The Secret Book of Flora Lea

The Book of Lost Friends

Lisa Wingate2020

In 1875, three women search for lost family after the Civil War. In 1987, a teacher discovers their story through old 'Lost Friends' ads.

tender → earnest, still historical fiction

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This Other Eden

Paul Harding2023

A multiracial community on a small island off the coast of Maine faces forced displacement by state officials in the early 20th century.

tender → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

The Wake

Paul Kingsnorth2014

A landowner in 1066 leads a guerrilla resistance against Norman invaders. The story is written in a modified version of Old English.

tender → bleak, still historical fiction

pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

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.

tender → sardonic, still historical fiction

pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

The Score

Elle Kennedy2016

A college senior has a one-night stand with a hockey player to get over a breakup. They continue the arrangement as graduation approaches.

tender → playful

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

To Sir Phillip, With Love

Julia Quinn2003

Eloise Bridgerton travels to meet a widowed baronet she has only known through letters. They consider a marriage of convenience.

tender → warm

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

All Rhodes Lead Here

Mariana Zapata2021

A woman moves back to her Colorado hometown after a breakup and rents a garage apartment from a grumpy single father.

tender → warm

pace0·prose-1·bleak-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.

tender → sardonic

pace+2·prose0·bleak0

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.

tender → propulsive

pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

The Martian

Andy Weir2011

A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

tender → wry

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·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.

Same tender register, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Rhine Journey

Ann Schlee1981

A middle-aged woman travels by steamer down the Rhine in 1851. She observes her family and internalizes a chance encounter with a man from her past.

tender → meditative, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose+1·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.

tender → meditative, still historical fiction

pace0·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.

tender → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

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.

tender → elegiac, still historical fiction

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