Literary fiction · Similar reads
Books like The Story of a New Name
The best books like The Story of a New Name are Lila, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, and The Bell Jar. The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante is about female ambition, class and escape, friendship and rivalry. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Lila
01
Marilynne Robinson · Literary fiction
Lila is the third novel set in Gilead, Iowa, and it arrives as a prequel and companion to both Gilead and Home.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
02
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.
Read the summary → - The Bell Jar
03
Sylvia Plath · Memoir
The Bell Jar is Sylvia Plath's only novel, published in January 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, one month before Plath's death.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
04
The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
Maxine Hong Kingston · Memoir
The Woman Warrior is not a conventional memoir.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Lord Jim
05
Joseph Conrad · Literary fiction
Jim is a young British officer on a decrepit steamship carrying hundreds of Muslim pilgrims when, in a moment of crisis he cannot fully explain even to himself, he jumps overboard and abandons them.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary → - The Human Stain
06
Philip Roth · Literary fiction
Coleman Silk is a seventy-one-year-old classics professor and former dean at Athena College in western Massachusetts who has been driven from his position by a racially charged accusation.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary → - The Story of the Lost Child
07
Elena Ferrante · Literary fiction
The Story of the Lost Child is the fourth and final volume of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan quartet, covering roughly thirty years of Elena Greco's life from the late 1970s through the early 2010s.
Both dig into class and escape.
Read the summary → - American Gods
08
Neil Gaiman · Fantasy
American Gods opens with Shadow Moon, a man released from prison days early because his wife has died in a car accident.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary → - Hook, Line, and Sinker
09
Tessa Bailey · Romance
Hannah Bellinger has always been the dependable one — her sister Piper's anchor, the practical twin who keeps things running.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary → - The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
10
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
Jonas Jonasson · Contemporary fiction
Allan Karlsson turns one hundred years old in a Swedish nursing home, and rather than sit through his birthday party, he climbs out the window in his slippers and walks away.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary → - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
11
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Taylor Jenkins Reid · Contemporary fiction
Evelyn Hugo is eighty-one, a reclusive Hollywood legend who has outlived her beauty, most of her enemies, and all seven of her husbands.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary → - The Talented Mr. Ripley
12
Patricia Highsmith · Thriller
Tom Ripley is a small-time con man in New York, barely surviving on petty fraud, when a chance encounter leads a wealthy shipbuilder to hire him as an emissary: go to Italy, find my son Dickie, bring him home.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary →
Books like The Story of a New Name: quick answers
What are the best books like The Story of a New Name?
The best books like The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante are Lila by Marilynne Robinson, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston, Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Story of a New Name, such as female ambition, class and escape, friendship and rivalry.
What should I read after The Story of a New Name?
A natural next read after The Story of a New Name is Lila by Marilynne Robinson. A kindred literary fiction read. Other strong choices are Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston.
What books are similar to The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante?
The Story of a New Name centers on female ambition, class and escape, friendship and rivalry. Books with a similar feel include Lila by Marilynne Robinson, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston, Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad, The Human Stain by Philip Roth — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
