Recommendations based on Golden Hillby Francis Spufford

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

  1. Bring Up the Bodies

    by Hilary Mantel
    A gripping historical drama recounting the downfall of Anne Boleyn during the reign of Henry VIII.

    Bring Up the Bodies follows closely upon the events of Wolf Hall . The King and Cromwell —now Master Secretary to the King's Privy Council—are guests of the Seymour family at Wolf Hall. The King ... (Wikipedia)

  2. Days Without End

    by Sebastian Barry
    A young Irishman flees famine and war, finding love and a new family in the American West during the Indian and Civil Wars.

    Thomas McNulty, aged barely seventeen and having fled the Great Famine in Ireland, signs up for the U.S. Army in the 1850s. With his brother in arms, John Cole, Thomas goes on to fight in the Indian ... (Goodreads)

  3. A Legacy of Spies

    by John le Carré
    A former spy must confront the consequences of his past actions.

    Peter Guillam, staunch colleague and disciple of George Smiley of the British Secret Service, otherwise known as the Circus, is living out his old age on the family farmstead on the south coast of ... (Goodreads)

  4. Reservoir 13

    by Jon McGregor
    A village's search for the truth behind a young girl's disappearance, uncovering secrets along the way.

    Midwinter in an English village. A teenage girl has gone missing. Everyone is called upon to join the search. The villagers fan out across the moors as the police set up roadblocks and a crowd of ... (Goodreads)

  5. This Must Be the Place

    by Maggie O'Farrell
    A story of a family's journey through life, love, and loss, spanning continents and decades.

    A dazzling novel from bestselling writer Maggie O'Farrell, winner of the Costa Novel Award—an irresistible love story that crisscrosses continents and time zones as it captures an extraordinary ... (Goodreads)

  6. Even Dogs in the Wild

    by Ian Rankin
    Detective Rebus investigates a powerful politician's mysterious death and finds a tangled web of secrets and lies.

    A former Scottish senior prosecutor has been found dead. Siobhan Clarke and a retired John Rebus are called on to investigate the prosecutor's death. , Meanwhile Malcolm Fox is drafted into a ... (Wikipedia)

  7. Saints of the Shadow Bible

    by Ian Rankin
    Detective John Rebus investigates a mysterious death, uncovering a web of corruption and secrets.

    Rebus and Malcolm Fox go head-to-head when a 30-year-old murder investigation resurfaces, forcing Rebus to confront crimes of the past Rebus is back on the force, albeit with a demotion and a chip on ... (Goodreads)

  8. The Book of Night Women

    by Marlon James
    A young slave girl in Jamaica plots a rebellion against her cruel plantation owner.

    The Book of Night Women is a sweeping, startling novel, a true tour de force of both voice and storytelling. It is the story of Lilith, born into slavery on a Jamaican sugar plantation at the end of ... (Goodreads)

  9. A Delicate Truth

    by John le Carré
    A covert counter-terrorist operation goes wrong, leading to a cover-up that threatens to expose the truth.

    In 2008, Toby Bell, the Private Secretary to junior Foreign Office minister Fergus Quinn, becomes suspicious of his superior's behavior following a meeting with businessman Jay Crispin—founder of the ... (Wikipedia)

  10. Carry On, Jeeves

    by P.G. Wodehouse
    A series of comedic stories filled with eccentric characters, witty banter and outrageous scenarios.

    The titles of the first story in this collection—'Jeeves Takes Charge'— and the last—'Bertie Changes His Mind'—sum up the relationship of twentieth-century fiction's most famous comic characters. In ... (Goodreads)

  11. Lincoln in the Bardo

    by George Saunders
    A spiritual exploration of death, exploring the afterlife through the eyes of President Lincoln.

    In his long-awaited first novel, American master George Saunders delivers his most original, transcendent, and moving work yet. Unfolding in a graveyard over the course of a single night, narrated by ... (Goodreads)

  12. Faithful Place

    by Tana French
    A woman's search for the truth behind her childhood sweetheart's disappearance.

    When 19-year-old Frank Mackey was left waiting outside of an abandoned house one fateful night, he believed that his lover backed out on their plans of elopement. After finding a note inside the ... (Wikipedia)

  13. The Underground Railroad

    by Colson Whitehead
    An escaped slave's daring escape to freedom, fighting against the brutality of slavery.

    The story is told in the third person, focusing mainly on Cora. Scattered single chapters also focus on Cora's mother Mabel, the slavecatcher Ridgeway, a reluctant slave sympathizer named Ethel, and ... (Wikipedia)

  14. Lucky Jim

    by Kingsley Amis
    A story of a young lecturer struggling to make it in academia, while learning the importance of self-discovery.

    Jim Dixon is a lecturer in medieval history at a red brick university in the English Midlands . He has made an unsure start and, towards the end of the academic year, is concerned about losing his ... (Wikipedia)

  15. The Children Act

    by Ian McEwan
    A family court judge must make a difficult decision between the law and her conscience.

    Fiona Maye is a respected High Court Judge specialising in Family Law and living in Gray's Inn Square. While reviewing a case, she is approached by her husband, Jack, who tells her that because of ... (Wikipedia)

  16. Fates and Furies

    by Lauren Groff
    A tale of the secrets and passions of a marriage, exploring the depths of private lives.

    Every story has two sides. Every relationship has two perspectives. And sometimes, it turns out, the key to a great marriage is not its truths but its secrets. At the core of this rich, expansive, ... (Goodreads)

  17. 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)

  18. The Buried Giant

    by Kazuo Ishiguro
    An elderly couple's journey through a mythical land, confronting the forgotten secrets of the past.

    Following the death of King Arthur , Saxons and Britons live in harmony. Along with everyone else in their community, Axl and Beatrice, an elderly Briton couple, suffer from severe selective amnesia ... (Wikipedia)

  19. The Art of Fielding

    by Chad Harbach
    A college baseball team's success and failures are intertwined with the lives of five individuals.

    Henry Skrimshander begins the novel as a 17-year-old playing on a Legion baseball team in Lankton, South Dakota. Although physically short and not muscular, Henry has an unusual gift for fielding, ... (Wikipedia)

  20. The Summer Book

    by Tove Jansson
    A grandmother and her granddaughter explore a remote summer island together, learning about life, love, and nature.

    An elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter while away a summer together on a tiny island in the gulf of Finland. Gradually, the two learn to adjust to each other's fears, whims and ... (Goodreads)

  21. The Woman in White

    by Wilkie Collins
    A thrilling mystery of secrets and hidden identities, with a hero on a quest for the truth.

    Walter Hartright, a young art teacher, encounters and gives directions to a mysterious and distressed woman dressed entirely in white, lost in London; he is later informed by policemen that she has ... (Wikipedia)

  22. Pastoralia

    by George Saunders
    Short stories exploring the complexities of modern life, through characters struggling to survive in an ever-changing world.

    With this new collection, George Saunders takes us even further into the shocking, uproarious and oddly familiar landscape of his imagination. The stories in Pastoralia are set in a slightly skewed ... (Goodreads)

  23. Orlando

    by Virginia Woolf
    A fantastical journey through history and gender, exploring the complexities of identity.

    The eponymous hero is born as a male nobleman in England during the reign of Elizabeth I . He undergoes a mysterious change of sex at the age of about 30 and lives on for more than 300 years into ... (Wikipedia)

  24. The Magicians

    by Lev Grossman
    A coming-of-age story of a young man's journey to a magical world, learning to wield its power.

    The, New York Times, bestselling novel about a young man practicing magic in the real world, now an original series on, SYFY,“,The Magicians, is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a ... (Barnes & Noble)

  25. Tenth of December

    by George Saunders
    A collection of stories exploring the human condition through diverse characters and their struggles.

    A young girl named Alison is kidnapped three days before her birthday. Kyle, a boy who lives nearby whose parents enforce very strict household rules, sees the event unfold and must decide whether to ... (Wikipedia)

  26. The Sympathizer

    by Viet Thanh Nguyen
    Vietnam War refugee returns to his homeland and struggles to reconcile conflicting loyalties.

    It is April 1975, and Saigon is in chaos. At his villa, a general of the South Vietnamese army is drinking whiskey and, with the help of his trusted captain, drawing up a list of those who will be ... (Goodreads)

  27. My Brilliant Friend

    by Elena Ferrante
    A story of two friends' lives, exploring the intricacies of female friendship and life in a Neapolitan neighbourhood.

    A modern masterpiece from one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense and generous hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante's inimitable style lends ... (Goodreads)

  28. The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna

    by Juliet Grames
    The life story of Stella Fortuna, an Italian-American woman who survives multiple near-death experiences and struggles with family trauma.

    From Calabria to Connecticut: a sweeping family saga about sisterhood, secrets, Italian immigration, the American dream, and one woman's tenacious fight against her own fate For Stella Fortuna, death ... (Barnes & Noble)

  29. Middle England

    by Jonathan Coe
    A satirical novel exploring the political and social landscape of modern Britain through the lives of a diverse cast of characters.

    Set in the Midlands and London over the last eight years, Jonathan Coe follows a brilliantly vivid cast of characters through a time of immense change and disruption in Britain. There are the early ... (Goodreads)

  30. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

    by James Joyce
    An exploration of a young man's struggle to find his identity and place in the world.

    The portrayal of Stephen Dedalus's Dublin childhood and youth, his quest for identity through art and his gradual emancipation from the claims of family, religion and Ireland itself, is also an ... (Goodreads)