On Chesil Beach

Beyond That, the Sea

Laura Spence-Ash2023

An English girl is sent to live with an American family during WWII. The story follows her and both families across several decades.

pace0·prose0·bleak-1

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+1·bleak+1

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+1·bleak0

Beloved

Toni Morrison1987

A mother in post-Civil War Ohio is haunted by the ghost of the daughter she killed to spare from slavery. The prose is dense and non-linear.

tender → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

On Dublin Street

Samantha Young2012

An American woman in Scotland enters a sex-only arrangement with her roommate's brother to avoid emotional intimacy. It is a contemporary romance.

tender → warm

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

RoomHate

Penelope Ward2016

A woman returns to her childhood home and must share it with her former best friend. They navigate past betrayals and current attraction.

tender → warm

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Beautiful Beginning

Christina Lauren2013

A couple navigates wedding planning and a self-imposed celibacy pact. The story focuses on their physical tension and family interactions.

tender → playful

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

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·prose-1·bleak-1

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-2·bleak-2

The Martian

Andy Weir2011

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

tender → wry

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

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·prose0·bleak0

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+1·bleak-1

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+1·bleak0

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·prose0·bleak+1

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·prose0·bleak+1

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·prose0·bleak+1