Books set during covid

[Wildchild60s]

I read a lot of contemporary fiction, nothing especially highbrow. In two recent novels there was passing reference made to covid as a time in the characters' recent past. In one the character had taken up baking as a new hobby during lockdown. In another the character (who was one of the murder victims) had become increasingly isolated during lockdown.
This set me off wondering if anyone has come across novels set right in the middle of the pandemic, where all the restrictions we all lived under were an essential part of the plot, having such a huge impact on people's personal and professional lives?

www.amazon.co.uk/Kissing-Coronavirus-M-J-Edwards-ebook/dp/B087KR2CQC

Oh my god! There were 5 volumes! The author was making the most of the opportunity!

Bournville by Jonathan Coe

🤯😂

That was going to be my suggestion too.
I really enjoyed it.

How would I miss that one, one of my favourite reads last year. I'd actually forgotten it was set during Lockdown!
I'm also going to suggest Claire Fuller's The Memory of Animals. I'm not sure if it is Covid exactly but it's certainly about a major pandemic seen from the point of view of someone who is in isolation on a clinic having been part of a drug test. It's a very claustrophobic dystopia novel.

The Looked Room,one of the Ruth Galloway mysteries, by Elly Griffiths is set in Spring 2020.

The wonderful Jodi Picoult’s Wish You Were Here. It’s set in a remote island and New York so very interesting to see those different experiences

Fourteen Days: A Collaborative Novel, edited by Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston, is a unique novel where 36 different authors each wrote a chapter about tenants of a Lower East Side apartment building who gather on the rooftop during the first two weeks of lockdown to tell stories.

Two metres from you by Heidi Stephens. It's her debut novel and it shows, but it's still a lovely book, set completely during lockdown.

Came on here to recommend Night Swimmers and see someone else got there first. Stunning book.

Maybe It's About Time by Neil Boss. It made me sob like a baby though so be warned.

That was me. I loved, loved that book.

Jodi Picoult Wish you were here was quite interesting, set during the early Covid days. Funny though how quickly you forget or see things differently after the event compared to back then.

Also The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier is a novel that starts during the days of the Plague and goes through history right up to Covid. Quite interesting to see the similarities about what happened with enforced quarantine etc.

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. She writes about native Americans and all her books are great. This one is set in a book shop during the pandemic and it is really great, even gives you a fascinating reading list.

@Arran2024 thought it was wonderful. Really moving and I truly cared about the characters. Couldn’t find anything else she had written though.

Currently reading Dear Dickhead, in which Paris goes into Covid lockdown about halfway through. Not loving it though (nothing to do with the Covid bit!)

I read it so you don't have to.

I love Elizabeth Strout's books, but I couldn't finish that one. I don't know whether it was too accurate and stressful in relation to Covid or whether the moaning was just unbearable.

😆

Holly - Stephen King

I hated the twist in this book, I loved the rest of the story until that point. I found it went a bit too political/preachy. I know she wrote it at a difficult time so can understand her emotions/ opinions coming through but I just didn't like it and I usually love her books.

I was going to mention the Catherine Fox books (I think at least 2 of them deal with the pandemic and its aftermath) and Bournville too. I can only second those recommendations.

Fourteen Days - A Collaborative Novel.

It’s a really interesting concept - each story is contributed by a different US author (led by Margaret Atwood), set in a building in New York during lockdown.

Definitely worth a read.