5 books on women’s everyday terror to read this Halloween: The horror that persists

Halloween asks us to fear what lurks in the dark, or rather, celebrate it. However, for many women, the most enduring horrors do not come from the supernatural; they come from the familiar. The violence is domestic, institutional, and often unnamed—carried out by people who look nothing like monsters, yet do monstrous things. Here are five books that confront the real, persistent horrors women live with on the daily. 

 

Reservoir Bitches
Dahlia de la Cerda; Julia Sanches, Heather Cleary (Translators)
Scribe, 2024
Reservoir Bitches is a linked short story collection that follows 13 women across contemporary Mexico, each grappling with the violence and social hierarchies that shape their lives. We meet Yuliana, the daughter of a cartel boss, who grows up surrounded by wealth but with a constant threat hovering at the edges. In another story, a group of unmarried seamstress sisters stitch clothes in a neighbourhood slowly being overtaken by developers. There's also Constanza, a socialite who invents for herself an indigenous identity to boost her politician husband's public image. Across these stories, the author does not romanticise survival, they show the readers how women learn to navigate corruption, class divides, misogyny, and the casual normalisation of danger. What makes the collection powerful is its tone—sharp, unsentimental, sometimes darkly funny. The horror here is not a spectacle. It is structural. These women are not asking for sympathy; they are telling you exactly what it takes to keep going. 

 

Being Lolita
Alisson Wood
Flatiron Books, 2020
In Being Lolita, Alisson Wood confronts the harrowing reality of a young woman caught in the tangled web of fascination, manipulation, and abuse. At 17, lonely and vulnerable, Alisson forms a bond with her charismatic English teacher, Mr. North, who introduces her to Lolita (Olympia Press, 1955) by Vladimir Nabokov as a "tale of love". What begins as a seemingly innocent connection quickly morphs into a controlling and dangerous relationship, forcing her to navigate the blurred lines between admiration, desire, and exploitation. Through rereading Lolita, mentoring teenage girls, and eventually becoming a professor, Alisson traces the lasting imprint of this experience and learns to reclaim her voice. Stunningly honest and intensely reflective, the memoir explores themes of grooming, consent, and power, capturing the resilience required to rewrite one's own story and take ownership of a narrative once shaped by another. This is the real life My Dark Vanessa (William Morrow, 2020), and you should definitely pick it up. 

Shongkhini
Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay
Ananda Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 2006
The world of Shongkhini is built on the quiet tension between desire, betrayal, and societal expectations. The narrative centres on Shongkhini, a woman grappling with the emotional turmoil of infidelity and the communal judgments that accompany it. Through her journey, the novel explores the multifaceted, frequently hypocritical nature of desire, the pain of being deceived, and the resilience required to reclaim one's identity. Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay's writing is unflinching and candid, offering a raw portrayal of a woman's inner world. The book challenges conventional norms by presenting a woman's perspective on sexuality and betrayal, themes often sidelined in mainstream literature. It does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, while subtly but surely making it a significant point to portray the domestic savagery women endure in the subcontinent. For readers interested in literature that confronts taboo subjects with sensitivity and depth, this novel offers a compelling and thought provoking experience. 

 

Natural Beauty
Ling Ling Hunag
Dutton, 2023
Perfection comes at a price few are willing to admit in Natural Beauty. The narrator, a gifted pianist trained by parents who fled China during the Cultural Revolution, leaves a promising musical career behind after a family tragedy and takes a job at Holistik, an elite beauty and wellness store in New York. Holistik promises transformation through extreme and unusual treatments—from remoras that remove cheap Botox to spider silk eyelash extensions—but behind the glamour lurks a subtle menace. Immersed in this world of privilege and obsession, the narrator becomes captivated by Helen, the niece of Holistik's charismatic owner, and their friendship slowly drifts into something more. As creams, treatments, and perfection rituals accumulate, the pressures of appearance, identity, and desire converge, revealing the psychological cost of a beauty-obsessed culture. Ling Ling Huang's debut is darkly funny, incisive, and unsettling. It examines consumerism, race, self-worth, and the extremes people endure to belong.

Hurricane Season
Fernanda Melchor, Sophie Hughes (Translator)
New Directors, 2020
In Hurricane Season, the discovery of a local witch's corpse by children playing near the irrigation canals sets off a chain of fear, suspicion, and investigation in a small Mexican village. The murder becomes a mirror for the town itself, revealing hidden violence, grudges, and desperation among its residents. The premise is woven through a series of overlapping, unreliable narrators, each adding new details, acts of cruelty, and glimpses of humanity that make the characters both disturbing and unforgettable. From the marginalised to the powerful, each voice contributes to a portrait of a community saturated with superstition, brutality, and secrecy. Comparable to Roberto Bolaño's 2666 or Faulkner at his most unflinching, Hurricane Season balances myth, folklore, and realism to create a terrifyingly vivid world. It is a stark, harrowing examination of human nature, social decay, and the consequences of a society where evil often goes unpunished, leaving readers with a story that is as gripping as it is unsettling. 

Nur-E-Jannat Alif is a gender studies major and part-time writer who dreams of authoring a book someday. Find her at @literatureinsolitude on Instagram or send her your book/movie/television recommendations at [email protected].