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After

The Rose Code

Kate Quinn2021

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Shelterwood

    Lisa Wingate2024

    In 1909, a girl flees into the Oklahoma woods to protect three children. In 1990, a park ranger discovers a hidden cave and a decades-old mystery.

    propulsive → earnest, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

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.

    propulsive → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2

  • 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.

    propulsive → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • Briefing for a Descent into Hell

    Doris Lessing1971

    A man is found wandering London and placed in a psychiatric ward. The narrative shifts between the hospital and his internal cosmic hallucinations.

    propulsive → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • All Systems Red

    Martha Wells2017

    A self-aware security android hacks its own governor module to watch soap operas while protecting a team of scientists on a distant planet.

    propulsive → wry

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Legends & Lattes

    Travis Baldree2022

    An orc barbarian retires from adventuring to open a coffee shop in a city that has never heard of the drink.

    propulsive → warm

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Farm Fresh Murder

    Paige Shelton2010

    A jam maker in a small town investigates a murder to clear her friend's name.

    propulsive → warm

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Tell No One

    Harlan Coben2000

    A widower receives an email from his wife eight years after her murder. He flees the FBI to discover if she is still alive.

    Same propulsive register, still mystery

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • Ten Big Ones

    Janet Evanovich2004

    Stephanie Plum witnesses a gang hit and becomes a target herself. She balances the threat with her ongoing romantic indecision.

    propulsive → playful, still mystery

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Oath of Loyalty

    Kyle Mills2022

    CIA assassin Mitch Rapp goes off the grid to protect his partner while navigating a political conspiracy in Washington.

    Same propulsive register, still espionage

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    propulsive → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-2·prose0·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.

    propulsive → clinical

    pace-2·prose+2·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.

    propulsive → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1

Heavier

propulsive → bleak, still historical fiction

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • 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.

    propulsive → meditative, still historical fiction

    pace-1·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.

    propulsive → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2