The Dark Academicals

Episode 9.3: ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier Oct 29, 2024

Our dark academia adjacent title for this season is one of Sophie’s favourite books. ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier is a masterclass in Gothic suspense and it’s something that we’ve needed to tackle on the podcast for a very long time.

On a trip to the South of France, the shy heroine of Rebecca falls in love with Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower. Although his proposal comes as a surprise, she happily agrees to marry him. But as they arrive at her husband's home, Manderley, a change comes over Maxim, and the young bride is filled with dread. Friendless in the isolated mansion, she realises that she barely knows him. In every corner of every room is the phantom of his beautiful first wife, Rebecca, and the new Mrs de Winter walks in her shadow.
Not since Jane Eyre has a heroine faced such difficulty with the other woman. An international bestseller that has never gone out of print, Rebecca is the haunting story of a young girl consumed by love and the struggle to find her identity.

This is going to be Sarah’s first read of this novel and we’re so excited to head to Manderley for an adventure into the Gothic - a foundation of dark academia.

In this episode we discuss:

Villains and sympathising with villains

Maxim’s obsession with Mrs De Winter’s youth and innocence

We discuss the power of weather and seasons acting as a character

Episode 9.2: ‘The Centre’ by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi Oct 15, 2024

Our second episode of this season takes us to London, Karachi and New Dehli in Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi’s debut novel, ‘The Centre’.

This one leapt onto our radar as soon as that incredibly arresting cover was unveiled and we found out it was about a prestigious translation centre - it had to be a podcast book!

Welcome to The Centre. The cost may be high, but you'll never be the same . . .
Anisa Ellahi longs to become a translator of 'great works of literature', but right now she is stuck in her London flat writing subtitles for Bollywood films.
Then she is told about the Centre, an elite, invite-only programme that guarantees complete fluency in any language in just ten days. Seduced by all that it could make possible, Anisa enrols. But the Centre's services come at a disturbing hidden cost. Still - it's worth it, right? After all, success comes at a price . . .
By turns dark, funny and surreal, The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi takes the reader on a journey through Karachi, London and New Delhi. Throughout it interrogates the sticky politics of language, translation and appropriation and asks: what price would you be willing to pay for success?

‘The Centre’ is undoubtedly going to be an interesting and thought-provoking read, but how does it fit into dark academia?

In this episode we discuss:

The intersection of translation and colonialism

The potentially meta nature of a book within a book

Privilege, money, power and the intersections with living abroad

Episode 9.1: ‘Immortal Dark’ by Tigest Girma Oct 01, 2024

Season 9 of ‘The Dark Academicals’ is HERE - we’re back! - and we’re starting off with a huge debut that is being marketed as dark academia Black vampires and honestly, say less.

Hidden in our world, a society of vampires originating in Africa, can only feed from select human bloodlines. Each bloodline represents a House more cutthroat than the next. To ensure peaceful co-existence and inherit their legacy, human children of these families must study at an elite university before choosing a vampire companion.
Lost Heiress, Kidan Adane grew up far from Uxlay University. She is obsessively protective, mildly nihilistic, and willing to do anything to save her loved ones. When her sister, June, disappears, Kidan is convinced a vampire stole her - the alluring yet dangerous Susenyos Sagad, the same vampire bound to her own House.
To stay in Uxlay, Kidan must study an arcane philosophy, work with four enigmatic students, and survive living with Susenyos - even as he does everything to drive her away. It doesn't matter that Susenyos' violence speaks to her own and tempts Kidan to surrender to a life of darkness. She must find her sister and kill him at all costs.
When a murder mirroring June's disappearance shakes Uxlay, Kidan sinks further into the ruthless underworld of vampires, risking her very soul. Here, she discovers a centuries-old threat. And June could be at the very centre of it.
The Cruel Prince meets Ninth House in this dangerously romantic dark academia debut, where a lost heiress must infiltrate a secret society and live with the vampire she suspects kidnapped her sister.

With calls to ‘Ninth House’ and ‘The Cruel Prince’, vampires and a whole new mythology, this could be starting off the season with a bang. But how does this fantasy really live up to the tropes of dark academia?

In this episode we discuss:

Vampire lore within literature

The cause and effect of genre and literary categorisation

Susenyos, Kidan, and everything it could have been.

Episode 8.6: ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt - Revisited! Aug 06, 2024

It’s finally happening! We’re going back to the beginning and re-examining ‘The Secret History’ with 8 seasons of the podcast behind us and this season of reading Tartt’s influences - how has our list of tropes held up? Do we still love the novel whole-heartedly?

'Everything, somehow, fit together; some sly and benevolent Providence was revealing itself by degrees and I felt myself trembling on the brink of a fabulous discovery, as though any morning it was all going to come together---my future, my past, the whole of my life---and I was going to sit up in bed like a thunderbolt and say oh! oh! oh!'
Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality.

We’re so excited to revisit this novel and re-examine it with our updated knowledge and experience of dark academia.

Episode 8.5: ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’ by Patricia Highsmith Jul 23, 2024

Donna Tartt herself cited Patricia Highsmith’s ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’ as a book that was important to her when writing ‘The Secret HIstory’, and as that idea is the basis for this season, we had to give this one a whirl! There’s also been a recent Netflix mini-series adaptation so it’s a story that’s had a recent resurgence - it felt like time.

Tom Ripley is struggling to stay one step ahead of his creditors and the law, when an unexpected acquaintance offers him a free trip to Europe and a chance to start over.
Ripley wants money, success and the good life and he's willing to kill for it. When his new-found happiness is threatened, his response is as swift as it is shocking.

Both of us went into this novel blind with very little knowledge of the story or the characters, just the sense of the legacy of Highsmith as an acclaimed author. How clearly will we be able to see the influences in ‘The Secret History’?

Episode 8.4: ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley Jul 09, 2024

'Frankenstein' is a literary staple. Everyone has heard of it, and most discerning reader will have either read it or have it on their TBR. Groundbreaking, pivotal and genre making... But how much of an influence does it have on modern dark academia?

Episode 8.3: ‘Stoner’ by John Williams Jun 25, 2024

‘Stoner’ is a classic campus novel that has been on my (Sophie’s TBR) for years and years - it’s one of those novels that is almost universally loved.

It’s going to be very interesting to see the comparisons between seminal campus novels from opposite sides of the Atlantic. We’ve featured Evelyn Waugh’s ‘Brideshead Revisited’, and now it’s the turn of ‘Stoner’.

Episode 8.2: ‘Bacchae’ by Euripides Jun 11, 2024

Ancient literature? Yeah, we’re going there!

‘Bacchae’ is the play, the source material, the inspiration, for the adventures and dangers that Henry and Co get in to during ‘The Secret History’. It’s a foundational text for this novel and lays the groundwork for the conflict and the goal of the book, and shapes and sets the tone for the academic tones and goals in dark academia.

Bacchae, a profound exploration of the human psyche, deals with the appalling consequences of resistance to Dionysus, god of wine and unfettered emotion. This tragedy, which above all others speaks to our post-Freudian era, is one of Euripides' two last surviving plays.

This is the first time we’ve ever encountered ancient literature on the podcast, and our first deep dive into the underlying inspirations for ‘The Secret History’ - we’re so excited about getting deep on this season of the podcast and connecting with the novel and Tartt’s inspiration. This play changed her life!

Episode 8.1: ‘Black Chalk’ by Christopher J Yates May 28, 2024

Welcome to season 8 of The Dark Academicals!

We’re kicking off with ‘Black Chalk’ by Christopher J Yates, a psychological thriller campus novel from 2013, that features on nearly every dark academia reading list out there. It’s much more similar to the earlier dark academia than our explorations of modern dark academia so we were eager to really give it a go.

One game. Six students. Five survivors. It was only ever meant to be a game played by six best friends in their first year at Oxford University; a game of consequences, silly forfeits, and childish dares. But then the game changed: the stakes grew higher and the dares more personal and more humiliating, finally evolving into a vicious struggle with unpredictable and tragic results. Now, 14 years later, the remaining players must meet again for the final round. Who knows better than your best friends what would break you? A gripping psychological thriller partly inspired by the author's own time at Oxford University, this is perfect for fans of The Secret History and The Bellwether Revivals. The author's background in puzzle writing and setting can clearly be seen in the plotting of this clever, tricky book that will keep readers guessing to the very end.

With an Oxford setting, a dangerous game, and fracturing friendship, this has the makings of everything we look for for the podcast. Will it make the cut?

Bonus Episode: Fate and Destiny with Katy Hays, author of ‘The Cloisters’ Apr 02, 2024

In this extra special episode of The Dark Academicals, we have Katy Hays, author of 'The Cloisters' discussing fate, destiny, dark academia and more.

The conversation flows from Dark Academia tropes, to the pivotal action in 'The Cloisters', as well as finding both Sophie and I shooketh at Katy's writing process. and excitement regarding future projects.

Episode 7.6: ‘I Have Some Questions for You’ by Rebecca Makkai Mar 19, 2024

Can you believe it’s already the season seven finale of ‘The Dark Academicals’? We can’t!

For this final episode we’ve got a dark academia thriller set between the 1990s and current day that we think is going to be a surefire hit, and possibly pose some real connections to ‘The Secret History’.

Episode 7.5: ‘An Education in Malice’ by ST Gibson Mar 05, 2024

It’s Sarah’s first time reading S.T. Gibson, while Sophie has already read ‘A Dowry of Blood’ and so there are already some expectations and intrigue going into ‘An Education in Malice’.

We had a lot of fun talking about this book, and we hope you enjoy listening along!

Episode 7.4: ‘Prep’ by Curtis Sittenfeld Feb 20, 2024

It’s time for our dark academia adjacent title for season seven and we’re tackling Curtis Sittenfeld’s classic campus novel, ‘Prep’.

Sophie read this about a decade ago and has had a lingering love for it ever since, so it has some big shoes to fill on this reread and for Sarah’s first read.

'Prep’ is a modern classic generally in fiction, but also in the realm of campus novels. We can’t wait to see how this informs what we know as dark academia.

**Episode 7.3: ‘Belladonna’ by Adalyn Grace** Feb 06, 2024
‘Belladonna’ is the type of book that we both love in YA - romantic, Gothicky, high-stakes and the potential for some serious drama. Sign. Us. Up.
Add in dark academia? What more could we want.
For as long as Signa Farrow has been alive, the people in her life have fallen like stars . . .
Orphaned as a baby, nineteen-year-old Signa has been raised by a string of guardians, each more interested in her wealth than her wellbeing - and each has met an untimely end. Her remaining relatives are the elusive Hawthornes, an eccentric family living at Thorn Grove, an estate both glittering and gloomy.
Its patriarch mourns his late wife through wild parties, while his son grapples for control of the family's waning reputation and his daughter suffers from a mysterious illness. But when their mother's restless spirit appears claiming she was poisoned, Signa realizes that the family she depends on could be in grave danger, and enlists the help of a surly stable boy to hunt down the killer.
Signa's best chance of uncovering the murderer, though, is an alliance with Death himself, a fascinating, dangerous shadow who has never been far from her side. Though he's made her life a living hell, Death shows Signa that their growing connection may be more powerful - and more irresistible - than she ever dared imagine.
From New York Times bestselling author Adalyn Grace, Belladonna *brings to life a highly romantic, gothic-infused world of wealth, desire, and betrayal.*
This is basically guaranteed to be a really fun read, but can it give us the dark academia vibes that we’re after too?

In this episode we discuss:
The “crossover” effect and the pros and cons of choosing an age category
All of the plot twists!
The personification of Death and the lusting over a concept made real
You can listen to it here:
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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘Belladonna’ by Adalyn Grace
‘Red Rising’ by Pierce Brown
‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ by Lemony Snicket
‘Gothikana’ by RuNyx
‘Ice Planet Barbarians’ by Ruby Dixon
‘Girl, Goddess, Queen’ by Bea Fitzgerald
OTHER MEDIA AND POP CULTURE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘Bridgerton’ (2020-)
‘Gilmore Girls’ (2000-07)
‘Labyrinth’ (1986)
Hades and Persephone
If you fancy taking a chance on ‘Belladonna’, we’d love it if you considered using our bookshop.org link below to purchase your copy of the book which helps us fund ‘The Dark Academicals’ and gives back to independent bookshops at no extra cost to you.
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You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer for exclusive book club content, extra episodes and author interviews!

**Episode 7.2: ‘Curious Tides’ by Pascal Lacelle** Jan 23, 2024
Have you ever come across lunar magic before? We haven’t!
With this beautiful cover and the promise of dark academia meeting lunar magic, ‘Curious Tides’ had to have a starring role in season seven. This was one of our most anticipated reads of the end of 2023 so we’re incredibly excited to get to discover it for the podcast.
*An atmospheric dark academia fantasy for fans of* The Atlas Six, The Binding, The Hazel Wood *and* Fourth Wing, set in a world of lunar magic, secret societies and dangerous friendships.
Emory is returning to the prestigious Aldryn College for Lunar Magic for one reason: to uncover the secrets behind the night that left her best friend, Romie, and seven other students dead.
But Emory has plenty of secrets herself, not least that her healing abilities have been corrupted by a strange, impossible magic, granting her power no one should possess.
Turning to the only person she believes she can trust, Emory enlists the help of Romie’s brother Baz – someone already well-versed in the dangers of his own dark Eclipse magic.
But when the supposedly drowned students start washing ashore – alive – only for them each immediately to die horrible, magical deaths, Emory and Baz are no longer the only ones seeking answers.
There's a hidden society at the heart of the school, and they’re attracted to nothing more than they are to power...
Can this possibly deliver everything it’s promising **and** hit the right dark academia notes?

In this episode we discuss:
Love triangles and how it age brackets a novel
The power of protagonist perspective and how we would have preferred different ones
You can listen to it here:
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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘Curious Tides’ by Pascal Lacelle
‘The Atlas Six’ by Olivie Blake
‘Ninth House’ by Leigh Bardugo
‘Fourth Wing’ by Rebecca Yarros
‘A Deadly Education’ by Naomi Novik
‘House of Night’ by PC and Kristin Cast
‘The Morganville Vampires’ by Rachel Caine
‘Twilight’ by Stephenie Meyer
‘True Blood’/’The Southern Vampire Mysteries’ by Charlaine Harris
‘Empire of the Vampire’ by Jay Kristoff
OTHER MEDIA AND POP CULTURE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ (2001)
If you fancy taking a chance on ‘Curious Tides’, we’d love it if you considered using our bookshop.org link below to purchase your copy of the book which helps us fund ‘The Dark Academicals’ and gives back to independent bookshops at no extra cost to you.
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You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer for exclusive book club content, extra episodes and author interviews!

**Episode 7.1: ‘A Deadly Education’ by Naomi Novik** Jan 09, 2024
Welcome to season 7 of ‘The Dark Academicals’! We’re so grateful to see you back for another season, and we’re excited to be recording again.
Our first book of the season is one that seems to have so much hype across social media, but it also has rather mixed reviews, so we were curious how it would hold up under our examination.
Enter a school of magic unlike any you have ever encountered.
There are no teachers, no holidays, friendships are purely strategic, and the odds of survival are never equal. Once you're inside, there are only two ways out: you graduate or you die.
El Higgins is uniquely prepared for the school's many dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out untold millions - never mind easily destroy the countless monsters that prowl the school.
Except, she might accidentally kill all the other students, too. So El is trying her hardest not to use it . . . that is, unless she has no other choice.
With flawless mastery, Naomi Novik creates a heroine for the ages - a character so sharply realized and so richly nuanced that she will live on in hearts and minds for generations to come.
‘A Deadly Education’ by Naomi Novik promises a boarding school, dark academia fantasy and monsters - who are we to say no to that?

In this episode we discuss:
Lacking and problematic representation of people of colour
The impact of a lack of scene setting and sense of place
You can listen to it here:
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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘A Deadly Education’ by Naomi Novik
‘The Hunger Games’ by Suzanne Collins
‘The Mortal Instruments’ by Cassandra Clare
OTHER MEDIA AND POP CULTURE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘Mean Girls’ (2004)
If you fancy taking a chance on ‘A Deadly Education’, we’d love it if you considered using our bookshop.org link below to purchase your copy of the book which helps us fund ‘The Dark Academicals’ and gives back to independent bookshops at no extra cost to you.
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You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer for exclusive book club content, extra episodes and author interviews!

**Bonus Episode: ‘Gilmore Girls’** Dec 12, 2023
There is one TV show that we have discussed, referenced and alluded to throughout the history of The Dark Academicals.
It’s ‘Gilmore Girls’. Obviously.
It’s synonymous with the dark academia seasons, she’s everyone’s favourite bookworm, and *everybody* has opinions about this show. We couldn’t get any further in The Dark Academicals without dedicating a full, available-to-all episode to one of our favourite shows.

In this episode we discuss:
The merits of Paris Geller
The complicated class and social wars of Stars Hollow, Chilton and Yale
The gross betrayal of Lane Kim
Dean vs Jess vs Logan - do dark academia love interests and relationships exist?
You can listen to it here:
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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘Great Expectations’y Charles Dickens
‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen
OTHER MEDIA AND POP CULTURE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘Gilmore Girls’ (2000-07)
‘Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life’ (2016)
‘Jumanji’ (1995)
‘The Wild Thornberrys’ (1998-2004)
‘Indiana Jones’
‘Mean Girls’ (2024 remake)
Let’s talk about the Gilmore Girls’ awful Life And Death Brigade
The Life and Death Brigade is Colonial Cosplay and We Will Not Stand For It
You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer for exclusive book club content, extra episodes and giveaways!

**Episode 6.6: ‘A Study in Drowning’ by Ava Reid** Nov 28, 2023
We’ve reached the finale of season 6! Already!
There seems to be a curse within ‘The Dark Academicals’ for the finale books, but we’re confident that we’ve broken the cycle with Ava Reid’s ‘A Study in Drowning’.
Effy has always believed in fairy tales. She's had no choice. Since childhood, she's been haunted by visions of the Fairy King. She's found solace only in the pages of Angharad - a beloved epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, and then destroys him.
Effy's tattered copy is all that's keeping her afloat through her stifling first term at her prestigious architecture college. So when the late author's family announces a contest to design his house, Effy feels certain this is her destiny.
But Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task: a musty, decrepit estate on the brink of crumbling into a hungry sea. And when Effy arrives, she finds she isn't the only one who's made a temporary home there. Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar, is studying Myrddin's papers and is determined to prove her favourite author is a fraud.
As the two rival students investigate the reclusive author's legacy, piecing together clues through his letters, books, and diaries, they discover that the house's foundation isn't the only thing that can't be trusted. There are dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspiring against them - and the truth may bring them both to ruin.

Can it possibly live up to our sky-high dark academia expectations **and** turn around our tradition of ending the season on a disappointing book? Let’s find out!
In this episode we discuss:
Misogyny in academia
The cult of publishing
Mythology and folklore
You can listen to it here:

Podcast RSS
TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘A Study in Drowning’ by Ava Reid
‘House of Hunger’ by Alexis Henderson
‘The Haunting of Hill House’ by Shirley Jackson
‘The Morganville Vampires’ by Rachel Caine
Mrs Havisham and Satis House from ‘Great Expectations’ by Charles Dickens
OTHER MEDIA AND POP CULTURE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘Chicago’ (musical)
If you fancy taking a chance on ‘A Study in Drowning’, we’d love it if you considered using our bookshop.org link below to purchase your copy of the book which helps us fund ‘The Dark Academicals’ and gives back to independent bookshops at no extra cost to you.

You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer for exclusive book club content, extra episodes and giveaways!

Epsiode 6.5: ‘Summer Sons’ by Lee Mandelo Nov 14, 2023

‘Summer Sons’ by Lee Mandelo is taking us to Vanderbilt and we are so excited about this one!

This sounds like everything that we love in a novel and we’re really looking forward to seeing how it measures up against our examinations.

A queer Southern Gothic with ‘academic intrigue’?Bring. It. On.

In this episode we discuss:

- When the Southern Gothic meets just…the Southern

- The atmosphere and the cloying humidity of the novel

- Vanderbilt and the academic possibilities

Episode 6.4: ‘She is a Haunting’ by Trang Thanh Tran Oct 31, 2023

Happy Halloween!

To add a little haunting into your day, we’ve got a brand new episode for you! ‘She is a Haunting’ by Trang Thanh Tran has been on our list for a long time and it couldn’t be a more perfect season to feature it on the podcast.

We’ve got a haunted house, a Gothic mystery, a ghost and questions about belonging - but does it tick any of our dark academia boxes?

Episode 6.3: ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ by Shirley Jackson Oct 17, 2023

Our dark academia adjacent book for Season 6 is a classic horror novel from the Queen of the Southern Gothic, Ms Shirley Jackson, and one of Sophie’s favourite authors.

It’s officially spooky season so we’re looking at ‘The Haunting of Hill House’.

How does the Gothic and horror play into dark academia?

In this episode we discuss:

- The way that Shirley Jackson pokes fun at horror, while also writing a genuinely terrifying horror novel

- The academic approach to studying the occult and supernatural

- Eleanor and unreliable narrators

Episode 6.2: ‘Gothikana’ by RuNyx Oct 03, 2023

This week’s episode features a book like nothing we’ve featured before: a spicy TikTok dark romance that the BookTok girlies are shouting from the rooftops and calling dark academia at every chance they get.

"If this is madness," she whispered almost against his lips, "drown me in it."
Corvina Clemm is a woman with secrets. The last thing she expects to receive is an admission letter from the University of Verenmore, a place just as secretive.
A castle atop a mountain, Verenmore is steeped in shadows, deceit and death, a place where students have been disappearing every five years for over a century. As Corvina becomes caught up in unravelling the clues to solve the mystery, her path collides with Vad Deverell, her enigmatic professor.
Vad, too, is a man with secrets. And he cannot allow Corvina to get close enough to discover what he hides. But whenever she is near, his heart and soul yearn to possess her.
As Corvina and Vad become more and more entangled, their passion for each other could be the very thing to solve the mystery of Verenmore - or it could bring them both down in flames.

With a secretive university located on a mountain, an enigmatic professor and a forbidden romance, it’s ticking some boxes already, but will it live up to our examination?

In this episode we discuss:

- Uncomfortable and creepy relationships with power imbalances

- The lack of academics

- A lack of answers and unfinished business

Episode 6.1: ‘The Magicians’ by Lev Grossman Sep 19, 2023

We’re back for season six (!) of ‘The Dark Academicals’ and we’ve got a line-up full of spooks and scares for the best reading season of the year.

Our first pick takes us to a New York magic school and an obsession with a childhood fantasy book series in ‘The Magicians’ by Lev Grossman.

Does this portal fantasy have what it takes to also take the title of dark academia?

In this episode we discuss:

- The lacklustre magic system and world-building

- The numerous influences from ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and ‘Harry Potter’

- Misogyny, ableism and fatphobia in the novel

Episode 5.6: ‘How We Fall Apart’ by Katie Zhao Aug 08, 2023

It’s time for the finale of season five already and we can’t believe it! What a season we’ve had.

We’re closing out the season with ‘How We Fall Apart’ by Katie Zhao which has been on our radars for a good few years because of the prep school setting and promise of deep, dark secrets.

Crazy Rich Asians meets One of Us is Lying in this electrifying YA thriller where students at an elite prep school are forced to confront their secrets when their ex-best friend turns up dead.
Nancy Luo is shocked when her former best friend, Jamie Ruan, top-ranked junior at Sinclair Prep, goes missing, and then is found dead. Nancy is even more shocked when word starts to spread that she and her friends - Krystal, Akil, and Alexander - are the prime suspects, thanks to "the Proctor," someone anonymously incriminating them via the school's social media app.
They all used to be Jamie's closest friends, and she knew each of their deepest, darkest secrets. Now, somehow the Proctor knows them, too. The four must uncover the true killer before The Proctor exposes more than they can bear and costs them more than they can afford, like Nancy's full scholarship. Soon, Nancy suspects that her friends may be keeping secrets from her, too.
Katie Zhao's YA debut is an edge-of-your-seat drama set in the pressure-cooker world of academics and image at Sinclair Prep, where the past threatens the future these teens have carefully crafted for themselves. How We Fall Apart is the irresistible, addicting, Asian-American recast of Gossip Girl that we've all been waiting for.

But can it be dark academia as well as a thriller?

In this episode we discuss:

- The comparisons to ‘Gossip Girl’, ‘Pretty Little Liars’ and ‘Mean Girls’

- How knowledge of the setting (NYC) and the shows it reflected created the setting more than the writing did

- Why we always end the season on a bum note…

Happy listening!
Sophie & Sarah

Episode 5.5: ‘The Cloisters’ by Katy Hays Jul 25, 2023

‘The Cloisters’ was one of our most anticipated debuts of 2022 but we’ve been saving it to feature on the pod and we are both SO excited to finally be getting to it.

With comparisons to ‘The Secret History’ and a setting of The Met in NYC, mentions of the Gothic and tarot, it was a no-brainer. but will it prove to be dark academia?

Episode 5.4: ‘Brideshead Revisited’ by Evelyn Waugh Jul 11, 2023

It’s time for our dark academia adjacent title for season 5! We’re heading back to the world of modern classics to discuss a title that is often cited as a pre-cursor to the campus novel, itself laying the groundwork for dark academia.

We’re reading Evelyn Waugh’s ‘Brideshead Revisited’.

There’s always something special about finally reading a classic that’s been on your TBR for literal years, and even more so when you also get to examine it! It gives us literature gals a thrill.

Brideshead Revisited is Evelyn Waugh's stunning novel of duty and desire set amongst the decadent, faded glory of the English aristocracy in the run-up to the Second World War.The most nostalgic and reflective of Evelyn Waugh's novels, Brideshead Revisited looks back to the golden age before the Second World War. It tells the story of Charles Ryder's infatuation with the Marchmains and the rapidly disappearing world of privilege they inhabit. Enchanted first by Sebastian Flyte at Oxford, then by his doomed Catholic family, in particular his remote sister, Julia, Charles comes finally to recognise his spiritual and social distance from them.

I always find the blurbs for classics a little…lacklustre, but I have a good feeling about this one! Will it demonstrate itself as informing dark academia, though?

**Episode 5.3: ‘The Ruins’ by Phoebe Wynne** Jun 27, 2023
We discussed Phoebe Wynne’s debut novel, ‘Madam’, in the very first season of the podcast and it’s a favourite book of both of ours. The vibes were immaculate and so we had to give ‘The Ruins’ a go too.
There’s something about the way that Wynne crafts setting and atmosphere which screamed dark academia in ‘Madam’ so we can’t wait to see her turn her hand to a sun-drenched setting and see what brings to the table.
***COME FOR THE DECADENCE. LIVE THE NIGHTMARE. STAY FOR THE REVENGE. . .***
Summer, 1985: Ruby has stayed at the chateau with her family every summer of her twelve years. It was her favourite place to be, away from the strictures of her formal childhood, but this year uninvited guests have descended, and everything is about to change...
As the intense August heat cloaks the chateau, the adults within start to lose sight of themselves. Old disputes are thrown back and forth, tempers rise, morals loosen, and darkness begins to creep around them all. Ruby and her two young friends soon discover it is best not to be seen or heard as the summer spirals down to one fateful night and an incident that can never be undone...
Summer, 2010: One of the three young girls, now grown and newly widowed, returns to the chateau, and in her fight to free herself from its grip, she uncovers what truly happened that long, dark summer.
With riveting psychological complexity, The Ruins captures the glittering allure of the Mediterranean, and the dark shadows that wait beneath the surface.
Will we find the makings of dark academia in the Mediterranean?

In this episode we discuss:
The treatment of women and girls in the novel and upper-class English society
The parallels between the Greek mythos of The Trojan War and the events of the novel
Phoebe Wynn’s mastery of atmosphere and setting
You can listen to it here:
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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘The Ruins’ by Phoebe Wynne
‘Madam’ by Phoebe Wynne
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
Agatha Christie’s novels
‘The Things We Do to Our Friends’ by Heather Darwent
‘Brideshead Revisited’ by Evelyn Waugh
OTHER MEDIA AND POP CULTURE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘Made in Chelsea’
The ‘mad woman in the attic’ trope
Greek mythology, particularly those surrounding
If you fancy taking a chance on ‘The Ruins’, we’d love it if you considered using our bookshop.org link below to purchase your copy of the book which helps us fund ‘The Dark Academicals’ and gives back to independent bookshops at no extra cost to you.

You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer to be entered for exclusive book club content and giveaways!

**Episode 5.2: ‘Hell Bent’ by Leigh Bardugo** Jun 13, 2023
We are tackling a sequel for the first time on the podcast this week, because who can deny the world a trip to Hell with Leigh Bardugo. It’s time to head back to Yale and fall in love with Alex and Darlington all over again. If they make it out alive, that is…
**There will be spoilers for book one, ‘Ninth House’, in this week’s episode and the information below so please tread carefully if you haven’t finished the books yet.**
***Wealth. Power. Murder. Magic. Alex Stern is back and the Ivy League is going straight to hell.***
Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy "Alex" Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory?even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale.
Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can't call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies' most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren't just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she is going to survive, she'll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university's very walls.
Thick with history and packed with Bardugo's signature twists, Hell Bent brings to life an intricate world full of magic, violence, and all too real monsters.

We are both so excited to be back talking about this world and characters again. We deemed ‘Ninth House’ as dark academia, but will ‘Hell Bent’ follow suit?
In this episode we discuss:
The colonial history and system issues of the Ivy League
Power, privilege and the trappings of class and socioeconomic status
Several ‘Gilmore Girls’ tangents…
You can listen to it here:
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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘Hell Bent’ by Leigh Bardugo
‘Ninth House’ by Leigh Bardugo
‘Shadow and Bone’ by Leigh Bardugo
‘Six of Crows’ by Leigh Bardugo
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘New Moon’ by Stephenie Meyer
‘The Things We Do to Our Friends’ by Harwent Darwent
‘The Great Gatsby’ by F Scott Fitzgerald
‘Plain Bad Heroines’ by emily m danforth
‘The Ruins’ by Phoebe Wynne
OTHER MEDIA AND POP CULTURE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘Gilmore Girls’
The Muppets
‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’
‘Supernatural’
‘Grease’
Freemasons
If ‘Hell Bent’ is still on your wishlist and you fancy a little treat this week, we’d love it if you considered using our bookshop.org link below to purchase your copy of the book which helps us fund ‘The Dark Academicals’ and gives back to independent bookshops at no extra cost to you.

You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer to be entered for exclusive book club content and giveaways!

**Episode 5.1: ‘Babel’ by RF Kuang** May 30, 2023
It’s happening. We’re finally doing it.
The book launching Season Five (!!) of ‘The Dark Academicals’ is RF Kuang’s huge 2022 release, ‘Babel’.
We’re both new to Kuang and have been completely intimidated by the hype for ‘Babel’, but it’s time.
***Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.***
***Oxford, 1836.***
*The city of dreaming spires.*
*It is the centre of all knowledge and progress in the world.*
*And at its centre is Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows.*
*Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by a mysterious guardian, Babel seemed like paradise to Robin Swift.*
*Until it became a prison…*
*But can a student stand against an empire?*
*An incendiary new novel from award-winning author R.F. Kuang about the power of language, the violence of colonialism, and the sacrifices of resistance.*

With the combination of Oxford, university, a focus on language and translation, and the pull of an outsider main character, it’s got to be dark academia, right? Did it tick all of our boxes, though?
In this episode we discuss:
Colonialism, the British Empire and the
The use of footnotes and etymology in the novel
How the use of a secret society in ‘Babel’ turns the trope upside down
You can listen to it here:
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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘Babel’ by RF Kuang
‘The Poppy War’ by RF Kuang
‘Flashman Papers’ series by George MacDonald Fraser
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘Hell Bent’ by Leigh Bardugo
OTHER MEDIA AND POP CULTURE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Lord Flashheart from ‘Blackadder”
If like us you’ve been putting off ‘Babel’ but are finally ready to give it a shot, we’d love it if you considered using our bookshop.org link below to purchase your copy of the book which helps us fund ‘The Dark Academicals’ and gives back to independent bookshops at no extra cost to you.

You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer to be entered for exclusive book club content and giveaways!

Episode 4.6: ‘My Dearest Darkest’ by Kayla Cottingham Apr 18, 2023

‘My Dearest Darkest’ seems to have flown a little under our dark academia radar and it’s one of those novels that I’ve seen people haul, but never actually read and review. We’re giving it it’s moment today.

‘Wilder Girls’ meets ‘The Craft’ in this Sapphic horror debut that asks: what price would you be willing to pay to achieve your deepest desires?

Finch Chamberlin is the newest transfer student to the ultra-competitive Ulalume Academy... but she's also not what she seems. Months before school started, Finch and her parents got into an accident that should have left her dead at the bottom of the river. But something monstrous, and ancient, and terrifying, wouldn't let her drown. Finch doesn't know why she woke up after her heart stopped, but since dying she's felt a constant pull from the school and the surrounding town of Rainwater, like something on the island is calling to her.

Selena St. Clair sees right through Finch, and she knows something is seriously wrong with her. But despite Selena's suspicion, she feels drawn to Finch and has a sinking feeling that from now on the two will be inexplicably linked to one another.

One night Finch, Selena, and her friends accidentally summon a carnivorous creature of immense power in the depths of the school. It promises to grant every desire the girls have kept locked away in their insecure hearts—beauty, power, adoration—in exchange for a price: human body parts. But as the cost of their wanting becomes more deadly, Finch and Selena must learn to work together to stop the horror they unleashed, before it consumes the entire island.

Accidentally summoning a…something in an exclusive academy? Give it to me. This book looks like it’s going to be huge fun, but it is dark academia?

In this episode we discuss:

The lack of emotional and emotional agency of the characters
Ticking trope boxes vs actually embodying the genre
Clashing genres and plot devices

You can listen to it here:

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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

‘My Dearest Darkest’ by Kayla Cottingham
‘Wilder Girls’ by Rory Power
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt

OTHER MEDIA AND POP CULTURE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

‘The Craft’ (1996)
‘The Ring’ (2002)

If you fancy taking a chance on ‘My Dearest Darkest’, we’d love it if you considered using our bookshop.org link below to purchase your copy of the book which helps us fund ‘The Dark Academicals’ and gives back to independent bookshops at no extra cost to you.

You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer to be entered for exclusive book club content and giveaways!

Episode 4.5: ‘The Things We Do to Our Friends’ by Heather Darwent Apr 04, 2023

This debut is one of our most anticipated books of the year and we jumped at the chance to get it on the line-up for season 4. I mean, have you see that cover?!

Clare arrives at the University of Edinburgh with a secret. This is her chance for a blank slate: to find the right people and reinvent herself.
And then she meets Tabitha.
Tabitha is charismatic, beautiful and intimidatingly wealthy. Soon Clare is sucked into her enigmatic circle of friends and their dizzying world of champagne on rooftops and summers in France.
Her new life has begun.
Then Tabitha reveals the little project they're working on, a project they need Clare's help with. It's reckless, possibly perilous and might finally allow Clare to become who she was meant to be...
But how much is an extraordinary life worth if others have to pay?
An intoxicating feminist page-turner with shades of The Secret History and Promising Young Woman, this novel will take you on a journey from Edinburgh's dazzling spires to the dripping staircases and dark alleyways of its underbelly.

Feminist revenge? Check. Beautiful Edinburgh? Check. Toxic friendships? Check.

In this episode we discuss:

Dilapidated, moulding, Gothic manors
The broad intertextuality of the novel and the evocative nature of those comparisons in the genre
The power and freedom that money provides women

You can listen to it here:

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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

‘The Things We Do to Our Friends’ by Heather Darwent
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘Plain Bad Heroines’ by emily m danforth
‘A Discovery of Witches’ by Deborah Harkness
‘If We Were Villains’ by ML Rio
‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman
‘Mexican Gothic’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
‘Call Me By Your Name’ by André Aciman

OTHER MEDIA AND POP CULTURE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

The TikTok trend of men illustrating how they view female rage and then being corrected by women

If you fancy getting involved with the goings on at the University of Edinburgh and grabbing yourself a copy of the novel, we’d love it if you considered using our bookshop.org link below which helps us fund ‘The Dark Academicals’ and gives back to independent bookshops at no extra cost to you.

You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer to be entered for exclusive book club content and giveaways!

Episode 4.4: ‘Interview With the Vampire’ by Anne Rice Mar 21, 2023

It’s already time for our dark academia adjacent title for season 4! And we’re going in BIG.

Confession time: Sophie had somehow got to the ripe old age of 30 without reading ‘Interview With the Vampire’, or any of Anne Rice’s novels, so this one was at her request. Sarah has been a fan since her teen years so she was more than happy to indulge the request.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Anne Rice, this sensuously written spellbinding classic remains 'the most successful vampire story since Bram Stoker's Dracula' (The Times)
In a darkened room a young man sits telling the macabre and eerie story of his life - the story of a vampire, gifted with eternal life, cursed with an exquisite craving for human blood.
When Interview with the Vampire was published the Washington Post said it was a 'thrilling, strikingly original work of the imagination . . . sometimes horrible, sometimes beautiful, always unforgettable'. Now, more than forty years since its release, Anne Rice's masterpiece is more beloved than ever.

Not exactly a summary that gives much away, but it’s more than enough to whet the whistle.

Gothic fiction is a pre-cursor genre to dark academia, and ‘Interview With the Vampire’ itself is a cultural set point and we had to bring it in tho the dark academia discussion.

But can it actually be called dark academia? Or is it just a close friend?

In this episode we discuss:

The language used around Claudia
Colonialism and slavery in the novel
The violence against women

You can listen to it here:

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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

‘Interview With the Vampire’ by Anne Rice
‘The Vampire Lestat’ by Anne Rice
‘The Vampire Armand’ by Anne Rice
‘Twilight’ by Stephenie Meyer
‘Vampire Academy’ by Richelle Mead

OTHER MEDIA AND POP CULTURE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’
‘True Blood’
‘The Vampire Diaries’
‘Why Are There So Many Confederate Vampires?’ by Princess Weekes on YouTube
‘Interview with the Vampire’ on Wikipedia

We’d love it if you considered using our bookshop.org link below to grab a copy of ‘Interview With the Vampire’ if you haven’t discovered this dark delight yet. It helps us fund ‘The Dark Academicals’ and gives back to independent bookshops at no extra cost to you.

You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer to be entered for exclusive book club content and giveaways!

Episode 4.3: ‘Mexican Gothic’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Mar 07, 2023

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a completely beloved author of sumptuous, historical novels so maybe you’re wondering why we’re tackling one of her novels for ‘The Dark Academicals’ - well, stick with us.

Gothic fantasy can be dark academia, plus it’s set in a big mansion, the summary speaks of secrets and mysteries and we’re a sucker for beautiful writing.

The award-winning author of ‘Gods of Jade and Shadow’ (one of the 100 best fantasy novels of all time, TIME magazine) returns with a mesmerising feminist Gothic fantasy, in which a glamorous young socialite discovers the haunting secrets of a beautiful old mansion in 1950s Mexico.
He is trying to poison me. You must come for me, Noemí. You have to save me.
When glamorous socialite Noemí Taboada receives a frantic letter from her newlywed cousin begging to be rescued from a mysterious doom, it's clear something is desperately amiss. Catalina has always had a flair for the dramatic, but her claims that her husband is poisoning her and her visions of restless ghosts seem remarkable, even for her.
Noemí's chic gowns and perfect lipstick are more suited to cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing, but she immediately heads to High Place, a remote mansion in the Mexican countryside, determined to discover what is so affecting her cousin.
Tough and smart, she possesses an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: not of her cousin's new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi's dreams with visions of blood and doom.
Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family's youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family's past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family's once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.
And Noemí, mesmerised by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to leave this enigmatic house behind . . .

Now, Sophie has a tricky relationship with historical fiction and both of us had actually tried to read this before a few years ago and didn’t quite connect with it, but will the magic of the podcast transform this book for us? Will Gothic fantasy become dark academia?

Come along and find out.

In this episode we discuss:

The presence and discussion of colonialism, eugenics and oppression in the novel
Trauma bonds and the longevity of the romantic relationship
Fungal horror

You can listen to it here:

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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

‘Mexican Gothic’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
‘The Great Gatsby’ by F Scott Fitzgerald
‘Certain Dark Things’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
‘The Daughter of Doctor Moreau’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Brontë
‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier
‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ by Edgar Allan Poe

OTHER MEDIA AND POP CULTURE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

The theories of Freud and Jung

If you’re a little late to this dark, historical fantasy like we were, you can grab a copy of ‘Mexican Gothic’ from bookshop.org and support both us and independent bookshops. A win for all, with no extra cost to you!

You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer to be entered for exclusive book club content and giveaways!

Episode 4.2: ‘A Lesson in Vengeance’ by Victoria Lee Feb 21, 2023

Our second episode of the season tackles a book that has been on our radars for a really long time - ‘A Lesson in Vengeance’ by Victoria Lee.

This book had some real buzz on TikTok last year and it pushed it even higher up our lists. With a boarding school, the possibility of haunting witches, and child novelist prodigies, I’m not sure how it could be anything less than brilliant fun. Or is it way less than fun…?

A twisty dark academia thriller about a centuries-old, ivy-covered boarding school haunted by its history of witchcraft and two girls dangerously close to digging up the past. Perfect for fans of V.E. Schwab, Leigh Bardugo, M.L. Rio and Donna Tartt.

Felicity Morrow is back at the Dalloway School to finish her senior year after the tragic death of her girlfriend. She even has her old room in Godwin House, the exclusive dormitory rumored to be haunted by the spirits of five Dalloway students―girls some say were witches.

Witchcraft is woven into Dalloway’s past. The school doesn’t talk about it, but the students do. In secret rooms and shadowy corners, girls convene. And before her girlfriend died, Felicity was drawn to the dark. She’s determined to leave that behind now, but it’s hard when Dalloway’s occult history is everywhere. And when the new girl won’t let her forget.

It’s Ellis Haley’s first year at Dalloway. A prodigy novelist at seventeen, Ellis is eccentric and brilliant, and Felicity can’t shake the pull she feels to her. So when Ellis asks Felicity for help researching the Dalloway Five for her second book, Felicity can’t say no. And when history begins to repeat itself, Felicity will have to face the darkness in Dalloway―and in herself.

Comparing a book to Donna Tartt is a bold move, but it 100% gets our attention. Though calling it a thriller also brings on some hesitancy - can it be a thriller and a dark academia novel?

In this episode we discuss:

How too many ways of singling out characters to make them special and real can make them become a caricature
Witches, magic and the occult
A ‘ticking the box’ approach to dark academia

You can listen to it here:

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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

‘A Lesson in Vengeance’ by Victoria Lee
‘The Haunting Hill House’ by Shirley Jackson
‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle’ by Shirley Jackson
‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier
‘Plain Bad Heroines’ by Emily M Danforth
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘Mexican Gothic’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

If you fancy a stay in a haunted boarding school and grabbing yourself a copy of the novel, we’d love it if you considered using our bookshop.org link below which helps up fund ‘The Dark Academicals’ and gives back to independent bookshops at no extra cost to you.

You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer to be entered for exclusive book club content and giveaways!

Episode 4.1: ‘The Whispering Dark’ by Kelly Andrew Feb 07, 2023

We’re back for season 4! You’ve missed us, right? We’ve missed recording the podcast so we’re so pleased to be back.

Our first title this season is Kelly Andrew’s debut, ‘The Whispering Dark’ and what a book to kick off the new season with! This hauntingly atmospheric novel delivers endless vibes and a love interest that threw us right back to the bad boys with bad attitudes of Golden Age YA of old (aka 2005-2015).

Spoiler: we loved this book, and we reckon you guys will too.

NINTH HOUSE meets THE ATLAS SIX in the enemies-to-lovers dark academia debut everyone's talking about . . .
Delaney Meyers-Petrov is tired of being seen as fragile just because she's Deaf. So, when she's accepted into a prestigious program at Godbole University that trains students to slip between parallel worlds, she's excited for the chance to prove herself. But her semester gets off to a rocky start when she has an awkward encounter with a pretentious upperclassman, Colton Price, whom she has every intention of keeping her distance from.
Colton has been ordered to keep far away from the new girl, and the voices that call to her from the shadows. But the pull of her proves impossible to ignore, and he can't help but be fascinated by her unusual talents.
After a fellow student turns up dead, she and Colton are forced to form a tenuous alliance, plummeting down a rabbit hole of deeply buried university secrets. They soon find themselves up against something old and nameless, an enemy that threatens to tear them - and their forbidden partnership - apart.

Enemies-to-lovers? Yes, please. A Deaf protagonist? About time. A suspected murder? Of course.

We HAD to put this as our series opener.

But is it dark academia?

In this episode we discuss:

The development of Lane and her coming into her own
Our love for Colton Price: a classic YA love interest
Lane’s experience as a Deaf student navigating university

You can listen to it here:

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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

‘The Whispering Dark’ by Kelly Andrew
‘Ninth House’ by Leigh Bardugo
‘The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer’ by Michelle Hodkin
‘Black Dagger Brotherhood’ by JR Ward
‘Vicious’ by VE Schwab
‘Twilight’ by Stephenie Meyer

OTHER MEDIA AND POP CULTURE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

‘Supernatural’
The Hinterlands of ‘The Nightmare before Christmas’

You can grab a copy of ‘The Whispering Dark’ from bookshop.org and support both us and independent bookshops. A win for all, with no extra cost to you!

You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer to be entered for exclusive book club content and giveaways!

**Episode 3.6: ‘The Swallows’ by Lisa Lutz** Dec 13, 2022
It’s the finale of Season 3 of ‘The Dark Academicals’ and we’re hoping to end on a dark academia-induced high!
Now don’t be put off by the UK paperback cover of ‘The Swallows’. It really looks nothing like a dark academia novel, it looks more like a gritty thriller, but the American cover was what caught our attention and prompted us to see what it was all about.
*GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS*
*What do you love? What do you hate? What do you want?*
It starts with this simple writing prompt from Alex Witt to her students at Stonebridge Academy. When their answers raise disturbing questions of their own, Ms. Witt knows there's more going on at the school than anyone will admit. She finds the few girls who've started to question the school's `boys will be boys' attitude and incites a resistance that quickly becomes a movement. As the school's secrets begin to trickle out, the skirmish turns into an all-out war, with deeply personal - and potentially fatal - consequences for everyone involved.
A girl-power-smash-the-patriarchy twist on dark academia? Sign. Us. Up.
In this episode we discuss:
The harmful and stereotypical portrayal of feminists
How important a setting is to create a dark academia atmosphere
How the structure and number of perspectives in a novel shape your experience of characters
You can listen to it here:
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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘The Swallows’ by Lisa Lutz
‘Madam’ by Phoebe Wynne
We also announced the line-up of titles for Season 4 which will begin streaming on 7 February 2023 so give it a listen for a sneak peek! Everything will be officially announced here on ‘Books, Burgers and Backpacks’ in the New Year.
You can grab a copy of ‘The Swallows’ from bookshop.org and support both us and independent bookshops. A win for all, with no extra cost to you!

You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer to be entered for exclusive book club content and giveaways!

Episode 3.5: ‘Vicious’ by VE Schwab Nov 29, 2022

‘Vicious’ in the first book in a much-loved duology by and even more loved author, VE Schwab, and we’re super excited to tackle it for ‘The Dark Academicals’ this week.

Melding brilliantly clever university students, toxic relationships, danger and mysterious Extraordinaries, it already seems to tick some of our boxes. But does it pass the dark academia vibe check?

**Episode 3.4: ‘The Song of Achilles’ by Madeline Miller** Nov 15, 2022
Oh, this book. Are our hearts ready for the dark academia adjacent title for season 3? Unsure, but we’re doing it anyway.
We put the book for this episode to a vote by your guys, our lovely listeners, and this novel won by a landslide! ‘The Song of Achilles’ by Madeline Miller retells the kind of story from the worlds and legends that captivate the protagonists of dark academia novels, and it’s the type of novel that they would become obsessed in a moment.
*Greece in the age of heroes.*
Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. Despite their differences, Achilles befriends the shamed prince, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles's mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, Achilles must go to war in distant Troy and fulfil his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus goes with him, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.
It’s such a different novel to our usual picks, so how will it fare against the dark academia checklist?
In this episode we discuss:
What characters of dark academia would be reading
The portrayal of women in Greek mythology and retellings
The balance between Patroclus and Achilles’ personalities
You can listen to it here:
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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘The Song of Achilles’ by Madeline Miller
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
If you’re yet to discover ‘The Song of Achilles’ and cry over Patroclus and Achilles, we’d love it if you would considering purchasing a copy from bookshop.org. They support independent bookstores and us too with our affiliate link.

You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer to be entered for exclusive book club content and giveaways!

Episode 3.3: ‘A Lesson in Thorns’ by Sierra Simone Nov 01, 2022

This week we have something a little different for ‘The Dark Academicals’: dark academia…smut? Yep. ‘A Lesson in Thorns’ is the first book in a super spicy dark academia series by a TikTok fave author. Sarah has already read and loved the book so we’re both ready to delve into something fun:

Twelve years ago, I left Thornchapel—and the two boys I gave my heart to—behind.
And now I've returned, hopeful...and wary. Because it's so very easy to be drawn back into the world of the seductive and elegant Auden Guest . . . and into the world of his worst enemy, St. Sebastian Martinez. The beautiful and brooding St. Sebastian is as irresistible as he ever was, and Auden is just as handsome and arrogant, and the three of us can't seem to unknot ourselves from each other.
From the hasty promise we three made all those years ago.
As Thornchapel slowly tightens its coil of truths and lies around us, our reluctant threesome starts unravelling into filthy, holy pleasure and pain. Together we've awakened a fate that will either bloom like a rose . . . or destroy us all.
From the author of the USA Today bestselling New Camelot series comes a gothic, dark academia fairy tale full of lantern-lit rituals, hungry desire, and obsessions that last for lifetimes...

Doesn’t it sound like the perfect book to dive into for the podcast? We have brooding and beautiful boys, the mysterious Thornchapel and the promise of secrets and lies galore. But is that enough for us to give it the seal of approval?

In this episode we discuss:

- How erotic elements effect the dark academia vibe

- The power of weather in creating atmosphere

**Episode 3.2: ‘Bunny’ by Mona Awad** Oct 18, 2022
We are both so excited and so nervous to dive into this weird and wonderful novel for the podcast. ‘Bunny’ by Mona Awad is our second pick for this season and what a novel!
This has been on our radar for a little while already, but the love and buzz it’s been receiving from BookTok recently has pushed it higher and higher up our priority list. It sounds like the perfect read for ‘The Dark Academicals’.
***We call them Bunnies because that is what they call each other. Seriously. Bunny.***
Samantha Heather Mackey is an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at Warren University. In fact, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort - a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other 'Bunny'.
*But then the Bunnies issue her with an invitation and Samantha finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door, across the threshold, and down their rabbit hole.*
*Blending sharp satire with fairytale horror, Bunny is a spellbinding trip of a novel from one of fiction's most original new voices.*
It seems to tick boxes already: a secret society? Check. A fancy MFA program? Check. An elite university? Check. An outsider protagonist? Check. But is that all it takes to be dark academia? We dove in and found out.
In this episode we discuss:
How genre classification shapes the reading of a novel
To what degree does self-conscious satire allow for anything to be excused
Unreliable narrators
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‘Bunny’ by Mona Awad
‘Monstrous Cute: An Interview with Mona Awad’ (The Paris Review)
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘If We Were Villains’ by ML Rio
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‘Walk on the Wild Side’ advert (Alan! Alan! Steve!)
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**Episode 3.1: ‘Ninth House’ by Leigh Bardugo** Oct 04, 2022
We’re back! It seems like we only closed out Season 2 with the wonderful ‘The Raven Boys’ only days ago, but it’s been seven weeks!
Autumn is now in full swing here in the south of England and it’s dark academia season bby. It’s only right to start the season with a bang.
It’s time to bring a Leigh Bardugo novel into our little universe and we’re diving into ‘Ninth House’ ahead of the release of the sequel, ‘Hell Bent’, in just a few months. In case it’s escaped you, here’s what we’re working with:
Galaxy 'Alex' Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale's freshman class. A dropout and the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved crime, Alex was hoping for a fresh start. But a free ride to one of the world's most prestigious universities was bound to come with a catch.
Alex has been tasked with monitoring the mysterious activities of Yale's secret societies - well-known haunts of the rich and powerful. Now there's a dead girl on campus and Alex seems to be the only person who won't accept the neat answer the police and campus administration have come up with for her murder.
Because Alex knows the secret societies are far more sinister and extraordinary than anyone ever imagined. They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And sometimes they prey on the living . . .
Leigh Bardugo is a beloved writer and her adult debut, ‘Ninth House’, is up there will so many people’s favourites. It’s dark and mysterious, alluring and dense, but is it dark academia? How does the fantasy element blend with dark academia? Is a secret society and a gloomy Yale setting enough to pass the vibe check?
In this episode we discuss:
Magic and the occult as a classical study
The sexual assault and violence against women featured in the novel - is it gratuitous, or does it serve a purpose worthy of the graphic nature of the scenes?
The ways in which the novel subverts some traditional dark academia elements
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‘Ninth House’ by Leigh Bardugo
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘The Great Gatsby’ by F Scott Fitzgerald
‘Vampire Academy’ by Richelle Mead
‘The Morganville Vampires’ by Rachel Caine
‘Madam’ by Phoebe Wynne
OTHER MEDIA AND POP CULTURE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
'Gilmore Girls’
If you want to snag yourself a copy of ‘Ninth House’ just in time for spooky season, please consider using our bookshop.org affiliate link below which helps out independent bookstores and helps us fund the website and the podcast at no extra cost to you.

You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer to be entered for exclusive book club content and giveaways, including a paperback copy of ‘Ninth House’!

Episode 2.6: ‘The Raven Boys’ by Maggie Stiefvater Aug 16, 2022

The season 2 finale is upon us and we’re rounding off the season by revisiting a favourite of both of ours, the first book in Maggie Stiefvater’s ‘The Raven Cycle’, ‘The Raven Boys’.

We adore this book and had to squeeze it in the line-up. Making it the last book of the season means we’re ending on a real high.

We know ‘The Raven Boys’ is magical realism, but can it also be considered dark academia?

Here’s the summary for those who haven’t met Blue, Gansey and the rest of the Raven Boys yet:

"There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark's Eve...

Either you're his true love... or you killed him."

Part of a clairvoyant family, Blue has spent sixteen years being told that if she kisses her true love, he will die.

So when she meets Gansey's spirit on the corpse road, Blue knows that either he is her true love - or she has killed him.

The boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey, and he is a student at Aglionby, a wealthy local private school. With three other mysterious and privileged boys, he is on a quest to find the grave of Glendower - a Welsh king buried somewhere on a Virginia ley line. Whoever finds him will be granted a supernatural favour.

Never before has Blue felt such magic around her. But is Gansey really her true love - the one she is destined to kill?

Blue never fully believed in the prophecy. But as she is caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

It’s immediately clear that this ticks a few of our boxes, just from reading the summary, but does it delve into the dark enough to meet our criteria? (We detail the genre framework in every episode, or you can check out our “intro” episode if you missed it which will give you all the details).

In this episode we discuss:

Home, found family and the fluidity of the relationship between Blue and the Raven Boys
Privilege and power in academic pursuits
Gansey’s desperation and loneliness

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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

‘The Raven Boys’ by Maggie Steifvater
‘The Dream Thieves’ by Maggie Stiefvater
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘Dark and Shallow Lies’ by Ginny Meyers Sain

We also announced our line-up for Season 3! Listen for a sneaky peeks of the titles we’ve chosen, or check out a post coming soon with full details.

If you want to snag yourself a copy of this wonderful book, please consider using our bookshop.org affiliate link below which helps out independent bookstores and helps us fund the website and the podcast at no extra cost to you.

Episode 2.5: ‘The Mary Shelley Club’ by Goldy Moldavsky Aug 02, 2022

If a book gets tagged as ‘Dark Academia’ then heck yes we’re going to scope it out. That goes for YA titles like Goldy Moldavsky’s ‘The Mary Shelley Club’ which we are featuring on this episode of ‘The Dark Academicals’ podcast.

The summary reads as follows:

“When it comes to horror movies, the rules are clear:
x Avoid abandoned buildings, warehouses, and cabins at all times.
x Stay together: don't split up, not even just to "check something out."
x If there's a murderer on the loose, do not make out with anyone.
If only surviving in real life were this easy...
New girl Rachel Chavez turns to horror movies for comfort, preferring stabby serial killers and homicidal dolls to the bored rich kids of Manhattan Prep...and to certain memories she'd preferred to keep buried.
Then Rachel is recruited by the Mary Shelley Club, a mysterious society of students who orchestrate Fear Tests, elaborate pranks inspired by urban legends and movie tropes. At first, Rachel embraces the power that comes with reckless pranking. But as the Fear Tests escalate, the competition turns deadly, and it's clear Rachel is playing a game she can't afford to lose.”

Right off the bat the writing style is very different to what we would often find for a Dark Academia title, but does it have enough of the other elements of the criteria to make it fit? (We detail the genre framework in every episode, or you can check out our “intro” episode if you missed it which will give you all the details).

In this episode we discuss:

Latinx representation
Horror movies and horror tropes, specifically the ‘final girl’
Parallels with ‘The Secret History’
The importance of atmosphere and tension in dark academia

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‘The Mary Shelley Club’/’The Last Girl’ by Goldy Moldavsky
The Final Girl Support Group’ by Grady Hendrix
‘Final Girls’ by Riley Sagar
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘If We Were Villains’ by ML Rio
‘Madam’ by Phoebe Wynne
‘Kill the Boy Band’ by Goldy Moldavsky

‘The Mary Shelley Club’ is listed on bookshop.org, which supports independent bookshops, and with whom we are affiliated with, as ‘The Last Girl’ (it’s UK title). Buying a book through our link supports them, and supports us!

Episode 2.4: ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde Jul 19, 2022

It’s that time in the season where we explore what we call a “Dark Academia Adjacent” title. For season 2 of The Dark Academicals, that’s Oscar Wilde’s memorable Gothic classic ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’.

For an “adjacent” title we discuss how or why a certain title can be attributed the “Dark Academia” title, or recognise how it has influenced and informed the genre as it has grown and developed.

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ is a stunning piece of fiction that explores the morality of being human in a very darkly academic way. We also discussed some of the criticisms that arose from a re-read.

In this episode we discuss:

Why ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ can be considered a figurehead of Dark Academia
The Victorian Gothic
Misogyny and Anti-Semitism within the text
An indepth character analysis of Henry Wotten

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‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde
‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘The Importance of Being Ernest’ by Oscar Wilde
‘The Vampire Diaries’ by L. J. Smith

If you want a copy of ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ for your own, you can purchase one through the link below. We’re affiliated with bookshop.org who support local booksellers, and in turn buying through them supports us too!

Episode 2.3: ‘The Maidens’ by Alex Michaelides Jul 05, 2022

We head to the University of Cambridge for the third episode of the season with the literary thriller, Alex Michaelides’ ‘The Maidens’.

This book has been all over the internet since it’s release last summer and with the mixed reviews and tag of being a ‘dark academia literary thriller’, we had to slide it into the lineup for this season of ‘The Dark Academicals’.

‘The Maidens’ takes us to Cambridge when the recently widowed therapist Mariana is called to the aid of her niece, Zoe, following the murder of Zoe’s best friend. Mariana quickly becomes embroiled in the investigation and is determined to prove that Zoe’s charismatic Greek tragedy professor, Edward Fosca, is the culprit.

Will it be a yay or nay for us? And is it dark academia?

In this episode we discuss:

The male gaze versus the female gaze
Michaelides’ poor portrayal of mental illness and Mariana’s failure in her duty of care to her patients
The parallels of Julian and Henry in ‘The Maidens’ with Julian and Henry in ‘The Secret History’

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‘The Maidens’ by Alex Michaelides
‘In Memoriam’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson
‘Iphegenia at Aulis’ by Euripides
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde

If you want a copy of ‘The Maidens for your own, you can purchase one through the link below. We’re affiliated with bookshop.org who support local booksellers, and in turn buying through them supports us too!

Episode 2.2: ‘Sleepwalking’ by Meg Wolitzer Jun 21, 2022

The second episode of season two heads to Swarthmore College with Meg Wolitzer’s debut novel, ‘Sleepwalking’.

While Wolitzer is more famous for her more recent novels, ‘The Female Persuasion’ and ‘The Interestings’, we follow Claire Danziger and the other ‘death girls’ as they obsess over the work, life and suicides of three famed female poets: Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton and Wolitzer’s creation, Lucy Ascher. As their personalities merge and darkness closes in under the study of their poets, and Claire’s relationship with upperclassman Julia, Claire must figure out when Lucy ends and she begins.

But it is dark academia?

In this episode we talk about:

The sideline-ing of the female experience and female trauma and pain
How a misleading book summary can change your expectations and experience of a novel
How a small cast of characters creates an insular and almost claustrophobic reading experience

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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

‘Sleepwalking’ by Meg Wolitzer
‘Belhzar’ by Meg Wolitzer
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘The Maidens’ by Alex Michaelides

**Episode 2.1: ‘The Atlas Six’ by Olivie Blake** Jun 07, 2022
We’re back! And we’re starting off with a bang with dark academia TikTok fave ‘The Atlas Six’ by Olivie Blake.
This book has been all over your socials from Bookstagram to BookTwitter to BookTok, you know you’ve seen it and you’ve been intrigued by it, at least. The term “dark academia” has become synonymous with it, it seems. But is it **really** a Dark Academia title?
Listen as we dig deep into the pages of ‘The Atlas Six’ on this week’s episode. Does it live up to the hype?
**In this episode our discussion included:**
The representation of women within the text
Why this title is so readily labelled as “dark academia”
The pros and cons of moving from indie to traditional publication
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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘The Atlas Six’ by Olivie Blake
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘A Deadly Education’ by Naomi Novik
‘Carry On’ by Rainbow Rowell
‘Belzhar’ by Meg Wolitzer
‘Sleepwalking’ by Meg Wolitzer
If you want a copy of ‘The Atlas Six’ for your own, you can purchase one through the link below. We’re affiliated with bookshop.org who support local booksellers, and in turn buying through them supports us too! Win/win?

**Episode 1.7: ‘Catherine House’ by Elisabeth Thomas** Apr 19, 2022
The season one finale of ‘The Dark Academicals’ sees us exploring ‘Catherine House’ by Elisabeth Thomas about a forboding university full of secrets, surpises and a shockingly sinister purpose as our protagonist, Ines, grapples with what Catherine wants from her.
We loved ‘Catherine House’ and we’re so happy to end the season on such a high.

**In this episode our discussion included:**
The pseudoscience of plasm and the concentrations of Catherine
Ines’s trauma response and coping mechanisms and how that influences her narration
The Gothic motif of the haunted house
We also reveal the six titles in the Season 2 line up!
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‘Catherine House’ by Elisabeth Thomas
‘Madam’ by Phoebe Wynn
‘The Great Gatsby’ by F Scott Fitzgerald
‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
‘The Hunger Games’ by Suzanne Collins
We also announced the titles for season 2:
‘The Atlas Six’ by Olivie Blake
‘Sleepwalking’ by Meg Wolitzer
‘The Maidens’ by Alex Michaelides
‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde
‘The Mary Shelley Club’ by Goldy Moldavsky
‘The Raven Boys’ by Maggie Stiefvater
(Full bibliography and show notes made available through Patreon)
If you fancy getting your hands on ‘Catherine House’ you can buy it from bookshop.org which both supports us as affliiates, but also supports local bookshops!

**Episode 1.6: ‘Ace of Spades’ by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé** Apr 05, 2022
This week’s episode of ‘The Dark Academicals’ took us to an exclusive private school with an anonymous texter attempting to bring down the school’s only two black students with escalating methods of cruelty in Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’s dark academia social thriller, ‘Ace of Spades’.
It’s a heck of a book, and we had some big topics to discuss.

**In this episode our discussion included:**
Whether the novel fits into our framework of dark academia
Institutional racism in society and it’s role in the plot
Homophobia and Devon’s experience as a gay black teenager
You can listen to it here:
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If you fancy getting your hands on ‘Ace of Spades’ you can buy it from bookshop.org which both supports us as affliates, but also supports local bookshops!

TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
(Full bibilography and show notes made available through Patreon)
‘Ace of Spades’ by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
‘Madam’ by Phoebe Wynne
‘The Great Gatsby’ by F Scott Fitzgerald
‘Catherine House’ by Elisabeth Thomas’

**Episode 1.5 ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald** Mar 22, 2022
How is ‘The Great Gatsby’ a Dark Academia book? Well, this is what we discuss in this week’s episode of The Dark Academicals. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third novel is often coined one of the Great American Novels but there are many elements that have influeced and informed Dark Academia titles that succeed it.
At least, we think so!

**In this episode our discussion included:**
How does ‘The Great Gatsby’ stand up against the Dark Academia criteria?
The portrayal of women and issues of racism within the text
Character analysis of narrator Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, and Daisy Buchanan
You can listen to it here:
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If you haven’t got a copy of Gatsby and you’re now intrigued, you can buy it from bookshop.org which both supports us as affliates, but also supports local bookshops!

TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
(Full bibilography and show notes made available through Patreon)
‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Bronte

Episode 1.4: ‘Madam’ by Phoebe Wynne Mar 08, 2022

Welcome to The Dark Academicals. The podcast that delves into the mythos of Dark Academia, one book at a time.

Episode information and transcript

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Episode 1.3: ‘If We Were Villains’ by ML Rio Feb 22, 2022

Welcome to The Dark Academicals. The podcast that delves into the mythos of Dark Academia, one book at a time.

Episode information and transcript

Instagram

Episode 1.2: ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt Feb 08, 2022

Donna Tartt’s ‘The Secret History’ is synonymous with the term ‘Dark Academia’. It was the beginning. And if you did not realise that before reading the book, you could be forgiven for thinking that the author had just taken the Dark Academia checklist and inserted it all into one narrative. But what makes ‘The Secret History’ a Dark Academia title? We discuss.

Episode 1.1: An Introduction to Dark Academia Jan 25, 2022

Welcome to The Dark Academicals. The podcast that delves into the mythos of Dark Academia, one book at a time.

Full episode transcripts and text list

Instagram

Podcast Trailer and Intro! Dec 04, 2021

Welcome to The Dark Academicals. The podcast that delves deep into the mythos of Dark Academia, one book at a time.

Coming Soon… Oct 25, 2021

The Dark Academicals - the podcast where we delve into the mythos of dark academia one book at a time.

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