Books like “Great Expectations”

What to read after “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
The Red and the Black
Stendhal · 1830
Same genre: “Bildungsroman”
An ambitious young man from a poor family claws his way into high society, first through the church and then through his charm. Torn between two women and his own hunger for status, he risks everything. A novel about ambition, class and love.
2
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald · 1925
Similar plot moves: “Rags to Riches” and “Star-Crossed Lovers”
- Rags to Riches
- Star-Crossed Lovers
Long Island, the 1920s. Nick Carraway becomes neighbour to the wealthy, secretive Jay Gatsby, who throws lavish parties for a single purpose: to win back Nick's cousin Daisy, married to the brutish Tom Buchanan.
3
The Mysteries of Udolpho
Ann Radcliffe · 1794
Similar setting: “Gothic Manor”
- Gothic Manor
- Star-Crossed Lovers
After her parents die, Emily St. Aubert is left to the care of an aunt who marries an Italian nobleman. Taken to the gloomy castle of Udolpho, she is surrounded by unexplained sounds, sealed rooms and sinister men, while she tries to keep her love and her safety.
4
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë · 1847
Same genre: “Bildungsroman”
- Gothic Manor
- Coming of Age
An orphan becomes a governess at the brooding Thornfield Hall. A bond grows between her and its stern master, but the house hides a dangerous secret that threatens the life she is beginning to hope for.
5
Atonement
Ian McEwan · 2001
Similar plot moves: “Star-Crossed Lovers” and “Coming of Age”
- Star-Crossed Lovers
- Coming of Age
On one summer day in 1935, a girl misreads what she sees and tells a lie that destroys two lives. Years later, as war looms, she tries to understand and atone for what she did. A novel about memory, guilt and the stories we tell to survive.
6
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Anne Brontë · 1848
Same genre: “Bildungsroman”
- Gothic Manor
A young widow, Helen Graham, moves into the half-ruined Wildfell Hall and keeps to herself, refusing to explain her past. The farmer Gilbert Markham falls for her, then hears rumours about her and her son. Helen's hidden diary slowly reveals the marriage she fled and why she lives in hiding.
7
Vanity Fair
William Makepeace Thackeray · 1848
Similar plot moves: “Rags to Riches”
- Rags to Riches
Becky Sharp, clever and poor, leaves school determined to climb London society by any means available. Beside her is her gentle friend Amelia, whose love for a vain soldier leads her toward ruin. The novel follows the two women through marriages, debts and reversals, always with an ironic eye on ambition.
8
The Secret Garden
Frances Hodgson Burnett · 1911
Similar setting: “Gothic Manor”
- Gothic Manor
- Coming of Age
Orphaned and sent to a gloomy Yorkshire house, Mary Lennox finds little to like until a robin leads her to a walled garden locked for years. With a local boy and her sickly cousin she brings the garden back to life, and the sadness buried in the house begins slowly to lift.
9
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston · 1937
Same genre: “Bildungsroman”
- Star-Crossed Lovers
- Coming of Age
Janie Crawford tells her friend the story of her life: three marriages, a long search for love and independence, and the storm that changes everything. Set in the Black towns and farms of Florida, the novel follows her from a silent girl to a woman who speaks for herself.
10
Oliver Twist
Charles Dickens · 1838
Same genre: “Bildungsroman”
- Rags to Riches
- Coming of Age
An orphan raised in a workhouse runs away to London, where the thief Fagin takes him into a band of child pickpockets. Kind strangers try to rescue him while the criminals want him back for their own plans. The novel follows his search for a home and the mystery of his birth.
11
The Woman in White
Wilkie Collins · 1859
Similar setting: “Gothic Manor”
- Gothic Manor
Walking home one night, Walter Hartright meets a terrified woman dressed all in white. Her story draws him into the household of Limmeridge and a conspiracy of forged identities, hidden marriages and a locked asylum, as he tries to uncover what happened to her.
12
Uncle Silas
J. Sheridan Le Fanu · 1864
Similar setting: “Gothic Manor”
- Gothic Manor
Orphaned heiress Maud Ruthyn is sent to Bartram-Haugh, the remote house of her uncle Silas, a man once suspected of murder. Isolated there with him, his strange son and a governess, she slowly realises the household is closing in on her.