“Do you think it’s possible to ever see the past as it actually was?”
Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House is a poignant, thoughtful and character-driven piece of literary fiction. A nominee for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize, the story opens with Cyril Conroy, a man whose lucrative real estate business hauls his family out of poverty and into wealth. With his fortune, he purchases the Dutch House, a lavish mansion in the Philadelphia suburbs. Danny and Maeve are Cyril’s two children but find themselves thrown back into poverty when their father and stepmother kick them out. Spanning the next five decades, this dark fairy tale is a story of two siblings who are only comfortable when they’re together, and whose unshakeable bond saves both of their lives. If you loved Danny and Maeve’s story, join us at What We Reading for the best historical and literary books like The Dutch House!
Hello Beautiful – Ann Napolitano
First up in our list of books like The Dutch House is Ann Napolitano’s 2023 historical fiction story, Hello Beautiful. William Waters grew up in a home silenced by tragedy. His parents barely spoke to him, let alone love him. Thankfully, his skills on the basketball court earn him a scholarship far away from his home, where he soon meets a spirited and ambitious woman named Julia Padavano.
With Julia comes her family, and the three younger sisters she is inseparable from; Slyvie, happiest when she has a book in her hands and dreams of a different life than the one her mother has planned, Cecelia, the family artist, and Emeline, who dutifully looks after them all. Just as he’s being welcomed into the household, however, a darkness from William’s past threatens to jeopardise Julia’s plans for the future and the sisters’ unshakeable loyalty to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes all of their lives for generations.
The God Of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
Set in 1969 in the state of Kerala in India’s southernmost tip, Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things is a story of two siblings; Rahel and Esthappen. A Booker Prize-winning read the twins are able to sense each other’s presence, feel what the other is feeling and communicate without saying a word. Surrounded by their eccentric family, they fashion a childhood for themselves.
But, when their English cousin, Sophie Mol, and her mother, Margaret Kochamma, arrive for a Christmas visit, the pair learn that things can all change in a matter of moments. Told through conflicting narratives both before and after a horrifying tragedy changes their lives forever, Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things is a spell-binding book similar to The Dutch House that tackles everything from familial ties, love, madness and hope.
Check Out These Books To Understand India
The Turner House – Angela Flournoy
The Turners live on Yarrow Street for over fifty years. Throughout their time in the house, thirteen children grow up. Some leave, others return. Grandchildren arrive, Detroit’s East Side falls and a father is lost. Despite abandoned lots, an embattled city and the exodus out to the suburbs, the Turner House still stands proudly. But, as their powerful mother loses her independence and falls ill, the Turners may soon lose their family home.
Beset by time and a national crisis, the Turner home is now worth just a tenth of its mortgage. Each of the children is recalled to the home to decide on its fate and reckon how each of their pasts might shape the family’s future. One of the best character-driven books like The Dutch House, Angela Flournoy’s The Turner House explores the American dream and celebrates how families can bring us home.
Red At The Bone – Jacqueline Woodson
Moving forward and backward in time, Jacqueline Woodson’s Red at the Bone is a powerful book similar to The Dutch House that explores the role of history and community in families’ experiences, relationships and decisions. The story begins in 2001 with sixteen-year-old Melody’s coming-of-age ceremony in her grandparents’ Brooklyn brownstone. She is wearing a specially made dress. The same dress that, sixteen years earlier, was measured and sewn for her mother’s ceremony. A ceremony that, ultimately, never took place.
Red at the Bone unveils the history of Melody’s parents and grandparents to show how they all arrived at this moment. Like many of Ann Patchett’s stories, Woodson explores not only the ambitions and triumphs of these family members but also the costs, demands and tolls they’ve endured for striving to overcome expectations. The book also looks at how young people so often have to make long-lasting decisions about their lives, even if they haven’t worked out who they are and what they want to be.
Where The Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens
For years, the ‘Marsh Girl’ haunted the quiet fishing village of Barkley Cove. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild, unfit for 1960s American society. Naturally, when the body of the popular Chase Andrews is discovered, locals immediately suspect she is responsible. But Kya is not what they say. A born survivalist with just a single day at school, she takes life’s lessons from the land and has the skills to survive indefinitely.
But she also yearns to be touched and to be loved. Drawn to two young men from the town, who are equally enthralled by her wild beauty, she opens herself up to a new world – until the unthinkable happens. A book similar to The Dutch House with more of a ‘found family’ vibe, Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing is a thought-provoking and beautiful story of how we continue to be shaped by the child within us.
Check Out The Best Books Like Where The Crawdads Sing
The Women – Kristin Hannah
Raised in the sun-drenched world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, twenty-year-old nursing student France ‘Frankie’ McGrath has always done the right thing. But in 1965, with the world changing, she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother is deployed to serve in the Vietnam War, she enlists in the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.
As inexperienced as the young men sent off to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day brings life and death, hope and betrayal, and deep friendships that are broken in an instant. But the war is just the beginning for Frankie. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, angry protestors and a country that wants to forget anything to do with Vietnam. Like The Dutch House, Kristin Hannah’s The Women is a richly drawn story told by a memorable heroine and a homage to deep friendships and bold patriotism.
Check Out The Best Books Like The Women
The Immortalists – Chloe Benjamin
In New York’s Lower East Side in 1969, word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a travelling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. Intrigued, the Gold children sneak out one evening to hear their fortunes.
The prophecies they are told go on to shape the next five decades of their lives. Golden boy Simon escapes to San Francisco in the 1980s on the search of love. Klara becomes a magician in Las Vegas, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy. Daniel looks for security as an army doctor post-9/11. Bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, pushing the boundaries between science and immortality. Similar to The Dutch House, Chloe Benjamin’s The Immortalists is a sweeping and moving story about the pull of familial bonds, the nature of belief and the fine lines between destiny, choice, reality and illusion.
Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Barbara Kingsolver’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2022 book, Demon Copperhead is a story of a boy born to a teenage single mother in a single-wide trailer. Told through his candid narration, this boy has no assets besides his dead father’s good looks, his copper-coloured hair, infectious wit and fierce talent for survival. Over the course of his life, he endures foster care, child labour, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves and crushing losses.
Inspired by the works of Charles Dickens and his experiences as a survivor of institutional poverty, Demon Copperhead is one of the best books like The Dutch House for readers looking for another character-driven tale that seamlessly blends compassion, anger and the power of childhood experiences in shaping the lives we live.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
