Books like 'Affliction'
Readers who enjoyed Affliction by Russell Banks also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery 20th century literary-fiction suspense crime family myths realistic domestic-drama
-
The Atonement Child by Francine Rivers
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsA beautiful repackaged edition of Francine Rivers's classic novel that breaks through the many taboos surrounding abortion. In one terrifying moment, Dynah Carey's perfect life is shattered by rape, her future irrevocably altered by an unwanted pregnancy, and her doting family torn apart... -
I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsThis powerful, heartwrenching drama draws on the deepest human emotions - the need to know oneself, the responsibility to the family, and the influence of hidden history. The result is a highly acclaimed novel of survival and great sensitivity... -
Out to Canaan by Jan Karon
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFather Tim, the Episcopal rector, and his talented and vivacious wife, Cynthia, are pondering the murky uncertainties of retirement. They're also trying to locate the scattered siblings of Dooley Barlowe, the mountain boy they love as their own. A brash new mayoral candidate is calling for aggressive development, and a tough survivor must hunker down for the fight of her life... -
Beach Music by Pat Conroy
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsAn American expatriate in Rome unearths his family legacy in this sweeping novel by the acclaimed author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini A Southerner living abroad, Jack McCall is scarred by tragedy and betrayal... -
-
Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsAlso see: Alternate Cover Editions for this ISBN [ACE] ACE #1 - ACE #2 - ACE #3 Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum debuted in Janet Evanovich's award-winning "One for the Money". Now she's back, packing a whole lot of attitude -- not to mention stun guns, defense sprays, killer flashlights and a... -
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 91 ratingsUnder the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality they slip gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal, and at last—inexorably—into evil... -
Darkest Longings by Susan Lewis
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsClaudine Rafferty is rich, reckless and beautiful. So when she throws herself into an arranged marriage with the eminently eligible but notorious François de Lorvoire, everyone in Paris is amazed. Determined to cope with François's cruelty and indifference, Claudine soon finds herself driven to find love in the arms of Armand St Jacques, one of her husband's vignerons... -
A Borrowed Path by Imogen Clark
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHome is where the heartache is.Eve has always had a tricky relationship with her mother, Agatha, and returning to Fox House, the family home, hasn’t made it any easier. When Eve’s daughter, Lyra, and granddaughter, Skye, unexpectedly turn up, it becomes clear that four generations of women under one roof is a recipe for trouble. Not least because Lyra clearly needs help but refuses to say why... -
Joe by Larry Brown, Tom Stechschulte
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNearing fifty, Joe Ransom won't slow down, not in his pickup, not with a gun-and certainly not with women. But all the fast living in Mississippi won't fill the hunger Joe can't name. At fifteen, Gary Jones is already slipping through the cracks. Part of a hopeless, homeless wandering family, he's desperate for a way out. He finds it in Joe... -
Sweet Liar by Jude Deveraux
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIt was her father's dying wish that Samantha Elliot search for her grandmother, who'd disappeared from Louisville when she was a baby. So here she was, in big, dirty New York City...her parents were dead, her divorce was final, and she was all alone.... Michael Taggert was Samantha's landlord, and he was easily the most beautiful man she'd ever seen... -
Flight Patterns by Karen White
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe New York Times bestselling author of the Tradd Street novels tells the story of a woman coming home to the family she left behind—and to the woman she always wanted to be.... Georgia Chambers has spent her life sifting through other people’s pasts while trying to forget her own... -
A Time to Kill by John Grisham
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 55 ratingsAn alternate cover edition for the ISBN 9780385338608 can be found here.Before "The Firm" and "The Pelican Brief" made him a superstar, John Grisham wrote this riveting story of retribution and justice...Categorized as:
crime drama family literary-fiction realistic suspense 20th-century action-adventure -
The Unseen World by Liz Moore
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAda Sibelius is raised by David, her brilliant, eccentric, socially inept single father, who directs a computer science lab in 1980s-era Boston. Home-schooled, Ada accompanies David to work every day; by twelve, she is a painfully shy prodigy. The lab begins to gain acclaim at the same time that David’s mysterious history comes into question...Categorized as:
drama family female-mc literary-fiction realistic suspense 20th-century 21st-century -
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsAlternate cover for this ISBN can be found hereEverywhere hailed as a novel of rare beauty and power, White Oleander tells the unforgettable story of Ingrid, a brilliant poet imprisoned for murder, and her daughter, Astrid, whose odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes--each its own universe, with its own laws, its own dangers, its own hard lessons to be learned--becomes a redeeming... -
-
The Secret of Villa Alba by Louise Douglas
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratings1968, Sicily. Just months after a terrible earthquake has destroyed the mountain town of Gibellina, Enzo and his wife Irene Borgata are making their way back to the family home, Villa Alba del Ciliegio, on roads overlooked by the eerie backdrop of the flattened ghost town. When their car breaks down, Enzo leaves his young wife to go and get help, but when he returns there is no trace of Irene... -
A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsTo this day, the low, thin wail of an infant can be heard in Keldale's lush green valleys. Three hundred years ago, as legend goes, the frightened Yorkshire villagers smothered a crying babe in Keldale Abbey, where they'd hidden to escape the ravages of Cromwell's raiders... -
Long Upon the Land by Margaret Maron
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMargaret Maron, New York Times bestselling author and Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, returns to Colleton County with an exciting new Deborah Knott mystery . . . LONG UPON THE LANDOn a quiet August morning, Judge Deborah Knott's father Kezzie makes a shocking discovery on a remote corner of his farm: the body of a man bludgeoned to death... -
The Hustler by Walter Tevis
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe legendary novel from the bestselling author of The Queen's Gambit about an ambitious pool shark who discovers what it takes to make the big time. The basis for the acclaimed film starring Paul Newman. To the strangers he plays in darkened pool halls, at first "Fast" Eddie Felson seems like a sloppy pool player with bright eyes and an extraordinary grin... -
Murder on a Girls' Night Out by Anne George
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA different kind of sister actPatricia Anne—“Mouse”—is respectful, respectable, and demure, a perfect example of genteel Southern womanhood. Mary Alice—“Sister”—is big, brassy, flamboyant, and bold. Together they have a knack for finding themselves in the center of some of Birmingham’s most unfortunate unpleasantness... -
Clockers by Richard Price
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsAward-winning author Richard Price here offers a viscerally affecting and accomplished portrait of inner-city America.Veteran homicide detective Rocco Klein's passion for the job gave way long ago... -
Deception on His Mind by Elizabeth George
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBalford-le-Nez is a dying seatown on the coast of Essex. But when a member of the town's small but growing Asian community, a Pakistani named Haytham Querashi, is found dead near its beach, his neck broken, sleepy Balford-le-Nez ignites...Categorized as:
crime female-mc literary-fiction suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Hotel by Arthur Hailey
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsDuring five days in the midst of a hot, steamy Louisiana summer, the lives of a colorful cast of characters intertwine in a series of public, private, and personal dramas at the famed St. Gregory luxury hotel... -
I'll Be Your Blue Sky by Marisa de los Santos
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe New York Times bestselling author revisits the characters from her beloved novels Love Walked In and Belong to Me in this captivating, beautifully written drama involving family, friendship, secrets, sacrifice, courage, and true love for fans of Jojo Moyes, Elin Hilderbrand, and Nancy ThayerOn the weekend of her wedding, Clare Hobbes meets an elderly woman named Edith Herron...Categorized as:
domestic-drama drama family female-mc literary-fiction realistic 20th-century 21st-century -
The Burden of Proof by Scott Turow
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsTurow's acclaimed second novel, which topped international bestseller lists, is now available in trade paperback. Sandy Stern, the brilliant defense attorney from Presumed Innocent, faces an event so emotionally shattering that no part of his life is left untouched. It reveals a family caught in a maelstrom of hidden crimes, shocking secrets, and warring passions... -
-
Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less by Jeffrey Archer
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThe conned: an Oxford don, a revered society physician, a chic French art dealer, and a charming English lord. They have one thing in common. Overnight, each novice investor lost his life's fortune to one man. The con: Harvey Metcalfe!!A brilliant, self-made guru of deceit. A very dangerous individual. And now, a hunted man... -
The Pact by Jodi Picoult
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsFor eighteen years the Hartes and the Golds have lived next door to each other, sharing everything from Chinese food to chicken pox to carpool duty—they've grown so close it seems they have always been a part of each other's lives. Parents and children alike have been best friends, so it's no surprise that in high school Chris and Emily's friendship blossoms into something more... -
When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsThree lives come together in unexpected and thrilling ways in Kate Atkinson's When Will There Be Good News?On a hot summer day, Joanna Mason's family slowly wanders home along a country lane. A moment later, Joanna's life is changed forever...On a dark night thirty years later, ex-detective Jackson Brodie finds himself on a train that is both crowded and late... -
The Rainmaker by John Grisham
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsInThe Rainmaker, John Grisham tells the story of a young man barely out of law school who finds himself taking on one of the most powerful, corrupt, and ruthless companies in America -- and exposing a complex, multibillion-dollar insurance scam... -
Marathon Man by William Goldman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsTom "Babe" Levy is a runner in every sense: racing tirelessly toward his goals of athletic and academic excellence--and endlessly away from the specter of his famous father's scandal-driven suicide. But an unexpected visit from his beloved older brother will set in motion a chain of events that plunge Babe into a vortex of terror, treachery, and murder--and force him into a race for his life . .Categorized as:
crime drama literary-fiction suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult assassinations -
One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 81 ratingsYou've lost your job as a department store lingerie buyer, your car's been repossessed, and most of your furniture and small appliances have been sold off to pay last month's rent. Now the rent is due again. And you live in New Jersey. What do you do?If you're Stephanie Plum, you become a bounty hunter. But not just a nickel-and-dime bounty hunter; you go after the big money... -
The Scapegoat by Daniel Pennac
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsPathetic, contrite and hapless, Benjamin is nonetheless the scapegoat at The Store: there is nothing for which he cannot be blamed. While his blunders remain minor, most of his unwitting victims can find it in their hearts to forgive him, but when violent explosions begin to follow him around, he inevitably becomes the prime suspect... -
A Heart So White by Javier Marías
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAn alternate cover of this ISBN can be found here.Javier Marías's A Heart So White chronicles with unnerving insistence the relentless power of the past. Juan knows little of the interior life of his father Ranz; but when Juan marries, he begins to consider the past anew, and begins to ponder what he doesn't really want to know... -
The Apple Orchard by Susan Wiggs
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Susan Wiggs"...sweet, crisp and juicy."--Elin Hilderbrand"A powerful story of love, loss, hope and redemption."-- Kirkus , Starred ReviewTess Delaney makes a living restoring stolen treasures to their owners. People like Annelise Winther, who has just been reunited with her mother's long gone necklace, worth a sum that could change her life... -
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsMidwives, Chris Bohjalian's fifth novel, is the story of Sibyl Danforth, a lay midwife in rural Vermont, and her daughter, Connie. The nexus of this cautionary tale is an emergency Caesarean section Sibyl performs during a home birth that goes disastrously wrong. Believing the mother is already dead from a stroke, Sibyl operates and later finds herself on trial for killing the woman... -
-
The Crow Road by Iain Banks
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsFrom its bravura opening onwards, THE CROW ROAD is justly regarded as an outstanding contemporary novel. 'It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach's Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach... -
The Beekeeper's Ball by Susan Wiggs
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsEscape to beautiful Bella Vista for a heartwarming story of sisters, new beginnings and hidden family secrets.Isabel Johansen, a celebrated chef from sun-drenched Sonoma, California, is transforming her childhood home into a destination cooking school. Bella Vista's rambling hacienda, with its working apple orchards, bountiful gardens and beehives, is the idyllic venue for Isabel's project.. -
The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOn an evening in late summer, the great financier Harry Wainwright, nearing the end of his life, arrives at a rustic fishing camp in a remote area of Maine. He comes bearing two things: his wish for a day of fishing in a place that has brought him solace for thirty years, and an astonishing bequest that will forever change the lives of those around him... -
Day of Atonement by Faye Kellerman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPeter Decker of the L.A.P.D. never dreamed he'd be spending his honeymoon with his new wife, Rina Lazarus, in an Orthodox Jewish enclave in Brooklyn, New York -- or that a terrible event would end it so abruptly. But a boy has vanished from the midst of this close-knit religious community, a troubled youth fleeing the tight bonds and strictures he felt were strangling him... -
Into the Blue by Robert Goddard
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsHarry Barnett lives the life of an Englishman on permanent vacation in Greece, house-sitting for a powerful friend and hiding from a past disgrace. That is, until a guest at the villa disappears on a walking tour, and Harry is the number one suspect. While a Greek detective tries to trap him, and the British tabloids pillory him at home, Harry’s conscience is his worst enemy of all... -
My Name Is Venus Black by Heather Lloyd
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsVenus Black is a straitlaced A student fascinated by the study of astronomy—until the night she commits a shocking crime that tears her family apart and ignites a media firestorm. Venus refuses to talk about what happened or why, except to blame her mother. Adding to the mystery, Venus’s developmentally challenged younger brother, Leo, goes missing... -
Gantenbein by Max Frisch
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA stranger walks out of a bar and is later found dead at the wheel of his car. The narrator creates the story of this man -- or, rather, two stories, based on the two personae that he has imagined. One of these is named Enderlin; the other, Gantenbein.Originally published as A Wilderness of Mirrors... -
Nightwork by Irwin Shaw
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA dead man’s briefcase presents a down-on-his-luck pilot with the chance of a lifetime.Pilot Douglas Grimes’s best days are long behind him. Grounded due to a medical condition, Douglas has resigned himself to menial work as a desk clerk at a seedy hotel. But his fortune flips when he discovers a hotel guest dead from a heart attack and, next to him, a tube jammed with hundred-dollar bills... -
THE PARTING GLASS by Emilie Richards
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsUSA Today bestselling author Emilie Richards continues the journey begun in her beloved novel Whiskey Island with this unforgettable tale of star-crossed lovers, murder and three sisters who discover a hidden legacy that will lead them home at last to Ireland. Megan, who is feeling hopelessly unprepared in her new marriage, has no idea how to fix the problems already facing her relationship... -
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 83 ratingsMelinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe... -
-
In a Heartbeat by Rita Herron
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe lone survivor of a serial killer is once again a target in this classic tale from USA TODAY bestselling author Rita Herron… With one brief, terrifying phone call, Lisa Langley's nightmare began again. Four years ago she was the sole survivor of the Grave Digger, a madman who buried his victims alive... -
Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks
Rated: 3.97 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsShimmering with suspense and emotional intensity - takes readers on a hunt for the truth about a man and his memories, and about both the heartbreaking fragility and enormous strength of love.Nicholas Sparks is our very best chronicler of the human heart...Categorized as:
breakup domestic-drama drama family female-mc literary-fiction realistic 20th-century -
Las huellas imborrables by Camilla Läckberg
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe SandMan Sandman: Overture Deluxe Edition"So the spirit of the universe will cease to think, and everything will cease to exist." "That is not something I care about, glory. The stars burn and fall. People live and die. Someday, even "eternity" will come to an end. I am responsible for it all the time. "" Did not you care, the king of dreams? Maybe. It may not be your responsibility...Categorized as:
crime drama family female-mc literary-fiction suspense 20th-century action-adventure -
Proof by David Auburn
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsProof is the winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.One of the most acclaimed plays of the 1999-2000 season, Proof is a work that explores the unknowability of love as much as it does the mysteries of science.It focuses on Catherine, a young woman who has spent years caring for her father, Robert, a brilliant mathematician in his youth who was later unable to function without her help... -
A Keeper by Graham Norton
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen Elizabeth Keane returns to Ireland after her mother’s death, she’s focused only on saying goodbye to that dark and dismal part of her life. Her childhood home is packed solid with useless junk, her mother’s presence already fading. But within this mess, she discovers a small stash of letters—and ultimately, the truth... -
The Last of the Stanfields by Marc Levy
Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA mystery, a love story, and a search through a shadowy past. Two strangers unite in this novel of family secrets by international bestselling author Marc Levy, the most read contemporary French author in the world. When London journalist Eleanor-Rigby Donovan receives an anonymous letter alluding to a crime committed by her deceased mother, her life is turned upside down...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.