre Deaths. This Is Where Their Bodies Are Later Discovered, A Copy Of Mary's Book Splayed Beside Them, The Victims Of A Swarm Of Stinging, Angry Yellow Jackets. Less Than Five Years Later, The School For Girls Closes Its Doors Forever--but Not Before Three More People Mysteriously Die On The Property, Each In A Most Troubling Manner. Over A Century Later, The Now Abandoned And Crumbling Brookhants Is Back In The News When Wunderkind Writer, Merritt Emmons, Publishes A Breakout Book Celebrating The Queer, Feminist History Surrounding The Haunted And Cursed Gilded-age Institution. Her Bestseller Inspires A Controversial Horror Film Adaptation Starring Celebrity Actor And Lesbian It Girl Harper Harper Playing The Ill-fated Heroine Flo, Opposite B-list Actress And Former Child Star Audrey Wells, As Clara. But As Brookhants Opens Its Gates Once Again, And Our Three Modern Heroines Arrive On Set To Begin Filming, Past And Present Become Grimly Entangled--or Perhaps Just Grimly Exploited--and Soon It's Impossible To Tell Where The Curse Leaves Off And Hollywood Begins. A Story Within A Story Within A Story And Featuring Black-and-white Period Illustrations, Plain Bad Heroines Is A Devilishly Haunting, Modern Masterwork Of Metafiction That Manages To Combine The Ghostly Sensibility Of Sarah Waters With The Dark Imagination Of Marisha Pessl And The Sharp Humor And Incisive Social Commentary Of Curtis Sittenfeld Into One Laugh-out-loud Funny, Spellbinding, And Wonderfully Luxuriant Read.

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No.14
73

The Instant Sunday Times And New York Times Bestseller, And Goodreads Choice Award Winner, That Stephen King Calls 'impossible To Put Down'. Leigh Bardugo's Sunday Times And New York Times Bestselling Adult Debut Is A Mesmerising Tale Of Power, Privilege And Dark Magic Set Among The Ivy League Elite. Galaxy 'alex' Stern Is The Most Unlikely Member Of Yale's Freshman Class. A Dropout And The Sole Survivor Of A Horrific, Unsolved Crime, Alex Was Hoping For A Fresh Start. But A Free Ride To One Of The World's Most Prestigious Universities Was Bound To Come With A Catch. Alex Has Been Tasked With Monitoring The Mysterious Activities Of Yale's Secret Societies - Well-known Haunts Of The Rich And Powerful. Now There's A Dead Girl On Campus And Alex Seems To Be The Only Person Who Won't Accept The Neat Answer The Police And Campus Administration Have Come Up With For Her Murder. Because Alex Knows The Secret Societies Are Far More Sinister And Extraordinary Than Anyone Ever Imagined. They Tamper With Forbidden Magic. They Raise The Dead. And Sometimes They Prey On The Living . . . 'one Of The Best Fantasy Novels I've Read In Years' Lev Grossman, Bestselling Author '[a] Mesmerising Novel' Charlaine Harris, Bestselling Author 'ninth House Rocked My World' Joe Hill, Bestselling Author

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No.15
73

Ninth House

Bardugo, Leigh
Flatiron Books

"The best fantasy novel I’ve read in years, because it’s about real people... Impossible to put down." ―Stephen KingThe smash New York Times bestseller from Leigh Bardugo, a mesmerizing tale of power, privilege, and dark magic set among the Ivy League elite.Goodreads Choice Award WinnerLocus FinalistGalaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug-dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. In fact, by age twenty, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most prestigious universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?Still searching for answers, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. Their eight windowless “tombs” are the well-known haunts of the rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street’s biggest players. But their occult activities are more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive. They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And, sometimes, they prey on the living.Don't miss the highly-anticipated sequel, Hell Bent.

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No.16
73

For Fans Of Riley Sager, The Hawthorne School Is A Twisty Psychological Suspense About The Lengths One Mother Will Go For Her Child, Inspired By Present-day Obsession With Cults And True Crime. Claudia Morgan Is Overwhelmed. She's A Single Parent Trying The Best That She Can, But Her Four-year-old Son, Henry, Is A Handful--for Her And For His Preschool. When Claudia Hears About A School With An Atypical Teaching Style Near Her Chicagoland Home, She Has To Visit. The Hawthorne School Is Beautiful And Has Everything She Dreams Of For Henry: Time To Play Outside, Music, And Art. The Head Of The School, Zelma, Will Even Let Claudia Volunteer To Cover The Cost Of Tuition. The School Is Good For Henry: His Behavioral Problems Disappear, And He Comes Home Subdued Instead Of Rageful. But There's Something A Bit Off About The School, Its Cold Halls, And Its Enigmatic Headmistress. When Henry Brings Home Stories Of Ceremonies In The Woods And Odd Rules, Claudia's Instincts Tell Her That Something Isn't Quite Right, And She Begins To Realize She's Caught In A Web Of Manipulations And Power. The Author's Work As A Psychotherapist, With A Focus On Narcissistic Manipulation And Addictive Power Dynamics, Guides This Exploration Of A Young Mother Wanting To Do The Best For Her Child.

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No.17
71

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of The Night Circus, a timeless love story set in a secret underground world—a place of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a starless sea.\\nZachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood.\\nBewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues—a bee, a key, and a sword—that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth. What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians—it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also of those who are intent on its destruction.\\nTogether with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose—in both the mysterious book and in his own life.

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No.18
71

Winner Of England's Booker Prize, A Coast-to-coast Bestseller, And The Literary Sensation Of The Year, Possession Is A Novel Of Wit And Romance, At Once An Intellectual Mystery And A Triumphant Love Story. Revolving Around A Pair Of Young Scholars Researching The Lives Of Two Victorian Poets, Byatt Creates A Haunting Counterpoint Of Passion And Ideas. A.s. Byatt. Reprint. Originally Published: New York : Random House, 1990.

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No.19
71

Felicity Morrow Returns To The Dalloway School After Her Girlfriend's Tragic Death, Only To Meet Ellis Haley--a New Student And A Teenage Literary Prodigy--who Enlists Felicity's Help In Researching The School's Bloody, Occult History For Her New Book.

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No.20
71

A trade paperback repackage of New York Times bestseller V.E. Schwab's Vicious, a masterful tale of ambition, jealousy, and superpowers which will include:\n*A new cover by Wil Staehle, cover artist of the iconic Shades of Magic trilogy covers*Schwab's Tor.com short story set within the Vicious universe, "Warm Up"*A teaser for the upcoming sequel, Vengeful\nVictor and Eli started out as college roommates―brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.\nTen years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find―aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge―but who will be left alive at the end? \nIn Vicious, V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn't automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question.\n"A dynamic and original twist on what it means to be a hero and a villain. A killer from page one…highly recommended!" ―Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of Marvel Universe vs The Avengers and Patient Zero

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No.21
70
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No.22
70

Catherine House: A Novel

Thomas, Elisabeth
Custom House

Product Description \n“[A] delicious literary Gothic debut.” –THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, EDITORS' CHOICE\n“Moody and evocative as a fever dream, Catherine House is the sort of book that wraps itself around your brain, drawing you closer with each hypnotic step.” – THE WASHINGTON POST\nA Most Anticipated Novel by Entertainment Weekly • New York magazine • Cosmopolitan • The Atlantic • Forbes • Good Housekeeping • Parade • Better Homes and Gardens • HuffPost • Buzzfeed • Newsweek • Harper’s Bazaar • Ms. Magazine • Woman's Day • PopSugar • and more!\nA gothic-infused debut of literary suspense, set within a secluded, elite university and following a dangerously curious, rebellious undergraduate who uncovers a shocking secret about an exclusive circle of students . . . and the dark truth beneath her school’s promise of prestige.\nTrust us, you belong here.\nCatherine House is a school of higher learning like no other. Hidden deep in the woods of rural Pennsylvania, this crucible of reformist liberal arts study with its experimental curriculum, wildly selective admissions policy, and formidable endowment, has produced some of the world’s best minds: prize-winning authors, artists, inventors, Supreme Court justices, presidents. For those lucky few selected, tuition, room, and board are free. But acceptance comes with a price. Students are required to give the House three years—summers included—completely removed from the outside world. Family, friends, television, music, even their clothing must be left behind. In return, the school promises a future of sublime power and prestige, and that its graduates can become anything or anyone they desire.\nAmong this year’s incoming class is Ines Murillo, who expects to trade blurry nights of parties, cruel friends, and dangerous men for rigorous intellectual discipline—only to discover an environment of sanctioned revelry. Even the school’s enigmatic director, Viktória, encourages the students to explore, to expand their minds, to find themselves within the formidable iron gates of Catherine. For Ines, it is the closest thing to a home she’s ever had. But the House’s strange protocols soon make this refuge, with its worn velvet and weathered leather, feel increasingly like a gilded prison. And when tragedy strikes, Ines begins to suspect that the school—in all its shabby splendor, hallowed history, advanced theories, and controlled decadence—might be hiding a dangerous agenda within the secretive, tightly knit group of students selected to study its most promising and mysterious curriculum.\nCombining the haunting sophistication and dusky, atmospheric style of Sarah Waters with the unsettling isolation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, Catherine House is a devious, deliciously steamy, and suspenseful page-turner with shocking twists and sharp edges that is sure to leave readers breathless.\n Review \n“There are shades of Edgar Allan Poe and Alfred Hitchcock as suspense builds in the winding corridors of the house and the twisting turns of the psyche. Moody and evocative as a fever dream,\nCatherine House is the sort of book that wraps itself around your brain, drawing you closer with each hypnotic step.” --\nThe Washington Post \\n“Calling all \nThe Secret History fans! This debut novel is set within the walls of an exclusive private college, but with a twist: Students seclude themselves for three years, completely removed from their previous lives.” --\nEntertainment Weekly, Stay Home and Read These 20 New May Books \\n“This dark, speculative thriller . . . [is] an electrifying update on gothic horror, evoking haunting institutional imagery and weaving in 'psychosexual' experimentation and power imbalances.” --\nBuzzfeed, 29 Summer Books You Won't Be Able to Put Down\\n“This haunting thriller is filled with unexpected twists and shocking suspense.” --\nToday.com, Emma Straub Has 5 Books to Read if You Loved \nAll Adults Here\\n“The strength of this debut novel relies on its refusal to ad

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No.23
70
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No.24
70

Readers Of The Harry Potter Series And Jonathan Strange And Mr. Norrell Are Sure To Be Mesmerized By Dan Vyleta's Thrilling Blend Of Historical Fiction And Fantasy, As Three Young Friends Scratch The Surface Of The Grown-up World To Discover Startling Wonders--and Dangerous Secrets. Dan Vyleta Writes With Intricacy And Imagination And Skillful Pacing; Never Once Would I Have Considered Putting His Book Down. In The Manner Of Both A Dickens Novel And The Best Young Adult Adventure Stories (the Harry Potter Series Among Them). . .his Ending, Which I Wouldn't Dare Reveal Here, Is A Real Firecracker.--jennifer Senior, The New York Times Welcome To A Victorian England Unlike Any Other You Have Experienced Before. Here, Wicked Thoughts (both Harmless And Hate-filled) Appear In The Air As Telltale Wisps Of Smoke. Young Thomas Argyle, A Son Of Aristocracy, Has Been Sent To An Elite Boarding School. Here He Will Be Purged Of Wickedness, For The Wealthy Do Not Smoke. When He Resists A Sadistic Headboy's Temptations To Smoke, A Much Larger Struggle Beyond The School Walls Is Revealed. Shortly Thereafter, On A Trip To London, Thomas And His Best Friend Witness Events That Make Them Begin To Question Everything They Have Been Taught About Smoke. And Thus The Adventure Begins... You Will Travel By Coach To A Grand Estate Where Secrets Lurk In Attic Rooms And Hidden Laboratories; Where Young Love Blossoms; And Where A Tumultuous Relationship Between A Mother And Her Children Is The Crucible In Which Powerful Passions Are Kindled, And Dangerous Deeds Must Be Snuffed Out In A Desperate Race Against Time. From The Hardcover Edition.

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No.25
70
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No.26
70

Black Chalk

Yates, Christopher
Picador
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No.27
70

Catherine House: A Novel

Thomas, Elisabeth
Custom House

Catherine House Is A School Of Higher Learning Like No Other. For Those Lucky Few Selected, Tuition, Room, And Board Are Free--but Acceptance Comes With A Price. Students Are Required To Give The House Three Years, Summers Included, Completely Removed From The Outside World. In Return, The School Promises A Future Of Sublime Power And Prestige. Among This Year's Incoming Class Is Ines Murillo, Who Expects To Trade Blurry Nights Of Parties, Cruel Friends, And Dangerous Men For Rigorous Intellectual Discipline, Only To Discover An Environment Of Sanctioned Revelry. But The House's Strange Protocols Soon Make This Refuge Feel Increasingly Like A Gilded Prison.

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No.28
70

Book one of the New York Times bestselling All Souls series, from the author of The Black Bird Oracle.“A wonderfully imaginative grown-up fantasy with all the magic of Harry Potter and Twilight” (People).Look for the hit series “A Discovery of Witches,” now streaming on AMC+, Sundance Now, and Shudder!Deborah Harkness’s sparkling debut, A Discovery of Witches, has brought her into the spotlight and galvanized fans around the world. In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782, deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont.Harkness has created a universe to rival those of Anne Rice, Diana Gabaldon, and Elizabeth Kostova, and she adds a scholar's depth to this riveting tale of magic and suspense. The story continues in book two, Shadow of Night, book three, The Book of Life, and the fourth in the series, Time’s Convert.

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No.29
70

Hex: A Novel

Knight, Rebecca Dinerstein
Penguin Books
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No.30
69

The Maidens

Michaelides, Alex
Celadon Books

**THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**"Alex Michaelides’s long-awaited next novel, 'The Maidens,' is finally here...the premise is enticing and the elements irresistible."―The New York Times"A deliciously dark, elegant, utterly compulsive read―with a twist that blew my mind. I loved this even more than I loved The Silent Patient and that's saying something!"―Lucy Foley, New York Times bestselling author of The Guest ListFrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Patient comes a spellbinding tale of psychological suspense, weaving together Greek mythology, murder, and obsession, that further cements “Michaelides as a major player in the field” (Publishers Weekly).Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike―particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens.Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge.Mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students? And why does he keep returning to the rites of Persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld?When another body is found, Mariana’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships. But Mariana is determined to stop this killer, even if it costs her everything―including her own life.

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No.31
69

Written with a trenchant, sardonic edge, The Group is a dazzlingly outspoken novel and a captivating look at the social history of America between two world wars. Mary McCarthy’s most celebrated novel follows the lives of eight Vassar graduates, known simply to their classmates as “the group.” An eclectic mix of personalities and upbringings, they meet a week after graduation to watch Kay Strong get married. After the ceremony, the women begin their adult lives—traveling to Europe, tackling the worlds of nursing and publishing, and finding love and heartbreak in the streets of New York City. Through the years, some of the friends grow apart and some become entangled in each other's affairs, but all vow not to become like their mothers and fathers. It is only when one of them passes away that they all come back together again to mourn the loss of a friend, a confidante, and most importantly, a member of the group.

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No.32
69

International BestsellerWinner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel"This lively whodunit keeps you guessing until the end." —PeopleDeath lies between the lines when the events of a dark story start coming true in this haunting modern Gothic mystery, perfect for fans of Magpie Murders and The Lake House.Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she even teaches a course on him. But when one of Clare’s colleagues is found dead, with a line from Holland’s iconic story “The Stranger” left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with her favorite literature.The police suspect the killer is someone Clare knows. Unsure whom to trust, she turns to her diary, the only outlet for her suspicions and fears. Then one day she notices something odd. Writing that isn't hers, left on the page of an old diary:Hallo Clare. You don’t know me.Clare becomes more certain than ever: “The Stranger” has come to terrifying life. But can the ending be rewritten in time?

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No.33
69

The mesmerizing New York Times bestseller by the author of Night FilmMarisha Pessl’s dazzling debut sparked raves from critics and heralded the arrival of a vibrant new voice in American fiction. At the center of Special Topics in Calamity Physics is clever, deadpan Blue van Meer, who has a head full of literary, philosophical, scientific, and cinematic knowledge. But she could use some friends. Upon entering the elite St. Gallway School, she finds some—a clique of eccentrics known as the Bluebloods. One drowning and one hanging later, Blue finds herself puzzling out a byzantine murder mystery. Nabokov meets Donna Tartt (then invites the rest of the Western Canon to the party) in this novel—with visual aids drawn by the author—that has won over readers of all ages.

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No.34
69

Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of The Poppy War“Absolutely phenomenal. One of the most brilliant, razor-sharp books I've had the pleasure of reading that isn't just an alternative fantastical history, but an interrogative one; one that grabs colonial history and the Industrial Revolution, turns it over, and shakes it out.” -- Shannon Chakraborty, bestselling author of The City of BrassFrom award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire.Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel.Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide…Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?

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No.35
69

NOBEL PRIZE WINNER • From the acclaimed, bestselling author of The Remains of the Day comes “a Gothic tour de force" (The New York Times) with an extraordinary twist—a moving, suspenseful, beautifully atmospheric modern classic.As children, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were.Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special—and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together.

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No.36
69

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER\\nNamed a Best Book of 2023 by People, USA Today, NPR, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Real Simple, The Boston Globe, CrimeReads and more\\n“A twisty, immersive whodunit perfect for fans of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History.” —People\\n"Spellbinding." —The New York Times Book Review\\n"[An] irresistible literary page-turner." —The Boston Globe\\nThe riveting new novel — "part true-crime page-turner, part campus coming-of-age" (San Francisco Chronicle) — from the author of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist The Great Believers\\nA successful film professor and podcaster, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past—the family tragedy that marred her adolescence, her four largely miserable years at a New Hampshire boarding school, and the murder of her former roommate, Thalia Keith, in the spring of their senior year. Though the circumstances surrounding Thalia’s death and the conviction of the school’s athletic trainer, Omar Evans, are hotly debated online, Bodie prefers—needs—to let sleeping dogs lie.\\nBut when the Granby School invites her back to teach a course, Bodie is inexorably drawn to the case and its increasingly apparent flaws. In their rush to convict Omar, did the school and the police overlook other suspects? Is the real killer still out there? As she falls down the very rabbit hole she was so determined to avoid, Bodie begins to wonder if she wasn’t as much of an outsider at Granby as she’d thought—if, perhaps, back in 1995, she knew something that might have held the key to solving the case.\\nIn I Have Some Questions for You, award-winning author Rebecca Makkai has crafted her most irresistible novel yet: a stirring investigation into collective memory and a deeply felt examination of one woman’s reckoning with her past, with a transfixing mystery at its heart. Timely, hypnotic, and populated with a cast of unforgettable characters, I Have Some Questions for You is at once a compulsive page-turner and a literary triumph.

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No.37
69

"Anyone who enjoys novels that are scary, erotic, touching, tragic and thrilling should rush right out to the nearest bookstore and pick up The Shadow of the Wind. Really, you should." —Michael Dirda, The Washington Post“Wondrous...masterful...The Shadow of the Wind is ultimately a love letter to literature, intended for readers as passionate about storytelling as its young hero.” —Entertainment Weekly, Editor's Choice“This is one gorgeous read.” —Stephen King"I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetary of Forgotten Books for the first time..."Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets—an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

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No.38
69

Ace of Spades

bk-ymd, Faridah
Feiwel & Friends

Gossip Girl meets Get Out in Ace of Spades, a YA contemporary thriller by debut author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé about two students, Devon & Chiamaka, and their struggles against an anonymous bully.All you need to know is . . . I’m here to divide and conquer. Like all great tyrants do. ―AcesWhen two Niveus Private Academy students, Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, are selected to be part of the elite school’s senior class prefects, it looks like their year is off to an amazing start. After all, not only does it look great on college applications, but it officially puts each of them in the running for valedictorian, too.Shortly after the announcement is made, though, someone who goes by Aces begins using anonymous text messages to reveal secrets about the two of them that turn their lives upside down and threaten every aspect of their carefully planned futures.As Aces shows no sign of stopping, what seemed like a sick prank quickly turns into a dangerous game, with all the cards stacked against them. Can Devon and Chiamaka stop Aces before things become incredibly deadly?With heart-pounding suspense and relevant social commentary comes a high-octane thriller from debut author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé.

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No.39
69

It Was A Cloudless Summer Day In The Year 1900. Everyone At Appleyard College For Young Ladies Agreed It Was Just Right For A Picnic At Hanging Rock. After Lunch, A Group Of Three Girls Climbed Into The Blaze Of The Afternoon Sun, Pressing On Through The Scrub Into The Shadows Of The Secluded Volcanic Outcropping. Farther, Higher, Until At Last They Disappeared. They Never Returned. Haunting, Mysterious, And Subtly Erotic, Picnic At Hanging Rock Inspired The Iconic 1975 Film Of The Same Name By Peter Weir. A Beguiling Masterpiece Of Australian Literature, It Stands With Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived In The Castle And Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca As A Masterpiece Of Otherworldly Intrigue-- Joan Lindsay.

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No.40
69

Edinburgh

Chee, Alexander
Welcome Rain

A Story Of How A Boy Survives The Abuse By His Choir Director. Alexander Chee.

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