Suspiciously Specific #7: autumnal books that feel like walking on crunchy leaves...
- The Fiction Fox
- Oct 16
- 4 min read
Genre: literary fiction, magical realism
Pagecount: 210 pages
A literary novel that reads almost like an extended poem about a young boy who disappears into the local English woods, and the mythological figure of Dead Papa Toothwort - essentially a spirit of the forest, akin to the Green Man - who watches the following events unfold from the shadows of the trees.
Genre: Young Adult, magical realism
Pagecount: 409 pages
The story of a clairvoyants daughter with a perculiar gift of her own, the curse she lives with, and the friendship she forges with a group of boys from the local private school.
There's no way for me to picture Cabeswater as anything but an autumnal forest covered in a colourful blanket of leaves. Although the story might be "dated" to early twenty-tens YA, the atmosphere alone makes this one worth a visit.
Genre: fantasy
Pagecount: 568 pages
A fantasy-retelling of Shakespears King Lear, in which three sisters challenge eachother in a powerbattle over the throne left vacant by their mad father. The forest-rich kingdom stuck in a perpetual state of fall, combined with the earthly magic running through it all, make this a perfect autumnal read.
Genre: fantasy
Pagecount: 337 pages
A lyrical retelling of the life of the ancient Greek sorceress Circe; this time as the protagonist of her own story, instead of a mere side character in the margins of a hero's mythology. The cover, as well as the lush depictions of the magical island of Aeae, just scream autumnal-harvest to me.
Genre: Magical Realism, Historical Fiction
Pagecount: 448 pages
A 18th century young woman makes a faustian deal with the devil, making her immortal and allowing her to travel the world freely for eternity. The catch: everyone she ever meets will forget that she exists whenever they go to sleep. Until after centuries of this torture, a young bookseller in modern-day Manhattan remembers her.
Genre: Historical Fiction, gothic, haunted house
Pagecount: 295 pages
In 1914 a woman takes a job as the caretaker of the exotic greenhouses in the gardens of an isolated manor in Gloucestershire. She soon learns that houses owner, its gardens and its abandoned halls might harbour more secrets than she anticipated.
This book is packed to the brim with gothic manors, autumnal gardens and twighlit-afternoons, and happens to be graced with the most autumnal cover I could find on my shelves.
Genre: Cozy fantasy, mystery
Pagecount: 336 pages
When a guest dies in the B&B she helps her aunts run, a young witch must rely on some good old-fashioned investigating to clear her aunt's name in this magical and charming new cozy mystery. The New England town-setting, the cozy mystery vibes, and the fact that the story actually takes place during the fall-season: this one is just a perfect match.
Genre: Fantasy
Pagecount: 506 pages
The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.
Over the course of many autumns and winters, we follow two of the performers - two rivaling magicians - in their battle for magical excellence.
Genre: Fantasy
Pagecount: 243 pages
A deliciously dark (and wryly hilarious) horror-fairytale about a princess determined to take her fate in her own hands, and kill the prince that has kept her sister under his strict tumb for years now. Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince—if she can complete three impossible tasks. But, as is the way in tales of princes, witches, and daughters, the impossible is only the beginning.
Genre: Horror, mystery
Pagecount: 408 pages
In 1965, a heavily pregnant woman arrives the doors of Lichen Hall, a house for women just like her. Lichen Hall is a sanctuary for women pregnant out of wedlock, where they can receive the care they need during their pregnancy and delivery. A place like this is bound to be subject to rumours and folklore, some more supernatural than others. And some more true than others...
Genre: Classics, horror
Pagecount: 182 pages
4 guests spend the night in a rumoured to be haunted house upon a hill: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of psychic phenomena; Theodora, his lovely and lighthearted assistant; Luke, the adventurous future inheritor of the estate; and Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman with a dark past. What they encounter inside the rooms of Hill House will leave none of them unchanged.
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