Cover of Lois the Witch

Lois the Witch

by Elizabeth Gaskell · 1861

+ Want to read

Set against the backdrop of the Salem witch hunts, Elizabeth Gaskell's somber novella reveals much about the complicity of mankind. Foreword by Jenny Uglow. Recently orphaned, Lois is forced to leave the English parsonage that had been her home and sail to America. A God-fearing and honest girl, she has little to concern her in this new life. Yet as she joins her distant family, she finds jealousy and dissension are rife, and her cousins quick to point the finger at the "imposter." With the whole of Salem gripped by a fear of the supernatural, it seems her new home is where she is in most danger. Lonely and afraid, the words of an old curse return to haunt her. Collaborator and friend of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865) is a leading figure in Victorian literature.

Genre
historical fictionhistorical fictionMore like thisLess of thisVictorianVictorianMore like thisLess of thishorrorhorrorMore like thisLess of thisliterary fictionliterary fictionMore like thisLess of thiswitchwitchMore like thisLess of this
Themes
gothicgothicMore like thisLess of this
Setting
VictorianVictorianMore like thisLess of this
Subject
historyhistoryMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult
Length
short · 94 pages
Form
short storiesshort storiesMore like thisLess of thisnovellanovellaMore like thisLess of this

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

BuyAmazonGoogle Books

BorrowOpen LibraryA library near you

MoreCompare pricesHardcover

Liked Lois the Witch? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Lois the Witch. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Virgin of the Seven Daggers: Excursions into Fantasy Vernon Lee · 2008 Shares gothic, horror, fiction
  2. Northhanger Abbey / Persuasion Jane Austen · 2015 Shares classics, gothic, fiction
  3. Free onlineFree
    The Ghost Arnold Bennett · 1907 Shares classics, gothic, historical fiction
  4. The Spook House: Terrifying Tales of the Macabre Ambrose Bierce · 1907 Shares classics, horror, gothic
See more recommendations →

“People who read Lois the Witch tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Free onlineFree The Haunted Hotel: A Mystery of Modern Venice Wilkie Collins · 1879
  2. Free onlineFree The Trail of the Serpent Mary Elizabeth Braddon · 1860
  3. Amos Barton George Eliot · 1857
  4. Free onlineFree The Beetle Richard Marsh · 1897

“If you want more of the same (historical fiction about gothic), start with these.”

  1. Magpie Hall Rachael King · 2009
  2. The Somnambulist Essie Fox · 2011
  3. Blackwell Alexandrea Weis, Lucas Astor
  4. Free onlineFree Behind a Mask, Or, a Woman's Power Louisa May Alcott, A.M. Barnard · 1866

“If it was the classics that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern Papers Henry James · 1898
  2. Free onlineFree The Turn of the Screw Henry James · 1891
  3. Free onlineFree A Lady Of Quality Frances Hodgson Burnett · 1896
  4. Rebecca Daphne du Maurier · 1938

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Mist of Midnight Sandra Byrd · 2015
  2. Twelve Days of Christmas Jennifer Lang · 2014
  3. A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials Ann Rinaldi · 1992
  4. The Blast that Tears the Skies J.D. Davies · 2012

Report a problem