Love and Other Consolation Prizes

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

Lisa See2017

A girl in a remote Akha village grows up farming tea before a stranger's arrival and a secret pregnancy change her life's trajectory.

pace0·prose0·bleak0

The Wake

Paul Kingsnorth2014

A landowner in 1066 leads a guerrilla resistance against Norman invaders. The story is written in a modified version of Old English.

tender → bleak, still historical fiction

pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

Gravity's Rainbow

Thomas Pynchon1973

During the end of WWII, an American lieutenant's sexual encounters seem to predict where German V-2 rockets will fall. The narrative is fragmented.

tender → sardonic, still historical fiction

pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

The Mirror and the Light

Hilary Mantel2020

Thomas Cromwell navigates the final four years of his life in Henry VIII's court. He attempts to maintain power as his allies and influence erode.

tender → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

Catch Of The Day

Kristan Higgins2007

A diner owner in a small Maine town looks for love with the help of a local priest. She eventually pursues a relationship with a lobsterman.

tender → warm

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Hope Ignites

Jaci Burton2014

A famous actress films a movie on a cattle ranch and falls for the reclusive owner. She seeks an escape from her public life in the small town.

tender → warm

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

The Highland Fling

Meghan Quinn2021

Two American friends move to the Scottish Highlands to run a coffee shop and clash with a local handyman.

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Candide

Voltaire

A naive young man travels the world while his tutor insists that everything is for the best. He encounters a series of global catastrophes.

tender → sardonic

pace+2·prose0·bleak0

The Da Vinci Code

Dan Brown2003

A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.

tender → propulsive

pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

The Martian

Andy Weir2011

A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

tender → wry

pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

The English Patient

Michael Ondaatje1992

Four people shelter in a ruined Italian villa at the end of WWII. They care for a burned, anonymous man who recounts his past in the desert.

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

Ulysses

James Joyce1914

Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.

tender → playful

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

Umbrella

Will Self2013

A psychiatrist in 1971 treats a woman who has been catatonic for decades. The prose shifts between eras and consciousnesses without paragraph breaks.

tender → clinical

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

The Known World

Edward P. Jones2003

A black man who was once a slave becomes a slave owner in antebellum Virginia. The story follows the fallout on the plantation after his death.

tender → meditative, still historical fiction

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

A Long Long Way

Sebastian Barry2005

A young Irishman joins the British Army to fight in the trenches of World War I while his home country moves toward rebellion.

tender → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

Brotherless Night

V. V. Ganeshananthan2023

A young woman in Sri Lanka tries to study medicine while her brothers join militant groups during the civil war. It covers a decade of conflict.

tender → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2