Both an aesthetic and a subgenre of fiction, dark academia explores morally gray characters with impious or evil intentions set against the backdrop of beautiful, hallowed, and unsettling boarding schools and university campuses. The dark academia subgenre encompasses everything from murder mysteries to horror and fantasy, so there's a little something in it for everyone. From angst-filled and dramatic YA fiction to brooding novels for adults, we've rounded up the very best dark academia audiobooks to get you schooled on all the elements and prepped for an incredible listening experience.
The smash debut of bestselling author Donna Tartt, The Secret History tells the story of a group of classics students at an exclusive college in Vermont, from the perspective of outsider Richard. The group falls under the spell of their charismatic and rather unconventional professor, who handpicks his students and influences them in exciting (and sometimes dark) ways. As they explore the bounds of philosophy and morality, it will lead them to keeping secrets about an incident in the woods that goes too far, resulting in a tragic death. Narrated by the author, this audiobook is a dark academia classic perfect for listeners who love literary fiction and Greek mythology.
Called “a sparkling fiction debut” by The New York Times and long listed for the National Book Award, Catalina is an irresistible campus coming-of-age novel. To protagonist Catalina, who was orphaned at a young age and has been raised by her undocumented grandparents in Queens, being admitted to Harvard as an undocumented immigrant feels like a Cinderella story. In reality, her life is only beginning to unfold. As she enters the elite circles of her campus with the eye of an anthropologist, Catalina is forced to reckon with realities her peers could never fathom.
Penned and narrated by Alexis Henderson, critically acclaimed author of The Year of the Witching and House of Hunger, Academy for Liars combines Southern Gothic tropes with a magic school setting, creating the perfect dark academia novel to usher in the autumn. The story follows Lennon Carter, a heartbroken 22-year-old who nearly ended her life after finding her fiancé with her best friend. After answering a magic call that leads her to the hidden, moss-covered campus in a dark corner of Savannah, Carter learns to reckon with her innate powers—the gifts of persuasion.
This debut novel is the prep-school take down you never knew you needed. Aki Hiyashi-Brown, a teacher at Washington, DC’s most prestigious prep school who proudly sends her daughter to class in the same halls, is thrown into the center of a hate crime—and the school’s tone-deaf attempts to patch their public facade. Exposing deep seated tensions and the false underbelly of most “diversity” initiatives, this story is as eye-opening as it is compelling.
Lev Grossman called The Midnight Club “a fever-dream of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History”—need we say more? Following a group of close friends from college forever bonded by their long nights spent putting together the school’s literary magazine as they reunite on campus 25 years after graduation, this novel takes listeners on an edge-of-your-seat, nostalgia-fueled ride.
As the sole survivor of a horrific crime, Alex Stern wakes up in the hospital deeply shaken only to discover another shock—mysterious benefactors have offered her a place at Yale. In exchange for her full-ride Ivy League scholarship, she's tasked with monitoring the occult activities of Yale's eight secret societies. But when her mentor goes missing and a murder rocks the campus, Alex finds that she's in way over her head. Dual narrators Lauren Fortgang and Michael David Axtell capture every startling twist and hidden threat. Leigh Bardugo's first-in-a-series debut adult novel, Ninth House is not to be missed.
In Naomi Novik's A Deadly Education, dark academia and fantasy combine to tell a thrilling story, set in a unique school for magically gifted teens. At the Scholomance, danger lurks in and around every corner: the school is riddled with monsters. For students who make it to their senior year, the only way out is commencement—a literal fight to the death against monsters. El is in her junior year and her strategy of keeping her head down seems to be working—until Orion Lake saves her life one too many times. His selflessness disrupts the careful social balance at the Scholomance, and threatens to expose El's closely held secrets. Anisha Dadia narrates.
At Claflin Academy, everyone knows the Ivies: five girls who will do whatever it takes to get into a top-tier school. The Ivies have made it their mission to lie, con, and manipulate their way through prep school to secure a coveted place in the Ivy League on early decision. To avoid becoming too competitive against each other, they all agree to apply to different Ivies. But when a betrayal from within their circle is revealed and one of the five ends up dead, it's a race against the clock to figure out who is responsible… and who might be next. Phoebe Strole narrates this tense thriller.
Ines Murillo is running away from her life when she is given a spot at Catherine House, an elite school tucked in the Pennsylvania woods that has produced some of the world's top minds. Tuition, room, and board are all free in exchange for a commitment: Students must sever all ties with the outside world for the duration of their three-year enrollment, summers included, and follow the Catherine House rules. Initially, Ines agrees—but the more time she spends at the school, the more she begins to question what's really going on beneath the beautiful façade. Marking Elisabeth Thomas's fiction debut, this is a haunting dark academia listen with subtle gothic vibes, featuring beguiling narration by Inés del Castillo.
Nancy and her best friend, Jamie, are students at Sinclair Prep, an exclusive school where the competition is cutthroat—and your friends might also be your enemies. When Jamie goes missing and later turns up dead, Nancy and her friends Krystal, Akil, and Alexander are shocked and bereaved. Suddenly, their grief turns to horror when they begin receiving anonymous texts from someone called The Proctor, accusing them of the murder. Each of the four friends knew at least one of Jamie's many secrets, and now the truth about her death is about to come out. Natalie Naudus narrates this twisty thriller.
Dalloway School is a beautiful boarding school with a dark history, and no one understands that better than Felicity, who is back for her final year after the tragic death of her girlfriend. She's even living in Godwin House, the dorm said to be haunted by five students rumored to be witches. When Felicity meets Ellis, a literary prodigy whose debut novel hit big, she agrees to help the new student research Godwin House's past for her second book. Together, they uncover the heart of Dalloway's darkness—as the school's chilling history begins to repeat itself. Lindsey Dorcus narrates this moody gothic horror audiobook.
From the very beginning, Audyn School is full of mystery, wonder, and promise for 13-year-old Emily. From a strange, escape room–esque test for a scholarship to the strangely secretive members of the school's elite, Emily knows she's in a different world. She quickly bonds with a fellow scholarship student named Alice. But when her new friend disappears, Emily is drawn into an even greater mystery and race to save Alice before it's too late. Performed by a full cast, The Mystery of Alice is a captivating Audible Original and a YA must-listen for any teen fascinated by the world of dark academia.
Deep in Patagonia, on the very tip of South America, lies a historic mansion that houses Vaccaro School. It's where the wealthy send their daughters to get a good education and prepare for society. Mavi is the newest teacher. Fleeing political persecution and a traumatic past in Buenos Aires, she hopes Vaccaro School will be the fresh start she desperately needs. But within this imposing mansion, unseen forces threaten. When one of her 10 students goes missing, and then other students and teachers start to behave as if possessed, Mavi must confront the darkness that pervades the school—for the sake of her sanity and very survival. This dual perspective novel is narrated by Frankie Corzo and Mark Sanderlin.
Professor Edward Fosca is not at all what he appears, of this Marianna is certain. She's a group therapist who has been watching unsettling dramas unfold on Cambridge University's campus, where Fosca is a revered Greek tragedy professor and appears to be universally adored. But when a young woman, a member of a secret society called The Maidens, dies under mysterious circumstances, Marianna is convinced that Fosca is to blame and sets about proving it, even if doing so might destroy her career and threaten her own life. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith and Louise Brealey narrate this thrilling novel from Alex Michaelides, who won acclaim for his debut psychological thriller, The Silent Patient.
This captivating campus gothic follows a group of smart, alluring, and socially influential queer students through their senior year at Bromley, a liberal arts school in rural Vermont. The dramas (yes, there are several) center on Daphne, a worldly New Yorker, and her nemesis Serena, a Texan poet. When an unusual artifact linked to a gruesome legend turns up on campus, friends, lovers, and enemies unite in an investigation into Bromley’s past. What follows is a year full of shocks and revelations—historical, political, and personal. In her debut novel, J.V. Lyon introduces a remarkable ensemble of characters—a college-hopping drifter with sharp journalistic instincts, a Virginia equestrienne turned intersectional feminist, and a trailblazing Black lesbian art historian among them—brought to life in a brilliant multi-cast performance, featuring the voices of Aisha Dee, Chelsea Rendon, Tanis Parenteau, Molly Quinn, Shannon Purser, and Renee Rapp.
