Homegoing
Half sisters Effia and Esi lines span Ghana to America across centuries.
2,552-word summary · 11 min read
historical fiction + literary fiction
12 books tagged both “historical fiction” and “literary fiction”.
My Brilliant Friend
Elena and Lila grow up in 1950s Naples bound by rivalry and love.
2,584-word summary · 11 min read
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Footbound Lily and Snow Flower share laotong bond through 19th century Hunan hardship.
2,557-word summary · 11 min read
Things Fall Apart
Proud Igbo wrestler Okonkwo rises in 1890s Umuofia, then loses standing through hard exile, a son's conversion, and British missionaries and courts remaking…
2,518-word summary · 11 min read
All Quiet on the Western Front
Paul Bäumer enlists at nineteen and faces the trenches of World War I in Remarque's 1929 classic, told from the German side of the wire.
2,543-word summary · 11 min read
Beloved
Sethe lives with the memory of killing her child to save her from slavery until a young woman named Beloved arrives.
2,586-word summary · 11 min read
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Born with a perfect nose in 1738 Paris, Grenouille masters perfume craft then murders young women in Grasse to bottle the ultimate scent.
2,561-word summary · 11 min read
A Gentleman in Moscow
Count Rostov lives under house arrest in the Metropol and builds family from staff.
2,139-word summary · 10 min read
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Splendid Suns retold: Mariam and Laila share Kabul house, war, Rasheed, escape and return.
1,957-word summary · 9 min read
All the Light We Cannot See
Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See retold: blind Marie-Laure, Werner the radio boy, and Saint-Malo.
1,962-word summary · 9 min read
The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner retold: Amir and Hassan in Kabul, the alley, the escape to America, and the return to find Sohrab.
2,584-word summary · 11 min read
The Song of Achilles
Song of Achilles retold: Patroclus and Achilles from boys to Troy, love and war in Miller prose.
1,925-word summary · 9 min read