When We Were Orphans

Alias Grace

Margaret Atwood1996

A doctor interviews a convicted murderess in 1840s Canada to determine if she is insane. She recounts her life while sewing a quilt.

dreamlike → meditative, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak0

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.

dreamlike → sardonic, still historical fiction

pace0·prose+1·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.

dreamlike → clinical

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Don Quixote

Kathy Acker1986

A woman undergoes an abortion and adopts the persona of Don Quixote to pursue a quest in a fragmented, postmodern landscape.

dreamlike → sardonic

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

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.

dreamlike → warm

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Night Pleasures

Sherrilyn Kenyon2002

An immortal warrior and a skeptical accountant are handcuffed together while being hunted by supernatural predators.

dreamlike → playful

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Honeysuckle Summer

Sherryl Woods2010

A woman with severe anxiety and agoraphobia after an abusive marriage finds support from a local deputy. He helps her re-enter the world.

dreamlike → warm

pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

Kill Alex Cross

James Patterson2011

Alex Cross investigates the kidnapping of the President's children while a terrorist threat targets the D.C. water supply.

dreamlike → propulsive, still detective

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Child 44

Tom Rob Smith2008

A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.

dreamlike → tense

pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

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.

dreamlike → sardonic

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·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.

dreamlike → playful

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-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.

dreamlike → tender, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose0·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.

dreamlike → 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.

dreamlike → 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.

dreamlike → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak+1