Climate change may be scary… but these horror stories are even more daunting! In honor of Earth Day (April 22nd) this month, I’ve compiled a list of botanical horror novels that will surely have you question the power of nature.
Don’t Let The Forest In by CG Drews
High school student Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the stories he writes for the “only person who can ground him to reality.” Combined with his twin sister’s emotional distance, Andrew finds himself relying on Thomas even more. But when Thomas’s abusive parents mysteriously disappear, he won’t talk about it. Worse, he seems newly disinterested in the macabre monsters Andrew draws for his stories. This YA fantasy, queer, horror novel will leave you equal parts horrified and mesmerized by what we will do for love.
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
A retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” this horror novel follows a retired soldier named Alex Easton who receives word that their childhood friend, Madeline Usher, is dying. They race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the rural countryside of Ruravia to find that a nightmare of fungal growth and possessed wildlife resides there. Not to mention that Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night and her brother, Roderick, is consumed with a mysterious malady. This genre-defying book is full of unexpected wit and humor so pick up your copy today!
The Bog Wife: A Novel by Kay Chronister
In this Appalachian gothic novel, the Haddesley family have always tended the cranberry bog for as long as they’ve known. In exchange for their labor, the bog has sustained them. The seasons of their lives are dictated by a strict covenant in which the patriarch is sacrificed in a ritual and the bog produces a “wife.” Brought to life from plants, this wife is meant to carry on the family line. But one year, when the bog refuses to keep their end of their bargain, a group of unsettled, grieving siblings face an unknown future. This botanical horror blends what is real with fantasy and horror in a way that will make you feel like it actually happened.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Noemí Taboada receives a frantic letter from her newlywed cousin for someone to save her from doom in a manor in the Mexican countryside. Unsure of what she will find, Noemí goes to High Place to rescue her despite her own feelings of oddness there and the strangers who don’t like her. She befriends the family’s youngest son, but he has secrets of his own about the house that she must find out on her own. A gripping botanical horror story that is wonderfully and terribly told. A postcolonial horror classic!
Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson
A sweet, sapphic romance novel about two women, Rosemary and Ash, who meet at the farmer’s market. Ash sells naturally made products; Rosemary (also known as “Ro”) has moved to start their career in academia as an assistant professor of literature. She has never felt this way before about another woman; she wants to both be her and have her. But as Rosemary’s obsession with Ash grows, she finds that she is not the one doing the devouring. Described as a sapphic, cottagecore Hannibal, this novella can be read in one sitting and makes you hungry (no pun intended!) for more.
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
In a world where nature has reclaimed and plots against humanity, a team of four women join forces to map the terrain of Area X, record observations of their surroundings and one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by the area itself. It is a Staff Picks from Alafaya’s Stephen D. who says, “there’s not a ton of action, but the setting is so uncanny and weird that I couldn’t stop reading.” The first book of an atmospheric series that will immerse you in a world you may get lost in yourself.
Some honorable mentions are Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio which was also a Staff Pick by Alycia F. from Chickasaw; They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran; and Pink Slime by Fernanda Trias, translated by Heather Cleary.
All these botanical horror books (and more) can be found on our shelves and/or in our database. Check them out or place a hold on them today to entertain the impressive magnitude of Mother Nature!
Taylor is a library information associate at OCLS
