Books like 'The Rat-Pit'
Readers who enjoyed The Rat-Pit by Patrick MacGill also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical dark literary-fiction
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The Girl in the Striped Dress by Ellie Midwood
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsGermany, 1947. A strange case scheduled for the Denazification Court lands on the desk of an American psychiatrist currently serving in Germany, Dr. Hoffman. A former Auschwitz guard, Franz Dahler, is set to appear in court, and he has requested to bring the most unexpected witness to testify in his defense - one of his former inmates and current wife, Helena... -
![Silva Rerum II by Kristina Sabaliauskaitė]()
Silva Rerum II by Kristina Sabaliauskaitė
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsRomāna darbība notiek no 1707. līdz 1710.gadam. Karš, mēris, bads, nesamērīga greznība un nāvīgs izsalkums, zviedru un krievu karavīri, jūdu ārsti, holandiešu kāršu spēlmaņi, turku konkubīnes, franču dāmas, spītīgi žemaiši un ironiski viļņieši, bezvārda mūks, kurš apglabājis vairāk nekā divdesmit tūkstošus mēra upuru, un, protams, vēl viena bajāru Norvaišu dzimtas paaudze... -
![Sarah and Solomon: Only A Stone Should Be Alone by Roberta Kagan]()
Sarah and Solomon: Only A Stone Should Be Alone by Roberta Kagan
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“…Fathers and Give me your children!” – Chaim RumkowskiIt is September 1942, and the already battered occupants of the Lodz Ghetto have just been dealt another horrendous blow from Hitler’s iron fist. They must surrender their sick, elderly, and children for ‘deportation... -
![The Dark One: Dark Knight by Kathryn Le Veque]()
The Dark One: Dark Knight by Kathryn Le Veque
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratings1486 A.D. Fresh from his treacherous turning of the tides against Richard III in the Battle of Bosworth, Sir Gaston de Russe’s reputation is dark and dirty. Those loyal to Richard hate him and those loyal to Henry Tudor fear him. He is, after all, The Dark One... -
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![One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest : A Play in Two Acts by Dale Wasserman, Ken Kesey]()
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest : A Play in Two Acts by Dale Wasserman, Ken Kesey
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsComedy Drama / 13m, 4f / Int. w. inset. Kirk Douglas played on Broadway as a charming rogue who contrives to serve a short sentence in an airy mental institution rather in a prison. This, he learns, was a mistake. He clashes with the head nurse, a fierce artinet... -
![I Never Knew Myself: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Melanie Rachel]()
I Never Knew Myself: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Melanie Rachel
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsElizabeth Bennet is living a lie.She’s known since she was fifteen that she isn't truly a Bennet, but who is she? Are the people and places that appear in her dreams just a sign of her active imagination, or are they memories of her true family? Could the stories she'd told Jane when they were children not be stories at all?Fitzwilliam Darcy is reliving a nightmare...Categorized as:
literary-fiction dark romance historical-fiction industrial-era regency historical fiction -
![Erin's Child by Sheelagh Kelly]()
Erin's Child by Sheelagh Kelly
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFamily ties have united the Feeneys through famine and poverty, but can they withstand success? It is 1875 and the Feeneys have left the squalor of York’s slums behind them. Yet all is not well. Patrick remains a man of simple tastes, increasingly out of touch with Thomasin’s ambition to expand her business empire still further across Yorkshire... -
![Before Herring Cove Road: Ruth Goldman and the Nincompoop by Michael Kroft]()
Before Herring Cove Road: Ruth Goldman and the Nincompoop by Michael Kroft
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTO BE RELEASED VALENTINE'S DAY, 2017 The Amusing and Heartwarming Prequel to the Family Saga Series, Herring Cove Road With her mother's death two years before, her father's recent marriage to a woman she doesn't get along with, and then finding herself engaged to a man she isn't even sure she loves, Ruth Goldman has decided to take a year off to discover what she wants in life... -
![The Island We Left Behind by Kate Hewitt]()
The Island We Left Behind by Kate Hewitt
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“I love you. Of course I do. But we haven’t any choice in the matter, do we? If our little boy’s health, even his survival, is at stake, we have to do whatever it takes.”1928, New York City: Ellen and Lucas Lyman have made a heart-wrenching decision to leave their beloved Amherst Island behind in search of a new life... -
![The Empty Hearth by Kitty Neale]()
The Empty Hearth by Kitty Neale
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBattersea in the 50s and 60s. The Pratchett family have to contend with Alfie Pratchett's obsessive jealousy. Although Alfie is a bully, his two teenage children, John and Millie, have learned to dodge him and his moods. Their main concern is to protect their mum... -
![Noontime in Yenisehir by Sevgi Soysal]()
Noontime in Yenisehir by Sevgi Soysal
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSeemingly disparate lives are brought together in a clever, prism-like plot in this award-winning novel. The story is based on three people—Ali, Dogan, and Olcay—and vividly depicts the struggle between the older generation who were content with the new (post-Ottoman) Turkey and who are disturbed by changes sought and brought on by the rebellious young generation... -
![Death on the Installment Plan by Louis-Ferdinand Céline]()
Death on the Installment Plan by Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPublished in rapid succession in the middle 1930s, Journey to the End of the Night and Death on the Installment Plan shocked European literature and world consciousness. Nominally fiction but more rightly called "creative confessions," they told of the author's childhood in excoriating Paris slums, of service in the mud wastes of World War I and African jungles... -
![So Long: Stories 1987-1992 by Lucia Berlin]()
So Long: Stories 1987-1992 by Lucia Berlin
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTwenty-three stories from a widely recognized master. Each will resonate, as questions of the human condition always do, in the heart of the reader. Lucia Berlin is widely recognized as a master of the short story... -
![Bomarzo by Manuel Mujica Lainez]()
Bomarzo by Manuel Mujica Lainez
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAs sumptuous, dazzling, corrupt and gorgeous as the 16th-century Italian Renaissance in which it is set, Bomarzo is the story of Pier Francesco Orsini, the hunchbacked, ruthless, but vulnerable Duke of Bomarzo, ancient fortress in the mountains outside Rome... -
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![Hell Screen by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa]()
Hell Screen by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratings"There can be no doubt that Akutagawa had more individuality than any other writer of his time and has left in Japanese literature a mass of artistic work, often grotesque and curious, that, while it undoubtedly angers the proletarian experimenters who now hold the stage and fight with lusty pens and a highly developed class consciousness against all that he stood for, will continue to live as... -
![The Strange Adventures of H: the enchanting rags-to-riches story set during the Great Plague of London by Sarah Burton]()
The Strange Adventures of H: the enchanting rags-to-riches story set during the Great Plague of London by Sarah Burton
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOrphaned young, H is sent to live with her doting aunt in London. H's life is a happy one until her lecherous cousin robs her of her innocence, and the plague takes away the city and the people she loves. H is cast out—friendless, pregnant and destitute—into the rapidly emptying streets of London under quarantine.Forced to fend for herself, she is determined to gain back the life she lost... -
![The Highlander's Outlaw Bride by Cathy MacRae]()
The Highlander's Outlaw Bride by Cathy MacRae
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThrust into the role of laird upon his father's unexpected death, Connor MacLaurey returns home to learn his cousin has usurped his lands and title. Furthermore, his betrothed--a lass he barely knows and certainly did not agree to marry--is hunted by the sheriff, accused of stealing cattle... -
![Bitter Mournings: A Pride & Prejudice Variation by Linda Gonschior]()
Bitter Mournings: A Pride & Prejudice Variation by Linda Gonschior
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDescriptionThe deaths of his wife and sister weighed heavily upon him, and there was little left in life to enjoy…IT IS SUMMER’S END OF 1821 when the ladies of Longbourn learn that Netherfield Park has been let at last, to two wealthy young widowers. The news is elating to Mrs Bennet, who has never given up hope that her beautiful eldest daughter Jane will one day marry a rich gentleman... -
![The Recovery of Fitzwilliam Darcy by Lucy Marin]()
The Recovery of Fitzwilliam Darcy by Lucy Marin
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsI have no notion who I am meant to be. IN 1789 A TERRIBLE CRIME IS COMMITTED, plunging one family into grief as another rejoices in the gift of an unexpected son. Two decades later, a chance meeting leads to the discovery of the lost heir of Pemberley and the man who knew himself as Mr William Lucas is restored to his birthright as Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley... -
![Heart of Disaster: A Titanic Novel of love and loss by Rachel Wesson]()
Heart of Disaster: A Titanic Novel of love and loss by Rachel Wesson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThursday, April 11, 1912 Inspired by true events, Heart of Disaster is the fictionalized story of the Irish steerage passengers who joined RMS Titanic. The legend says "Thursday's child has far to go" but nobody knew just how troublesome this journey would prove. Four single friends, a newly married couple and a stoker who works in the belly of the gigantic ship meet that fateful night... -
![As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories by Alistair MacLeod]()
As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories by Alistair MacLeod
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe superbly crafted stories collected in Alistair MacLeod’s As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories depict men and women acting out their “own peculiar mortality” against the haunting landscape of Cape Breton Island... -
![The Long Journey Home: A Pride & Prejudice Variation by J. Dawn King]()
The Long Journey Home: A Pride & Prejudice Variation by J. Dawn King
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLove is being in the wrong place at the right time!Mistaken for someone else, Elizabeth and Darcy are kidnapped from a ballroom in Hertfordshire, England. Their only hope for freedom is to overcome their deeply set opinions of each other—to work as a team. Against all odds, they each make extraordinary sacrifices to discover a love for the ages and find their way home...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction action-adventure adult audiobook book fiction forced-proximity -
![Great Maria by Cecelia Holland]()
Great Maria by Cecelia Holland
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsHer father is a robber baron... Her husband has grand ambitions and a quick temper... She will become... The Great Maria... -
![When the Yellow Mocker Calls by Lila M Beckham]()
When the Yellow Mocker Calls by Lila M Beckham
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn the South Carolina Hills, along the Savannah River Watershed, in the fall of 1829, 14-year-old, three-quarter Cherokee, Sahani, whose Christian name is Charity, sets out on a journey with her 83-year-old maternal, white grandfather to Fort Charlotte, for what she thinks is a trip to trade the pelts he has accumulated in order to replenish their supplies... -
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![Murambi, The Book of Bones by Boubacar Boris Diop]()
Murambi, The Book of Bones by Boubacar Boris Diop
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn April of 1994, nearly a million Rwandans were killed in what would prove to be one of the swiftest, most terrifying killing sprees of the 20th century. In Murambi, The Book of Bones, Boubacar Boris Diop comes face to face with the chilling horror and overwhelming sadness of the tragedy...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction fiction historical-fiction 21st-century historical university journey -
![The Spirit Level: Poems by Seamus Heaney]()
The Spirit Level: Poems by Seamus Heaney
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe Spirit Level was the first book of poems Heaney published after winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995. Reviewing this book in The New York Times Book Review, Richard Tillinghast noted that Heaney "has been and is here for good . . . [His poems] will last. Anyone who reads poetry has reason to rejoice at living in the age when Seamus Heaney is writing... -
![Theodoros by Mircea Cărtărescu, Marian Ochoa de Eribe]()
Theodoros by Mircea Cărtărescu, Marian Ochoa de Eribe
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsUn ejercicio de pura libertad literaria, una obra torrencial, libérrima, exuberante, inclasificable. Una novela épica que va desde lo realista hasta lo fantasmagórico.Tudor es el hijo menor de dos sirvientes de la corte de un gran boyardo de la atrasada Valaquia... -
![The Pugilist at Rest by Thom Jones]()
The Pugilist at Rest by Thom Jones
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThom Jones made his literary debut in The New Yorker in 1991. Within six months his stories appeared in Harper's, Esquire, Mirabella, Story, Buzz, and in The New Yorker twice more. "The Pugilist at Rest" - the title story from this stunning collection - took first place in Prize Stories 1993: The O. Henry Awards and was selected for inclusion in Best American Short Stories 1992... -
![More by Hakan Günday]()
More by Hakan Günday
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratings“The illegals climbed into the truck, and, after a journey of two hundred miles, they boarded ships and were lost in the night.”Gaza lives on the shores of the Aegean Sea. At the age of nine he becomes a human trafficker, like his father... -
![An Apartment Called Freedom by Ghazi A. Algosaibi]()
An Apartment Called Freedom by Ghazi A. Algosaibi
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFirst published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company... -
![Finding a Girl in America by Andre Dubus]()
Finding a Girl in America by Andre Dubus
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAndre Dubus's third book of stories (now included in his Collected Short Stories & Novellas ) includes the novella, Finding a Girl in America which continues the life of Hank Allison, a man haunted by his failures as a husband, his concern for his daughter, and his need for a new marriage that can survive his obsessive writer's absorption with himself... -
![Where The Winds Dwell by Böðvar Guðmundsson, Bovar Gumundsson]()
Where The Winds Dwell by Böðvar Guðmundsson, Bovar Gumundsson
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWritten as a letter from a father to a daughter, Where the Winds Dwell is compassionate and real. Guðmundsson brings together past and present in this tragic story of the historic journey to Nýja Ísland, the world's largest Icelandic community outside of Iceland... -
![Details of a Sunset and Other Stories by Vladimir Nabokov]()
Details of a Sunset and Other Stories by Vladimir Nabokov
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDetails of a sunset --Bad day --Orache --Return of Chorb --Passenger --Letter that never reached Russia --Guide to Berlin --Doorbell --Thunderstorm --Reunion --Slice of life --Christmas --Busy man... -
![El Rey de Les Halles by Juliette Benzoni, Francisco Rodriguez de Lecea]()
El Rey de Les Halles by Juliette Benzoni, Francisco Rodriguez de Lecea
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWearing a dress that is splattered with blood and clasping a doll to her chest, Sylvie de Valaines, a four-year-old girl, wanders the streets of the small village of Anet. The year is 1626 and her entire family has just been murdered, likely on the orders of Cardinal Richelieu. When a young boy of 10--Francois de Borbon-Vendome, the prince of Martigues--finds her, he brings her to his castle... -
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![Beside the Ocean of Time by George Mackay Brown]()
Beside the Ocean of Time by George Mackay Brown
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn this novel set on the fictitious island of Norday in the Orkneys, George Mackay Brown beckons us into the imaginary world of the young Thorfinn Ragnarson, the son of a crofter... -
![India Gray by Sujata Massey]()
India Gray by Sujata Massey
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsTravel to the Indian subcontinent with a new collection of Sujata Massey's suspenseful historical fiction. This boxed set includes five works. The title story, INDIA GRAY, is a poignant adventure set on the 1945 battlefront iof Assam, India and features Kamala and Simon, much-loved characters from the 2013 historical saga, THE SLEEPING DICTIONARY... -
![A House in the Country by José Donoso]()
A House in the Country by José Donoso
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsGames turn to nightmares during the summer holidays at the magnificent Chilean country estate of the Ventura family when the children - 33 cousins ranging in age from 6 to 16 - are left to themselves while their parents pursue their own pastimes... -
![Tales of Protection by Erik Fosnes Hansen]()
Tales of Protection by Erik Fosnes Hansen
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAn eccentric scientist lies dead in his coffin reflecting on the past and his last experiment--collecting random incidents from human history and finding the underlying pattern that connects them... -
![All That This Entails by Noell Chesney]()
All That This Entails by Noell Chesney
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsI am the daughter of a Duke!ELIZABETH BENNET COULD SCARCELY CREDIT THE NEWS when a letter sent to her father, from relations she did not know existed, informed them that untimely and unfortunate events would result in Mr Bennet inheriting the dukedom of Everard. In the blink of an eye, the Bennets' lives are transformed— Elizabeth and her four sisters are wealthy, titled, and the talk of the ton... -
![A Song of Sixpence: The Story of Elizabeth of York and Perkin Warbeck by Judith Arnopp]()
A Song of Sixpence: The Story of Elizabeth of York and Perkin Warbeck by Judith Arnopp
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn the years after Bosworth, a small boy is ripped from his rightful place as future king of England. Years later when he reappears to take back his throne, his sister Elizabeth, now Queen to the invading King, Henry Tudor, is torn between family loyalty and duty... -
![The Flames by Sophie Haydock]()
The Flames by Sophie Haydock
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsVienna at the dawn of the 20th century. An opulent, extravagant city teeming with art, music and radical ideas. A place where the social elite attend glamorous balls in the city's palaces whilst young intellectuals decry the empire across the tables of crowded cafes. It is a city where anything seems possible - if you are a man... -
![Misteriosa Buenos Aires by Manuel Mujica Lainez]()
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![Thanda Gosht / ٹھنڈا گوشت by سعادت حسن منٹو, Saadat Hasan Manto]()
Thanda Gosht / ٹھنڈا گوشت by سعادت حسن منٹو, Saadat Hasan Manto
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe story is about the communal violence of 1947. Ishwar Singh, a Sikh fails to make love to his mistress. She suspects him of infidelity and In a fit of jealousy she stabs her husband with his own dagger. While dying, Ishwar Singh admits his crime of attempted rape with an unconscious Muslim girl, who was actually dead.Hence the title "Cold Flesh"... -
![দোজখ্ঁনামা by Rabisankar Bal]()
দোজখ্ঁনামা by Rabisankar Bal
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWho tells the greatest story — God or Manto? Dozakhnama: Conversations in Hell is an extraordinary novel, a biography of Manto and Ghalib and a history of Indian culture rolled into one. Exhumed from dust, Manto’s unpublished novel surfaces in Lucknow. Is it real or is it a fake? In this dastan, Manto and Ghalib converse, entwining their lives in shared dreams... -
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![Maldoror and Poems by Comte de Lautréamont]()
Maldoror and Poems by Comte de Lautréamont
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsInsolent and defiant, the Chants de Maldoror, by the self-styled Comte de Lautréamont (1846-70), depicts a sinister and sadistic world of unrestrained savagery and brutality... -
![Ethan: Lord of Scandals by Grace Burrowes]()
Ethan: Lord of Scandals by Grace Burrowes
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsEthan Grey's life was shattered... Estranged from his family, widowed, and weary from fighting his troubled past, Ethan Grey now has a chance to replace loneliness with love. His sons' beautiful and stubborn governess might help him battle his ghosts, but it's been a long time since he let himself get close to anyone. Alice Portman has more in common with Ethan than she can comfortably admit... -
![The Spitfire by Bertrice Small]()
The Spitfire by Bertrice Small
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratings"Realistic, appealing characters and an entertaining tale." PUBLISHERS WEEKLY The year is 1483. Just as beautiful Lady Arabella Grey, the young cousin of England's King Richard III, speaks her wedding vows to Sir Jasper Keane, the Scotsman Tavis Stewart, Earl of Dunmore, abducts Arabella as payment for Jasper's murder of his fiancee... -
![The Shogun's Queen by Lesley Downer]()
The Shogun's Queen by Lesley Downer
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsOnly one woman can save her world from barbarian invasion but to do so will mean sacrificing everything she holds dear -- love, loyalty and maybe life itself . . .Japan, and the year is 1853... -
![The Last King by M.J. Porter]()
The Last King by M.J. Porter
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThey sent three hundred warriors to kill one man. It wasn’t enough.Mercia lies broken but not beaten, her alliance with Wessex in tatters.Coelwulf, a fierce and bloody warrior, hears whispers that Mercia has been betrayed from his home in the west. He fears no man, especially not the Vikings sent to hunt him down...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction action-adventure adult book fiction historical historical-fiction -
![The Madness of the Day by Maurice Blanchot]()
The Madness of the Day by Maurice Blanchot
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsJacques Derrida writes (in Deconstruction and Criticism) of The Madness of the Day that it is "a story whose title runs wild and drives the reader mad.la folie du jour, the madness of today, of the day today, which leads to the madness that comes from the day, is born of it, as well as the madness of the day itself, itself mad.
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