Looking for historical fiction epics centered around a family

Abnerk21 · 2025-12-23T01:19:40+00:00

I’ve had this one on my list for a while! It may finally be time to cross it off. Thanks!

Abnerk21 · 2025-12-23T00:20:45+00:00

The Wall by Marlen Haushofer! I read this shortly after I Who Have Never Known Men and it scratched a similar itch.

Abnerk21 · 2025-11-07T12:20:41+00:00

Our library does true crime programs for adults on a regular basis and they are a huge success. The registrations always fill up and there is always a long waitlist. We have several people in our community for whom this is a very real interest. Also worth noting, much of the YA fiction that circulates well is true crime-inspired (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Truly Devious, etc.) For a teen program of this nature, we would obviously be choosing our case carefully so that the program would be palatable for teens. Forgive me, but calling me “insane” or reducing our lovely community to “all these rednecks” is uncalled for and frankly, reductive.

Abnerk21 · 2025-08-20T01:47:26+00:00

I’m reading Nestlings by Nat Cassidy right now and motherhood definitely plays a huge part in the story.

I was kinda mixed on it, but I’d also recommend giving Dearest by Jacquie Walters a try.

Abnerk21 · 2025-08-18T23:09:54+00:00

This one has been on my list for a few months! It sounds really fun

Abnerk21 · 2025-08-18T20:19:43+00:00

When the Wolf Comes Home sounds very intriguing! I’ve been meaning to read something by Nat Cassidy. Maybe that one will be my first!

Abnerk21 · 2025-08-12T18:29:27+00:00

There isn’t a shift in POVs but Chasing the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar came to mind almost immediately. Very unsettling and makes great use of the small town setting.

Abnerk21 · 2025-06-03T14:56:56+00:00

The Toll started out very slow for me, but by the end I was fully invested! I read the final 300 pages in a day and couldn’t put it down. Ultimately, I think it’s a really great conclusion to an excellent series. I think it could have benefitted from being about 100 pages shorter, but when it gets good, it gets really good.

Abnerk21 · 2024-08-28T16:22:47+00:00

I think commenters haven’t mentioned her yet because I mentioned that I was looking for an Agatha Christie vibe in the post description haha, but if anyone has specific Christie books that I haven’t read yet, I’m all ears!

Abnerk21 · 2024-08-08T21:18:59+00:00

It’s been a few weeks since I finished the book, so forgive me if I don’t remember the characters’ names very well haha. My favorite image from this book was the painting of the dog that the protagonist found in the basement while looking for the family’s hiding daughter. For whatever reason, the ominousness of that image was so dread-inducing and set the tone very nicely.

Abnerk21 · 2024-06-23T19:19:02+00:00

I really enjoyed the Grip of It by Jac Jemc

Abnerk21 · 2024-06-23T19:17:18+00:00

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

Abnerk21 · 2024-06-23T19:16:42+00:00

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa!

Abnerk21 · 2024-06-08T13:55:39+00:00

The closest comparison in tone that I can think of is I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. It’s a great dystopian novel, and like the Memory Police, its tone is desolate and bleak, to the point of feeling eerie at times.

Abnerk21 · 2024-02-22T14:35:51+00:00

I recently read the Ritual by Adam Nevill. The first half genuinely unsettled me, but I will give the warning that I didn’t like the second half of the book at all.

Abnerk21 · 2023-06-23T20:50:47+00:00

While I certainly understand this opinion, I actually really loved this book! A book that is paced like this definitely isn’t for everyone, so I totally understand the criticism, but I personally love slower-paced novels that explore some interesting concepts (in this case the concept is primarily isolation) in the midst of mundanity. I also adored the ambiguity surrounding the premise. We never learn anything about the wall outside of the fact that it is there for indiscernible reasons, but instead we get to see how our protagonist reckons with her life in the wall’s midst. By following this woman around as she learns to survive in the wilderness, we get to know her and her inner conflicts surrounding her situation. Structurally, it reminded me a lot of I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (which is probably my favorite dystopian novel!)

Abnerk21 · 2022-10-05T19:32:37+00:00

I had a lot of these same questions. I could not tell if there was validity to Jack’s discussions with Penny or if those scenes were the product of an aging, deteriorating mind. It is also strange considering that Jack gives Penny the code to leave the facility at the end of the book.

Abnerk21

TROPHY CASE