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  1. Genres
  2. ›Literary Fiction

Best Literary Fiction Books

Character-driven literary works

1,050 summaries

Showing 121–144 of 1,050

  1. The Art of Fielding

    Chad Harbach

    ★ 4.0 (105k) average on Goodreads

    A single, bad throw on a college baseball field upends the lives of five people, making them face their deepest desires and fears at Westish College.

  2. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

    Haruki Murakami

    ★ 4.2 (105k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In a divided Tokyo, a data shuffler with a jazz obsession navigates a war between 'Ciphers' and the 'System,' while in a dreamlike 'End of the World,' a man without a shadow reads skulls and battles memory loss to find a shared truth.

  3. Exit West

    Mohsin Hamid

    ★ 3.8 (105k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Nadia and Saeed find love and an escape through mystical doors in a war-torn world, but leaving their homeland is only the start of their journey of self-discovery and lasting connection.

  4. Half of a Yellow Sun

    Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

    ★ 4.3 (103k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    In the midst of Nigeria's brutal Biafran War, the lives of a spirited mistress, a revolutionary professor, a shy Englishman, and a young houseboy intertwine, revealing the devastating personal cost of a nation's fight for independence.

  5. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

    Karen Joy Fowler

    ★ 3.7 (103k) average on Goodreads

    Rosemary Cooke's fractured family, haunted by her sister Fern's disappearance and an older brother's leaving, hides a secret that changed their ideas of family and humanity.

  6. Stoner

    John Williams

    ★ 4.3 (103k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    A poor farmer's son finds quiet academic pursuit, facing solitude and personal disappointments.

  7. Prodigal Summer

    Barbara Kingsolver

    ★ 4.0 (98k) average on Goodreads

    In the wild heart of southern Appalachia, a biologist, a farmer's wife, and two feuding neighbors find their lives connected during one summer.

  8. The Accidental Tourist

    Anne Tyler

    ★ 3.9 (98k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    A heartbroken travel writer, whose life is a fortress against change, finds his world upended by an unlikely, boisterous dog trainer who teaches him that even accidental detours can lead to fulfilling destinations.

  9. The Round House

    Louise Erdrich

    ★ 3.9 (96k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    When his mother is attacked on their Ojibwe reservation, a teenage boy named Joe seeks justice, forcing him to deal with tribal law, family loyalty, and how one violent act affects everything.

  10. The Signature of All Things

    Elizabeth Gilbert

    ★ 3.8 (96k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    Alma Whittaker, a brilliant 19th-century botanist, explores the scientific and spiritual mysteries of evolution and desire, falling for an enigmatic artist while traveling the world from Philadelphia to Tahiti.

  11. Let the Great World Spin

    Colum McCann

    ★ 3.9 (94k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    In 1970s New York, a tightrope walker's daring act above the Twin Towers connects the lives of a diverse group of New Yorkers, who find their paths interwoven by hope, grief, and the city's energy.

  12. All the Pretty Horses

    Cormac McCarthy

    ★ 4.0 (94k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    In post-WWII Texas, sixteen-year-old John Grady Cole, the last in a ranching family, rides south with his friends into a beautiful but brutal Mexico. There, the romantic ideal of the cowboy clashes with the harsh realities of fate and violence.

  13. Brideshead Revisited

    Evelyn Waugh

    ★ 4.0 (93k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    An artist, Charles Ryder, recounts his deep involvement with the Marchmain family and the slow decline of their privileged world, influenced by modernity and faith.

  14. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

    Carson McCullers

    ★ 4.0 (93k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    In a sleepy 1930s Southern town, a silent, all-observing deaf man becomes the unexpected confidant for a range of lonely, lost, and longing people, each projecting their deepest desires onto his quiet empathy.

  15. The Vegetarian

    Han Kang

    ★ 3.6 (93k) average on Goodreads

    A woman's choice to stop eating meat upends her ordinary life, leading to a disturbing change in her body and mind as her family tries to control her defiance.

  16. Stones from the River

    Ursula Hegi

    ★ 4.1 (92k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction
  17. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

    David Wroblewski

    ★ 3.6 (91k) average on Goodreads

    A mute boy, loyal to his unique dog breed, flees into the Wisconsin wilderness to escape his uncle's treachery and find out how his father died, only to be drawn back by an unbreakable connection to home and a need for revenge.

  18. Burial Rites

    Hannah Kent

    ★ 4.0 (89k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    On the desolate 19th-century Icelandic frontier, a condemned murderess, sent to await her execution on an isolated farm, slowly unveils a haunting truth to the reluctant family and the young priest tasked with her spiritual care, forcing them to question the nature of justice and perception.

  19. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

    Elena Ferrante

    ★ 4.3 (88k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    In the 1970s, two intelligent women, a writer and a factory worker, navigate class, ambition, and societal expectations, linked by their lifelong Neapolitan friendship.

  20. Disgrace

    J. M. Coetzee

    ★ 3.8 (87k) average on Goodreads
  21. White Noise

    Don DeLillo

    ★ 3.9 (87k) average on GoodreadsScience Fiction

    A professor of Hitler studies and his family face their own mortality when a toxic chemical spill forces them to confront the real, yet often invisible, threats of modern life.

  22. The Bone Clocks

    David Mitchell

    ★ 3.8 (86k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    From a teenage runaway's psychic awakening in rural England to an epic, centuries-spanning war between immortal souls, Holly Sykes's life becomes the unexpected fulcrum of humanity's hidden destiny.

  23. The Lowland

    Jhumpa Lahiri

    ★ 3.9 (85k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    Two inseparable brothers in 1960s Calcutta are torn apart when one joins a radical political movement, leaving his pregnant wife and family to grapple with the devastating, generation-spanning repercussions of his idealism and sacrifice.

  24. Ordinary Grace

    William Kent Krueger

    ★ 4.2 (85k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    In the summer of 1961, a thirteen-year-old boy in rural Minnesota deals with several tragedies that show the hidden side of his quiet town, making him face sin, grace, and the end of his innocence.

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