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Original poster

Looking for a substantial literary novel to get lost in

205 replies

amoamas · 28/04/2026 12:17

I have a very rare week to myself coming up, and I'd be grateful for recommendations for a nice thick book to take with me. I don't mind if it's a classic or contemporary fiction, maybe 400 pages or more so I can really get into it.

I have enjoyed: There are rivers in the sky by Elif Shafak, The safekeep by Yael van der Wouden, The hare with amber eyes by Edmund de Waal, Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel, the Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante, the Gormenghast series by Mervyn Peake, the Boudica series by Manda Scott, Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, Orlando by Virginia Wolf. I've read most of the main classics but happy to explore some of the more unusual ones.

I don't enjoy: sci fi, "just" romance, very sad stories or anything that's unrelentingly grim, "light" reading (I want something to get lost in), politics.

Any recommendations gratefully received, TIA.

OP posts:
LoveYouPickle · 28/04/2026 22:06

Cloud street by Tim Winton as well how could I forget 🤦🏻‍♀️

TattiePants · 28/04/2026 22:05

I agree with so many of these. I’ll add The Garden of Evening Mists and The Cider House Rules.

CandidOP · 28/04/2026 21:18

Vanity Fair. George Eliot
Middlemarch Thackeray
Cranford. Elisabeth Gaskell

uhtredsmum · 28/04/2026 21:09

Wonderful recommendations! I’d second lots of them and add Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

Pandorea · 28/04/2026 21:09

I really loved Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey and I hadn’t expected to. The True History of the Kelly Gang by him is also fab.
If you want something recent - The Loneliness of Sonia and Sonny by Kiran Desai feels pretty epic.

JuliettaCaeser · 28/04/2026 21:04

Iff you enjoyed the Luminaries which I did her other book something wood is really good as well.

I am convinced that Taylor Swift read the Luminaries when she wrote the Tortured Poets Society so many references

JustAMiddleAgedDirtBagBaby · 28/04/2026 21:03

I can't believe I forgot Demon Copperhead.

Also James by Percival Everett.

Both the above are retellings of classic stories (David Copperfield and Huckleberry Finn) but I loved both with only a passing acquaintance with the originals.

The Trees, also by Percival Everett, is one of the best things I've read in years. Loved it.

JuliettaCaeser · 28/04/2026 21:01

Ha I’ve read most of these!

Was going to suggest Middlemarch read as adult out of duty but actually really enjoyed it. Also Northanger Abbey Jane Austen’s description of a bad date so funny.

House of Spirits - one of my favourite books read when travelling alone and missed the characters when it ended 😄

Recently really enjoyed The Beautiful and the Damned by F Scott Fitzgerald.

Stoneycold12 · 28/04/2026 20:53

If you haven't read it yet, I vote for Vanity Fair - it's a great story, and smart and funny.

Peopleshouldhavetails · 28/04/2026 20:53

One holiday I got really into The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

anything by John Boyne - highly recommend his Element series

love Elif Shafak books too

MrsAC1 · 28/04/2026 20:52

Pachinko also came straight into my mind for this. A really beautiful book with an amazing story.

ASuitableName · 28/04/2026 20:52

I also second The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye

Teaforthetotal · 28/04/2026 20:52

Fabulous thread,pure gold here.I'm adding my recommendations and I want to shamelessly placemark too.

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai is quite kaleidoscopic and gorgeous.

Two epics that haven't been mentioned: The Tower by Uwe Tellkamp,epic about a family in the latter years of the GDR and A Goats Song by Dermot Healy might be nice if you fancy literary but different.

Seconding the poster who suggested The Line of Beauty.Memerising read.

I also loved Pachinko and Bee Sting for their absorbing worlds.
I'm buzzing remembering some of these wonderful reads.

ASuitableName · 28/04/2026 20:48

The Forty Rules of Love - Elif Shafak
Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Murmur of Bees - Sofia Segovia

SlenderRations · 28/04/2026 20:44

Great thread. Strong recommendation for Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. It is a real doorstop but, usually for such a long book, never left me thinking that the editor should have been stricter. Historical, set n Restoration England (but also on the Continent and US and far east). Newton appears lots. Absolutely gripping and unusual and also quietly funny. Needs a good long first reading to immerse but really rewards it. (Is part of a trilogy but you don’t have to read them all)

OpheliaWitchoftheWoods · 28/04/2026 20:44

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

SlenderRations · 28/04/2026 20:41

OrsolaRosso · 28/04/2026 20:37

Has anyone said A Gentleman in Moscow yet?

It’s really excellent

captainmouthwash · 28/04/2026 20:40

So many great recommendations here, and my all time modern favourite would have to be The Poisonwood Bible.

All The Light You Cannot See and Cloud Cuckoo land by Antony Doerr are both lose-yourself novels.

Rainallnight · 28/04/2026 20:38

This is a great brief for a book!

It’s been said already but I second Restoration by Rose Tremain. Fits your bill perfectly.

OrsolaRosso · 28/04/2026 20:37

Has anyone said A Gentleman in Moscow yet?

MedusasHead · 28/04/2026 20:35

It seems I’ve found my people! Some my favourite books already mentioned:

Gone with the wind
A suitable boy
The Marriage portrait
Demon Copperhead
100 years of solitude (though it’s not long)
The Bee sting

I’d also recommend The Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior - one of the best books I’ve read in years

Eyesopenwideawake · 28/04/2026 20:34

To Serve Them all My Days by RF Delderfield. Still a favourite 40 odd years on.

JustAMiddleAgedDirtBagBaby · 28/04/2026 20:30

Barbara Kingsolver - the Lacuna is my favourite, or the Poisonwood Bible (chunkier).

Margaret Atwood - Alias Grace

John Irving - A prayer for Owen Meany

Umberto Eco - Foucault's Pendulum

AS Byatt - Possession (has romance but is a lot more than that)

Unnecessaryletter · 28/04/2026 20:26

Anna Karenina. Panoramic view of Imperial Russia - from low to high society, with vivid characters and relationship intricacies that are still relevant today (reminds me of Austen in certain ways, but she does it a lot more gently!)

There's the most beautiful, richly-described depiction of peasants cutting grass that's always stayed with me.

luckylavender · 28/04/2026 20:25

A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry