Gothic Classics: Classic Novels, Retold as You Color

Published November 3, 2026 · Moth & Quill Press

A moth flies toward the light. It cannot help it.

That is the idea behind Moth & Quill Press, and behind the series we call Gothic Classics: coloring books that retell classic novels, scene by scene, for readers who are drawn back to the same dark, luminous stories again and again.

What makes a Gothic Classics coloring book

There are many literary coloring books. Most take a famous title and decorate around it — quotes in ornamental lettering, motifs, characters in isolation. They are attractive, but they don't tell the story.

Every Gothic Classics title follows one rule: the book follows the novel. That means:

1. Scenes in story order. The illustrations move through the plot from first chapter to last, so coloring the book means travelling the whole narrative.
2. A facing page for every scene. Each illustration is paired with a short summary and a quotation from the original text, so the reader always knows where they are in the story.
3. Fidelity to the author. Characters and places are drawn from the novel's own descriptions, not from the most famous film version.
4. A hidden moth. Somewhere in every scene, a small moth — the press's signature, and a quiet game for careful eyes.
5. Gothic atmosphere, adult detail. Storm skies, ruined architecture, candlelit interiors and wild landscapes, drawn with enough detail to reward fine pencils and patience.

Why start with Frankenstein

Frankenstein was the obvious first title. It is arguably the most famous gothic novel in English, it is in the public domain, and it is constantly misremembered — almost everyone knows the film monster, and far fewer know Mary Shelley's articulate, abandoned creature (we wrote about that gap in the creature vs the Hollywood monster).

It is also a deeply visual novel. The story moves from the Arctic to Lake Geneva, Ingolstadt, the Alps, the Rhine, Scotland's Orkney islands and back to the ice. Few books offer such a range of landscapes for an illustrator.

And it has the best origin story in literature: a stormy summer in 1816, a ghost-story contest at Villa Diodati, and an eighteen-year-old who dreamed the whole thing in one sleepless night. The book opens with that night, as a bonus prologue. (Read the full 1816 story.)

The first title: Frankenstein

Frankenstein: A Gothic Coloring Journey Through Mary Shelley's Classic sets the template for the series:

• 50 gothic scenes following the novel in story order
• A facing summary and quotation for every illustration
• Bonus prologue on the 1816 origin of the novel
• A moth hidden in every scene
• Paperback, 8.5 × 11 in, English, $12.00 USD on Amazon
• ISBN-13: 979-8163600298

For a full tour of the scenes, see the Frankenstein adult coloring book, scene by scene.

Who the series is for

• Readers of gothic and classic fiction who want to spend longer inside books they love
• Adult colorists who prefer narrative and atmosphere to repeated patterns
• Gift-givers looking for something literate and specific (our gift guide has ideas)
• New readers who want a clear, illustrated map of a classic before or after reading it

Gothic Classics are coloring and reading books made for entertainment and enjoyment. They are not therapeutic, medical or wellness products — just good stories, given a second life on paper.

What comes next

Frankenstein is the first title in the series. Further Gothic Classics will follow the same principles: the author's text first, the scenes in order, the moth somewhere in the dark. When new titles are released, they will appear on the Moth & Quill Press home page.

Until then, the light is on in Victor's laboratory.