Recommendations based on Case Historiesby Kate Atkinson

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Behind the Scenes at the Museum

    by Kate Atkinson
    A young girl's exploration of her family's history, unravelling their secrets and lies.

    Ruby Lennox begins narrating her life at the moment of conception, and from there takes us on a whirlwind tour of the twentieth century as seen through the eyes of an English girl determined to learn ... (Goodreads)

  2. One Good Turn

    by Kate Atkinson
    A series of interconnected events that slowly unfold the truth of an unsolved crime.

    Reviews were mostly positive. Justine Jordan of, The Guardian, enjoyed the novel, saying Liesl Schillinger of the, New York Times, said, "Kate Atkinson shows again, in her inimitable bleakly funny ... (Wikipedia)

  3. When Will There Be Good News?

    by Kate Atkinson
    A gripping mystery that intertwines the lives of three individuals, each with their own secrets and tragedies, leading to a shocking conclusion.

    In her crime novel When Will There Be Good News?, featuring recurring character Jackson Brodie, Kate Atkinson begins with several seemingly unrelated storylines that slowly resolve into a whole. The ... (Wikipedia)

  4. Enduring Love

    by Ian McEwan
    A story of obsession and its consequences, as two men clash over a woman's affections.

    Joe planned a postcard-perfect afternoon in the English countryside to celebrate his lover's return after 6 weeks in the States. The perfect day turns to nightmare however, when they are involved in ... (Goodreads)

  5. The Secret History

    by Donna Tartt
    A small group of misfit college students uncover a sinister secret and their lives become entangled with dangerous consequences.

    Under 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 ... (Goodreads)

  6. White Teeth

    by Zadie Smith
    A multi-generational saga exploring identity, race, and culture in modern-day London.

    On New Year's Day 1975, Archie Jones, a 47-year-old Englishman whose disturbed Italian wife has just walked out on him, is attempting to take his own life by gassing himself in his car when a chance ... (Wikipedia)

  7. The Sculptress

    by Minette Walters
    An investigative journalist unravels a mystery of a vigilante killer in search of justice.

    In prison, they call her the Sculptress for the strange figurines she carves - symbols of the day she hacked her mother and sister to pieces and reassembled them in a blood-drenched jigsaw. Sullen ... (Goodreads)

  8. Regeneration

    by Pat Barker
    Story of WWI soldiers & their experiences of trauma, set amidst the backdrop of a psychiatric hospital.

    The novel begins as Dr W. H. R. Rivers , an army psychiatrist at Craiglockhart War Hospital , learns of poet Siegfried Sassoon 's declaration against the continuation of the war. A government board ... (Wikipedia)

  9. Old Filth

    by Jane Gardam
    The life story of Sir Edward Feathers, a retired judge known as "Old Filth" (Failed In London Try Hong Kong), and his complex relationships.

    Sir Edward Feathers has had a brilliant career, from his early days as a lawyer in Southeast Asia, where he earned the nickname Old Filth (FILTH being an acronym for Failed In London Try Hong Kong) ... (Goodreads)

  10. The Namesake

    by Jhumpa Lahiri
    A young Indian-American's journey of reconciling two different cultures and his own identity.

    The story begins as Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli, a young Bengali couple, leave Calcutta , India, and settle in Central Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts . Ashoke is an engineering student at the ... (Wikipedia)

  11. Neverwhere

    by Neil Gaiman
    A mysterious journey through a hidden realm of London, filled with danger and unexpected allies.

    Neverwhere is the story of Richard Mayhew and his trials and tribulations in London. At the start of the story, he is a young businessman, recently moved from Scotland and with a normal life ahead. ... (Wikipedia)

  12. The Reader

    by Bernhard Schlink
    A man's journey of understanding, uncovering a dark secret from his past.

    Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of ... (Goodreads)

  13. The Shipping News

    by Annie Proulx
    A man's attempt to rebuild his life in a small Newfoundland town, discovering compassion and joy.

    The story centers around Quoyle, a newspaper reporter from upstate New York , whose father had emigrated from Newfoundland . Shortly after his parents' joint suicide, Quoyle's unfaithful and abusive ... (Wikipedia)

  14. To Say Nothing of the Dog

    by Connie Willis
    Time-traveling historian visits Victorian England in search of an artifact, amidst a comedy of errors.

    Ned Henry is a time traveler in 1940 studying Coventry Cathedral after the Coventry Blitz of World War II . He is specifically searching for the location of the "Bishop's bird stump ", a MacGuffin ... (Wikipedia)

  15. Wolf Hall

    by Hilary Mantel
    A historical fiction about the rise of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII.

    England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry ... (Goodreads)

  16. Station Eleven

    by Emily St. John Mandel
    Post-apocalyptic exploration of a world drastically changed after a pandemic.

    An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse,, Station Eleven, tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of ... (Barnes & Noble)

  17. Cloud Atlas

    by David Mitchell
    A dynamic narrative spanning centuries, exploring the interconnectedness of humanity.

    The book consists of six nested stories; each is read or observed by a main character of the next, thus they progress in time through the central sixth story. The first five stories are each ... (Wikipedia)

  18. Presumed Innocent

    by Scott Turow
    Prosecutor Rusty Sabich is accused of murdering his colleague and mistress. He must prove his innocence while navigating a web of lies and deceit.

    The novel begins with the discovery of Carolyn Polhemus, dead in her apartment. She is the victim of what appears to be a sexual bondage encounter gone wrong, killed outright by a fatal blow to the ... (Wikipedia)

  19. A Drink Before the War

    by Dennis Lehane
    Private detectives investigate a kidnapping case, uncovering dark secrets of the city.

    Boston private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro receive a job from three state politicians, Sterling Mulkern, Jim Vurnan and Brian Paulson, to recover documents from a former cleaning ... (Wikipedia)

  20. Tender Is the Night

    by F. Scott Fitzgerald
    A young couple's tumultuous journey through love, wealth and tragedy.

    Dick and Nicole Diver are a glamorous couple who rent a villa in the South of France and surround themselves with a circle of friends, mainly Americans. Also staying at the nearby resort are Rosemary ... (Wikipedia)

  21. The Children of Men

    by P.D. James
    In a world where no children have been born for 25 years, a man discovers a pregnant woman and must protect her.

    The narrative voice for the novel alternates between the third person and the first person , the latter in the form of a diary kept by Dr. Theodore "Theo" Faron, an Oxford don . The novel opens with ... (Wikipedia)

  22. The Thirteenth Tale

    by Diane Setterfield
    A mysterious storyteller reveals a dark family secret, transforming the lives of those around her.

    Vida Winter, a famous novelist in England, has evaded journalists' questions about her past, refusing to answer their inquiries and spinning elaborate tales that they later discover to be false. Her ... (Wikipedia)

  23. Atonement

    by Ian McEwan
    A tale of the consequences of a child's mistake, and how its effects ripple through generations.

    Briony Tallis, a 13-year-old English girl with a talent for writing, lives at her family's country estate with her parents Jack and Emily Tallis. Her older sister Cecilia has recently graduated from ... (Wikipedia)

  24. Bel Canto

    by Ann Patchett
    A story of redemption and transformation amidst a hostage crisis.

    Set in an unspecified South American country, , the story begins at a birthday party thrown at the country's vice presidential home in honor of Katsumi Hosokawa, the visiting chairman of a large ... (Wikipedia)

  25. The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing

    by Melissa Bank
    A young woman's exploration of relationships, learning to navigate the modern dating world.

    Generous-hearted and wickedly insightful, The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing maps the progress of Jane Rosenal as she sets out on a personal and spirited expedition through the perilous terrain ... (Goodreads)

  26. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

    by Junot Díaz
    An exploration of love, identity, and the power of fate in a family's struggles and triumphs.

    Oscar de León (nicknamed Oscar Wao, a bastardization of Oscar Wilde ) is an overweight Dominican growing up in Paterson, New Jersey. Oscar desperately wants to be successful with women but, from a ... (Wikipedia)

  27. What Was She Thinking? [Notes on a Scandal]

    by Zoë Heller
    An intriguing tale of a manipulative teacher and a forbidden affair, told through a colleague's perspective.

    Barbara, a veteran history teacher at a comprehensive school in London , is a lonely, unmarried woman in her early sixties, and she is eager to find a close friend. However, she reveals that she has ... (Wikipedia)

  28. The Post-Birthday World

    by Lionel Shriver
    A woman's choice between two men, and its consequences, explored in two parallel universes.

    In this eagerly awaited new novel, Lionel Shriver, the Orange Prize-winning author of the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, delivers an imaginative and entertaining look at the ... (Goodreads)

  29. We Need to Talk About Kevin

    by Lionel Shriver
    A mother's struggle to come to terms with the monstrous acts of her disturbed son.

    In the wake of a school massacre conducted by Kevin Khatchadourian, the 15-year-old son of Franklin Plaskett and Eva Khatchadourian, Eva begins writing letters to Franklin in November 2000. She ... (Wikipedia)

  30. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

    by Dave Eggers
    An autobiographical account of a young man dealing with grief and responsibility.

    'When you read his extraordinary memoir you don't laugh, then cry, then laugh again; you somehow experience these emotions all at once.' "Well, this was when Bill was sighing a lot. He had decided ... (Goodreads)