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.

I reread Dracula and Rebecca recently which are fantastic.
other old faves - I Claudius ( Robert graves)

more modern - I’d echo David Mitchell.Barbara Kingsolver

Another vote for The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. (Birnam Wood is a pretty good read too.)

Maybe not as literary, but Kate Mosse's Languedoc Trilogy (Labyrinth, Sepulchre & Citadel) are some of my all-time favourites. Doesn't hurt that they are set in my favorite French region. Her Joubert family trilogy is also a good read, but the Languedoc ones are really a cut above.

Kate Atkinson & Maggie O'Farrell have some great reads too.

If you're interested in more historical novels from ancient Greece, I love love loved Madeleine Miller's Song of Achilles, and also find Jennifer Saint & Natalie Haynes' novels based on women in classical literature are excellent.

Edited to add:
Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy was one of those books where I genuinely felt bereft to finish it. It would keep you going for a few days. I read it in three days on a Greek beach holiday, which greatly interested/amused folk in our hotel, who couldn't quite believe I'd lugged such a weighty tome in my suitcase. (My fiance at the time was keen to follow up with the fact it was one of six I'd brought, and weighted down his case too!)

Birnham Wood was one of the worst books I ever read because of the ending. Annoyingly I loved it until the last 3 pages!

Any Human Heart by William Boyd

But not if you don’t want something ‘unrelentingly grim’ which this is!

The Nightingale by Donna Tart or 1Q84 by Murakami. For a real classic how about Swann's Way by Proust?

I've not read all 8 pages of the thread, so apologies if this is a repeat!
Iain Banks, but not the M books as they get a bit too sci-fi. The Crow Road in particular is incredible.
"It was the day my grandmother exploded."

Even more ideas...what a lovely lot you are, thank you so much!

"Bitter Orange" by Claire Fuller is a really good book to get lost in over spring/summer. It's not huge but utterly absorbing.

I don't get the love for Murakami at all. I read "Breasts and Eggs" for my book club expecting a clever allegory about contemporary womanhood. No. It really was just about tits.

When you say no sci-fi does that include fantasy? I absolutely loved Priory of the Orange Tree which is kinda feminist epic fantasy.

I return to The Magic Mountain every few years when I have a stretch of time. There's a wonderful familiar sensation reading the train journey at the start and feeling it mark the beginning of your own stay in the novel in the coming days. A truly remarkable book where your understanding grows and changes each time you read.

The Goldfinch I think

This thread has proved expensive for me.
Just completed a bumper World of Books order - the Ken Follett trilogy , Wild Swans and An Equal Music ( both of which I read ages ago, but want to reacquaint myself ).

Also bought Pachinko from Amazon as WoB didn’t have it in stock , but as all theirs are secondhand I didn’t feel too guilty splashing out on a brand new copy !
Looking forward to sunny days in the garden and getting lost in a book ( or six ).

I agree Murukami is very male gazey, but Breasts and Eggs is by Mieko Kawakami. It's really good!

Ugh, you're right. Sorry.

Another Isabel Allende combination is Eva Luna and the Stories of Eva Luna. Just re-reading them and it takes you to another world.

Of course! Oops

How much home off did you say you had?! 😂📖

I really, really hated Kate Mosse Labyrinth. I wouldn’t class that as literary at all. Awful cliched writing and crappy plot. Sorry!

I didn’t like it either - a rare dnf. I still have it on my bookshelf with the bookmark in where I left it (hardback, so ages ago now). I might try again at some point. The Secret History is one of my favourite books, so it was a bit of a surprise!

You’re not. Loved Secret History… one of my top ten… Goldfinch, nah a bit boring really.

The Goldfinch is marmite - some people love it and some people don’t. I thought the Las Vegas bit went on a bit long but I enjoyed all the New York bits.
I wish she’d write a sequel as I’d like to know what happened next to Theo, Pippa, Kitsey and Boris.

Did it for book club unanimously we all loved The Goldfinch. Such a good book very absorbing. The Secret History hood but her other one whose name I can’t remember I did give up with.

Agree with those suggesting Donna Tartt.
How about the Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St Aubyn? I found I got really drawn into those.

North woods by Daniel Mason