Back to school season is here, but we’re leaving the textbooks behind. In this episode, we’re diving into the most atmospheric school-setting books. Think dark academia, boarding school, and college—from twisty thrillers and chilling horrors to swoony romances. Whether it’s haunted hallways, secret societies, or forbidden love behind ivy-covered walls, these stories prove school is anything but boring.

The God of The Woods by Liz Moore

A Good Girls Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe

Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

The Teacher by Freida McFadden

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood