This week’s Top 10 Tuesday prompt (ten books in special settings or time period) was so cool and could have gone a thousand different ways. Yet, what I ended up thinking of were books set in ominous places.
I was thinking of places that are remarkable and likely very dangerous, not somewhere you may want to venture — at least, not outside of a book.
1 / The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
Trapped in a castle with a wicked uncle and no way out? Crossed out.
2 / Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
Stuck at an afternoon picnic where reality and dreaming are blurred? Crossed out.
3 / The Tower at Stony Wood by Patricia McKillip
Desperate to enter a tower which won’t let you in? Crossed out.
4 / In the Forest of Forgetting by Theodora Goss
Lots of known fairy tale characters forgetting what’s important? Crossed out.
5 / Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
Living in an amusement park in a swamp while wrestling alligators and fighting off rabid competitors? Crossed out.
6 / The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Raised in a library that is not really a library? Crossed out.
7 / The City in the Lake by Rachel Neumeier
Trying to figure out a mirror city that is trying to become the real city? Crossed out.
8 / Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
Packed off to a remote and dreary island for reformation? Crossed out.
9 / The Castle of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino
Feasting with weird and melodramatic people straight out of tarot decks? (Hopefully) crossed out.
10 / The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Living in fear for your life in a house surrounded by a moat, when you know Sherlock Holmes will be too late to the rescue? Crossed out.
What about you? Which ominous fictional places have stood out in your recent bookish memory?
20 replies on “Books set in Ominous Places”
I didn’t know Shutter Island was a book.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
I love this theme. Reading about these settings? Absolutely. Visiting them? Never. 😂
I love this theme, it’s so clever! Not sure I want to visit, but The Castle of Crossed Destinies has intrigued me enough to put it on my TBR!
It’s a very unique book, recommended for sure if you’re fascinated by tarot
I have those types of places in my mind too! Outside of travelling to them in a book, I wouldn’t want to go there, though mine would be more eras since I don’t read many “scary” books. 🙂 Thanks a bunch for visiting my list today!
I just finished Shutter Island and was thinking about selecting it for the community read at my library. It was gruesome but compelling!
I also recently saw the movie of Picnic at Hanging Rock. Quite peculiar – I should read the book now.
Neat idea! I need to read thid one by Calvino!
I went to Paris: https://wordsandpeace.com/2025/07/22/top-ten-books-with-paris-in-the-title/
Eeek! These places sound way too dangerous to visit! (Though I suppose that was the point. At least we have books we can use for visiting virtually instead!)
Fab topic! I loved The Valley of Fear, especially with Stephen Fry reading the audiobook!
I had no idea about the audiobook version – must check it out!
These places sound downright terrifying!
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/visit-toronto-ten-books-set-in-the-greater-toronto-area/
I don’t even think I’d read most of these, let alone visit!
Nice theme!
Interesting Hanging Rock is a real place and it is in a really lovely area, particularly in autumn. I have been to a concert at the base of it, but never actually walked around it!
Wow, that sounds fascinating! now I want to visit there too!
I read The Library at Mount Char and I thought it was a brilliant story but I have such mixed feelings about it because I can’t get behind the morality of the whole thing. Agree that it’s an ominous place though! Great list!
I haven’t read Library yet, but your comment now makes me super intrigued about it!
Love the variety of your list. One day I’ll have to try Shutter Island given how much I liked the movie.
Great list! I love that you took it to a little bit of a dark place. I’ve got a couple of these on my TBR, especially The Library at Mount Char and Picnic at Hanging Rock.
Such a great list. I loved Shutter Island and Picnic at Hanging Rock just because they were set in ominous places. It is their places, even at first unassuming as in Picnic, that gave these two books so much pull power. You definitely expanded my TBR list with other titles.
Absolutely agreed on Shutter Island and Hanging Rock! *shivers*