Books like The Moor's Last Sigh

01

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

Azar Nafisi · Memoir

Azar Nafisi spent years teaching literature at universities in Tehran before the restrictions on what she could teach — and who she could teach — became intolerable.

A kindred literary fiction read.

02

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

Marjane Satrapi · Memoir

Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi's graphic memoir of growing up in Tehran during and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

A kindred literary fiction read.

03

The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho · Religion & Spirituality

The Alchemist is a Brazilian novel first published in 1988 and translated into 80 languages, making it one of the most translated books in history.

A kindred literary fiction read.

04

Siddhartha

Hermann Hesse · Religion & Spirituality

Siddhartha is Hermann Hesse's 1922 novel of spiritual seeking, written at a time when Hesse was deeply studying Buddhist and Hindu texts.

A kindred literary fiction read.

05

Crossroads

Jonathan Franzen · Literary fiction

It is Christmas Eve 1971 in the Chicago suburb of New Prospect, Illinois, and the Hildebrandt family is in various states of crisis.

Both dig into family and betrayal.

06

Exit West

Mohsin Hamid · Literary fiction

Exit West follows Saeed and Nadia, two young people who meet and fall in love in an unnamed city beginning to fracture under the pressure of civil conflict.

Both dig into identity and belonging.

07

A Darker Shade of Magic

V.E. Schwab · Fantasy

A Darker Shade of Magic is set across four parallel versions of London — Red, Grey, White, and the long-destroyed Black — each existing in the same location but separated by the barriers between worlds.

Both dig into identity and belonging.

08

Little Fires Everywhere

Celeste Ng · Contemporary fiction

In Shaker Heights, Ohio — a meticulously planned, deliberately integrated suburb — two families collide.

Both dig into identity and belonging.

09

Oliver Twist

Charles Dickens · Classics

Oliver Twist is the story of an orphan born in a workhouse who runs away from an abusive apprenticeship, falls in with a gang of thieves in London, and — in Dickens's scheme — is eventually rescued and restored to his rightful identity.

Both dig into identity and belonging.

10

Pachinko

Min Jin Lee · Historical fiction

Pachinko follows four generations of a Korean family from a small fishing village in early twentieth-century Korea to Osaka and Yokohama in postwar Japan.

Both dig into identity and belonging.

11

Part of Your World

Abby Jimenez · Romance

Part of Your World opens with Dr.

Both dig into identity and belonging.

12

The Long Call

Ann Cleeves · Mystery

The Long Call opens a new series from Ann Cleeves, best known for the Vera and Shetland books, set on the remote north Devon coast.

Both dig into identity and belonging.