What to read next based on your favorite Florence & the Machine song

Moody, gothic, atmospheric, and witchy book recs, coming right up.

Aug 14, 2025

Since my list of book recommendations based on songs from folklore was such a hit, and since I love nothing more than finding connections between the media I consume, I decided to keep it going – this time with Florence & the Machine.

Oh, how my sweet little melancholic, brooding fifteen-year-old self was changed forever when I first discovered Florence & the Machine. And I’m only a little embarrassed in retrospect to admit that the first time I heard her music was on Glee. But hey, I’ve made up for it since. Seeing her live is an exquisite experience.

When I think Florence, I think moody, dark, ethereal, melancholy, atmospheric. Sure, she’s got plenty of songs that aren’t necessarily like that, but I think we can all agree that’s her overarching aesthetic. Her songs often touch on topics of womanhood, girlhood, victims and martyrs, gods and demons, and the resilience of women in the face of the patriarchy. Which just so happens to dovetail very nicely with the type of books I like to read.

So without further ado, here are some books that remind me of some of my favorite F&M songs:

The Lamb by Lucy Rose

Feels like: Rabbit Heart

I’ve nearly gotten a tattoo in tribute of this song so many times. Hell, I still might! Anyways, The Lamb follows Margot, a pre-teen girl, and her mother who live in a small house in the woods and spend their days waiting for strangers – strays – to knock on their door. Then they… well, they cook them and eat them. Elaborately. Really, this book isn’t for the faint of heart. When a new woman with similar appetites shows up at their door, Margot realizes her time as Mama’s favorite might be coming to an end. This is a gothic, delicious, horrifying novel about all the ways women hide their appetites and desires, and explores the heartbreak and hunger that comes from a stunted mother-daughter relationship.

Hungerstone by Kat Dunn

Feels like: Delilah

It’s the height of the industrial revolution, and Lenore is ten years into a loveless marriage that feels more like a business transaction. Her husband, Henry, is a steel magnate who has seemingly forgotten that he’s ridden Lenore’s good name and society standing to get to where he is now. Stuck in a crumbling country estate – Henry’s newest vanity project – in the middle of nowhere with a strange woman called Carmilla, Lenore starts to feel her mind unraveling. Carmilla unlocks more than a few strange new desires in Lenore, and helps her uncover the dark truth about her husband’s plans.

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Feels like: Cassandra

This book is such a unique and fascinating blend of magical realism and historical fiction. It takes place during the all-too-real Spanish Inquisition, and focuses on a scullery maid named Luzia, who can manipulate magic and create minor miracles. Once her wealthy mistress becomes aware of this gift, she demands Luzia use it to better the family’s social standing. As they rise through the ranks of Spanish nobility, Luzia is noticed by a disgraced secretary to the king. Desperate to do anything to get back in the king’s good graces, he enlists Luiza to help with the war effort against England. But as her profile grows, so too does the possibility that she will be targeted as a heretic, or because of her Jewish blood.

Weyward by Emilia Hart

Feels like: Dream Girl Evil

Spanning five centuries, this book tells the story of three women in the same family, during different time periods. All of them are mistreated by men – and all three of them uncover a hidden source of power in themselves. In 1619, Altha is accused of witchcraft following a tragic death in her small village. In 1942, Violet is trapped at her family’s crumbling estate, left to the whims of her cruel and uncaring father, and a handsome, mysterious new visitor. And in 2019, Kate flees her abusive boyfriend in London for a rundown cottage left to her by a great-aunt she barely remembers. Across the centuries, the Weyward women pass down their knowledge, saving each other right when it’s needed most.

Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez

Feels like: Florida!!! by Taylor Swift, feat. Florence + the Machine

Ingrid always felt mousy, meek, and anxious next to Mayra, her loud, brash, fearless childhood best friend. Though it’s been years since the two have spoken, when Mayra calls late one night with an invitation to a weekend getaway at a house in the Everglades, Ingrid spontaneously accepts. She makes her way into the heart of Florida, the gaping maw of the Everglades swamp hiding all manner of creatures intent on swallowing her whole.

When she finally ends up at the ancient farmhouse, she finds Mayra to be almost exactly like she remembers from childhood. The reunion is marred by the arrival of Benji, Mayra’s new and oddly unsettling boyfriend who is intent on being the perfect host. But Ingrid sleeps like the dead in the labyrinthine house, where time seems to stretch and compress until she can’t remember much of her life outside of the lush, leafy forest that surrounds the property…

Bury Our Bones in Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

Feels like: King

If I had a nickel for every lesbian vampire book that came out in 2025, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

Another century-spanning book from multiple points of view, this novel follows the stories of three women who look at what life in the world of men had to offer them, and opted for an escape hatch. Of course, in this case, the escape hatch was immortality as a vampire, but you know how it is. All three women – María (1532), Charlotte (1827), and Alice (2019) – have dreams of escaping their current situation, and are feeling reckless, impulsive, and a bit desperate when they are offered a chance at eternity and the ability to go wherever and do whatever they please. It’s a sensual, sapphic meditation on women who refuse to be bound by society’s expectations, and the hunger, rage, and longing that women are forced to shove down. (I am really sensing a theme with these book recs!!!)

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Feels like: Girl With One Eye

Both are a little sing-song-y, a little like a children’s nursery rhyme, eerie and a bit unsettling with a dark twist at the end.

Constance and Merricat Blackwood live with their ailing uncle in their large estate, in near-total isolation from the village below. Six years earlier, their mother, father, aunt, and younger brother all died from arsenic poisoning – the arsenic had been added to the family’s sugar bowl and sprinkled over berries at dinner. Merricat wasn’t present, having been sent to bed early as punishment, and Constance didn’t put sugar on her berries, saving her from the same fate. Constance was accused and tried for murder, but was acquitted in the eyes of the law; the residents of their small town, however, still firmly believe that she got away with murder. When an estranged distant cousin shows up at their doorstep, their quiet equilibrium is upset. Cousin Charles strikes up a close companionship with Constance, and deeply irritates Merricat. He’s constantly asking about their father’s money, locked in a safe upstairs, and trying to drive a wedge between the two sisters. When a fire breaks out, destroying their family home, dark secrets are uncovered and shared and the sisters must decide which alliances are worth keeping.

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

Feels like: Mother

A haunted house as a metaphor for a bad relationship with your mother? Sign me tf up.

Sam is looking forward to spending some time at home with her mother. Sam’s brother had called not long before, saying he was worried about their mom, and asking Sam to check in on her. When Sam arrives at her childhood home in North Carolina, she’s greeted with a shell of her usually vibrant and talkative mom. The walls of their home have been painted a sterile white color, Sam’s mother is jumping at shadows and talking to things only she can see, and Sam finds a jar of what appear to be human teeth buried in the garden. Sam’s ready to get to the bottom of whatever has come over her mother – but some secrets desperately want to stay buried in the family rose bushes.

Godshot by Chelsea Bieker

Feels like: Girls Against God

Fourteen-year-old Lacey May lives with her flighty, alcoholic mother in the drought-stricken small town of Peaches, California. The residents have turned, out of desperation, to a man called Father Vern, who claims that he will bring the rain back to Peaches through a series of secret assignments. When Lacey’s mother abandons her, she moves in with her absentminded grandmother Cherry, who’s more interested in her taxidermy mouse collection than making sure her granddaughter stays out of trouble. When Lacey Mae winds up pregnant as a result of Father Vern’s so-called “assignments,” she decides she must go on a quest to find her mother, with the help of some very unlikely allies from the local brothel.

Another perfect story of the ways in which girls and women are made to suffer at the hands of self-righteous men. Girlhood! Motherhood! Faith! Cults! Witches! This book has it all!

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Feels like: Seven Devils

Alex Stern, daughter of a hippie free spirit, high school dropout, and girlfriend of a drug dealer, finds herself the sole survivor of a grisly multiple homicide at age 20. When she is given a chance to start anew on the other side of the country, as a freshman at Yale University, she takes it. There’s just one catch – her mysterious new benefactors task her with keeping an eye on the not-so-secret societies on Yale’s campus. These eight societies are popular haunts for the rich and powerful, playing host to current and future politicians, movie stars, and wall street hot shots. As Alex gets further into their ranks, she learns that their extra-curricular activities are more sinister than anyone could have imagined – raising the dead, calling forth demons, and sometimes even targeting the living.

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder

Feels like: Dog Days Are Over

I’m sorry, I HAD to.

An ambitious mother puts her promising art career on hold to stay home with her newborn son, but finds the experience not quite as fulfilling as she’d once imagined. One day, when her son is two, she discovers a strange clump of hair on the back of her neck. And looking in the mirror, it seems like her canine teeth are a bit longer and sharper…

Believing that she’s turning into a dog, the mother seeks solace in an esoteric tome entitled A Field Guide to Magical Women: A Mythical Ethnography. She also meets another group of mommies at the library story time who may be more than what they seem on the outside as well. This book really surprised me, was laugh-out-loud hilarious at times, and more accurately helped me answer the question “Do I want to have children?” better than any other literature I’ve read. Honestly who wouldn’t want to run around in a field and dig a big hole every once in a while?