Loved Saltburn? Try This!

By Kat La Mantia | January 18 2024 | AdultsGeneralAllPop CultureBlog

Rich with gothic aesthetics and full of unsettling twists and turns, Saltburn is the gorgeous, queer, dark academia movie we just can’t get enough of. If you want more reads like Emerald Fennel’s latest triumph, check out some of our favorite dark academia books! From Donna Tartt’s classic The Secret History to debut author Kit Mayquist’s atmospheric gothic horror novel Tripping Arcadia, there are plenty of moody books perfect for reading by candlelight in your favorite tweed blazer on our list.

Dark Academia Must-Reads for Saltburn Fans

The Secret History
978-1-4000-3170-2
NATIONAL BESTSELLER--Donna Tartt's riveting classic about an elite group of students at a private New England college and the terrifying secret that binds them together. First time in Vintage. VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES
$18.00 US
Apr 13, 2004
5-3/16 x 8
Paperback
576 Pages
Vintage

In These Hallowed Halls: A Dark Academia anthology
978-1-80336-360-8
ENROLLMENT BEGINS NOWA beguiling, sinister collection of 12 dark academia short stories from masters of the genre, including Olivie Blake, M.L. Rio, Susie Yang and more!
$26.95 US
Sep 12, 2023
6-1/8 x 9-1/4
Hardcover
368 Pages
Titan Books

Never Let Me Go
978-1-4000-7877-6
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.
$17.00 US
Mar 14, 2006
5-3/16 x 8
Paperback
304 Pages
Vintage

Bunny
A Novel
978-0-525-55975-7
The Vegetarian meets Heathers in this "wickedly hilarious" (New Yorker), "audacious and ultimately unforgettable novel" (Los Angeles Times)
$18.00 US
Jun 09, 2020
5-1/2 x 8-1/4
Paperback
336 Pages
Penguin Books

Tripping Arcadia
A Gothic Novel
978-0-593-18522-3
Now in paperback, a propulsive and atmospheric modern Gothic with all the splendor of The Great Gatsby… and all the secrets, lies, and darkness that opulence can hide.
$17.00 US
Feb 21, 2023
5-3/16 x 8
Paperback
368 Pages
Dutton

Ghosts of Harvard
A Novel
978-0-525-51038-3
A Harvard freshman becomes obsessed with her schizophrenic brother's suicide. Then she starts hearing voices."A rich, intricately plotted thriller." --Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post"Part mystery, part ghost story, part psychological thriller, this novel is all entertainment." --#1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult
$18.00 US
Jun 22, 2021
5-3/16 x 8
Paperback
496 Pages
Random House Trade Paperbacks

Real Life
A Novel
978-0-525-53889-9
A FINALIST FOR THE 2020 BOOKER PRIZEA NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE"A blistering coming of age story" --O: The Oprah MagazineOne of the year's most talked about novels, following a young man who runs away to a Midwestern university townonly to fight a deeper psychic battle.
$18.00 US
Feb 16, 2021
5-1/8 x 8
Paperback
336 Pages
Riverhead Books

Belladonna
Our Italian Year
978-0-593-09935-3
Now in paperback, a hypnotizing coming-of-age novel set in 1950s Italy that stares into the heart of longing and at the friendships that have the power to save and destroy us
$17.00 US
Jun 08, 2021
5-1/2 x 8-1/4
Paperback
336 Pages
Berkley

A Lesson in Vengeance
978-0-593-30585-0
For fans of Wilder Girls and Ninth House, comes a dark, twisty, atmospheric thriller about a boarding school haunted by its history of witchcraft and two girls dangerously close to digging up the past.
$12.99 US
Aug 09, 2022
5-1/2 x 8-1/4
Paperback
384 Pages
Ember
Age 14 and up

The Ivies
978-0-593-30373-3
Enroll in this boarding school thriller about a group of prep school elites who would kill to get into the college of their dreams...literally.
$12.99 US
Sep 06, 2022
5-1/2 x 8-1/4
Paperback
336 Pages
Ember
Age 14 and up