Books like Grey Dog by Elliott Gish


A subversive literary horror novel that disrupts the tropes of women’s historical fiction with delusions, wild beasts, and the uncontainable power of female rage The year is 1901, and Ada Byrd — spinster, schoolmarm, amateur naturalist — accepts a teaching post in isolated Lowry Bridge, grateful for the chance to re-establish herself where no one knows her secrets. She develops friendships with her neighbors, explores the woods with her students, and begins to see a future in this tiny farming community. Her past — riddled with grief and shame — has never seemed so far away. But then, Ada begins to witness strange and grisly phenomena: a swarm of dying crickets, a self-mutilating rabbit, a malformed faun. She soon believes that something old and beastly — which she calls Grey Dog — is behind these visceral offerings, which both beckon and repel her. As her confusion deepens, her grip on what is real, what is delusion, and what is traumatic memory loosens, and Ada takes on the wildness of the woods, behaving erratically and pushing her newfound friends away. In the end, she is left with one question: What is the real horror? The Grey Dog, the uncontainable power of female rage, or Ada herself?
First publish date: 2024
Subjects: Fiction, horror, Fiction, gothic, LGBTQ novels
Authors: Elliott Gish
0.0 (0 community ratings)

Grey Dog by Elliott Gish

How are these books recommended?

The books recommended for Grey Dog by Elliott Gish are shaped by reader interaction. Votes on how closely books relate, user ratings, and community comments all help refine these recommendations and highlight books readers genuinely find similar in theme, ideas, and overall reading experience.


Have you read any of these books?
Your votes, ratings, and comments help improve recommendations and make it easier for other readers to discover books they’ll enjoy.

Books similar to Grey Dog (13 similar books)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by 8827849|Mark Haddon book cover

📘 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

This is Christopher's murder mystery story. There are no lies in this story because Christopher can't tell lies. Christopher does not like strangers or the colours yellow or brown or being touched. On the other hand, he knows all the countries in the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7507. When Christohper decides to find out who killed the neighbour's dog, his mystery story becomes more complicated than he could ever have predicted.

4.0 (210 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus by 6872253|Mary Shelley book cover

📘 Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus

*Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus* is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared in the second edition, which was published in Paris in 1821.

3.9 (193 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Because of Winn-Dixie by 7026808|Kate DiCamillo book cover

📘 Because of Winn-Dixie

Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog Winn-Dixie.

4.2 (92 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
A Dog's Purpose by 4254617|W. Bruce Cameron book cover

📘 A Dog's Purpose

A Dog's Purpose is a 2010 novel written by American author W. Bruce Cameron. It chronicles a dog's journey through four lives via reincarnation and how he looks for his purpose through each.

4.5 (18 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
The Art of Racing in the Rain by 8379276|Garth Stein book cover

📘 The Art of Racing in the Rain

Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver.Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn't simply about going fast. Using the techniques needed on the race track, one can successfully navigate all of life's ordeals.On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through: the sacrifices Denny has made to succeed professionally; the unexpected loss of Eve, Denny's wife; the three-year battle over their daughter, Zoe, whose maternal grandparents pulled every string to gain custody. In the end, despite what he sees as his own limitations, Enzo comes through heroically to preserve the Swift family, holding in his heart the dream that Denny will become a racing champion with Zoe at his side. Having learned what it takes to be a compassionate and successful person, the wise canine can barely wait until his next lifetime, when he is sure he will return as a man.A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life . . . as only a dog could tell it.

4.1 (17 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Petals on the Wind by 6531617|V. C. Andrews book cover

📘 Petals on the Wind

Petals on the Wind is a novel written by V. C. Andrews in 1980. It is the second book in the Dollanganger series. The timeline takes place from the siblings' successful escape in November 1960 to the fall of 1975. ---------- Also contained in: [Flowers in the Attic / Petals on the Wind](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16524231W)

3.9 (12 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
The Beetle by 11411765|Richard Marsh book cover

📘 The Beetle

The Beetle, written in 1897 by British author Richard Marsh, is a classic gothic horror story set in Victorian London. The book follows the characters of Paul Lessingham, Robert Holt, Sydney Atherton, Marjorie Lindon and Augustus Champnell all having a different encounter with the Beetle, a shape-shifting ancient Egyptian creature that seeks revenge for wrongs done in Egypt two decades before.

3.7 (3 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
The Dogs of Babel by 4676129|Carolyn Parkhurst book cover

📘 The Dogs of Babel

A poignant and beautiful debut novel explores a man's quest to unravel the mystery of his wife's death with the help of the only witness--their Rhodesian ridgeback, Lorelei.

3.5 (2 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Plain Bad Heroines by 12463524|Emily M. Danforth book cover

📘 Plain Bad Heroines

Our story begins in 1902, at the Brookhants School for Girls. Flo and Clara, two impressionable students, are obsessed with each other and with a daring young writer named Mary MacLane, the author of a scandalous bestselling memoir. To show their devotion to Mary, the girls establish their own private club and call it the Plain Bad Heroine Society. They meet in secret in a nearby apple orchard, the setting of their wildest happiness and, ultimately, of their macabre deaths. This is where their bodies are later discovered with a copy of Mary’s book splayed beside them, the victims of a swarm of stinging, angry yellow jackets. Less than five years later, the Brookhants School for Girls closes its doors forever—but not before three more people mysteriously die on the property, each in a most troubling way. Over a century later, the now abandoned and crumbling Brookhants is back in the news when wunderkind writer Merritt Emmons publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the “haunted and cursed” Gilded Age institution. Her bestselling book inspires a controversial horror film adaptation starring celebrity actor and lesbian it girl Harper Harper playing the ill-fated heroine Flo, oppo­site B-list actress and former child star Audrey Wells as Clara. But as Brookhants opens its gates once again, and our three modern her­oines arrive on set to begin filming, past and present become grimly entangled—or perhaps just grimly exploited—and soon it’s impossible to tell where the curse leaves off and Hollywood begins.

4.0 (2 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Vampire Junction by 7243338|S. P. Somtow book cover

📘 Vampire Junction

Timmy Valentine, teen rock star and secret vampire, tries to come to terms with the feelings of guilt and compassion he has for his victims.

3.0 (1 rating)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Haunted castles by 8900567|Ray Russell book cover

📘 Haunted castles

"Part of a new six-volume series of the best in classic horror, selected by award-winning director Guillermo del Toro. Filmmaker and longtime horror literature fan Guillermo del Toro serves as the curator for the Penguin Horror series, a new collection of classic tales and poems by masters of the genre. Included here are some of del Toro's favorites, from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Ray Russell's short story 'Sardonicus,' considered by Stephen King to be 'perhaps the finest example of the modern Gothic ever written,' to Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and stories by Ray Bradbury, Joyce Carol Oates, Ted Klein, and Robert E. Howard. Featuring original cover art by Penguin Art Director Paul Buckley, these stunningly creepy deluxe hardcovers will be perfect additions to the shelves of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and paranormal aficionados everywhere. Haunted Castles Haunted Castles is the definitive, complete collection of Ray Russell's masterful Gothic horror stories, including the famously terrifying novella trio of 'Sardonicus,' 'Sanguinarius,' and 'Sagittarius.' The characters that sprawl through Haunted Castles are frightful to the core: the heartless monster holding two lovers in limbo; the beautiful dame journeying down a damned road toward depravity (with the help of an evil gypsy); the man who must wear his fatal crimes on his face in the form of an awful smile. Engrossing, grotesque, perverted, and completely entrancing, Russell's Gothic tales are the best kind of dreadful."--

0.0 (0 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Old Yeller by 5947756|Fred Gipson book cover

📘 Old Yeller

A boy tells the story of a thieving yellow dog that turns up on a ranch in the Texas hill country in 1860.

0.0 (0 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Marley & me by 4700348|John Grogan book cover

📘 Marley & me

The story of a family in the making and the wondrously neurotic dog who taught them what really matters in life. Is it possible for humans to discover the key to happiness through a bigger-than-life, bad-boy dog? Just ask the Grogans. John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. They were young and in love, with a perfect little house and not a care in the world. Then they brought home Marley, a wriggly yellow furball of a puppy. Life would never be the same. Marley quickly grew into a barreling, ninety-seven-pound streamroller of a Labrador retriever. He crashed through screen doors, gouged through drywall, and stole women's undergarments. Obedience school did no good--Marley was expelled. And yet his heart was pure. Just as Marley joyfully refused any limits on his behavior, his love and loyalty were boundless, too. A dog like no other, Marley remained steadfast, a model of devotion, even when his family was at its wit's end. Unconditional love, they would learn, comes in many forms.

0.0 (0 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0

Some Other Similar Books

Good Dog by Jon Katz

Have a similar book in mind? Let others know!

Please login to submit books!