If you liked
Books like The Heart's Invisible Furies
by John Boyne
The Heart's Invisible Furies follows one gay man across seventy years of twentieth-century Ireland, from a shamed birth to hard-won peace, told with John Boyne's mix of wit and heartbreak. It is funny, sweeping and devastating. If you want more big-hearted novels about a whole difficult life, these are the reads.
The shortlist
What to read next
A Little Lifeby Hanya Yanagihara
“A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara 2015 review. Four college friends in New York, slowly narrowing onto Jude St. Francis and what childhood trauma does to the rest of an adult life. Man Booker Prize shortlist and the most-discussed contemporary American doorstop.”
Shuggie Bainby Douglas Stuart
“Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart 2020 review. A young boy navigates childhood with his alcoholic mother in 1980s post-industrial Glasgow. Booker Prize winner.”
Small Things Like Theseby Claire Keegan
“Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan 2021 review. A 1985 Irish coal merchant discovers what's happening at the local Magdalene laundry. Booker Prize shortlist.”
The Great Believersby Rebecca Makkai
“The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai 2018 review. Two parallel narratives - Yale in the 1980s AIDS crisis in Chicago and Fiona in 2015 Paris. National Book Award finalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist 2019.”
A Prayer for Owen Meanyby John Irving
“A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving 1989 review. Johnny Wheelwright narrates his friendship with Owen Meany, a tiny child convinced he is God's instrument, across decades. Irving's canonical work.”
Cutting for Stoneby Abraham Verghese
“Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese 2009 review. Twin brothers are born in 1954 Addis Ababa to a secret affair between a nun and a surgeon. Verghese's first major novel and one of the canonical contemporary American literary novels of medicine.”
FAQ
Common questions about The Heart's Invisible Furies read-alikes
- I want the emotional intensity pushed further.
- A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara traces a group of friends into adulthood and takes the pain to its limit. It shares the queer friendship and the lifelong arc, with far less comic relief. Brace yourself.
- I want more queer coming-of-age against a hostile world.
- Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (working-class Glasgow) and The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (the Chicago AIDS crisis) both handle the same subject with tenderness and weight. Boyne's Irish setting sits comfortably beside them.
- I want more Irish fiction.
- Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan is the short, radiant one, a coal merchant's act of conscience in a small Irish town. Quieter than Boyne, but the moral seriousness and the setting carry over.
- I want the whole-life sweep with humor and heart.
- A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving and Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese both follow characters across the decades with the same blend of comedy and grief. Either delivers the long, generous arc that gives The Heart's Invisible Furies its power.
The original