In fiction, the imaginary friend lives where fantasy, mental illness, and the supernatural meet, and it’s often intriguingly difficult to tell where they belong. Children’s imaginary friends are often endearing, as seen in the countless stories about favorite toys coming to life. but once the protagonist is an adult, the imaginary friend can become a sinister presence, a warning that something is wrong. sometimes it is the relationship itself that is imagined, both in fiction and reality, as when a stalker is convinced that he shares a special bond with his prey. there is also the unsettling notion that the reader’s sense of closeness to a fictional character is also a form of imaginary friendship.
my first novel, you let me in, is about cassandra, whose entire life has been influenced by her invisible friend, pepper-man. he can provide comfort and protection, but he can also be dangerous, to herself and to those around her. However, it is not so easy to find out exactly who or what Pepper-man is. He could be a forest fairy, as Cassandra firmly believes, or a creature that lives only in Cassandra’s mind, as her psychiatrist is equally convinced.
You are reading: Books about imaginary characters and mystery
I’m far from the only one inspired by imaginary friends, so here’s a list of frontier stories where the self ends and something else, somehow, begins.
1. Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland This classic 1865 children’s novel hurtles down the rabbit hole into a surreal fantasy land. Here, Alice meets a whole cast of imaginary beings, some more friendly than others, from the white rabbit that sets everything in motion, to a mad hatter and a cat that vanishes. she ends up in the court of the despotic queen of hearts, who commands an entire deck of animated playing cards. Although Alice’s adventures are revealed to be a dream, the story leaves a lingering sense of doubt.
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2. the pisces by melissa broderlucy, a doctoral candidate with mental health issues, goes to los angeles to house-sit for her sister. while she’s there, she meets and falls in love with a merman, and since lucy believes that only one man can save her from herself, he seems to be her answer to her problems. this could have led to happily ever after in another kind of novel, but their relationship faces some challenges, with the merman being a fish and all. this novel is raw, sad and surreal, but also very funny.
3. pale fire by vladimir nabokov masquerading as a posthumously published poem by fictional poet john shade, with commentary by his neighbor dr. charles kinbote, this masterpiece of the novel is not what it seems. through the increasingly disturbing and fantastical comments, it soon becomes clear that the kinbote is not right. his identity is a slippery thing, and he nurtured an unhealthy obsession with the shadow. this novel is a puzzle of a story, brilliantly written and utterly puzzling.
4. among others by jo walton mori, fifteen years old, is sent to boarding school after her twin sister is killed in an accident involving her mentally ill mother. two things help mori get through the days: her books and the bond she has, or thinks she has, with the fairies of nature. among others, it is a fantasy novel, but the magic is so subtle and so intertwined with reality that it is difficult to say where one thing ends and the other begins, or if the magic is there.
5. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk Most people are familiar with Joe, his enigmatic friend Tyler Durden, and their secret basement clubs, if not from the Chuck Palahniuk book, then from the 1990s movie starring Brad Pitt. I may not find the novel as philosophically interesting as many others, but I think it’s a highly entertaining take on a mind unraveling. joe is a very unreliable narrator, and i questioned absolutely everything at the end, which is just the kind of thing i like.
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6. Hannah Kent’s Good People is not so much a novel about imaginary friends as it is about imaginary enemies. Based on a true event, it tells the story of Nóra who lives with her disabled grandson in a rural town in Ireland in the 1820s. After Nóra’s husband dies suddenly, people start whispering about fairies and suggest that the child he is a changeling, responsible for everything that goes wrong in his community. the novel explores the dangers of ignorance and the power of belief, and how those things combined can make good people do unthinkable things.
7. the other by thomas tryonthis classic horror novel about a pair of twins is set in connecticut in the 1930s and is hard to discuss without revealing the twist. Niles and Holland Perry may look the same, but they are very different guys. Holland is outgoing and adventurous, sometimes even cruel, while Niles is considerate and compassionate. when horrible things start to happen, it’s obvious who’s responsible, isn’t it? the lush, atmospheric writing is a stark contrast to the chilling events it records.
8. the boy who could see demons by carolyn jess-cookela child psychiatrist anya molokova meets 10-year-old alex after her mother’s fifth suicide attempt. alex is a normal guy, but his best friend, ruen, is a 9000 year old shape-shifting demon. anya naturally assumes that alex is mentally unwell, but during the course of her treatment, alex tells her things he couldn’t possibly know. the novel courts the supernatural without ever losing its grip on reality, which is part of what makes it so appealing.
9. The Tall Man by Phoebe Locke Possibly inspired by the myth of the tall man, this novel is about mother and daughter, Sadie and Amber Banner, and how their lives are affected by Sadie’s teenage entanglement with a group of girls obsessed with a local legend. Told from different timelines and from different points of view, the novel depicts the horrific events that lead to Amber becoming a murder suspect. The Tall Man is a fast-paced mystery with a whodunit twist that may or may not have a supernatural monster at its core.
10. the haunting of hill house by shirley jacksonthis is my all time favorite, and i felt weird for a week after i first read it. In this novel, the imaginary friend is the house itself, which takes the emotionally fragile protagonist, Eleanor, under her twisted wings and seduces her with promises of home and acceptance. As with many of the other great books in this genre, it becomes increasingly confusing where Eleanor ends and the house begins, or even if they were divided to begin with. harrowing, immersive, and unsane, the haunting of the hill house is in a class of its own.
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