LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Law of Moses

Amy Harmon2014

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The Horse Whisperer

    Nicholas Evans1995

    A mother takes her injured daughter and traumatized horse to a Montana ranch. She seeks help from a man who specializes in rehabilitating horses.

    Same elegiac register, still contemporary romance

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Madame Bovary

    Gustave Flaubert1856

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

    elegiac → tense

    pace+1·prose+2·bleak0

  • Paradise Logic

    Sophie Kemp2025

    A young woman follows advice from a magazine to become a perfect partner. Her quest involves surreal jobs and messages from the beyond.

    elegiac → epic

    pace+1·prose+2·bleak0

  • Mad Mabel

    Sally Hepworth2025

    An eighty-one-year-old woman with a history of killing people tries to hide her past when a curious young girl moves into the neighborhood.

    elegiac → dark

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • While It Lasts

    Abbi Glines2013

    A college baseball player works on a farm over the summer to avoid jail after a DUI. He falls for a woman who is grieving her late fiancé.

    elegiac → warm, still contemporary romance

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Red Lily

    Nora Roberts2005

    A single mother in Tennessee falls for her employer's son while a century-old ghost possesses her. It is the final book in a trilogy.

    elegiac → warm, still contemporary romance

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • And One Last Thing...

    Molly Harper2010

    After a public divorce, a woman moves to a small town to start over and finds herself pursued by a local deputy.

    elegiac → wry, still contemporary romance

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    elegiac → propulsive, still contemporary romance

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Burn for Me

    Ilona Andrews2014

    A private investigator with the ability to tell truth from lies is hired to find a fire-user. She is forced to work with a dangerous billionaire.

    elegiac → propulsive, still paranormal romance

    pace+2·prose0·bleak-1

  • Quantum Radio

    A.G. Riddle2023

    A scientist at CERN discovers a signal from a parallel universe. He must flee a conspiracy while exploring the implications of the data.

    elegiac → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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·prose+2·bleak-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.

    Same elegiac register

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard1992

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

    elegiac → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Wuthering Heights

    Emily Brontë1846

    Two families on the Yorkshire moors deal with the arrival and subsequent revenge of an adopted orphan. The story is told through nested narrators.

    elegiac → bleak

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    Same elegiac register

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • 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.

    Same elegiac register

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1