If you’re willing to read some spooky books for this Halloween season, here are 5 women horror writers. Enjoy these spooktacular books!
- Daphne Du Maurier
There are three books which turned into films: Jamaica Inn (1939), Rebecca (1940) and The birds (1963), all directed by Alfred Hitchcock. If you felt in love with The Birds, check out the novel, it will surprise you. Alfred Hitchcock wasn’t the only director who wanted to put on screen these novels. Du Maurier’s short story Don’t Look Now was turned into a creepy movie in 1973.
- Charlotte Riddell
“The Victorian ghost novelist par execellence” is Charlotte Riddell. Born in 1832 in Ireland, she wrote supernatural tales, her specific themes were haunted houses. Initially she wrote under the name of a popular writer, F.G. Trafford, publishing short stories like Nut Bush Farm. Nowadays, her stories seem outdated, but if you are an old-fashioned person, you will like her novels.
- Shirley Jackson
She was the most appreciated woman horror writer of the 20th century. Her famous novel, The Haunting of Hill House is now being developed as a Netflix series, after it was screened twice. Despite her success, Shirley Jackson suffered from anxiety and depression. She often is questioning the idea of home and this is revealed also in her novels.
- Octavia Butler
Known as a science fiction writer, Butler’s stories include some creepy elements, which can make us say that she was one of the best woman horror writers. Octavia Butler’s most horror-inspired work, Fledgling was published a year before her death, in 2005. This book talks about a young little girl who transforms into a vampire. Her main themes are dystopias and alien planets. When she spoke about her novel Kindred, she explained, “I wanted to write a novel that would make others feel the history: the pain and fear that black people have had to live through in order to endure.”
- Lisa Tuttle
She collaborated with George R.R. Martin on the novel Windhaven and after that she begin to stand up alone with her famous works like Gabriel, Familiar Spirit and A Nest of Nightmares. Lisa Tuttle also written young adult fiction and fantasy.
