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July 29, 2011 9:28 AM Subscribe
I love dark and gritty novels like Michel Faber's Crimson Petal and the White, Sheri Holman's The Dress Lodger, and Kathleen Winsor's Forever Amber. Can you recomend some novels along those same lines?
Michael Faber has a collection of stories due out in September, set in the Crimson world: The Apple.
I also cannot get enough of his three novellas sold as The Courage Consort, I revisit them (actually, I revisit all his writing) again and again. Very different from CPATW, but lush and amazing nonetheless.
posted by inging at 9:46 AM on July 29, 2011
I also cannot get enough of his three novellas sold as The Courage Consort, I revisit them (actually, I revisit all his writing) again and again. Very different from CPATW, but lush and amazing nonetheless.
posted by inging at 9:46 AM on July 29, 2011
Of those, I've only read The Dress Lodger, which I liked. So maybe you should try one of my favorites: Iain Pears' An Instance of the Fingerpost. I also like the David Liss books that feature the character Benjamin Weaver, starting with A Conspiracy of Paper.
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:51 AM on July 29, 2011
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:51 AM on July 29, 2011
Philippa Gregory's Wideacre. Goodness gracious me, it is SQUALID in the way that only novels about 19th century English landowners can be. It has two sequels -- The Favored Child and Meridon -- but I haven't gotten to them yet.
Also, Perfume: the Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind. I looooved this book.
I don't know if you would count it as dark and gritty in the same way, but I enjoyed Diana Gabaldon's Lord John and the Private Matter, which began a spinoff series from the Outlander books. I will say, however, that its opening plot point involves the telltale signs of STDs, which I found a hoot.
posted by Madamina at 10:13 AM on July 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
Also, Perfume: the Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind. I looooved this book.
I don't know if you would count it as dark and gritty in the same way, but I enjoyed Diana Gabaldon's Lord John and the Private Matter, which began a spinoff series from the Outlander books. I will say, however, that its opening plot point involves the telltale signs of STDs, which I found a hoot.
posted by Madamina at 10:13 AM on July 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
Can't favorite Madamina's recommendation of Perfume hard enough. If you're looking for dark and gritty — and honestly unique, at least in my experience, in terms of the way it delves into the smells of its milieu — Perfume is pretty much a masterpiece.
posted by Joey Bagels at 11:45 AM on July 29, 2011
posted by Joey Bagels at 11:45 AM on July 29, 2011
Response by poster: You guys are great-I'm going to read each and every one of these
To the Kindle!
posted by Frosted Cactus at 12:19 PM on July 29, 2011
To the Kindle!
posted by Frosted Cactus at 12:19 PM on July 29, 2011
The People's Act of Love, by James Meek - Cold, grim, and violent...set during the Russian Revolution.
Slammerkin, by Emma Donoghue - Eighteenth century rural Britain, completely up your alley
The Alienist, by Caleb Carr if you have any inclination toward mysteries.
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. 19th century canada...good and dark
Enthusiastically seconding the above recommendations for Iain Pears and Sarah Waters. Both, I suspect, are exactly what you're looking for.
A few more authors worth checking out:
Sarah Dunant - her novels set in the Italian Renaissance are very Forever Amberish
Ian McEwan - not quite as gritty, but if you like Faber's style, you may like his as well
Sharon Kay Penman - The epic novels, not the later mysteries, are classic medieval grittiness
Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Flaubert - oldies but goodies, and the epic sweep and level of detail are similar to what you seem to like. Also, lots and lots of good, 19th century grit.
And finally, some recommendations that are less obvious, but maybe interesting:
The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follet. More plot-driven than your initial suggestions, but highly detailed and definitely gritty.
The Secret History, by Donna Tartt. Modern rather than historical, but everyone I know who likes Faber likes her dark sensibility too.
Ada, or Ardor, by Vladimir Nabokov. A classic family epic, set in an alternate earth, with footnotes. Also beloved by many who love Faber.
Perdito Street Station, by China Mieville. Don't know if fantasy is your thing, but if it is, Mieville is likely to be to your taste. Very, very gritty.
The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco. More medieval-era grit, if you don't mind a dense and often pretentious style.
Quincunx, by Charles Palliser. Another dark 19th century English sprawling epic.
The Fencing Master, by Arturo Perez-Reverte. Spanish 19th century dark adventure story.
The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Spanish 20th century dark adventure story.
Good reading!
posted by psycheslamp at 2:07 PM on July 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Slammerkin, by Emma Donoghue - Eighteenth century rural Britain, completely up your alley
The Alienist, by Caleb Carr if you have any inclination toward mysteries.
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. 19th century canada...good and dark
Enthusiastically seconding the above recommendations for Iain Pears and Sarah Waters. Both, I suspect, are exactly what you're looking for.
A few more authors worth checking out:
Sarah Dunant - her novels set in the Italian Renaissance are very Forever Amberish
Ian McEwan - not quite as gritty, but if you like Faber's style, you may like his as well
Sharon Kay Penman - The epic novels, not the later mysteries, are classic medieval grittiness
Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Flaubert - oldies but goodies, and the epic sweep and level of detail are similar to what you seem to like. Also, lots and lots of good, 19th century grit.
And finally, some recommendations that are less obvious, but maybe interesting:
The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follet. More plot-driven than your initial suggestions, but highly detailed and definitely gritty.
The Secret History, by Donna Tartt. Modern rather than historical, but everyone I know who likes Faber likes her dark sensibility too.
Ada, or Ardor, by Vladimir Nabokov. A classic family epic, set in an alternate earth, with footnotes. Also beloved by many who love Faber.
Perdito Street Station, by China Mieville. Don't know if fantasy is your thing, but if it is, Mieville is likely to be to your taste. Very, very gritty.
The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco. More medieval-era grit, if you don't mind a dense and often pretentious style.
Quincunx, by Charles Palliser. Another dark 19th century English sprawling epic.
The Fencing Master, by Arturo Perez-Reverte. Spanish 19th century dark adventure story.
The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Spanish 20th century dark adventure story.
Good reading!
posted by psycheslamp at 2:07 PM on July 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
I've read and loved all three of those books. FYI, Forever Amber is ranging toward old-school historical romance in tone.
More akin to Crimson Petal and Slammerkin, I highly recommend Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, about a pickpocket in Victorian England; The Shadow of the Moon by M.M. Kaye, set during the 1857 Uprising in British India; The Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon, set in Victorian England and the Crimea; and Olivia and Jai by Rebecca Ryman, another British India-set tale. Seconding Sharon Penman, too; I particularly love her Wales trilogy, which begins with Here Be Dragons/
posted by artemisia at 1:21 AM on July 30, 2011
More akin to Crimson Petal and Slammerkin, I highly recommend Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, about a pickpocket in Victorian England; The Shadow of the Moon by M.M. Kaye, set during the 1857 Uprising in British India; The Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon, set in Victorian England and the Crimea; and Olivia and Jai by Rebecca Ryman, another British India-set tale. Seconding Sharon Penman, too; I particularly love her Wales trilogy, which begins with Here Be Dragons/
posted by artemisia at 1:21 AM on July 30, 2011
Possible longshot: Berlin Noir by Philip Kerr
posted by wittgenstein at 8:14 AM on July 31, 2011
posted by wittgenstein at 8:14 AM on July 31, 2011
If you're willing to move up to WWII, Alan Furst's novels are gritty, dark and espionage-eque without being spy thrillers. (Annoying intro on that link.)
posted by Ideefixe at 10:25 AM on July 31, 2011
posted by Ideefixe at 10:25 AM on July 31, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Sarah Waters' fiction might be to your taste.
posted by Ideefixe at 9:35 AM on July 29, 2011