After
This Other Eden
Paul Harding2023
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing denser
More like it
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
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The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
David Mitchell2010
A Dutch clerk arrives at a restricted Japanese trading outpost in 1799. He navigates corporate corruption and a forbidden romance.
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The Inheritance of Loss
Kiran Desai2006
The lives of an embittered judge in the Himalayas and his son working illegally in New York intersect during a 1980s insurgency.
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March
Geraldine Brooks2005
The father from Little Women serves as a chaplain in the American Civil War. The story follows his idealism as it is tested by the reality of combat.
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The Secret River
Kate Grenville2005
An English thief is transported to a penal colony in Australia. He tries to claim a patch of land, leading to a conflict with the local Aborigines.
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1 more ↓ ↑
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Moon Tiger
Penelope Lively1987
A dying historian recalls her life, specifically her time as a war correspondent in Egypt. The timeline jumps between her past and present.
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
To recover
- pace0prose-3bleak-2
A Veiled Deception
Annette Blair2009
A vintage shop owner investigates a murder during her sister's wedding preparations to clear her family's name.
elegiac → playful
pace0·prose-3·bleak-2
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It Starts with Us
Colleen Hoover2022
A single mother navigates a new relationship with her first love while managing a jealous ex-husband. The story alternates perspectives.
elegiac → earnest
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
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Assistant to the Villain
Hannah Nicole Maehrer2023
A woman takes a job as an administrative assistant to a local villain to support her family. She manages his office while ignoring his evil deeds.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
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The Marriage Bargain
Jennifer Probst2012
A bookstore owner enters a one-year contract marriage with a billionaire to save her family's land. They must follow a set of rules to stay platonic.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
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A Quick Bite
Lynsay Sands2005
A vampire who faints at the sight of blood finds a psychologist tied to her bed as a gift. They navigate his kidnapping and her family dynamics.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·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
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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
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3 more ↓ ↑
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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
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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
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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
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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 ↓ ↑
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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.
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- 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
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Umbrella
Will Self2013
A psychiatrist in 1971 treats a woman who has been catatonic for decades. The prose shifts between eras and consciousnesses without paragraph breaks.
elegiac → clinical
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Heavier
elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction
- 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.
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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.
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3 more ↓ ↑
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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
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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.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
