Books like

Books like The Island of Missing Trees

12 books with a reading profile close to The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak. Inward-looking, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

1

Trespasses

by Louise Kennedy

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

Set in 1970s Belfast during the Troubles, the narrative follows Cushla Lavery, a Catholic primary school teacher who divides her time between her classroom and her family’s pub.
2

Young Mungo

by Douglas Stuart

Also inward-looking and contemplative · romance, narrative

Set in the housing schemes of 1990s Glasgow, the story follows Mungo Hamilton, a Protestant teenager defined by his gentleness.
3

HEART THE LOVER

by Lily King

Also inward-looking and contemplative · romance, narrative

Decades after the height of a complex romantic entanglement involving two different men, a woman reconstructs the timeline of her early adulthood to understand the lasting impact of her decisions.
4

The Paying Guests

by Sarah Waters

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

Set in 1922 South London, the narrative centers on Frances Wray and her widowed mother, who are forced by financial ruin following the Great War to take in lodgers.
5

Cold Mountain

by Charles Frazier

romance, narrative

In the final stages of the American Civil War, a Confederate soldier named Inman deserts his hospital ward to walk hundreds of miles back to his home in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
6

The Miseducation of Cameron Post

by Emily M. Danforth

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

After her parents die in a car accident, Cameron Post moves to rural Montana to live with her conservative aunt and grandmother.
7

Eva Luna

by Isabel Allende

Also inward-looking · romance, narrative

Eva Luna is born to a servant mother and a gardener father in an unnamed South American country, and her mother tells her stories to survive.
8

Evenings and Weekends

by Oisín McKenna

Also inward-looking · romance, narrative

Set during a sweltering weekend in London, the narrative follows a group of interconnected friends navigating the precariousness of the modern city.
9

In Memoriam

by Alice Winn

Also inward-looking · romance, narrative

In 1914, Gaunt and Ellwood are students at Preshute College, an elite English boarding school where they hide their romantic feelings for one another behind a shared obsession with epic poetry.
10

Open Water

by Caleb Azumah Nelson

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

Set in South East London, the story follows an unnamed Black photographer and an unnamed Black dancer who meet at a pub and fall in love.
11

Like Water for Chocolate

by Laura Esquivel

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

Set against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution, the narrative follows Tita de la Garza, the youngest daughter in a household governed by a strict family tradition that forbids her from marrying.
12

Travesuras de la niña mala

by Mario Vargas Llosa

Also inward-looking · romance, narrative

Ricardo, a Peruvian translator who lives in Paris, first falls for Lily, a Chilean girl in Lima in the 1950s.

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