Books like 'Sing, Unburied, Sing'
Readers who enjoyed Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
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Different Seasons by Stephen King
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsFrom the Magical Pen of Stephen King, Four Mesmerizing Novellas…“Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”An unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge…the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award nominee The Shawshank Redemption...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama ghosts gothic historical-fiction literary-fiction paranormal prison -
Night Journey by Stephen King
Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsTruth time is approaching at Cold Mountain Penitentiary. Paul Edgecombe is taking a huge gamble, one where the stakes are high and the consequences deadly. He and his fellow guards take convicted killer John Coffey away from Death Row in the dead of night and bring him to the bedside of a woman weighing in torment...Categorized as:
drama ghosts historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal prison action-adventure adult -
The Mouse on the Mile by Stephen King
Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsCold Mountain Penitentiary has been home to many troubled souls. E Block, where the electric chair waits for those who must pay the ultimate price, has been home to the most troubled of all. And here, not all the evil is behind bars. Sometimes it carries a gun and wears a badge.Cold Mountain is a place of the damned, but it can also be a place where salvation comes from the most unlikely source...Categorized as:
drama ghosts historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal prison 20th-century action-adventure -
Street Soldiers by L. Divine
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAt South Bay High, the drama just keeps on growing... In the long-awaited 15th volume of the Drama High series, Street Soldiers picks up with a murder in front of Jayd's grandparents' house. Mama and Daddy are convinced the police have the wrong suspect in custody and have joined forces to help organize the neighborhood and find the real killer... -
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Trickster Drift by Eden Robinson
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFollowing the Scotiabank Giller Prize-shortlisted Son of a Trickster comes Trickster Drift, the second book in Eden Robinson's captivating Trickster trilogy.In an effort to keep all forms of magic at bay, Jared, 17, has quit drugs and drinking. But his troubles are not over: now he's being stalked by David, his mom's ex--a preppy, khaki-wearing psycho with a proclivity for rib-breaking...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family ghosts literary-fiction magical-realism paranormal poc-mc -
Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsIn this #1 bestselling page-turner a Nantucket novelist has one final summer to protect her secrets while her loved ones on earth learn to live without their golden girl.On a perfect June day, Vivian Howe, author of thirteen beach novels and mother of three nearly grown children, is killed in a hit-and-run car accident while jogging near her home on Nantucket...Categorized as:
drama family ghosts grief historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism paranormal -
Coyote Songs by Gabino Iglesias
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn Gabino Iglesias’ second novel, ghosts and old gods guide the hands of those caught up in a violent struggle to save the soul of the American southwest.A man tasked with shuttling children over the border believes the Virgin Mary is guiding him towards final justice. A woman offers colonizer blood to the Mother of Chaos... -
The Witches of Santo Stefano by Wendy Webb
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAn investigative journalist uncovers the haunting secret history of her own ancestors in a bewitching novel by the bestselling author of Daughters of the Lake.When Cassie Graves discovers her husband’s affair, it’s enough to chip away at the foundation of her life. But after researching her family’s Italian ancestry, it completely crumbles beneath her... -
To Dance with the White Dog by Terry Kay
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe beloved bestselling story of an elderly man mourning the death of his wife and the mysterious white dog who helps ease his grief. From author Terry Kay."A deftly shaped and vivid book...a tender and bracing tale of an octogenarian fighting to live a connected and purposeful life." ―The New York Times"A hauntingly beautiful story about love, family and relationships.. -
Mama Day by Gloria Naylor
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsA fascinating novel that reworks elements of Shakespeare's The Tempest. On the island of Willow Springs, off the Georgia coast, the powers of healer Mama Day are tested by her great niece, Cocoa, a stubbornly emancipated woman endangered by the island's darker forces...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family gothic historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism paranormal poc-mc -
Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA haunting ghost story about navigating grief, growing up, and growing into a new gender identityIt's the summer before middle school and eleven-year-old Bug's best friend Moira has decided the two of them need to use the next few months to prepare... -
Flames by Robbie Arnott
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsA young man named Levi McAllister decides to build a coffin for his twenty-three-year-old sister, Charlotte—who promptly runs for her life. A water rat swims upriver in quest of the cloud god. A fisherman named Karl hunts for tuna in partnership with a seal. And a father takes form from fire...Categorized as:
family gothic literary-fiction magical-realism paranormal 21st-century adult animals -
Just South of Home by Karen Strong
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCousins Sarah and Janie unearth a tragic event in their small Southern town’s history in this witty middle grade novel that’s perfect for fans of Stella by Starlight, The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, and As Brave as You.Twelve-year-old Sarah is finally in charge...Categorized as:
family ghosts historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal poc-mc realistic action-adventure -
Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom the award-winning author of The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy comes an unforgettable and deeply personal story of the ghosts that surround us—and the ones we carry inside. The house seemed to sit apart from the others on Katydid Street, silent and alone, like it didn’t fit among them... -
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Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCursed Bunny is a genre-defying collection of short stories by Korean author Bora Chung. Blurring the lines between magical realism, horror, and science-fiction, Chung uses elements of the fantastic and surreal to address the very real horrors and cruelties of patriarchy and capitalism in modern society...Categorized as:
ghosts gothic literary-fiction magical-realism paranormal 21st-century adult anthologies -
A Ghost Arrives: A Novel by Abe Moss
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsEvery family has its secrets, and every ghost has its reasons.★★★★★ "A creepy, slow burning ghost story with a twist that was dark in so many different ways! Imaginative, creative, and not afraid to deal the punches..." - Amazon ReviewerAfter moving back in with his elderly father, Wallace Harper discovers that something else has taken up residence in his childhood home.. -
American Gothic Tales by Joyce Carol Oates, Charles Brockden Brown
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsJoyce Carol Oates has a special perspective on the “gothic” in American short fiction, at least partially because her own horror yarns rank on the spine-tingling chart with the masters. She is able to see the unbroken link of the macabre that ties Edgar Allan Poe to Anne Rice and to recognize the dark psychological bonds between Henry James and Stephen King... -
The China Garden by Liz Berry
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen Clare moves with her mother from London to Ravensmere, an historic English estate, she can't shake the feeling that the residents already know her, especially Mark, a maddeningly attractive biker. Clare also feels compelled to take midnight walks in Ravensmere's abandoned China Garden. Then her mother reveals that their own past is tragically linked to the estate...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family gothic historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal 20th-century -
Lanny by Max Porter
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThere’s a village sixty miles outside London. It’s no different from many other villages in England: one pub, one church, red-brick cottages, council cottages and a few bigger houses dotted about. Voices rise up, as they might do anywhere, speaking of loving and needing and working and dying and walking the dogs...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family ghosts gothic historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism -
The Keepers of Metsan Valo by Wendy Webb
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe spirits of Nordic folklore come calling in this entrancing tale of family secrets and ancient mysteries by the #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Haunting of Brynn Wilder.In Metsan Valo, her family home on Lake Superior, Anni Halla’s beloved grandmother has died. Among her fond memories, what Anni remembers most vividly is her grandmother’s eerie yet enchanting storytelling... -
Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsLisamarie Hill, the protagonist of Eden Robinson's coming-of-age novel Monkey Beach, is a terror. She'll run out of an evacuating car to get a better view of a tidal wave. She'll drag you unconscious to a deserted island with nothing but cigarettes, marshmallows, and the need to get you talking. Whatever her age, she'll ask awkward questions... -
Shattered Silk by Barbara Michaels
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA Killer Lurks In her quaint vintage clothing boutique in picturesque Georgetown, Karen Nevitt' s laces and white linens seem so innocent. Her aunt' s aged friends have even ransacked their attics to help the novice entrepreneur launch her business... -
The Farm by Amy Cross
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsOne farm. Two tragedies, thirty years apart. And a tortured figure whose presence connects both incidents... In 1979, the Bondalen family farm in Norway is home to three young girls. As winter fades to spring, Elizabeth, Kari and Sara each come to face the secrets of the barn, and they each emerge with their own injuries... -
Resurrectionists by Kim Wilkins
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsYoung Australian cellist Maisie Fielding is bored with her career and her overpowering, manipulative musical family. Faking a wrist injury, she takes time off to return to England, her mother's home country, to search for her own roots and to find out more about her grandmother, a 'white witch' who settled in a bleak village on the North Yorkshire coast... -
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The Bloodline by C.S. Feldman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAfter years of questioning her sanity, Kat Delancey reluctantly returns to the old family manor as its legal owner hoping desperately to silence the doubts in her mind and leave the home’s tragic past behind her once and for all... -
I Will Never Leave You by Kara A. Kennedy
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThis emotional debut thriller follows a teen girl being haunted by the ghost of her toxic ex-girlfriend, who gives her a chilling ultimatum—help her possess another girl or go down for her murder."A blistering exploration of the ugliest and tenderest parts of love, Kennedy turns the classic ghost story on its head."—Courtney Gould, author of The Dead and the DarkMaya has always belonged to Alana... -
The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 50 ratingsThe Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud tells the haunting story of a young man who narrowly survives a terrible car wreck that kills his little brother. Years later, the brothers’ bond remains so strong that it transcends the normal boundaries separating life and death. Charlie St. Cloud lives in a snug New England fishing village...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family ghosts literary-fiction magical-realism paranormal realistic -
Cicada Summer by Kate Constable
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEloise doesn't speak, but can she see into the past? This exciting and atmospheric mystery from the author of the Chanters of Tremaris series explores themes of family, friendship, and grief. Something flickered at the top of the stairs. Eloise heard a voice call, I'm coming!, and a girl in a pale dress and a big sunhat came running, her fingertips slipping down the curve of the slim iron railing... -
American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from the 1940's Until Now by Peter Straub, John Collier
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLike its companion volume, this Library of America hardcover contains 750 pages of classic tales of horror, hauntings, terrifying obsessions, and unearthly presences...Categorized as:
ghosts gothic literary-fiction magical-realism paranormal adult anthologies classics -
Before and Ever Since by Sharla Lovelace
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFans of Jodi Thomas and Lori Wilde will love this sparkling romance from Sharla Lovelace, the bestselling author of Just One Day and The Reason Is You. Emily Lockwood has her hands full with a stubbornly independent daughter, an ex-husband who sometimes tests her patience, and a mother who often does... -
Verdigris by Michele Mari
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAt the tail end of the 1960s, the thirteen-year-old Michelino spends his summers at his grandparents’ modest estate in Nasca, near Lake Maggiore, losing himself in the tales of horror, adventure, and mystery shelved in his grandfather’s library... -
The House That Whispers by Lin Thompson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsFrom the author of The Best Liars in Riverview comes a subtle exploration of gender identity, family, and the personal ghosts that haunt us all, perfect for fans of Kyle Lukoff and Ashley Herring Blake. Eleven-year-old Simon and his siblings, Talia and Rose, are staying the week at Nanaleen's century-old house. This time, though, it’s not their usual summer vacation trip... -
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
Rated: 3.97 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsThe Sentence asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader and to the book.A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls' Day, but she simply won't leave the store...Categorized as:
north-america usa magical-realism literary-fiction paranormal ghosts historical-fiction poc-mc -
Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 28 ratings#1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts presents a novel set deep in the bayou of Louisiana—where the only witness to a long-ago tragedy is a once-grand house… Declan Fitzgerald had always been the family maverick, but even he couldn't understand his impulse to buy a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of New Orleans... -
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The House on Tradd Street by Karen White
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsPractical Melanie Middleton hates to admit she can see ghosts. But she's going to have to accept it. An old man she recently met has died, leaving her his historic Tradd Street home, complete with housekeeper, dog, and a family of ghosts anxious to tell her their secrets.Enter Jack Trenholm, a gorgeous writer obsessed with unsolved mysteries...Categorized as:
drama family ghosts gothic historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal southern-gothic -
Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo, Susan Sontag
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 49 ratingsA classic of Mexican modern literature about a haunted village.As one enters Juan Rulfo's legendary novel, one follows a dusty road to a town of death. Time shifts from one consciousness to another in a hypnotic flow of dreams, desires, and memories, a world of ghosts dominated by the figure of Pedro Páramo - lover, overlord, murderer...Categorized as:
drama family ghosts historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism paranormal poc-mc -
Master of Darkness by Susan Sizemore
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsWhen vampire hunter Eden Faveau mistakes Laurent, a renegade vampire of Tribe Manticore, for her new partner, he's not about to correct her. He's stolen a laptop full of sensitive files from the Tribe leader, Justinian, and needs help cracking the encryption. At first he wants sexy and intelligent Eden only for her computer wizardry -- but soon he wants her for much, much more... -
Stitches in Time by Barbara Michaels
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen an antique bridal quilt appears under mysterious circumstances at the vintage clothing shop where Rachel Grant works, she is fascinated. She has never been able to resist handmade textiles from the past, for she believes that through the ages, women wove protective magic into their fabrics in order to mark the important events of their lives: birth, marriage, and death... -
The Tricksters by Margaret Mahy
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhile gathered together for the Christmas holiday, a large New Zealand family and their various guests find their lives suddenly invaded by three fascinating, but sinister brothers... -
Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSigns Preceding the End of the World is one of the most arresting novels to be published in Spanish in the last ten years. Yuri Herrera does not simply write about the border between Mexico and the United States and those who cross it. He explores the crossings and translations people make in their minds and language as they move from one country to another, especially when there’s no going back...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism poc-mc realistic -
Bad Cree by Jessica Johns
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsIn this gripping debut tinged with supernatural horror, a young Cree woman's dreams lead her on a perilous journey of self-discovery that ultimately forces her to confront the toll of a legacy of violence on her family, her community and the land they call home.When Mackenzie wakes up with a severed crow's head in her hands, she panics...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family ghosts gothic grief literary-fiction magical-realism north-america -
Shine by Candy Gourlay
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThis is not a ghost story even though there are plenty of ghosts in it. And it's not a horror story though some people might be horrified. It's not a monster story either, even though there is a monster in it and that monster happens to be me.Forced to hide herself away from the superstitious island community of Mirasol, thirteen-year-old Rosa seeks solace online... -
The Gravedigger by Peter Grandbois
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn a small, whitewashed village, indistinguishable from any other in Andalusia, Juan Rodrigo is a gravedigger. The job was handed down to him by his father, as was the ability to hear the voices of the dead and to tell their stories to the living...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family ghosts literary-fiction magical-realism paranormal book contemporary -
J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 1 by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThis scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages... -
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The Gone Away Place by Christopher Barzak
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom Stonewall Honor author Christopher Barzak comes a haunting novel of love and loss, in which a series of tornadoes rips through a small midwest town, forever altering the lives of those who live there.Ellie heads up her high school yearbook, and until the tornadoes come, her biggest worry is how to raise enough money to print them...Categorized as:
family ghosts grief historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal realistic apocalyptic -
Verona: A Ghost Story by Benedict Ashforth
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAn infertile couple escape to Italy for a short break but soon understand they are not alone, and that an ancient evil has awoken. Reviews for Abbot's Keep, by the same author: ‘Abbot’s Keep is refreshing a hell... -
Stay on the Line by Clay McLeod Chapman, Trevor Henderson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAfter a small coastal town is devastated by a hurricane, the survivors gravitate toward a long out-of-service payphone in hopes of talking out their grief and saying goodbye to loved ones, only for it to begin ringing on its own. As more townspeople answer the call, friends and family believed to have been lost to the storm begin searching for a way back home... -
Compulsion by Martina Boone, Joell A. Jacob
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThree plantations. Two wishes. One ancient curse.All her life, Barrie Watson has been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lives with her shut-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family ghosts gothic historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal southern-gothic -
I Stop Somewhere by T.E. Carter
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom TE Carter comes a highly-anticipated audiobook debut. I Stop Somewhere promises to keep listeners hooked from the very first track. Ellie Frias disappeared long before she vanished.Tormented throughout middle school, Ellie begins her freshman year with a new look: she doesn’t need to be popular; she just needs to blend in with the wallpaper...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama ghosts grief magical-realism paranormal realistic social-commentary -
A Natural History of Hell by Jeffrey Ford
Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsEmily Dickinson takes a carriage ride with Death. A couple are invited over to a neighbor's daughter's exorcism. A country witch with a sea-captain's head in a glass globe intercedes on behalf of abused and abandoned children. In July of 1915, in Hardin County, Ohio, a boy sees ghosts. Explore contemporary natural history in a baker's dozen of exhilarating visions...Categorized as:
ghosts literary-fiction magical-realism paranormal adult anthologies contemporary fiction
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