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Reading lists

12 new and classic dark academia books

A Dark Inheritance

'A powerful, heart-racing story of family, fate, and writing your own destiny. Intricately plotted and luminously written - I loved it.' Laura Steven, author of The Society for Soulless Girls 
 
Once I had four brothers. Three of them are dead. I am next. 
 
Felix Ashe is sure of only one thing. In thirty days, on his eighteenth birthday, he will die. He might be the only one convinced of this, but the gruesome deaths of his three brothers before him seem to point to only one thing: a curse, one doomed to stop anyone inheriting his family's incredible fortune. 
 
Felix doesn't care about money, or himself, particularly. It's hard to have a stake in the future when you know you haven't got one. But he does care about his little brother Nick, very much. And when an opportunity to break the curse appears to present itself, it's impossible not to heed its dark call. 
 
Soon long-buried secrets will take Felix to the darkest underbelly of Jazz-Age New York, to the far-flung wilds of the Yorkshire moors and back again. And bound to everything is a deadly secret society who will either be Felix's downfall . . . or his one chance at redemption. 
 
The Great Gatsby meets The Inheritance Games in this gloriously twisty thriller, perfect for fans of #DarkAcademia and Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House

Once I had four brothers. Three of them are dead. I am next. 
 
Felix Ashe is sure of only one thing. In thirty days, on his eighteenth birthday, he will die. He might be the only one convinced of this, but the gruesome deaths of his three brothers before him seem to point to only one thing: a curse, one doomed to stop anyone inheriting his family's incredible fortune. 
 
Felix doesn't care about money, or himself, particularly. It's hard to have a stake in the future when you know you haven't got one. But he does care about his little brother Nick, very much. And when an opportunity to break the curse appears to present itself, it's impossible not to heed its dark call. 
 
Soon long-buried secrets will take Felix to the darkest underbelly of Jazz-Age New York, to the far-flung wilds of the Yorkshire moors and back again. And bound to everything is a deadly secret society who will either be Felix's downfall . . . or his one chance at redemption.

Half a Dark Heart

The Horrors gain strength when things in our world are broken. 
 
A bone. A promise. A heart. 
 
Ever since she first encountered 'The Horrors', Alice has hidden herself safely behind the walls of her family's Whitby guest house. Only her beloved sister, Lucille, knows why: that Alice can see things - gruesome, terrible things - in the darkest corners of our world. Shadow-monsters which will do anything to satisfy their violent cravings - and seemingly nothing can stop them. Of course, no one would believe them if they told them - and so the girls stay silent. 
 
That is, until Lucille goes missing, and the boy she was in love with turns up dead. All of which coincides with the arrival of Austin - a dashing young actor from London, who claims a demon has stolen his voice, and only Alice can help him. 
 
Faced with a world and powers she never even knew existed, Alice must race against time to save her sister, herself, and perhaps the only other person who's ever cared about her. As well as send a demon or two back to where they came from . . . 
 
A stunning gothic-horror fantasy with a gorgeous romance at its core, Where The Broken Go is perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Cassandra Clare and Sarah Waters.

Praise for A Dark Inheritance: "A powerful, heart-racing story of family, fate, and writing your own destiny. Intricately plotted and luminously written - I loved it

Laura Steven, author of Our Infinite Fates

H.F. Askwith is a British writer of dark fantastical fiction. She has written two YA gothic-thrillers - A Dark Inheritance and A Cruel Twist of Fate - and the forthcoming Where The Broken Go will be her third. In addition to her writing, H.F. Askwith has a love of puzzles, escape rooms and cyphers, which has in turn influenced her work.

The Horrors gain strength when things in our world are broken. 
 
A bone. A promise. A heart. 
 
Ever since she first encountered 'The Horrors', Alice has hidden herself safely behind the walls of her family's Whitby guest house. Only her beloved sister, Lucille, knows why: that Alice can see things - gruesome, terrible things - in the darkest corners of our world. Shadow-monsters which will do anything to satisfy their violent cravings - and seemingly nothing can stop them. Of course, no one would believe them if they told them - and so the girls stay silent. 
 
That is, until Lucille goes missing, and the boy she was in love with turns up dead. All of which coincides with the arrival of Austin - a dashing young actor from London, who claims a demon has stolen his voice, and only Alice can help him. 
 
Faced with a world and powers she never even knew existed, Alice must race against time to save her sister, herself, and perhaps the only other person who's ever cared about her. As well as send a demon or two back to where they came from . . .

H. F. Askwith

Praise for A Dark Inheritance: "A powerful, heart-racing story of family, fate, and writing your own destiny. Intricately plotted and luminously written - I loved it"

Laura Steven, author of The Society for Soulless Girls

When seventeen-year-old Helena is sent to be a governess at Archfall Manor - a beautiful but crumbling manor house, perched at the edge of a causeway in the North Sea - she feels confident she will know how to deal with the esteemed but eccentric Cauldwell family who own it. But it quickly becomes clear that the Cauldwells are hiding more than Helena could ever have dreamed of. 
 
A series of sinister events come to a head the night of a great storm, which washes away the only path back to the mainland - and reveals in the morning that there has been a murder... quickly followed by another. 
 
Suspicions and paranoia quickly run rampant. Someone has dark motivations in mind - and a killer's instinct to enact them. 
 
But the Cauldwell's aren't the only ones keeping secrets. Helena has a very important one of her own - and soon she begins to wonder whether forces beyond her control might be willing her to enact her own dark plan . . . 
 
Just how far will she go to get what she deserves?

H. F. Askwith

Praise for A Cruel Twist of Fate

Praise for A Dark Inheritance: "A powerful, heart-racing story of family, fate, and writing your own destiny. Intricately plotted and luminously written - I loved it"

Books by H. F. Askwith

Articles featuring H. F. Askwith

12 new and classic dark academia books

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