Books like…

Books Like The Casual Vacancy

by J.K. Rowling · about this book

Loved The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling? If its multiple pov, small town and literary fiction hooked you, these 20 books hit the same notes — starting with The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Middlemarch and The Book of Ruth. Every pick is matched by what’s actually inside the book, not just its genre, and we skip other books by the same author so you find someone new.

What’s inside The Casual Vacancy: Multiple POV · Small Town · Literary Fiction · Ensemble Cast · Character-Driven

1. 

   The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

   Carson McCullers

   Omniscient Narrator · Ensemble Cast · Classism · Small Town · Bleak

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2. 

   Middlemarch

   George Eliot

   Omniscient Narrator · Classism · Small Town · Political Corruption · Ensemble Cast

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3. 

   The Book of Ruth

   Jane Hamilton

   Neglect · Toxic Family Dynamics · Bleak · Death of a Friend · Character-Driven

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4. 

   Infinite Jest

   David Foster Wallace

   Ensemble Cast · Toxic Family Dynamics · Addiction · Bleak · Multiple POV

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5. 

   Bleak House

   Charles Dickens

   Omniscient Narrator · Political Corruption · Classism · Ensemble Cast · Character-Driven

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6. 

   The Slap

   Christos Tsiolkas

   Toxic Family Dynamics · Ensemble Cast · Classism · Substance Abuse · Multiple POV

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7. 

   Trainspotting

   Irvine Welsh

   Death of a Friend · Classism · Multiple POV · Bleak · Addiction

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8. 

   Bastard Out of Carolina

   Dorothy Allison

   Neglect · Classism · Toxic Family Dynamics · Bleak · Character-Driven

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9. 

   Nineteen Minutes

   Jodi Picoult

   Death of a Friend · Toxic Family Dynamics · Bullying · Small Town · Multiple POV

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10. 

    Fallout

    Ellen Hopkins

    Neglect · Toxic Family Dynamics · Bleak · Character-Driven · Multiple POV

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11. 

    We Were the Mulvaneys

    Joyce Carol Oates

    Toxic Family Dynamics · Classism · Bleak · Character-Driven · Bullying

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12. 

    Cannery Row

    John Steinbeck

    Omniscient Narrator · Ensemble Cast · Bleak · Small Town · Literary Fiction

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13. 

    I am Charlotte Simmons

    Tom Wolfe

    Classism · Omniscient Narrator · Substance Abuse · Bullying · Ensemble Cast

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14. 

    Dead Souls

    Nikolai Gogol

    Omniscient Narrator · Classism · Political Corruption · Ensemble Cast · Character-Driven

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15. 

    Ham on Rye

    Charles Bukowski

    Bullying · Addiction · Toxic Family Dynamics · Classism · Bleak

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16. 

    Brave New World / Brave New World Revisited

    Aldous Huxley

    Classism · Omniscient Narrator · Bleak · Substance Abuse · Ensemble Cast

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17. 

    An American Tragedy

    Theodore Dreiser

    Omniscient Narrator · Classism · Bleak · Literary Fiction · Toxic Family Dynamics

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18. 

    Catch-22

    Joseph Heller

    Omniscient Narrator · Death of a Friend · Political Corruption · Ensemble Cast · Bleak

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19. 

    Valley of the Dolls

    Jacqueline Susann

    Classism · Omniscient Narrator · Addiction · Ensemble Cast · Multiple POV

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20. 

    Everything I Never Told You

    Celeste Ng

    Omniscient Narrator · Toxic Family Dynamics · Bleak · Multiple POV · Literary Fiction

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