Books like

Books like Blackbird House

12 books with a reading profile close to Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman. Inward-looking and thought-provoking; an easy read.

  1. 1 The Unseen World

    The Unseen World

    by Liz Moore

    Also inward-looking · narrative, literary

    Set in a 1980s computer science laboratory, the story follows Ada Sibelius, a young girl homeschooled by her father, David, a brilliant researcher developing an artificial intelligence program nicknamed ELIXIR.

  2. 2 The Space Between Us

    The Space Between Us

    by Thrity Umrigar

    Also inward-looking · narrative, literary

    Sera Dubash is a Parsi woman in Mumbai who has employed Bhima as a maid for over twenty years.

  3. 3 How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

    How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

    by Angie Cruz

    Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

    Set in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the narrative follows Cara Romero, a woman in her sixties who loses her factory job of twenty-five years.

  4. 4 Animal Dreams

    Animal Dreams

    by Barbara Kingsolver

    Also inward-looking · narrative, literary

    Codi Noline returns to her rural Arizona hometown to care for her father, a doctor descending into Alzheimer’s disease.

  5. 5 The Pull of the Stars

    The Pull of the Stars

    by Emma Donoghue

    narrative, literary

    The story takes place over three days in a cramped, understaffed maternity quarantine ward in Dublin during the 1918 influenza pandemic.

  6. 6 The Wife

    The Wife

    by Meg Wolitzer

    Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

    Joan Castleman has stood beside her husband Joe, a celebrated novelist, for decades.

  7. 7 Honor

    Honor

    by Thrity Umrigar

    Also inward-looking · narrative, literary

    Smita, an Indian-American journalist, returns to India to cover the legal battle of Meena, a Hindu woman brutally disfigured by her own family for marrying a Muslim man.

  8. 8 The Mighty Red

    The Mighty Red

    by Louise Erdrich

    Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

    Set in the Red River Valley of North Dakota during the 2008 financial crisis, the narrative centers on Kismet Poe, a teenager caught between two suitors: a star athlete and a fragmented loner.

  9. 9 Euphoria

    Euphoria

    by Lily King

    Also inward-looking · narrative, literary

    Set in 1930s New Guinea, this novel recreates the intense professional and personal intersection of three anthropologists: Nell Stone, Fenwick, and Bankson.

  10. 10 Deep Cuts

    Deep Cuts

    by Holly Brickley

    Also inward-looking · narrative, literary

    Deep Cuts investigates the evolution of independent music scenes and the technical shifts in how listeners discover underground artists.

  11. 11 This Must Be the Place

    This Must Be the Place

    by Maggie O'Farrell

    Also inward-looking · narrative, literary

    Daniel Sullivan, an American linguist, lives in a remote farmhouse in Ireland with his second wife, Claudette Wells, a famously reclusive former film star.

  12. 12 The Leavers

    The Leavers

    by Lisa Ko

    Also inward-looking · narrative, literary

    One morning in the Bronx, eleven-year-old Deming Guo’s mother, Polly, an undocumented Fuzhounese immigrant, goes to her job at a nail salon and never returns home.

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