Audiobooks Like We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Bernadette Dunne narrates Shirley Jackson's short gothic novel with a childlike opacity that makes Merricat's voice genuinely unsettling — the flatness isn't emptiness, it's something much worse, delivered across a six-hour listen that uses its brevity well. Two picks share Dunne's narration, including another Jackson title, and the rest hold to the same psychological gothic territory where the horror is atmospheric and domestic and the dread arrives before any single event justifies it.

10 audiobooks for fans of We Have Always Lived in the Castle

  1. 1
    "The Haunting of Hill House Novel cover

    "The Haunting of Hill House Novel

    by Shirley Jackson

    Narrated by Bernadette Dunne

    3.93 ABR Score (413.4K ratings)
    ★ 3.81 Goodreads (402.1K) ★ 3.98 Audible (11.3K)
    7h 27m listening time • Released 2010
  2. 2
    The Bird's Nest cover

    The Bird's Nest

    by Shirley Jackson

    Narrated by Linda Jones, Mark Bramhall

    3.77 ABR Score (8.3K ratings)
    ★ 3.73 Goodreads (8.2K) ★ 4.09 Audible (94)
    10h 41m listening time • Released 2021
  3. 3
    The Mist cover

    The Mist

    Skeleton Crew • Book 1

    by Stephen King

    Narrated by Will Patton

    4.44 ABR Score (187.6K ratings)
    ★ 3.93 Goodreads (183.8K) ★ 4.58 Audible (3.8K)
    5h 19m listening time • Released 2017
  4. 4
    The Amityville Horror cover

    The Amityville Horror

    by Jay Anson

    Narrated by Ray Porter

    4.26 ABR Score (147.1K ratings)
    ★ 3.83 Goodreads (138.4K) ★ 4.38 Audible (8.7K)
    6h 28m listening time • Released 2009

    Ray Porter's deadpan delivery transforms this into pure psychological dread—he sells the slow-burn terror without ever overselling it, making the escalating haunting feel disturbingly plausible.

  5. 5
    The Woman in Black cover

    The Woman in Black

    by Susan Hill, John Lawrence

    Narrated by Paapa Essiedu

    4.23 ABR Score (84.9K ratings)
    ★ 3.76 Goodreads (83.2K) ★ 4.51 Audible (1.7K)
    5h 25m listening time • Released 2022
  6. 6
    I Am Legend cover

    I Am Legend

    by Richard Matheson

    Narrated by Robertson Dean

    4.23 ABR Score (170.3K ratings)
    ★ 4.05 Goodreads (154.9K) ★ 4.21 Audible (15.3K)
    5h 20m listening time • Released 2006

    Robertson Dean's narration transforms this claustrophobic isolation into something unbearably intimate—his performance captures both Neville's methodical survival and psychological unraveling with devastating precision.

  7. 7
    Terror in the Shadows Vol. 11: Horror Short Stories Collection with Scary Ghosts, Paranormal & Supernatural Monsters cover

    Terror in the Shadows Vol. 11: Horror Short Stories Collection with Scary Ghosts, Paranormal & Supernatural Monsters

    Terror in the Shadows • Book 11

    by Kathryn St. John-Shin, Scare Street, Ron Ripley, David Longhorn, Sara Clancy, Anna Sinjin, Johnny Raven, Bronson Carey

    Narrated by Johnny Raven

    3.69 ABR Score (106 ratings)
    ★ 4.41 Goodreads (82) ★ 4.83 Audible (24)
    6h 25m listening time • Released 2021
  8. 8
    Blithecraft: an anthology of weird tales cover

    Blithecraft: an anthology of weird tales

    by C.R. Tyroak

    Narrated by Gareth Richards

    3.46 ABR Score (17 ratings)
    ★ 5 Goodreads (3) ★ 3.93 Audible (14)
    6h 8m listening time • Released 2019

    Gareth Richards brings genuine menace to Tyroak's weird tales, each story landing harder because his narration knows exactly when to whisper and when to unsettle.

  9. 9
    21st Century Dead cover

    21st Century Dead

    Dead of Night #1.1 Jack and Jill

    by Christopher Golden, John M. McIlveen, Rio Youers

    Narrated by Scott Brick, Cassandra Campbell, Bernadette Dunne, Richard Powers, Kirby Heyborne, Malcolm Hillgartner, Chris Patton, John Pruden, Renée Raudman, Stefan Rudnicki

    3.51 ABR Score (897 ratings)
    ★ 3.45 Goodreads (790) ★ 3.75 Audible (107)
    12h 36m listening time • Released 2012
  10. 10
    The Stand cover

    The Stand

    by Stephen King

    Narrated by Grover Gardner

    4.91 ABR Score (922.6K ratings)
    ★ 4.35 Goodreads (841.5K) ★ 4.69 Audible (81.1K)
    47h 47m listening time • Released 2012

    King's apocalyptic magnum opus pits good against evil across a ravaged America — sprawling, terrifying, and peopled with characters you'll never forget.

How We Rank Audiobooks

Rankings are driven by listener ratings and review counts from Audible and Goodreads. Books with high ratings across a large number of listeners rank higher — a 4.5 with 50,000 ratings says more than a 4.8 with 200.

Unlike most book lists, we weight audiobook-specific factors: narrator performance, production quality, and how well a story translates to audio. A great book with a poor narration isn't a great audiobook.

We don't accept paid placements or prioritize new releases. These rankings reflect what listeners actually enjoy, not what's being promoted.

Rankings update periodically as new ratings come in and new titles are added to the collection.

Read our full ranking methodology →