10 books like A Private Disgrace

By Victoria Lincoln,

Here are 10 books that authors have personally recommended if you like A Private Disgrace. Shepherd is a community of 8,000+ authors sharing their favorite books with the world.

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City of Thieves

By David Benioff,

Book cover of City of Thieves

Christie Nelson Author Of Beautiful Illusion

From the list on life and love in San Francisco as the world quakes.

Who am I?

I tend to see the events that affect people and countries in the shape of a narrative. Is it any wonder then that I would try my hand at literary fiction, which confers wholeness to stories of turmoil and division? I think not. Finally settling into historical fiction as if I’d found my true home came as a welcome surprise. Without sounding grandiose, it didn’t hurt to be born and raised in a magnificent American city built on seven hills on the edge of the Pacific with deep traditions in literature, music, the arts, and damn good drinking establishments. I wish you happy reading and the thrill of discovery.

Christie's book list on life and love in San Francisco as the world quakes

Discover why each book is one of Christie's favorite books.

Why did Christie love this book?

City of Thieves occupies the top shelf in my library. Why? Is it because now I’m watching the people of Ukraine battle a merciless enemy or because David Benioff has packed a tale that swings between unlikely comrades, a tender courtship, and the Nazis’ siege of Leningrad in WWII? Maybe both answers. But I read this book years ago. The deep humanity of the story is also a thriller that made me laugh and shudder through its short length of 258 pages. It doesn’t hurt that Benioff is a gifted screenwriter, too.

City of Thieves

By David Benioff,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked City of Thieves as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the critically acclaimed author of The 25th Hour and When the Nines Roll Over and co-creator of the HBO series Game of Thrones, a captivating novel about war, courage, survival - and a remarkable friendship that ripples across a lifetime.

During the Nazis' brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful Soviet colonel to use in…


Piranesi

By Susanna Clarke,

Book cover of Piranesi

Vajra Chandrasekera Author Of The Saint of Bright Doors

From the list on feeling lost and obsessed by a haunted world.

Who am I?

I’m Vajra Chandrasekera, from Colombo, Sri Lanka. I’m a writer, and more importantly, a reader. My favourite kind of book is bigger on the inside, the kind that drops you into a world too big and too weird to really get a handle on, a world that’s strange in ways you feel you recognize, like how sometimes you wake up from a dream and think, I’ve dreamed about that place and those people before, but you can’t tell if you have, or whether you dreamed the memory, too. You read the book and look at the world and you ask yourself: Did I dream those people, that place? Or is this the dream?

Vajra's book list on feeling lost and obsessed by a haunted world

Discover why each book is one of Vajra's favorite books.

Why did Vajra love this book?

A house that is not a house but a world; a drowning, empty, echoing world with one lonely, endearingly innocent wanderer, endless statues, occasional birds—and the remains of the dead.

Dreamlike but lucid, sharp enough to cut, Piranesi is a relatively slim book (you could read it in one deeply absorbed afternoon) but the world it evokes is vast.

It sounds like distant seabirds as heard from a dark room, and it tastes salty, like blood or the sea.

Piranesi

By Susanna Clarke,

Why should I read it?

10 authors picked Piranesi as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Winner of the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction
A SUNDAY TIMES & NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The spectacular new novel from the bestselling author of JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL, 'one of our greatest living authors' NEW YORK MAGAZINE
__________________________________
Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has.

In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend,…


The Night Bell

By Inger Ash Wolfe,

Book cover of The Night Bell

Laurie Loewenstein Author Of Funeral Train

From the list on immersive settings of time and place.

Who am I?

Even though I have not lived in the Midwest for fifty years, I remain a Midwesterner. It is in how I speak (adding an “r” to wash), what I like to eat (Cincinnati chili), and explains my favorite smell (the inside of a barn). Both as a reader and writer, I want to know where the story is “from.” What does this place look like? Smell like? What is the cadence of the characters’ speech? All this translates into an immersive experience and that is something I look for both in a book I pick up and in one I write. 

Laurie's book list on immersive settings of time and place

Discover why each book is one of Laurie's favorite books.

Why did Laurie love this book?

Hazel Micaellef, 62, a police officer in a small town in Ontario, is divorced, overweight, has back problems, and drinks too much. I am from a small town and divorced. Liquor is not my vice. I am, however, completely at home in the fictional and slightly seedy Port Dumas where locals have long memories. When human bones are found on land that formerly housed orphans, many of the town’s ugly secrets bubble up. The plot is complex and the setting immersive. I would not necessarily want to live in a place like Port Dumas…but I have.

The Night Bell

By Inger Ash Wolfe,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Night Bell as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The new novel in this acclaimed series is brilliantly paced, addictively suspenseful—the author's best yet. Hazel Micallef (played by Susan Sarandon in the recent film of the series' debut, The Calling) has become one of crime writing's most memorable detectives. The Night Bell moves between the past and the present in Port Dundas, Ontario, as two mysteries converge. A discovery of the bones of murdered children is made on land that was once a county foster home. Now it's being developed as a brand new subdivision whose first residents are already railing against broken promises and corruption. But when three…


Metropolis

By Philip Kerr,

Book cover of Metropolis

Nina Wachsman Author Of The Gallery of Beauties

From the list on a peak into the world of art and artists.

Who am I?

Having taken up the brush myself, I can attest to some sort of mystical, out-of-body experience that sometimes surfaces as an artist creates. Emotions and senses become directly connected to one’s hands, releasing the unconscious, allowing the artist to bring something to life that was buried deep inside. My favorite class in art school was Aesthetics, which explored the philosophy of art – what possessed the artist to paint – and what passions and beliefs were behind some of the art movements, including Surrealism, Dadaism, and Futurism. Books that delve into the craft and passion behind great works of art are my favorite reads.

Nina's book list on a peak into the world of art and artists

Discover why each book is one of Nina's favorite books.

Why did Nina love this book?

This is the last Bernie Gunther novel, in a series that is über noir, and whose protagonist is a police detective who is a member of the SS in Nazi Germany. 

In Metropolis, Gunther learns that murder has become the subject of an art movement, Lustmord, or “lust murders” which focused on the brutal, sexual-tinged serial killings of women and prostitutes in 1930s Berlin.

A scene in the book of a famous German expressionist sketching a murder victim in the morgue is all the more chilling, since I know it to be true. I’ve been fascinated with the art movements of this era, and have seen the exhibits of Lustmord paintings, which are still in museums today. 

Metropolis

By Philip Kerr,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Metropolis as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"[Metropolis is] a perfect goodbye--and first hello--to its hero...Bernie Gunther has, at last, come home."--Washington Post

New York Times-bestselling author Philip Kerr treats readers to his beloved hero's origins, exploring Bernie Gunther's first weeks on Berlin's Murder Squad.

Summer, 1928. Berlin, a city where nothing is verboten.

In the night streets, political gangs wander, looking for fights. Daylight reveals a beleaguered populace barely recovering from the postwar inflation, often jobless, reeling from the reparations imposed by the victors. At central police HQ, the Murder Commission has its hands full. A killer is on the loose and though he scatters many…


One August Morning

By Troy Taylor,

Book cover of One August Morning

Sylvia Shults Author Of Days of the Dead: A Year of True Ghost Stories

From the list on for paranormal enthusiasts.

Who am I?

I've been a paranormal investigator (a paranormal reporter, actually) for over a decade. One of the very best parts of my job is that I get to gorge myself on books of true accounts of the paranormal. It's exciting to see what else is out there, and what other people have experienced – both historically, and personally. I'm so grateful for the chance to add to this body of work; there are many renowned investigators and writers out there, and I'm thrilled to be counted among them. And someday, someone will read about my experiences and be terrified and intrigued and inspired by them.

Sylvia's book list on for paranormal enthusiasts

Discover why each book is one of Sylvia's favorite books.

Why did Sylvia love this book?

There have been loads of books written about Lizzie Borden, but very few that I have enjoyed as much as this one. It's brilliantly well-written and extremely accurate. Taylor does a thorough job of explaining the history and circumstances that led to the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden. Plus, he puts forth a theory on who the killer was, a theory that a), I had not heard before, and b), makes a whole lot of sense. When I do presentations on the Borden murders, this is the book I always recommend people read for a detailed look at the crime. 

One August Morning

By Troy Taylor,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked One August Morning as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

ONE AUGUST MORNING THE TRUE STORY OF LIZZIE BORDEN BY TROY TAYLOR LIZZIE BORDEN TOOK AN AXE... OR DID SHE? Lizzie Borden is a name that has lived in infamy. As everyone knows, she's the young woman who "took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks" and then "gave her father 41." Everyone seems to know the rhyme, but most people don't know the truth behind the grim story of one of America's most famous unsolved murders. In this new entry in the "Dead Men Do Tell Tales" series, author Troy Taylor delves into the true story of the…


The Trial of Lizzie Borden

By Cara Robertson,

Book cover of The Trial of Lizzie Borden

Robert Wilhelm Author Of So Far from Home: The Pearl Bryan Murder

From the list on murder in America’s Gilded Age.

Who am I?

I have been researching and writing about 19th-century American murders since 2009, and my blog, Murder by Gaslight (murderbygaslight.com), includes illustrated stories of more than 500 murder cases. My book, The Bloody Century: True Tales of Murder in 19th Century America, compiled fifty of the most famous murders. In researching these stories, I prefer to use primary sources such as newspaper articles, pamphlets, and books from the time of the murder. They present the attitudes surrounding the crime without modern analysis and preserve details that tend to disappear over time. My latest book, So Far from Home: The Pearl Bryan Murder, draws almost exclusively from newspaper accounts in 1896 and 1897.

Robert's book list on murder in America’s Gilded Age

Discover why each book is one of Robert's favorite books.

Why did Robert love this book?

The 1892 ax murder of Andrew and Abby Borden has become a staple of American popular culture. Everyone familiar with the case has a firmly held opinion on the guilt or innocence of their daughter Lizzie. There are many theories on what may have happened that day, but we have no way of knowing the whole truth. Then, as today, the best we can do is a trial by jury. The Trial of Lizzie Borden is a detailed and well-researched book presenting evidence, testimony, and events surrounding that momentous trial, leaving the reader with the same question that faced the jury—did Lizzie do it? Though unlikely to change many opinions, it gives the reader a greater understanding of why that jury found Lizzie Borden not guilty.

The Trial of Lizzie Borden

By Cara Robertson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Trial of Lizzie Borden as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE NEW ENGLAND SOCIETY BOOK AWARD

In Cara Robertson’s “enthralling new book,” The Trial of Lizzie Borden, “the reader is to serve as judge and jury” (The New York Times). Based on twenty years of research and recently unearthed evidence, this true crime and legal history is the “definitive account to date of one of America’s most notorious and enduring murder mysteries” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

When Andrew and Abby Borden were brutally hacked to death in Fall River, Massachusetts, in August 1892, the arrest of the couple’s younger daughter Lizzie turned the case into international news and…


Defending Jacob

By William Landay,

Book cover of Defending Jacob

Otis Scarbary Author Of Leo's Redemption

From the list on regional criminal/legal mysteries with a twist.

Who am I?

I’m a southern boy. I practiced law for thirty-five plus years, the last twenty-nine plus as a prosecutor. I loved that time of my life and handled a lot of cases, but it eventually took its toll. I was ready to leave that part of me behind. When I retired, I promised I would let all that go, but I discovered I couldn’t. I started writing because I kept remembering stuff, and I thought I could do a credible job recording it. Writing has helped me to get over it. If you read any of my books, I hope you’ll like them, but I love getting feedback even if you don’t.

Otis' book list on regional criminal/legal mysteries with a twist

Discover why each book is one of Otis' favorite books.

Why did Otis love this book?

This is a legal drama/thriller/mystery that I couldn’t put down. The author does a credible job describing court scenes, but it’s not the thrust of the book. What really grabbed me was the psychological battles going on within the family. When you’re a prosecutor and your son is charged with a hideous crime, how do you handle that horror? Conflicts with your career are only part of it. Like other books on my list, this book was made into a theatrical release and was done credibly on the screen. The resolution of the story was done well, in my opinion, but it leaves you feeling somewhat dissatisfied. Like life, not everything turns out perfect.

Defending Jacob

By William Landay,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked Defending Jacob as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

If your son was on trial for murder, what would you do?

Andy Barber's job is to put killers behind bars. And when a boy from his son Jacob's school is found stabbed to death, Andy is doubly determined to find and prosecute the perpetrator.

Until a crucial piece of evidence turns up linking Jacob to the murder. And suddenly Andy and his wife find their son accused of being a cold-blooded killer.

In the face of every parent's worst nightmare, they will do anything to defend their child. Because, deep down, they know him better than anyone.

Don't they?


See What I Have Done

By Sarah Schmidt,

Book cover of See What I Have Done

Kim Taylor Blakemore Author Of The Companion

From the list on gothic novels for a cold winter’s night.

Who am I?

I’m addicted to Gothics. It started with reading Jane Eyre as a teenager. Gothics have it all – crime, mystery, secrets, lies, atmosphere, dread. I love history, particularly the stories of women’s lives. These are found not in textbooks but unearthed from more private and arcane places – diaries, mill worker records, letters, tintypes. I’m also drawn to writing dangerous women, those who live at the margins and need all their wits to survive. They don’t always stay within the law, and they aren’t always the heroine. I’m the author of The Companion, After Alice Fell, and The Deception (out in October 2022) - historical thrillers with a quite Gothicky edge. Naturally.

Kim's book list on gothic novels for a cold winter’s night

Discover why each book is one of Kim's favorite books.

Why did Kim love this book?

When a friend recommended this book to me, I asked what it was about. Lizzie Borden he said. Which made me sigh and shake my head because I’m not a fan of the Lizzie Borden story. And yet – there was this book. And this book is simply one of the best books I’ve read. Incredible language, tension that twists tighter and tighter, dread that takes away the breath, a complicated family that barely tolerates each other…this is a great gothic read. Dark and haunting and so deliciously good. If you think you know the Lizzie Borden story, you may need to think again.

See What I Have Done

By Sarah Schmidt,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked See What I Have Done as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Haunting, gripping and gorgeously written, SEE WHAT I HAVE DONE by Sarah Schmidt is a re-imagining of the unsolved American true crime case of the Lizzie Borden murders, for fans of BURIAL RITES and MAKING A MURDERER.

'Eerie and compelling' Paula Hawkins
'Stunning' Sunday Times
'Gripping... outstanding' Observer
'Glittering' Irish Times

Just after 11am on 4th August 1892, the bodies of Andrew and Abby Borden are discovered. He's found on the sitting room sofa, she upstairs on the bedroom floor, both murdered with an axe.

It is younger daughter Lizzie who is first on the scene, so it is Lizzie…


The Ninth Daughter

By Barbara Hamilton,

Book cover of The Ninth Daughter

Gloria Oliver Author Of Black Jade

From the list on historical mysteries to enlighten your imagination.

Who am I?

From movies and shows I watched as a child, I've always had a fascination for all things oriental. When I did the research for my first published novel, In the Service of Samurai—a YA fantasy based in feudal Japan, I also fell in love with history. Mysteries have also always been a draw for me, so combining these two loves and the story fodder research brings up, which might not have otherwise presented itself, is like magic. Magic that other authors and I bring to you to enlighten, entertain, and forge connections with the past and present—a pleasure I wish to share with you.  

Gloria's book list on historical mysteries to enlighten your imagination

Discover why each book is one of Gloria's favorite books.

Why did Gloria love this book?

The Ninth Daughter is the first of the Abigail Adams Mysteries by Barbara Hamilton. Yes, that Abigail Adams—wife of John Adams, the second President of the United States. But this series is set before all that, at the cusp of the American Revolution. 

Struggling to be a supporting wife and mother, Abigail runs into trouble when her keen and curious mind finds clues to a serial killer hunting for victims in Boston's streets. 

As discontent continues to rise in the Colonies over England's strangling hold, there is more than one type of danger to contend with. The novel is a fun look at an amazing woman and the chaotic times and views leading the colonies to declare their independence.

The Ninth Daughter

By Barbara Hamilton,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Ninth Daughter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In the Massachusetts Colony, political upheaval turns murderous?a new series featuring First Lady Abigail Adams.

1773: The Massachusetts colony is torn between patriots who want independence from British rule and loyalists who support the King. At the center is the educated and beautiful Abigail Adams?wife of John Adams, the leader of the Sons of Liberty, a secret organization opposing the Crown.

When a murder occurs in the home of their friend and fellow patriot, Rebecca Malvern, John is accused of the gruesome crime, which was seemingly perpetrated to obtain a secret Sons of Liberty document. With both her husband?s good…


Walden

By Henry David Thoreau,

Book cover of Walden: or, Life in the Woods

Bill Laws Author Of Fifty Plants That Changed the Course of History

From the list on backyard veg.

Who am I?

Veg. I grow it; I nurture it; I shield it from cold winds, protect it from voracious pigeons, warm it against sudden frosts. And then I share it with friends, family, and neighbours… and we eat it. In between times I might write something gardeny or historical, but you’ll usually find me back on my veg plot, a little urban allotment in the west of England. I do a lot of reading there too! 

Bill's book list on backyard veg

Discover why each book is one of Bill's favorite books.

Why did Bill love this book?

We backyard veggie growers owe a deep debt of gratitude to the Native Americans who passed on to us their protein-rich maize, squash, potatoes, and beans. One beneficiary was that great contemplative gardener Henry David Thoreau who tended a bean field on the shores of Walden Pond at Concord, Massachusetts. "What shall I learn of beans or beans of me? I cherish them, I hoe them, early and late I have an eye to them and this is my days work," he wrote. He still does not disappoint – even after 160 years. 

Walden

By Henry David Thoreau,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Walden as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Henry David Thoreau is considered one of the leading figures in early American literature, and Walden is without doubt his most influential book.

Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

It recounts the author's experiences living in a small house in the woods around Walden Pond near Concord in Massachusetts. Thoreau constructed the house himself, with the help of a few friends, to see if he could live 'deliberately' - independently and apart from society. The…


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