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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:
BringBackCatsEyes · 28/04/2026 16:36

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.
Margaret Forster dairy of an ordinary woman

lots of great recommendations by some kindred spirits here.

LoveYouPickle · 28/04/2026 16:34

Lonesome Dove of course!!!!

a little life is one long layer of misery with several more layers of misery thrown in for good measure 😂

CatPawprints · 28/04/2026 16:21

I'm only 200 pages in so this might be a premature recommendation but I'm loving The Whalebone Theatre right now.

Eccentric characters in an isolated sea-side Manor house in 1920s. It's about 500 pages so good chunky book.

The writing is sensory and quite funny in places. Its really gripped me.

Elterberry · 28/04/2026 16:09

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara . My goodness, if you want to get lost, this is a great one

Scout2016 · 28/04/2026 16:04

More votes for Tennant of Wildfell Hall or Half A Yellow Sun and Burial Rites - I love Hannah Kent's books. I enjoyed we Begin At The End too but it's a bit daft.

First of the Cazalet books.

Less literary but satisfying you could work through the Rotters Club series or a Roddy Doyle trilogy. I plan to get round to the Paula Spencer books one day, I rember thinking well of The Woman Who Walked Into Doors.

Or one of Wally Lamb's massive novels. They are really good to get stuck into (avoid We Are Water maybe as a character is a pedophile. I made the mistake of listening to some of the audio book and he made me feel ill.)

TemperanceWest · 28/04/2026 14:27

The House of the Spirits by Isabelle Allende is an oldie but goody.

Ruthietuthie · 28/04/2026 14:18

Oh, you need Orhan Pamuk's The Museum of Innocence, without a doubt. PERFECT for what you describe.

Fleur405 · 28/04/2026 14:16

Oh also Lanark by Alasdair Gray. It’s subtitled a life in four parts. The first part may have a sort of sci fi feel (but it is literary fiction) but the middle two sections which are the bulk of the book are not. Even if you find the first part strange (it is) don’t let that put you off, it’s a brilliant book.

Fleur405 · 28/04/2026 14:13

The Goldfinch, Donna Tart
The Master and Margarita, Bulgakov
1Q84, Murakami
The Luminaries, (author escapes me)
everything by Matt Haig
and one more vote for One Hundred Years of Solitude

minipie · 28/04/2026 14:05

I was also going to say Barbara Kingsolver.

Also recommend the Trojan wars trilogy by Pat Barker - although it is rather depressing but it’s wonderfully written.

Wild Swans, if you haven’t read it already.

HobnobsChoice · 28/04/2026 14:00

Lots of great recommendations here. I'd also add
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber

Holymolyrigmorole · 28/04/2026 13:58

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
or
Anna Karenina by Tolstoy

Whereismyjoiedevivre · 28/04/2026 13:57

I suggest Burial Rites by Hannah Kent as well as anything by Sarah Waters. Both very compelling writers.

IceIceBabyBump · 28/04/2026 13:57

I'd absolutely echo "Pachinko" and "Demon Copperhead"

The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series is brilliant too - read them in chronological order, not necessarily publication order. The quality does drop around book four I think, but still a series to get lost in.

"The Luminaries" by Eleanor Catton is a real tome to get lost in over a week. I really regret not having saved this book to devour over a Christmas period.

I found "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" a bit hard going in the middle but it might be a good one to lose yourself in over a week.

Anything and everything by Donna Tartt and Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche.

Personally, I can't stand Hilary Mantel's books.

BloodyHellBob · 28/04/2026 13:55

“We begin at the end” and “All the colours of the dark” both by Chris Whitaker. I loved them

TressiliansStone · 28/04/2026 13:50

Making Love: A Conspiracy of the Heart, by Marius Brill
An Instance of the Fingerpost, by Iain Pears (but not his detective novels)
The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Pippin2017 · 28/04/2026 13:46

Balkan and Levant trilogies by Olivia Manning

TressiliansStone · 28/04/2026 13:43

Glitterbiscuits · 28/04/2026 12:20

Have you read anything by Barbara Kingsolver or Kate Atkinson?

Seconding these.

Tsundokuer · 28/04/2026 13:36

The Cornish Trilogy by Robertson Davies

semideponent · 28/04/2026 13:36

Good People by Patmeena Sabit is a brilliant read.

ZeppelinTits · 28/04/2026 13:34

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier

Although may not be quite long enough. But are both excellent reads.

MissAmbrosia · 28/04/2026 13:16

The Sunne in Splendour - about Richard III

shivermetimbers77 · 28/04/2026 13:06

The one that immediately sprang to mind for me was Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, a wonderful novel about three generations of a Korean family in Japan across the early to late 20th century . It’s a fantastic read, beautifully written, very moving and I felt like I learned a lot about a part of history I had not previously known anything about.

TressiliansStone · 28/04/2026 13:02

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth

StrangewaysHereWeCome · 28/04/2026 12:57

The Secret History by Donna Tart
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,
Restoration by Rose Tremain
Music and Silence by Rose Tremain
Cuddy by Benjamin Myers