LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Wind Knows My Name

Isabel Allende2023

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same tender register, still historical fiction

1 more ↓

  • The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

    Lisa See2017

    A girl in a remote Akha village grows up farming tea before a stranger's arrival and a secret pregnancy change her life's trajectory.

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

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

    tender → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

  • 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

To recover

tender → playful

3 more ↓

  • Tall, Tatted and Tempting

    Tammy Falkner2013

    A tattoo artist who communicates through sign language falls for a woman who enters his shop. The story follows their domestic courtship.

    Same tender register

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

    Marina Lewycka2005

    Two sisters unite to prevent their elderly father from marrying a much younger gold digger. The story includes a history of farm machinery.

    tender → wry, still historical fiction

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

  • A Veiled Deception

    Annette Blair2009

    A vintage shop owner investigates a murder during her sister's wedding preparations to clear her family's name.

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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

Slower

tender → elegiac, still historical fiction

3 more ↓

  • 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

Heavier

tender → bleak, still historical fiction

3 more ↓

  • 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

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2