18 books like The old wives' tale

What to read after The old wives' tale — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Une page d'amour Émile Zola · 1878 · 406p · ≈ 13h · Challenging Je me decide a joindre a ce volume l'arbre genealogique des Rougon-Macquart. Deux raisons me determinent. La premiere est que beaucoup de personnes m'ont demande cet arbre. Il doit, en effet, aider les lecteurs a se retrouver, parmi les membres assez nombreux de la famille dont je me suis fait l'historien. La seconde raison est plus compliquee. Je regrette de n'avoir pas publie l'arbre dans le… Shares: Women, Social life and customs, Classic Literature

Autobiography of a Pocket-Handkerchief James Fenimore Cooper · 1897 · 148p · ≈ 4h · Challenging Autobiography of a Pocket Handkerchief is a serial novel by James Fennimore Cooper first published by Graham's Magazine in 1843. The novel explores the upper crust of New York Society from the perspective of a woman's handkerchief. Shares: Classic Literature, Biography & Memoir

No name Wilkie Collins · 1862 · ★ 4.1 · 561p · ≈ 18h · Challenging No Name is a 19th-century novel by the master of sensation fiction, Wilkie Collins. A country gentleman is killed in an accident and his wife dies shortly after him. The blow is double for their daughters, who discover that they were born before their parents were married. Their sudden illegitimacy robs them of their inheritance and their accustomed place in society. Shares: Sisters, Social life and customs, Classic Literature

A cry from the dark Robert Barnard · 2003 · ★ 3.3 · 277p · ≈ 9h · Moderate Bettina Whitelaw is a grand dame of the English literary scene. Approaching eighty, with a beautiful flat in Holland Park and a comfortable income, her life is not dissimilar to that of her wealthy, elegant neighbours. But her background most certainly is. Brought up in Bundaroo, a small town in the Australian outback, Bettina's childhood was dominated by the relentlessly blazing sun, by the… Shares: Older women, Biography & Memoir

At Bertram's Hotel Agatha Christie · 1965 · ★ 3.7 · 256p · ≈ 8h · Moderate An old-fashioned London Hotel is not quite as reputable as it makes out… When Miss Marple comes up from the country for a holiday in London, she finds what she’s looking for at Bertram’s Hotel: traditional decor, impeccable service and an unmistakable atmosphere of danger behind the highly polished veneer. Yet, not even Miss Marple can foresee the violent chain of events set in motion when an… Shares: Older women, History

Alcatraz Frederick Faust · 1922 · ★ 4.0 · 182p · ≈ 6h · Challenging The Max Brand Megapack assembles 20 classic Max Brand tales—novels and short stories—set primarily in the American West. For pure Old West adventure, it doesn't get better than this -- more than 3,300 pages of action-packed reading! Included are: HARRIGAN (1918) THE GHOST (1919) HOLE-IN-THE-WALL BARRETT (1919) TRAILIN’! (1919) THE UNTAMED (1920) OUT OF THE DARK (1920) RIDERS OF THE SILENCES… Shares: Classic Literature, Biography & Memoir

The uncommercial traveller Charles Dickens · 1776 · ★ 3.5 · 419p · ≈ 13h · Demanding A collection of seventeen sketches which grew out of Dickens' insomnia. He took long walks through London at night and his observations resulted in these sketches. Shares: Social life and customs, Classic Literature, History

Torches Together Emmy Arnold · 1964 · 220p · ≈ 7h · Moderate Not many people talk about "joy" these days. Emmy Arnold's memoir radiates just that - an enthusiasm for life and an unflagging optimism grounded in faith. In a genre awash in sordid sex and dysfunctional relationships, she offers a refreshing account of a hard life lived victoriously, of people brought together, despite their own weakness and turbulent times, to experience new levels of freedom,… Shares: Biography & Memoir, History

Sunflower Sisters Martha Hall Kelly · 2021 · ★ 4.5 · 528p · ≈ 17h · Moderate "Sunflower Sisters is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical figures, are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real : As we roamed the neat brick streets of Charleston, past filigreed fences and palmetto trees, the atmosphere so gentle and refined, we never dreamed we'd stumble headlong into… Shares: Sisters, Women, History

A history of New York Washington Irving · 1800 · ★ 3.7 · 437p · ≈ 14h · Challenging A history of New York : from the beginning of the world to the end of the Dutch dynasty ; containing, among many surprising and curious matters, the unutterable ponderings of Walter the Doubter, the disastrous projects of William the Testy, and the chivalric achievements of Peter the Headstrong ; the three Dutch governors of New Amsterdam ; being the only authentic history of the times that ever… Shares: Social life and customs, Classic Literature, Biography & Memoir, History

The Warden Anthony Trollope · 1809 · ★ 3.9 · 250p · ≈ 8h · Challenging The Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 1: The Warden The tranquil atmosphere of the cathedral town of Barchester is shattered when a scandal breaks concerning the financial affairs of a Church-run almshouse for elderly men. In the ensuing furore, Septimus Harding, the almshouse's well-meaning warden, finds himself pitted against his daughter's suitor Dr John Bold, a zealous local reformer. Matters… Shares: Satire, Social life and customs, Classic Literature

An deux mille quatre cent quarante Louis-Sébastien Mercier · 1772 · 360p · ≈ 12h · Demanding à l' année deux mille quatre cent quarante.Auguste et respectable année,qui dois amener la félicité sur laterre ; toi, hélas ? Que je n' ai vue qu' ensonge, quand tu viendras à jaillir du seinde l' éternité, ceux qui verront ton soleilfouleront aux pieds mes cendres etcelles de trente générations, successivementéteintes et disparues dans le profondabîme de la mort. Les rois qui Shares: Satire, Social life and customs

Fanshawe Nathaniel Hawthorne · 1828 · 240p · ≈ 8h · Challenging Published anonymously at his own expense in 1828, Hawthorne's first novel is an engrossing apprentice work. Shares: Social life and customs, Classic Literature, Biography & Memoir

Kristin Lavransdatter III Sigrid Undset · 1922 · ★ 4.0 · 394p · ≈ 13h · Challenging In her great historical epic Kristin Lavransdatter, set in fourteenth-century Norway, Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset tells the life story of one passionate and headstrong woman. Painting a richly detailed backdrop, Undset immerses readers in the day-to-day life, social conventions, and political and religious undercurrents of the period. Now in one volume, Tiina Nunnally's award-winning definitive… Shares: Women, Social life and customs, Classic Literature, History

L' Orlando furioso Lodovico Ariosto · 1545 · ★ 4.7 · 400p · ≈ 13h · Demanding An Italian epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto which has exerted a wide influence on later culture. The earliest version appeared in 1516, although the poem was not published in its complete form until 1532. Orlando Furioso is a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's unfinished romance Orlando Innamorato. Shares: Satire, Biography & Memoir, History

Women in Love D. H. Lawrence · 1877 · ★ 3.7 · 508p · ≈ 16h · Challenging Dark, but filled with bright genius, Women in Love is a prophetic masterpiece steeped in eroticism, filled with perceptions about sexual power and obsession that have proven to be timeless and true. Shares: Sisters, Women, Classic Literature

Derniers Contes Edgar Allan Poe · 2004 · 153p · ≈ 5h · Moderate La vie d'Edgar Allan Poe n'est plus a raconter: ses derniers traducteurs francais, s'inspirant des travaux definitifs de son nouvel editeur J.H. Ingram, l'ont eloquemment venge des calomnies trop facilement acceptees sur la foi de son ami et executeur testamentaire, Rufus Griswold. En depit de ses mensonges, Edgar Poe reste pour nous et restera pour la posterite, de plus en plus admiratrice de… Shares: Satire, Classic Literature

Frontier Stories Bret Harte · 1887 · 388p · ≈ 12h · Challenging Just where the red track of the Los Gatos road streams on and upward like the sinuous trail of a fiery rocket until it is extinguished in the blue shadows of the Coast Range, there is an embayed terrace near the summit, hedged by dwarf firs. At every bend of the heat-laden road the eye rested upon it wistfully; all along the flank of the mountain, which seemed to pant and quiver in the oven-like… Shares: Social life and customs, History

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