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Tweed coats, worn-out hardbound books, universities and schools covered in mists, obsessing over one thing and only that until it consumes you whole, whispers in the libraries, typewriters and an ungodly amount of tea.

If this paints a mood board in your head, let’s turn those into full-fledged stories with these 5 books you need to read if you love dark academia.

1. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Legend has it that you can’t write a dark academia book recommendation blog without mentioning the iconic The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

This book checks all the right boxes of dark academia. A group of five students studying Ancient Greek in an elite college and wait for it…a murder. Immerse yourself and unravel the murder mystery, fall in love with Ancient Greek and quiver before beauty. Tartt’s The Secret History is your passage of rite to the dark academia world.

2. If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

Two words: Shakespeare and murder. Let’s make it a little more precise: six students studying Shakespeare and one of them turns up dead. Follow Oliver Marks as he lays down the truth a decade after being released from jail.

The elite Dellecher Classical Conservatory observes a group of six friends embody a tyrant, villain, hero, temptress, ingenue and an extra muddling the fine line between the characters they play and themselves.

Fall in love with Shakespeare’s soliloquies, feel the gut-wrenching betrayal, cherish the bonds, take a bow at the applause and maybe…kill someone?

3. Maurice by E.M. Foster

When same-sex ancient Greek writings become Maurice Hall’s Google search for “Am I gay?” his life is flipped upside down and he is forced to keep his true identity hidden. Soon, he falls in love with Clive Durham, a fellow university student and everything seems great until they have to part ways after university.

But when Maurice receives a letter from Clive confessing his heterosexuality and his wife, heartbroken, the former does everything in his power to forget his first love. So what happens when he visits the Durhams? Will Maurice and Clive fall in love again? Will they accept their reality? Or is there something more in store for Maurice?

4. Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

If the white elitist dark academia bores you, Ace of Spades beautifully blends the representation of the Black community with dark academia, digging into the ugly truth of systematized racism. The book weaves a mystery of Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, the only two Black students in a private and predominantly White school, whose secrets are publicized by Aces.

Go on a journey with Devon and Chiamaka to find the face behind Aces and shine the spotlight on the truth of why their secrets are out and how. 

5. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

When Galaxy “Alex” Stern, a high school drop-out raised by a hippie mom becomes a homicide survivor and mysteriously becomes a freshman at Yale, she’s not just baffled at the way her life unravels in front of her, she struggles to navigate through the elite university.

But when she’s not doing that, her benefactor has her spy on Yale’s secret societies. She soon realises that these societies are more occult and sinister than they may seem. Will she uncover their sinister secrets? Will she find her benefactor? Or will life throw a new curveball at her?