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Modern & Literary Fiction Books

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    Galatea by Madeline Miller

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    From the internationally bestselling and prize-winning author of The Song of Achilles and Circe, an enchanting short story that boldly reimagines t...

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    The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

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    **OVER 1.5 MILLION COPIES SOLD****A 10th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION, FEATURING A NEW FOREWORD BY THE AUTHOR**WINNER OF THE ORANGE WOMEN'S PRIZE FO...

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    The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

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    THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER'Devastating' Daily Telegraph'Heartbreaking' The Times'Unforgettable' Isabel Allende'Haunting' IndependentAfghanistan, 197...

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    And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

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    THE RICHARD & JUDY NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER'Magnificent' Mail on Sunday'Gripping' New York Times'A master storyteller' The Times'Epic' Sunday Tele...

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    The Heron's Cry by Ann Cleeves

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    Now a major ITV series, The Long Call, adapted for television by screenwriter Kelly Jones and starring Ben Aldridge. 'Matthew Venn is a keeper . . ...

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    The Long Call by Ann Cleeves

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    Now a major ITV series, The Long Call, adapted for television by screenwriter Kelly Jones and starring Ben Aldridge. The Long Call is the No.1 best...

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    The Darkest Evening by Ann Cleeves

    Only 17 left!

    DCI Vera Stanhope returns in The Darkest Evening, the ninth novel in No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller Ann Cleeves's phenomenally popular series. The d...

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    Turn a Blind Eye by Jeffrey Archer

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    In the third instalment in the life of Detective William Warwick, following on from Hidden in Plain Sight, international bestseller Jeffrey Archer ...

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    The Moon Sister by Lucinda Riley

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    From the Scottish Highlands and Spain, to South America and New York, The Moon Sister is the fifth epic story in the Seven Sisters series by the in...

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    Home Stretch by Graham Norton

    Only 16 left!

    Graham is a lovely writer and this is by far his best. The passage of time is beautifully handled, and the emergence of Ireland into the modern wor...

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    What Abigail Did That Summer (Rivers of London Novella) by Ben Aaronovitch

    Only 15 left!

    The new Rivers of London novella, from Sunday Times Number One bestselling author Ben Aaronovitch. Ghost hunter, fox whisperer, troublemaker. It is...

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    One August Night by Victoria Hislop

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    Excellent as ever. Victoria Hislop at her best.' Reader review'Within a few pages I was back in Greece and almost feeling the sun on my face.' Read...

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    Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover

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    Perfectly poetic. A beautiful follow-up to Slammed' Tarryn Fisher'Brilliant and entertaining as Slammed. Point of Retreat is absolute poetry' Jamie...

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    Slammed by Colleen Hoover

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    From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Ends With Us. SOMETIMES TWO PEOPLE HAVE TO FALL APART TO REALISE HOW MUCH THEY BELONG TOGETHER....

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    Salem's Lot by Stephen King

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    With a stunning new cover look, King's chilling classic of a small new England town about to be engulfed in terror. Turn off the television - in fa...

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    The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

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    **OVER 1.5 MILLION COPIES SOLD**WINNER OF THE ORANGE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTIONTHE INTERNATIONAL SENSATIONA SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELL...

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    Small Island by Andrea Levy

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    Small Island by bestselling author Andrea Levy won the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Orange Prize 'Best of the Best' as well as the Commonwealth...

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    Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

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    Amazon.com's no. 1 Book of the Year 2014 Lydia is the favourite child of Marilyn and James Lee; a girl who inherited her mother's bright blue eyes ...

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    You and Me on Vacation by Emily Henry

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    A gorgeous romance' BETH O'LEARY, The Flatshare 'Our generation's answer to Nora Ephron' SOPHIE COUSENS, This Time Next Year 'So warm and funny' PA...

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    Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

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    THE SUNDAY TIMES 1# BESTSELLER & BOOKER PRIZE WINNERBRITISH BOOK AWARDS AUTHOR & FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 'The most absorbing book I r...

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    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

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    Pitching an extraordinary battle between cruel authority and a rebellious free spirit, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a novel that ...

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    A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

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    ** Available for pre-order, THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY, the dazzling new novel from Amor Towles **Chosen for the Duchess of Cornwall's online book club Th...

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    The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

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    The circus arrives without warning. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Against the grey sky the towering tents are striped black and wh...

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    Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

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    A masterly novel' New York Times 'Such is the exquisite, gossamer construction of Murakami's writing that everything he chooses to describe tremble...

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    To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

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    Shoot all the Bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a Mockingbird.'Lawyer Atticus Finch gives this advice to his c...

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    The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood

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    The first in a stunning new series introducing the Marlow Murder Club! 'A hugely enjoyable murder mystery written with wonderful verve, humour and ...

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    All My Mothers by Joanna Glen

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    One of those rarest of books: so beautiful I almost couldn't bear it, and so moving I was reading through tears' STACEY HALLS 'Uniquely witty, beau...

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    Under a Greek Moon by Carol Kirkwood

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    The escapist Sunday Times bestselling debut from the nation's best loved TV presenter, Carol Kirkwood. 'Loved it! It sizzles with secrets and passi...

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    The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon

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    THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Part whodunnit, part coming of age, this is a gripping debut about the secrets behind every door' RACHEL JOYCE 'Cannon...

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    Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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    THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 'WINNER OF WINNERS' Winner of the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2007, this is a heartbreaking, exquisitely writt...

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    Elena Knows by Claudia Pineiro

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    SHORTLISTED for the International Booker Prize 2022After Rita is found dead in a church she used to attend, the official investigation into the inc...

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    Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet

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    I have decided to write down everything that happens, because I feel, I suppose, I may be putting myself in danger.London, 1965. An unworldly young...

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    Paradais by Fernanda Melchor

    Only 7 left!

    Inside a luxury housing complex, two misfit teenagers sneak around and get drunk. Franco Andrade, lonely, overweight, and addicted to porn, obsessi...

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    Emergency by Daisy Hildyard

    Only 20 left!

    Emergency is a novel about the dissolving boundaries between all life on earth. Stuck at home alone under lockdown, a woman recounts her 1990s chil...

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    Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au

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    A mother and daughter travel from abroad to meet in Tokyo: they walk along the canals through the autumn evenings, escape the typhoon rains, share ...

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    Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

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    With Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Man Booker International Prize-winner Olga Tokarczuk returns with a subversive, entertaining noir ...

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    Flights by Olga Tokarczuk

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    FLIGHTS, a novel about travel in the twenty-first century and human anatomy, is Olga Tokarczuk's most ambitious to date. It interweaves travel narr...

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    The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk

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    In the mid-eighteenth century, as new ideas begin to sweep the continent, a young Jew of mysterious origins arrives in a village in Poland. Before ...

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    Death And The Penguin by Andrey Kurkov

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    A tragicomic masterpiece' Daily TelegraphAll that stands between one man and murder by the mafia is a penguin. Viktor is an aspiring writer in Ukra...

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    Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

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    Olive Kitteridge - the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning novel This beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, turned into an Emmy Award-winning HBO mini-s...

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    Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

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    Meet Keiko. Keiko is 36 years old. She's never had a boyfriend, and she's been working in the same supermarket for eighteen years. Keiko's family w...

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    Pachinko: The New York Times Bestseller by Min Jin Lee

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    * The million-copy bestseller* * National Book Award finalist * * One of the New York Times's 10 Best Books of 2017 * * Selected for Emma Watson's ...

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    None of This Is Serious by Catherine Prasifka

    Only 14 left!

    Extraordinary' Naoise Dolan'Seriously good' Louise NealonPICKED AS 'ONE TO WATCH' FOR 2022 BY IRISH TIMES, STYLIST AND IRISH INDEPENDENTDublin stud...

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    Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden

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    SHORTLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZEMrs Death tells her intoxicating story in this life-affirming fire-starter of a novelMrs Death has had enough....

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    The Last Library by Freya Sampson

    Only 3 left!

    The Last Library made me laugh, cry, cheer and want to champion all of our fabulous libraries' Clare Pooley, author of The Authenticity Project'A t...

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    The Foundling by Stacey Halls

    Only 13 left!

    The captivating Sunday Times bestseller from the author of The FamiliarsTwo women, bound by a child, and a secret that will change everything . . ....

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    Below the Big Blue Sky by Anna McPartlin

    Only 3 left!

    Brilliant, funny and immensely moving' Catherine Isaac, author of You, Me, Everything 'Well, that was a tearjerker! Anna McPartlin's Below the Big ...

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    The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri

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    THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLER FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE HUGELY ANTICIPATED SONGBIRDS. INCLUDES A FREE CHAPTER. A RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB CHOICE 202...

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Creative, formula-bending, genre-defying, character-focused, and most importantly, a literary exploration of the human condition—contemporary & modern literary fiction is arguably the most experimental genre within literature.

The landscape of literary fiction is constantly being revolutionised by literary fiction authors; that are known to constantly push the boundaries of genre fiction and blur the lines of distinction between literary fiction and other genres of literature.

Given the creative ambiguity of contemporary literary fiction; the genre witnesses a dazzling lineup of highly acclaimed debuts and fresh progressive voices each year. From trailblazing memoirs to the cultural history of humanity—no other genre captures the exactness of our collective life experience more creatively than literary fiction.

The list of bestselling literary fiction is an exciting mix of very distinct literary techniques and contrasting voices. Precisely why, we at Books2Door bring you and a carefully curated collection of the best literary fiction books of all time whilst also helping you gain an acute understanding of what qualifies as modern & literary fiction.

Formula-bending, genre-defying, and experimental

Modern and Contemporary Literary Fiction or experimental fiction is possibly the literature’s most rebellious genre. It doesn’t follow any literary formulas, nor does it adhere to any rules. In that, literary fiction authors are free to build an unpredictable narrative. Anything can transpire; exciting or unnerving. In literary fiction, any established literary theme can be turned on its head. For instance, literary fiction authors have challenged the good-triumphs-over-evil theme; so common otherwise in genre fiction books.

George Orwell’s social satire Nineteen Eighty-Four is one example. A book best categorised as dystopian literature; (remember the recently trending hashtag #makeorwellfictionagain ?) Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four not only challenged the good vs evil theme but also blurred the lines of distinction between genre fiction and classic literary fiction.

Employees creative storytelling

Considering literary fiction doesn’t adhere to any rules of genre or sub-genre; every literary fiction author is free to be creative and create his own rules. This makes the storyline an adventure, that can take its readers by surprise.

Devoid of any rules, the literary fiction writer is free to break convention and employ his creativity. This practice has birthed some extraordinary literary works. For example, Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife where Niffenegger’s uses dual narrators from the first person point of view, in the present tense.

Thought-provoking and introspective

Like we said earlier, no other genre captures the exactness of the human condition and our collective life experience more creatively than literary fiction. Whilst most genres are designed to entertain the readers, literary fiction is meant to do more than that. Literary fiction seeks to make sense of the world. It is meant to be thought-provoking, and introspective and is meant to push the reader to think critically of the human condition.

Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, for instance, explores the mind of a depressed, anxious, and neurotic young woman. Whilst the book has a coming-of-age plot line; it is the inner dialogue of this character that truly makes it a memorable book. This strong character study is what makes literary fiction a character-focused and introspective genre.

Explores the human condition

Stories in literary fiction do not shy away from dealing with difficult subjects and the realities of the human condition with artistic honesty. Literary fiction, therefore, is not always designed to help the reader escape. It can make the reader uncomfortable and push them to think about issues.

Literary fiction however is not non-fiction; so it doesn’t just report the truth. Instead, it relies on creative techniques and artsy symbolism to convey a deeper meaning. Literary fiction relies on metaphors and creative storytelling to convey meaningful messages. As a result, the takeaway from these stories is more than just the story, the takeaway is the experience, the message, and at times the characters.

Literary fiction is character-driven

Whilst genre fiction is focused on the story, plotlines, and on being an engaging read; literary fiction is more stressed on the characters or on conveying a meaningful message or idea. At times, it is focused on both. The characters in literary fiction can have layers, the depth of a character's actions and psyche are explored to forward the plot. Literary fiction doesn’t just show a character’s story, it shows how their actions and circumstances change the character.

Literary fiction can be as absurd and ambiguous as life itself

Literary fiction is experimental in nature much like absurd art, which means it doesn’t have to have a happy ending or an ending at all. Art movements like absurdism, dadaism and surrealism, are all, artsy cousins of experimental prose.

Literary fiction gives writers the liberty to let a story end abruptly or for the entire plot to be absurd. Stories in this genre don’t necessarily have to resolve but they have to have meaning. The meaning however is left to the reader’s interpretation.

Literary fiction is good for the reader

Because literary fiction pushes boundaries, employs a unique perspective, searches for meaning, and is designed for intellectual and emotional stimulus--it is much like the art you see hanging in galleries and the movies that bring meaningful conversations alive. Just like artsy movies and art itself, the creative genius of literary fiction is largely open to criticism. Some of the best contemporary literary fiction books have won critical acclaim and awards but missed out on winning the masses.

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