Three Cottagecore Horror Books
What is Cottagecore?
Before we can start talking about cottagecore horror as a genre, we need to first define what cottagecore even is. In a nutshell, cottagecore is an aesthetic that started to become popular around 2017. It’s an aesthetic that romanticizes the idea of a simple life away from the stresses and responsibilities of the modern world. It upholds traditional skills as a way to find and achieve happiness; skills like sewing, gardening, and baking all while maintaining a picturesque wildflower cottage.
The keyword is romanticizes because once you really start to dig into the details of what all of that entails, you’ll realize that it isn’t all just instagram worthy photos of loaves of bread and tree swings. The actual amount of work it would take to make and maintain a cottage and pantry by hand would be astronomical! Not to mention the fact that we are all stuck in a capitalist hellscape so escaping the need to have money is another minor problem you’ll have to consider.
Cottagecore really started to come into its own during the 2020 pandemic. Mass amounts of people were locked in their homes with nothing to do. Initially everyone started by recovering from their own forms of burnout; binge watching TV, playing video geams, exercising. Quarantine presented society with something we hadn’t experienced in generations - time without the expectation to be “productive”. The pandemic was definitely horrific in many ways, but the unexpected side effect of time meant people were able to explore passions and curiosities. People started playing music, knitting, painting, growing plants, writing, and of coarse baking bread!
Now that we’ve established what cottagecore is and generally how it came about, let’s get into some books that I feel qualify as cottagecore horror.
Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson
Bloom is a short and mesmerizing book about infatuation, sexual identity, and obsession. The book introduces us to our main character, Rosemary, right as she has moved to a new town. She recently broke up with her long time boyfriend and took a job at the local collage teaching literature to get a new start. Rosemary goes to the local farmers market every Saturday and this is where she meets Ash.
Ash is where the cottagecore comes into the story. Ash has a booth at the farmers market and she sells everything from bread, soap, cupcakes, and candles. All handmade by her. Rosemary is instantly infatuated with Ash and extremely confused because she has never had feelings like this for another woman before. Rosemary makes it a habit to stop by Ash’s booth every Saturday and soon her interest begins to turn into obsession.
This is a horror book though so things eventually escalate to a gruesome conclusion. But before that happens this book does a wonderful job of taking on the journey of infatuation, love, and obsession with Rosemary. It makes you feel like you’re also captivated by Ash and will leave you wondering how you also ignored the major red flags along the way.
Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom
Slewfoot is a story about sensual American folk magic with a dash of Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli style creatures and gods. The book takes place in a 1600’s Puritan colony and displays the horror of Christian patriarchy from the perspective of a recently widowed woman. Our main character is Abitha, she has always been strong willed and had a talent for herb-craft and creating charms. She was married off to a man in the colonies to pay off her father’s debt but she was fortunate enough to have husband who appreciated her talents and was kind to her.
Shortly after the book begins her husband dies and Abitha is left to manage the small farm they both lived on. The authority of the colony wants to pass the land off to her brother in law but she manages to strike a deal to temporarily hold on it. The caveat being she must prove that she is able to bear fruit from the land and pay off the remaining amount of money owed to own the land completely.
While this is all happening she begins to spot strange creatures and one ominous figure who visits her farm. Abitah is also dealing with the real world problems of her brother in law undermining her so he can take the land from her. This book is a dark fantasy with a slightly sexual depiction of magic and the terror of trying to exist in a puritan colony as a woman whom everyone suspects is a witch is truly horrific.
The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
The Silent Companions has a fun and interesting take on the classic haunted house setting. The story follows Elsie and takes place in 1800’s England. Elsie has been recently widowed and is sent to her late husbands crumbling family estate in the countryside to see out the rest of her pregnancy. The estate is a little run down because no one in the family has actually lived there in a generation or two. Right off the bat this is a huge problem for Elsie because she has lived her entire life in the big city of London and is used to a certain quality of life.
Elsie lives in the estate with her late husbands cousin, Sarah, and the longer they stay there the more they experience strange and unexplainable phenomena. The local townsfolk believe the estate is cursed and refuse to do any work at the house because it has a history of mysterious deaths. Elsie digs into the background of the place she begins to suspect some kind of curse herself, despite her better judgement.
This book is full of creepy scenes and some quick and brutal flashes of violence. The book has themes of motherhood and generational trauma. It also does an excellent job of depicting the societal pressure and horror of being a woman in the 1800’s and having to live up to certain expectations and project a composed image despite what is actually happening behind the scenes.