Here are 16 books that The Betrayal of Thomas True fans have personally recommended if you like
The Betrayal of Thomas True.
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A wonderful retelling of the story of the great warrior Achilles and his partner Patroclus and the siege of Troy by Greek armies to rescue the famously beautiful Helen. Told from the point of view of Patroclus, a prince who is banished by his father after inadvertently killing another young boy and sent to live under the guardianship of Achilles' father. In the original version of this story, Patroclus and Achilles are the best of friends. In the version crafted by Madeline Miller, the relationship between them becomes romantic. After an idyllic time spent in the mountains under the kind and knowledgeable tutelage of a centaur named Chiron, fate leads them both to the battlefield outside the impenetrable gate of Troy. Another departure from the original story is that a physical vulnerability that can be exploited is not featured. The Achilles Heel in Miller's novel is not a body part,…
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'Captivating' DONNA TARTT 'I loved it' J K ROWLING 'Ravishingly vivid' EMMA DONOGHUE
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…
The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.
The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.
Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…
I’ve always loved the idea of time travel. I was born in a Northern mill town where King Cotton ruled. By the time I was a teenager, all the mills had shut, leaving behind empty hulks. I desperately wanted to experience the town in its heyday. I devoured the Blackburn-set memoir The Road to Nab End, by William Woodruff: I could hear the clogs strike the cobbles, picture the waves of workers, smell the belching chimneys. While I couldn’t travel back in time for real, I could in my imagination. My debut children’s novel, out in Spring 2026, is about a time-travelling seventh son.
Matt Haig is one of those rare writers whose every book is great. And this is no exception. It’s the story of Tom Hazard, a nondescript English teacher–except he’s actually 400 years old and has lived many lives. I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of what I would do if I could live my life over. Mind you, it’s not all fun.
Tom has to keep moving, as his non-ageing appearance would become a red flag to others. So he’s not able to fall in love either. There’s a lot of sadness and loneliness in the book, and many times, I found myself asking what I’d do in that situation. It's a beautiful read.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library.
"A quirky romcom dusted with philosophical observations....A delightfully witty...poignant novel." -The Washington Post
How many lifetimes does it take to learn how to live?
Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old history teacher, but he's been alive for centuries. From Elizabethan England to Jazz-Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen it all. As long as he keeps changing his identity he can keep one step ahead of his past - and stay alive. The only thing he…
I’ve long been fascinated by tales of the paranormal. Legends of ghosts, ogres, and demons stretch back to prehistory, and as H.P. Lovecraft wrote, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” Advances in science and technology are often seen as a remedy against fearing things that go bump in the night. But in the realm of speculative fiction, what if such technology becomes the opposite: a means for the supernatural to make its presence known? This fearful juxtaposition is skillfully depicted in the five books I describe below. I hope you enjoy them.
I am deeply interested in the heyday of spiritualism in Europe and America in the 19th and 20th centuries, so I wanted to read this book as soon as I saw the synopsis. I wasn’t disappointed.
Set in Belfast in 1914, the novel is based upon the real-life attempts of engineering professor William Jackson Crawford to prove the existence of spirits by the use of technology. The intensity of this story, of Crawford’s unrelenting obsession to prove himself, grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. I took the book with me on the train every morning and found it hard to put down when I reached my stop. This is an amazing novel.
'A fiendishly clever tale of ambition, deception, and power' DERREN BROWN
Belfast, 1914. Two years after the sinking of the Titanic, high society has become obsessed with spiritualism, attending seances in the hope they might reach their departed loved ones.
William Jackson Crawford is a man of science and a sceptic, but one night with everyone sitting around the circle, voices come to him - seemingly from beyond the veil - placing doubt in his heart and a seed of obsession in his mind. Could the spirits truly be communicating with him or is this one of Kathleen's parlour tricks…
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
An avid reader, I began a project in 2012 to read one short story a week in supernatural mysteries, ghost stories, and quiet horror genres. I began with the classic authors: Poe, MR James, Lovecraft, Shelley, Stoker, du Maurier, etc. I began a blog, Reading Fiction Blog, and posted these free stories with my reviews (I’m still posting today). Over the years, it turned into a compendium of fiction. Today, I have nearly 400 short stories by over 150 classic and now contemporary authors in the blog Index. I did this because I wanted to learn more about writing dark fiction and who better to learn from than the masters?
Even though this is a period novel, I read this story for its Gothic horror and literary acumen. Repression of memories, feelings, and guilt struck me throughout. Dr. Faraday discovers ghostly mysteries at Hundreds Hall, and his romance with Caroline is spooky enough, but this ghost story is grounded in reality.
Who is the little stranger haunting the premises? I sunk deeply into this story, drinking up the beauty. But the ending! Wow. Brilliantly revealed and aptly placed on the final page. Sarah Waters hides the ghost in plain sight, and yet I was surprised at the conclusion—delightfully so. I’m a sucker for one-liners that grab the reader by the throat, metaphorically speaking, at the last line. I plan to read it again because it’s that good.
After her award-winning trilogy of Victorian novels, Sarah Waters turned to the 1940s and wrote THE NIGHT WATCH, a tender and tragic novel set against the backdrop of wartime Britain. Shortlisted for both the Orange and the Man Booker, it went straight to number one in the bestseller chart. In a dusty post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, a doctor is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable…
I’ve long been fascinated by tales of the paranormal. Legends of ghosts, ogres, and demons stretch back to prehistory, and as H.P. Lovecraft wrote, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” Advances in science and technology are often seen as a remedy against fearing things that go bump in the night. But in the realm of speculative fiction, what if such technology becomes the opposite: a means for the supernatural to make its presence known? This fearful juxtaposition is skillfully depicted in the five books I describe below. I hope you enjoy them.
Supernatural horror meets the industrial-age love affair with the automobile—a combination I found irresistible. The novel’s protagonist, a social outcast, finds purpose and connection in his purchase of a piece of modern technology—a 1958 Plymouth Fury—which then proves to be his undoing via supernatural agency: the car is cursed, a receptacle for evil influences.
This also lends the novel an element of pathos without being saccharine or emotionally manipulative. I found this book to be a darkly captivating read.
Stephen King’s ultimate evil vehicle of terror, Christine: the frightening story of a nerdy teenager who falls in love with his vintage Plymouth Fury. It’s love at first sight, but this car is no lady.
Evil is alive in Libertyville. It inhabits a custom-painted red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury named Christine and young Arnold Cunningham, who buys it.
Along with Arnold’s girlfriend, Leigh Cabot, Dennis Guilder attempts to find out the real truth behind Christine and finds more than he bargained for: from murder to suicide, there’s a peculiar feeling that surrounds Christine—she gets revenge on anyone standing in…
I have been fascinated by the paranormal since I was young: always a lover of ghost stories, I have long felt the spiritual resonance in certain places; the energy and spirits of the past remain trapped within the fabric of certain buildings and the land, waiting for the sensitive to come along. I developed this passion by reading classic and modern-day ghost stories, going on ghost tours, and visiting haunted places. I listen to and record people recounting their experiences of real-life encounters. I write nonfiction books about the paranormal, specifically about Shakespeare’s ghosts and spirits in his county of Warwickshire, and novels that develop this theme.
I imagined myself in the desolate place on the Essex coast where the main protagonist had gone, and I felt an invidious sense of dread as the atmosphere built up. The air of supernatural menace seems to breathe out of this story: the threat and the fear crept into me as if I were there myself, knowing something terrifying would happen, willing the main protagonist to get out and save themselves but knowing that I, just like them, would be held fast by those invisible and supernatural tentacles.
Don't miss this stunning novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Lady of Hay - a gripping tale of secrets, betrayal and revenge...
After a broken love affair, biographer Kate Kennedy retires to a remote cottage on the wild Essex coast to work on her new book, until her landlord's daughter uncovers a Roman site nearby and long-buried passions are unleashed...
In her lonely cottage, Kate is terrorized by mysterious forces. What do these ghosts want? Should the truth about the violent events of long ago be exposed or remain concealed? Kate must struggle for her life against earthbound…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
I’ve long been fascinated by tales of the paranormal. Legends of ghosts, ogres, and demons stretch back to prehistory, and as H.P. Lovecraft wrote, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” Advances in science and technology are often seen as a remedy against fearing things that go bump in the night. But in the realm of speculative fiction, what if such technology becomes the opposite: a means for the supernatural to make its presence known? This fearful juxtaposition is skillfully depicted in the five books I describe below. I hope you enjoy them.
I found this novel conceptually fascinating, as it depicts the use of a common (at the time) entertainment technology—a videotape—as a means of attack by a terrifying supernatural menace.
I also enjoy cross-genre fiction, and while this is primarily a horror novel, it is also a mystery in which the protagonist must race against time for a solution to a deadly predicament.
Stunning Japanese thriller with a chilling supernatural twist. The novel that inspired the cult Japanese movie and the Hollywood blockbuster of the same name.
Asakawa is a hardworking journalist who has climbed his way up from local-news beat reporter to writer for his newspaper's weekly magazine. A chronic workaholic, he doesn't take much notice when his seventeen-year-old niece dies suddenly - until a chance conversation reveals that another healthy teenager died at exactly the same time, in chillingly similar circumstances.
Sensing a story, Asakawa begins to investigate, and soon discovers that this strange simultaneous sudden-death syndrome also affected another two…
I have been fascinated by the paranormal since I was young: always a lover of ghost stories, I have long felt the spiritual resonance in certain places; the energy and spirits of the past remain trapped within the fabric of certain buildings and the land, waiting for the sensitive to come along. I developed this passion by reading classic and modern-day ghost stories, going on ghost tours, and visiting haunted places. I listen to and record people recounting their experiences of real-life encounters. I write nonfiction books about the paranormal, specifically about Shakespeare’s ghosts and spirits in his county of Warwickshire, and novels that develop this theme.
I found this story enchanting. It utterly gripped me throughout with its compelling atmosphere of mystery, sheer horror and creepiness, and fascination with the idea of spirit photography. I felt captivated by the two main female characters and their developing intimate, emotional, and tense relationship.
My heart and soul were with these two women and the author’s beautiful craftsmanship weaving through the characters and story an intelligent and powerful debate about life after death.
A moving, compelling story about three women fighting to break free, from the Richard & Judy recommended bestselling author Julie Cohen.
'Haunting, tender and true - this story cast a spell on me' Kirsty Logan 'Wonderfully written and evocative' Woman & Home, BOOK OF THE MONTH 'This haunting story about the power of love will give you the shivers' Best
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Viola has an impossible talent. Searching for meaning in her grief, she uses her photography to feel closer to her late father, taking solace from the skills he taught her - and to keep her distance from her husband.…
I have been fascinated by the paranormal since I was young: always a lover of ghost stories, I have long felt the spiritual resonance in certain places; the energy and spirits of the past remain trapped within the fabric of certain buildings and the land, waiting for the sensitive to come along. I developed this passion by reading classic and modern-day ghost stories, going on ghost tours, and visiting haunted places. I listen to and record people recounting their experiences of real-life encounters. I write nonfiction books about the paranormal, specifically about Shakespeare’s ghosts and spirits in his county of Warwickshire, and novels that develop this theme.
I felt a powerful sense of tragic history and increasing pity and fear as this story progressed with its brooding, fateful, gothic atmosphere and hints of the supernatural in a gloomy, coastal house in Ireland. I became swept up by the gathering intensity and intrigue and the multiple shocks that arise from the main protagonist’s discoveries. I was absorbed in this compelling, thought-provoking story and captivated by its ingenious plot.
A gripping mystery with a classic feel, for fans of Agatha Christie
'Haunting and exquisitely written. Part intricate mystery and part ghost story. This book will stay with me for a long time' Anna Mazzola
'A stunning book, beautifully written' Ann Cleeves
The drive leads past the gate house and through the trees towards the big house, visible through the winter-bared branches. Its windows stare down at Harkin and the sea beyond . . .
January 1921. Though the Great War is over, in Ireland a new, civil war is raging. The once-grand Kilcolgan House, a crumbling bastion shrouded in…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I have been a passionate time traveler since my school days, gobbling down as many books as I could find on castles, galleons, pyramids, and anything else besides. Writing about the past has released me from the present day, and taught me about my own origins. When a reader picks up one of my books, I hope that they’ll follow me back in time for an adventure that brings the past to life and tells us something about ourselves. These books are, in fact, much more than mere books; they are a portal to history, and I thoroughly recommend them.
Ned Ward was a tavern keeper in the early 1700s, and this little-known book offers an extraordinary time capsule. It allows the reader to travel back some three hundred years to the grimy streets of London that feel at once alien and familiar.
The lions and other exotic animals in the Tower of London, the freshly-domed St Paul’s Cathedral, the filth and noise, the danger and the stink. All of it is here, not to mention the fabulous dialect of the time, offering the most wonderful dictionary of terms for sex workers, thieves, lawyers, and every trade imaginable. All history fans should read this book.
Ned Ward pioneered the literary exploration of the life and character of late 17th-century London, and delighted in challenging the assumed superiority of `literary' language over the `vulgar' -and the reaction he provoked among the guardians of Augustan culture. The London Spy, based upon the author's personal knowledge and experiences, recounts the fictitious adventures of a wide-eyed country bumpkin at large in the teeming metropolis of villains, whores and hucksters at the turn of the century. The Spy's adventures take him not only around the famous sights and monuments of the capital such as Bridewell, Bedlam and the Tower of…
