Supernatural stories – Four fun books get sapphically gothic for October

In advance of Halloween, we present a quartet of intriguing books about women, dealing with witchy powers, ghosts and other supernatural creatures, including themselves.

   “A SLOW AND SECRET POISON” BY CARMELLA LOWKIS, $28 hardcover, Simon & Schuster

Carmella Lowkis’ sophomore book is like a sapphic Jane Eyre. “_A Slow and Secret Poison” _is like a trick of the light in a decrepit room. Everything is certainly not as it appears, and covered in spiderwebs. Lowkis continues to tread the waters of historical fiction, as her first novel follows two estranged sisters in 19th-century Paris.

Set in 1922, the novel follows curses and shadows of the past hide in the walls of Harfold Manor, where a gardener falls in love with her employer. Vee Morgan takes up a post in the south of England to w