What to read next
8 books like The Witch
Pemberton and Caroline's 1692 storyline are the strongest reasons to read The Witch. These eight alternatives follow the old-estate mystery, buried family history, or witchcraft in different directions. Some make the supernatural much more explicit; Never Lie and The Housemaid stay closer to McFadden's domestic suspense.
Read my review of The Witch by Freida McFadden.
Make these preferences your own: mix The Witch with more mystery, less romance, or a different pace.
Best matches
Three strong places to start
If you only want three picks, start here.
Best overall
Fastest read
Best alternative
Choose by reading mood
Where to start
For the fastest pace
The Housemaid
FastFor the darkest read
The Curse of Hester Gardens
Very darkFor minimal romance
What Moves the Dead
MinimalFor the easiest entry
Never Lie
AccessibleThe full shortlist
Why each book belongs here
Start with the kind of unease you want most: a haunted property, an old family secret, explicit witchcraft, or a contemporary domestic trap.
1
The Curse of Hester Gardens
- Pace
- Balanced
- Darkness
- Very dark
- Romance
- Minimal
- Difficulty
- Accessible
Why this matches
- Similar because
- The Curse of Hester Gardens also ties supernatural fear to a woman protecting her family. The connection is guilt and buried harm, rather than another ancestral-property investigation.
- Different because
- The Curse of Hester Gardens takes place in a Michigan public-housing community. Nona fears for her sons amid gun violence and a haunting, instead of tracing a private estate and a 1692 witchcraft story.
- Choose this if
- A standalone for family fear under everyday and supernatural pressure. The social setting is the important change; it is not another old-manor mystery.
2
What Moves the Dead
- Pace
- Balanced
- Darkness
- Dark
- Romance
- Minimal
- Difficulty
- Accessible
Why this matches
- Similar because
- What Moves the Dead is another old-estate mystery where the building, its history, and unsettling physical signs demand an explanation, much as they do in The Witch.
- Different because
- What Moves the Dead is a compact Gothic retelling with biological horror and a firm answer. The Witch connects its Massachusetts estate to a 1692 witchcraft execution and puts family revelations ahead of biological horror.
- Choose this if
- Try What Moves the Dead for eerie architecture, close observation, and a concise mystery with a strange ecological answer.
3
Never Lie
- Pace
- Brisk
- Darkness
- Moderate
- Romance
- Minimal
- Difficulty
- Accessible
Why this matches
- Similar because
- If the old-house angle in The Witch interests you most, Never Lie is the obvious McFadden pick. Both stories begin with a woman entering an isolated home full of hidden history.
- Different because
- Never Lie uses a snowbound modern manor, a missing psychiatrist, and recorded sessions. The Witch starts at an ancestral Massachusetts estate linked to a witchcraft case and possible haunting.
- Choose this if
- Start with Never Lie if you want another McFadden standalone about an isolated house and buried evidence.
4
The Shining
- Pace
- Balanced
- Darkness
- Dark
- Romance
- Minimal
- Difficulty
- Moderate
Why this matches
- Similar because
- The Shining takes the violent-building idea in The Witch much further, placing a family crisis inside a hotel with an openly supernatural past.
- Different because
- The Shining follows a family isolated in a hotel and develops addiction, psychic ability, and supernatural corruption in detail. The Witch centers Julia Barlow's return to her own family estate.
- Choose this if
- Pick The Shining when you want an openly supernatural building, sustained family pressure, and a broader horror story.
5
The Twisted Ones
- Pace
- Balanced
- Darkness
- Dark
- Romance
- Minimal
- Difficulty
- Accessible
Why this matches
- Similar because
- The Twisted Ones also sends a woman to an older relative's isolated property, where family remnants point to something beyond ordinary explanation. That is the clearest link to The Witch.
- Different because
- The Twisted Ones has a hoarded house, a cryptic journal, and rural folklore. The Witch has an inhabited ancestral estate, an aging grandmother, and a documented 1692 execution.
- Choose this if
- Choose The Twisted Ones for a conversational heroine, unsettling woods, and folklore that becomes materially dangerous.
6
The Hollow Places
- Pace
- Balanced
- Darkness
- Dark
- Romance
- Minimal
- Difficulty
- Accessible
Why this matches
- Similar because
- The Hollow Places begins in a familiar building tied to family, then turns its impossible signs into a frightening investigation. The Witch starts from similar ground.
- Different because
- The Hollow Places opens a museum wall onto a cosmic otherworld and makes room for friendship and dark humor. The Witch ties its disturbances to the Barlow family and colonial Massachusetts history.
- Choose this if
- Go with The Hollow Places if you want explicit cosmic horror, companionship, and some humor alongside the dread.
7
A Sorceress Comes to Call
- Pace
- Balanced
- Darkness
- Dark
- Romance
- Minimal
- Difficulty
- Accessible
Why this matches
- Similar because
- A Sorceress Comes to Call makes the witchcraft explicit, but its strongest link to The Witch is the vulnerable household full of concealed motives.
- Different because
- A Sorceress Comes to Call confirms its magic immediately and filters domestic coercion through a dark Regency fairy tale. The Witch preserves uncertainty about what is happening at Pemberton.
- Choose this if
- A Sorceress Comes to Call is the choice for an unambiguous sorceress, domestic resistance, and a complete fantasy-horror story.
8
The Housemaid
- Pace
- Fast
- Darkness
- Moderate
- Romance
- Minimal
- Difficulty
- Accessible
Why this matches
- Similar because
- The Housemaid keeps the wealthy home, private rooms, and family lies. Like The Witch, it puts a financially vulnerable woman in a house where her reason for being there becomes dangerous.
- Different because
- The Housemaid builds a contemporary live-in employment trap around class, credibility, and restricted access. The Witch returns its protagonist to her own ancestral estate and introduces possible witchcraft.
- Choose this if
- Choose The Housemaid for McFadden's established domestic-suspense approach in a published novel with no supernatural premise.
Side-by-side
Pace, darkness, romance, and difficulty
| Book | Pace | Darkness | Romance | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Witch | Fast | Moderate | Minimal | Accessible |
| The Curse of Hester Gardens | Balanced | Very dark | Minimal | Accessible |
| What Moves the Dead | Balanced | Dark | Minimal | Accessible |
| Never Lie | Brisk | Moderate | Minimal | Accessible |
| The Shining | Balanced | Dark | Minimal | Moderate |
| The Twisted Ones | Balanced | Dark | Minimal | Accessible |
| The Hollow Places | Balanced | Dark | Minimal | Accessible |
| A Sorceress Comes to Call | Balanced | Dark | Minimal | Accessible |
| The Housemaid | Fast | Moderate | Minimal | Accessible |
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