Looking for a substantial literary novel to get lost in

[amoamas]

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.

My suggestions echo other peoples. A Place of Greater Safety, A suitable boy and lonesome dove

Only Breath & Shadow by Andrew Tweeddale. It’s beautifully written, emotionally immersive and compelling.

It’s about a once handsome English man who was blinded in the Somme and is living in Vienna in the 1930’s. He frequents coffee houses and nightclubs with his friends and meets a spirited American singer who has also ran away from a tragic past. There is a spark between them but can they overcome past hurts to let the spark flourish? This is one story told against the backdrop of a decadent and decaying Vienna falling into the grip of the Nazis. Another is what do they do when they are left with 4 Jewish children after their parents are sent to the camps and the Gestapo is closing in?

I could go on but I’d give away spoilers! I love the classics too and I loved this novel. Yes it has grim bits but it’s also full of humour and humanity and it stays with you long after you’ve finished it. If you want to get your teeth into something meaningful then this is the book for you.

Nogimachi, I first read East of Eden as a teenager and mention of it takes me right back to endless afternoons in the garden with a pint of orange squash and a packet of digestives - I still love the book.

I loved On Beauty too! I would have loved to hear Zadie Smith talk in person

Wouldn’t wish the Museum of Innocence on anyone. Halfway through it now and determined to finish because I assume, like horrible-tasting medicine, 500 pages of Pamuk might be good for me. But almost tearful with boredom. Otherwise lots of good suggestions on this thread, but basically, if you have never read Moby Dick, you must.

Absolutely not. It's beyond harrowing.

An Equal Music, by Vikram Seth

The Transylvanian Trilogy, by Miklos Banffy

I would recommend Long Summer Day by RF Delderfield. First in the Horseman Riding By trilogy. An epic saga following the fortunes of a village in Devon over the years from the beginning of the 19th century.

And Fall of Giants by Ken Follett, again the first of a trilogy following families in UK, Russia, Germany and US through 1st, 2nd and Cold Wars. Another epic saga which for me was very informative historically.

I concur! Not a chill out book at all 😬

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is my favourite book ever!

I’m an avid reader both novels and biographies. The most un putable ( think I’ve made up a new word) down book I’ve read in a few years was perfect people by Peter James. Not my usual genre but I was absolutely riveted.

Some great suggestions on here which I won't repeat.

Orhan Pamuk's My Name is Red, or Snow. (The first has broader appeal, I think but I loved both of them.)

Olga Tokarczuk - Drive your plow over the bones of the dead.

Elias Canetti - Auto de Fé

The last two are both rather strange.

Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier
Anything from the Richard Hannay series by John Buchan (The 39 Steps is his most well known book)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Anything by Alexandre Dumas, eg The Count of Monte Cristo or The Three Musketeers, not too heavy going & a great way to get into classic novels.

Middlemarch or Bleak House

An Equal Music by Vikram Seth

Anything written by Rachel Joyce

Greatest novel ever written!

I have to second (or third) 'The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny' by Kiran Desai
The Corrections though I read it years ago has stayed with me
I loved 'The Moonstone'
This is such a great thread! Thanks for starting it :-) I have many new recommendations.

Ford Maddox Ford: Parade’s End
Anthony Powell: A Dance to the Music of Time
Aldous Huxley: Point Counter Point
Joseph Conrad: Nostromo
D H Lawrence: Women in Love

The Secret History, by Donna Tartt.
its one of my favourites, don’t understand why it hasn’t been filmed or serialised.
so well written and so gripping.

Vanity Fair

You’ve had some brilliant recommendations especially Middlemarch. I’m never short of book inspiration these days because I listen to an outstandingly good podcast called Tea or Books. Each episode is like sitting in a friendly bar with your two most bookish, fun friends. I’m always noting up their recommendations on my TBR list. Their taste may not be everyone’s (they have a penchant for Persephone publications) but it’s eclectic spread of writers. Mostly women novelists.

I'm on the last chapter of the final book in The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz

Story of a family over 30 years ar the beginning of the 20 century. Beautiful books

Don’t read this - it will really upset you as it did me

anything by Murakami - contemporary Japanese writer. Or Butter or Hooked by (can’t remember but another Japanese writer)

Anything by Kristen Hannah - great books! The Women for example.
Educated by Tara Westover
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Enjoy!