10 books for fans of The Red and the Black
- 1
The Canterbury Tales
by Peter Ackroyd, Geoffrey Chaucer, Nick Bantock
★ 3.57 Goodreads (2.6K ratings) - 2
Tess of the D'Urbervilles: Thomas Hardy (New Casebooks)
by Peter Widdowson
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Tess Durbeyfield's descent from peasant girl to tragic victim exposes Victorian society's brutal double standards. Hardy's prose transforms social criticism into devastating personal drama.
★ 3.30 Goodreads (10 ratings) - 3
Demon Copperhead
by Barbara Kingsolver
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Kingsolver transposes David Copperfield to modern Appalachia, following Demon through foster care, addiction, and systemic poverty. A Pulitzer-winning portrait of America's forgotten communities.
★ 4.46 Goodreads (824.6K ratings) - 4
The Godfather
The Godfather • Book 1
by Mario Puzo
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Puzo's saga follows the Corleone family through decades of power struggles, betrayals, and violence that defined American organized crime. The novel explores how loyalty and brutality intertwine when family business means life and death.
★ 4.40 Goodreads (468.0K ratings) - 5
Small Great Things
Ruth Jefferson • Book 1
by Jodi Picoult
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After twenty years as a labor nurse, Ruth Jefferson faces her most impossible case: a newborn whose parents refuse her care because she's Black.
★ 4.36 Goodreads (444.3K ratings) - 6
- 7
The House of the Spirits
Trilogía Involuntaria • Book 3
by Isabel Allende, Magda Bogin
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Patriarch Esteban Trueba's political ambitions and wild desires shape three generations of his family against the backdrop of Latin American political turmoil. Allende blends magical realism with political history, following women who possess otherworldly gifts and the men who both love and oppress them.
★ 4.30 Goodreads (325.3K ratings) - 8
The Storyteller
by Jodi Picoult
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A grief-stricken baker befriends an elderly man who reveals himself as a former Nazi guard seeking redemption through death. Picoult weaves together multiple generations affected by Holocaust trauma, examining forgiveness, justice, and the weight of inherited guilt.
★ 4.30 Goodreads (278.1K ratings) - 9
The Great Believers
by Rebecca Makkai
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Two timelines explore AIDS epidemic aftermath: Yale curating 1920s art while losing friends in 1980s Chicago, and Fiona searching for her estranged daughter in 2015 Paris. Makkai creates devastating beauty from grief and survival.
★ 4.30 Goodreads (175.1K ratings) - 10
Cranford
by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
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Victorian spinster sisters rule a small English village through elaborate social codes and relentless gossip. Gaskell's compassionate comedy reveals how community forms through both petty snobbery and genuine care.
★ 3.83 Goodreads (48.4K ratings)