Horror · Similar reads
Books like The Turn of the Screw
The best books like The Turn of the Screw are The Portrait of a Lady, Homage to Catalonia, and In Cold Blood. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is about ambiguity and unreliable perception, childhood and innocence, repression and the uncanny. If that's what drew you in, here are 6 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- The Portrait of a Lady
01
Henry James · Literary fiction
Isabel Archer is an intelligent, independent young American woman who arrives in Europe convinced that she wants nothing more than to be free — free from convention, from the pressure to marry, from the enclosures that other women seem to accept without complaint.
A kindred horror read.
Read the summary → - Homage to Catalonia
02
George Orwell · Memoir
Homage to Catalonia is George Orwell's firsthand account of fighting in the Spanish Civil War, which he joined in late 1936 as a volunteer with the POUM militia — a Trotskyist revolutionary organization that was later suppressed by the Soviet-backed Stalinist wing of the Republican forces.
A kindred horror read.
Read the summary → - In Cold Blood
03
Truman Capote · Memoir
Truman Capote's account of the 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas — and of the investigation, capture, trial, and execution of the killers Perry Smith and Richard Hickock — is the founding document of the true crime genre and one of the most admired works of American nonfiction of the twentieth century.
A kindred horror read.
Read the summary → - The Plot Against America
04
Philip Roth · Historical fiction
In Philip Roth's alternate history, Charles Lindbergh defeats Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election on an America First platform, negotiates non-aggression agreements with Hitler and Hirohito, and begins a systematic program of quiet antisemitic policy that gradually shifts the conditions of Jewish American life.
Both dig into childhood and innocence.
Read the summary → - To Kill a Mockingbird
05
Harper Lee · Literary fiction
Jean Louise "Scout" Finch is six years old at the start of the novel and nine by the end.
Both dig into childhood and innocence.
Read the summary → - Mexican Gothic
06
Silvia Moreno-Garcia · Horror
Mexican Gothic is set in 1950s Mexico, where Noemí Taboada — fashionable, sharp, and underestimated — travels to a remote manor in the Mexican countryside after receiving a disturbing letter from her newly-married cousin Catalina.
A kindred horror read.
Read the summary →
Books like The Turn of the Screw: quick answers
What are the best books like The Turn of the Screw?
The best books like The Turn of the Screw by Henry James are The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, plus 1 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Turn of the Screw, such as ambiguity and unreliable perception, childhood and innocence, repression and the uncanny.
What should I read after The Turn of the Screw?
A natural next read after The Turn of the Screw is The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. A kindred horror read. Other strong choices are Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Plot Against America by Philip Roth.
What books are similar to The Turn of the Screw by Henry James?
The Turn of the Screw centers on ambiguity and unreliable perception, childhood and innocence, repression and the uncanny. Books with a similar feel include The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
