If you liked
Books like Rules of Civility
by Amor Towles
Rules of Civility is Amor Towles's glittering debut: a smart, watchful young woman navigates the social ladders of 1938 New York across a single pivotal year. It has all the wit and polish that later made A Gentleman in Moscow beloved. If you want more elegant, character-driven period fiction, read on.
The shortlist
What to read next
A Gentleman in Moscowby Amor Towles
“A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 2016 review. Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced in 1922 to lifelong house arrest at the Hotel Metropol. Towles's second novel and one of the most consistently recommended contemporary American literary commercial titles of the past decade.”
The Lincoln Highwayby Amor Towles
“The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles 2021 review. An eighteen-year-old released from juvenile detention in 1954 plans to drive west with his brother. Two escaped inmates have other plans. Towles's third novel.”
Table for Twoby Amor Towles
“Table for Two by Amor Towles 2024 review. Six New York stories and the Eve in Hollywood novella that continues Rules of Civility into 1938 Los Angeles. Towles's first short-fiction collection.”
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugoby Taylor Jenkins Reid
“The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid 2017 review. An aging Hollywood icon agrees to tell the true story of her career and her seven marriages, but only to an unknown journalist. The TikTok-era literary fiction novel that defined contemporary Hollywood-memoir-fiction.”
The Dutch Houseby Ann Patchett
“The Dutch House by Ann Patchett 2019 review. A brother and sister exiled from their childhood home park on the curb across the street for fifty years. Pulitzer Prize finalist.”
The Vanishing Halfby Brit Bennett
“The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett 2020 review. Identical twin sisters from a small light-skinned Black Louisiana town diverge in the 1960s: one returns with her daughter, the other passes for white in California. Bennett's second novel and one of the canonical 2020s American literary novels.”
FAQ
Common questions about Rules of Civility read-alikes
- I want more Amor Towles.
- A Gentleman in Moscow is the essential one, his beloved novel of a count under house arrest in a grand hotel. Table for Two returns to a Rules of Civility character, and The Lincoln Highway is his 1950s road novel. All three share the wit and craft.
- I want a glamorous story about a woman making her own way.
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid follows a mid-century starlet controlling her own myth in an industry built to use her up. Same period sparkle, more melodrama.
- I want literary fiction about class and reinvention.
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and The Dutch House by Ann Patchett both turn on identity, class, and the lives people build or leave behind. Both share Rules of Civility's interest in who we become.
- Which comes closest to the tone?
- A Gentleman in Moscow, without question. It is the fullest expression of the erudite, gently optimistic voice that Rules of Civility introduced.
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