Assembly
Natasha Brown
A young Black British woman who has done everything right in London finance quietly asks whether the success was ever worth it
Both: Dark · Big city
Books like…
The Bell Jar
Sylvia Plath
A glamorous 1950s New York summer that slowly slides into breakdown
- Classics
- Melancholic
- Dark
- Mental health
- Coming of age
- Big city
- Steady
- Medium read
Top picks
Picks suggested by readers, each with one line on why.
Green Girl
Kate Zambreno
In restless fragments, a young American adrift in London sells perfume and feels like a stranger inside her own pretty life
Both: Melancholic · Mental health · Big city
Content warning
Hangsaman
Shirley Jackson
A clever, aloof 17-year-old leaves her writer father's house for a women's college and slowly loses her hold on what's real
Both: Dark · Mental health · Coming of age
Content warning
My Year of Rest and Relaxation
Ottessa Moshfegh
A young, rich and coldly funny New Yorker with an Ivy degree decides the answer to her emptiness is sleeping for a whole year
Both: Dark · Mental health · Big city
Content warningSee similar →
Cassandra at the Wedding
Dorothy Baker
In 1960s California, a brilliant, self-absorbed grad student drives home to stop her twin sister's wedding and comes undone
Both: Melancholic · Mental health
Content warning
