After
The Mirror & the Light
Hilary Mantel2020
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing denser
More like it
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
- pace0prose0bleak0
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.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose-1bleak0
The Swans of Fifth Avenue
Melanie Benjamin2016
Truman Capote befriends and eventually betrays a circle of wealthy New York socialites in the 1950s and 60s.
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
- pace0prose-1bleak0
The Paris Wife
Paula McLain2011
Hadley Richardson marries Ernest Hemingway and moves to 1920s Paris. The novel follows the dissolution of their marriage among the Lost Generation.
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
- pace0prose-1bleak0
Booth
Karen Joy Fowler2022
The story of the Booth family over several decades. It follows the siblings of John Wilkes Booth leading up to the Lincoln assassination.
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak0
The Quickening Maze
Adam Foulds2009
Poets John Clare and Alfred Tennyson live near an Epping Forest asylum in the 1840s. The story follows their differing experiences of madness.
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
To recover
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James2000
A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.
elegiac → earnest
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
Neon Gods
Katee Robert2021
In a modern city-state, Persephone flees an arranged marriage to Zeus by entering the underworld. She strikes a deal with Hades to stay there.
elegiac → tense
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
Starter Villain
John Scalzi2023
A substitute teacher inherits his uncle's secret supervillain business, including a volcano lair and talking cats.
elegiac → wry
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
Playing with Fire
Gena Showalter2006
A barista gains elemental superpowers after being poisoned and must flee from a government agent. They eventually work together to escape.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
Digital Fortress
Dan Brown1998
The NSA's code-breaking supercomputer encounters an unbreakable algorithm. A cryptographer and a professor race to find the kill code.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
Dial A for Aunties
Jesse Q. Sutanto2021
A photographer accidentally kills her blind date. Her mother and aunties help hide the body during a massive luxury wedding.
elegiac → playful
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak0
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
elegiac → tense
pace+2·prose-2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak-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.
elegiac → sardonic
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
Slower
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace-1prose-2bleak-1
A Month in the Country
J. L. Carr1980
A WWI veteran spends a summer in a quiet village restoring a medieval mural in a church. He reflects on his trauma while observing local life.
pace-1·prose-2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose-1bleak0
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·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak-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.
elegiac → playful
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
Lila
Marilynne Robinson2014
A woman with a traumatic, nomadic past settles in a small Iowa town and marries a minister. She struggles to reconcile her history with his faith.
elegiac → tender, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
Schindler's Ark
Thomas Keneally1982
A German businessman uses his factory and connections to protect Jewish prisoners from execution in occupied Poland.
elegiac → clinical, still historical fiction
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace0prose-2bleak+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.
elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction
pace0·prose-2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
The Confessions of Nat Turner
William Styron1967
A fictionalized confession of the leader of an 1831 slave revolt while he awaits execution in a Virginia jail cell.
elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace0prose-1bleak+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.
elegiac → meditative, still historical fiction
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace0prose-1bleak+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.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
