Introverts and literature make an ideal pairing. Here are six of our favourite novels for readers who love to meet quiet, interior characters. And find even more recommendations by browsing the collection below.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Tormented by grief and longing, Theo clings to the one thing that reminds him of his mother: a small and captivating painting. As he grows up, Theo learns to glide between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love – and his talisman, the painting, draws him into the dangerous art underworld.
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Abandoned by a succession of relatives, orphaned sisters Ruthie and Lucille find themselves in the care of their eccentric aunt Sylvie in their rural home town in Idaho. As Lucille moves out into the world, Ruthie falls further back into her own family’s dark past. Against the stunning backdrop of a bleak wintery landscape in a small desolate town, Marilynne Robinson’s first novel is a powerful portrayal of loss, loneliness and the struggle towards adulthood.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Betty Smith’s sprawling 1943 novel about an immigrant family in early 20th-century Brooklyn is regarded as a modern classic. The Nolan family’s life is poor and deprived, but their sacrifices make it possible for their children to grow up in a land of boundless opportunity. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness.
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1989, The Remains of the Day is Kazuo Ishiguro’s beautiful and haunting evocation of life between the wars in a Great English House. Stevens, the long-serving butler of Darlington Hall, embarks on a leisurely holiday that will take him deep into the countryside, but also into his own past. Reflecting on his years of service, he must re-examine his life in the face of changing Britain, and question whether his dignity and properness have come at a greater cost to himself.
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Cath is in her first year of college and unwillingly living apart from her identical twin Wren for the first time. Cath is horribly shy and has always buried herself in the fan fiction she writes, where she always knows exactly what to say and can write a romance far more intense than anything she’s experienced in real life. Without Wren, she’s also completely on her own and totally outside her comfort zone. She has to decide whether she’s ready to open her heart to new people and new experiences, while staying true to herself. Rowell’s funny and tender romances have rightfully won her a cult following.
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Bernadette Fox is a notorious misanthrope. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she’s a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she’s a disgrace; to design mavens, she’s a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom. When Bernadette disappears, Bee must take a trip to the end of the earth to find her. Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence – creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter’s role in an absurd world.
