After
The Mirror and 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 & the Light
Hilary Mantel2020
Thomas Cromwell navigates the final years of Henry VIII's court. The narrative follows his height of power and his eventual loss of royal favor.
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 ↓ ↑
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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
