Books like

Books like Thérèse Raquin

12 books with a reading profile close to Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola. Deep, inward-looking and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

  1. 1 The hours

    The hours

    by Michael Cunningham

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    In 1923 England, Virginia Woolf struggles with debilitating headaches while writing the first sentences of Mrs.

  2. 2 Of Human Bondage

    Of Human Bondage

    by W. Somerset Maugham

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Philip Carey, an orphaned boy born with a clubfoot, navigates a difficult childhood under the care of his cold, religious uncle.

  3. 3 A Separate Peace

    A Separate Peace

    by John Knowles

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Set against the backdrop of World War II at the Devon School, the story follows Gene Forrester, an intellectual student, and his charismatic roommate Phineas.

  4. 4 Revolutionary Road

    Revolutionary Road

    by Richard Yates

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Frank and April Wheeler live in a Connecticut suburb, maintaining a surface of intellectual superiority over their neighbors while struggling with internal stagnation.

  5. 5 Franny and Zooey

    Franny and Zooey

    by J.D. Salinger

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Set in Manhattan during the 1950s, the narrative centers on two siblings of the brilliant Glass family as they navigate a shared spiritual crisis.

  6. 6 A Single Man

    A Single Man

    by Christopher Isherwood

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Set in Southern California during the early 1960s, the novel follows twenty-four hours in the life of George, a middle-aged British professor grieving the sudden death of his partner, Jim.

  7. 7 Death of a Salesman

    Death of a Salesman

    by Arthur Miller

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Willy Loman is an aging traveling salesman in Brooklyn whose mental health is fracturing under the weight of professional failure and debt.

  8. 8 The Catcher in the Rye

    The Catcher in the Rye

    by J.D. Salinger

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Holden Caulfield, a teenage boy recently expelled from Pencey Prep, wanders through New York City over a cold December weekend.

  9. 9 El túnel

    El túnel

    by Ernesto Sabato

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Juan Pablo Castel, a painter, tells the reader at the start that he has killed Maria Iribarne, and then he explains why.

  10. 10 The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

    The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

    by Carson McCullers

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Set in a 1930s Georgia mill town, the narrative centers on John Singer, a deaf-mute man who becomes the silent confidant for four disparate neighbors.

  11. 11 The Awakening

    The Awakening

    by Kate Chopin

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Edna Pontellier lives within the rigid social structures of late nineteenth-century Louisiana, moving between the French Quarter in New Orleans and the vacation community of Grand Isle.

  12. 12 The Bell Jar

    The Bell Jar

    by Sylvia Plath

    Also deep and inward-looking · narrative, psychology

    Esther Greenwood, a college student from Massachusetts, wins a competitive summer internship at a fashion magazine in mid-century New York City.

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