Contemporary fiction · Similar reads
Books like Where the Crawdads Sing
The best books like Where the Crawdads Sing are Beloved, Normal People, and Their Eyes Were Watching God. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is about solitude and self-reliance, nature as home, class and prejudice. 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.
- Beloved
01
Toni Morrison · Literary fiction
Beloved is set in post-Civil War Ohio, where Sethe, a formerly enslaved woman, lives with her daughter Denver in a house shadowed by the ghost of a baby she killed rather than let be taken back into slavery.
A kindred contemporary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Normal People
02
Sally Rooney · Literary fiction
Normal People follows Connell and Marianne from their small-town Irish secondary school through their years at Trinity College Dublin.
A kindred contemporary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Their Eyes Were Watching God
03
Zora Neale Hurston · Literary fiction
Zora Neale Hurston's 1937 novel follows Janie Crawford across three marriages and several decades of life in the American South, from her grandmother's home in West Florida through the all-Black town of Eatonville, Florida, to the Everglades and back.
A kindred contemporary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Bel Canto
04
Ann Patchett · Literary fiction
Bel Canto opens at a birthday party in an unnamed South American country: a Japanese industrialist, Hosokawa, is celebrating in the private residence of the country's vice president, the sole attraction being a performance by his favorite soprano, Roxane Coss.
A kindred contemporary fiction read.
Read the summary → - In Cold Blood
05
Truman Capote · Memoir
Truman Capote's account of the 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas — and of the investigation, capture, trial, and execution of the killers Perry Smith and Richard Hickock — is the founding document of the true crime genre and one of the most admired works of American nonfiction of the twentieth century.
A kindred contemporary fiction read.
Read the summary → - The House of the Spirits
06
Isabel Allende · Literary fiction
The House of the Spirits begins with Clara del Valle, a clairvoyant child who stops speaking for nine years after a family tragedy and grows up to become the center of a sprawling Chilean family chronicle.
Both dig into female resilience.
Read the summary → - A Man Called Ove
07
Fredrik Backman · Contemporary fiction
A Man Called Ove opens in a Swedish suburb where a fifty-nine-year-old man named Ove has just been forced into early retirement.
A kindred contemporary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Anxious People
08
Fredrik Backman · Contemporary fiction
Anxious People begins with a failed bank robbery.
A kindred contemporary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Beach Read
09
Emily Henry · Contemporary fiction
January Andrews is a romance novelist who has completely lost faith in love after discovering her late father had a secret mistress for years.
A kindred contemporary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Beartown
10
Fredrik Backman · Contemporary fiction
Beartown is a dying town in rural Sweden whose only remaining source of identity and pride is its youth hockey program.
A kindred contemporary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Book Lovers
11
Emily Henry · Contemporary fiction
Nora Stephens is a literary agent in New York who is professionally excellent and personally guarded.
A kindred contemporary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Carrie Soto Is Back
12
Taylor Jenkins Reid · Contemporary fiction
Carrie Soto is a retired tennis legend with twenty Grand Slam titles, the most in history — until a young player named Nicki Chan wins her twenty-first and breaks Carrie's record.
A kindred contemporary fiction read.
Read the summary →
Books like Where the Crawdads Sing: quick answers
What are the best books like Where the Crawdads Sing?
The best books like Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens are Beloved by Toni Morrison, Normal People by Sally Rooney, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with Where the Crawdads Sing, such as solitude and self-reliance, nature as home, class and prejudice.
What should I read after Where the Crawdads Sing?
A natural next read after Where the Crawdads Sing is Beloved by Toni Morrison. A kindred contemporary fiction read. Other strong choices are Normal People by Sally Rooney, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Bel Canto by Ann Patchett.
What books are similar to Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens?
Where the Crawdads Sing centers on solitude and self-reliance, nature as home, class and prejudice. Books with a similar feel include Beloved by Toni Morrison, Normal People by Sally Rooney, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
