LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Disorderly Knights

Dorothy Dunnett1966

5 of 6 directions open — nothing denser

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Sarah's Key

    Tatiana de Rosnay2006

    A dual-timeline narrative follows a girl during the 1942 Vel' d'Hiv' roundup and a modern journalist who uncovers her family's connection to it.

    sardonic → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose-2·bleak0

To recover

sardonic → playful

3 more ↓

  • The Jane Austen Society

    Natalie Jenner2020

    In post-WWII England, a group of villagers tries to save Jane Austen's former home. They bond over their shared grief and love for her novels.

    sardonic → warm, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Behind Every Good Man

    Sara Goodman Confino2024

    After her husband's infidelity, a woman in 1960s D.C. manages a political campaign to get revenge.

    sardonic → wry, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Redshirts

    John Scalzi2012

    Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.

    pace0·prose-3·bleak-2

Faster

sardonic → propulsive

3 more ↓

  • Behind Closed Doors

    B.A. Paris2016

    A woman is held captive by her husband in a high-security home. She must find a way to escape before her sister moves in with them.

    pace+1·prose-3·bleak-1

  • Kiss the Girls

    James Patterson1995

    Detective Alex Cross tracks two serial killers operating on opposite coasts who are communicating and competing with one another.

    sardonic → tense

    pace+1·prose-3·bleak0

  • Verity

    Colleen Hoover2018

    A ghostwriter moves into a secluded estate to finish a series for an injured author and finds a hidden, disturbing autobiography.

    sardonic → tense

    pace+1·prose-3·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    sardonic → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-2·prose0·bleak+1

  • Blood on the dining-room floor

    Gertrude Stein1948

    A repetitive, circular narrative about a death in a country house. It uses experimental prose to obscure the facts of a traditional mystery.

    sardonic → playful

    pace-2·prose0·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.

    sardonic → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-2·prose-1·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Affinity

    Sarah Waters1999

    A grieving socialite visits a medium in a Victorian women's prison. Their relationship develops through diary entries and clandestine meetings.

    sardonic → bleak, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak+1

  • Libra

    Don DeLillo1988

    A fictionalized biography of Lee Harvey Oswald. It follows his life and the CIA conspiracy that leads to the assassination of JFK.

    sardonic → eerie, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1

  • A Fine Balance

    Rohinton Mistry1995

    Four people from different castes share a small apartment during the 1975 Indian Emergency. Their lives are upended by state-sanctioned violence.

    sardonic → bleak, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose-2·bleak+1