After the war is over

Fires of Winter

Johanna Lindsey1980

A Celtic noblewoman is abducted by a Viking chieftain's son. She resists her captor while they travel through the Nordic wilderness.

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Lolita

Vladimir Nabokov

A middle-aged professor documents his obsession with his twelve-year-old stepdaughter. He uses complex prose to justify his crimes.

earnest → tense

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Madame Bovary

Gustave Flaubert1856

A doctor's wife in provincial France seeks escape from her mundane life through expensive tastes and extramarital affairs.

earnest → tense

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Untie my heart

Judith Ivory2002

A lord returns to Victorian Britain to find his uncle stealing his estate. He kills a widow's lamb in a coach accident and she seeks restitution.

earnest → wry, still historical romance

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The Husband Hunt

Lynsay Sands2012

A woman attempts to convince her childhood friend to marry her. He resists due to his parents' unhappy marriage until a rescue changes things.

earnest → playful, still historical romance

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The Duke and I

Julia Quinn2000

A duke and a debutante enter a fake courtship to avoid social pressure. They navigate Regency London's marriage market while hiding their deal.

earnest → playful, still historical romance

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Velvet Angel

Jude Deveraux1983

During a medieval family feud, a woman is kidnapped and given to her enemy as a gift. They live in close quarters while their families are at war.

Same earnest register, still historical romance

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Savage Prince

Meghan March2018

A powerful man in the New Orleans underworld becomes obsessed with a woman and pursues her despite the danger of his lifestyle.

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The Professional: Part 2 (The Game Maker, #1b)

Kresley Cole

A Russian enforcer continues his pursuit of a graduate student across Europe. The focus is on their sexual power dynamic and his mafia duties.

earnest → tense

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Victory at Prescott High

C.M. Stunich

A high school girl seeks revenge against the boys who bullied her while navigating a complex relationship with all of them at once.

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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.

earnest → playful

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Absalom, Absalom!

William Faulkner1936

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

earnest → elegiac

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Either/Or

Søren Kierkegaard1992

A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

earnest → meditative

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A Farewell to Arms

Ernest Hemingway1929

An American ambulance driver and a British nurse conduct a love affair during the Italian campaign of World War I.

earnest → elegiac

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Tess of the D’Urbervilles

Thomas Hardy

A country girl is sent to claim kinship with wealthy relatives. Her life is derailed by a sequence of social betrayals and rigid moral standards.

earnest → elegiac, still class divide

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Brokeback Mountain

Annie Proulx1997

Two ranch hands begin a secret sexual and emotional relationship in 1963 Wyoming. The story follows their occasional meetings over twenty years.

earnest → elegiac

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