As Novellas in November is starting, I thought I’d recommend some novellas you might like to read. And after jotting down a few, I thought… would I be able to make a whole alphabet of them? Without repeating any authors? And, reader, I did. (Almost.)
I’m delighted that this A-Z isn’t just a list of novellas – it’s a list of excellent novellas. I was determined not to sacrifice quality, and I would happily press any of these into your hands and assure you of a brilliant time.
Happy reading! Do let me know if you’ve read any, or if you’re tempted to. You can find reviews of most of them in the review archive, or by searching in the search bar.
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
I find McEwan quite variable, but this book about the friendship between a composer and journalist – both lovers of a woman whose funeral is in the opening pages – is a page-turner of a dark comedy.
Blue Postcards by Douglas Bruton
Told in 500 vignettes, Blue Postcards covers Yves Klein, Henri the tailor, and the narrator some decades later. It is well-researched, but told with a lovely looseness and freedom.
City of Glass by Paul Auster
The first of three novellas that make up The New York Trilogy, it’s also my favourite. A postmodern play on detective fiction, the protagonist is a detective novelist who gets a call asking if he is Paul Auster and, under that name, investigates a future murder. It is playful and odd, and extremely satisfying.
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
Another book in vignettes, this tells the story of a relationship – from dating to marriage to a lost pregnancy to a child to an affair. Somehow these stray fragments give us incredible depth of character.
Echo by Violet Trefusis
Translated from French, Echo is a fun, mischievous story of love and feuds in a Scottish castle that develops into a fablesque tone.
Follow Your Heart by Susanna Tamaro
One of my favourite discoveries this year, the novella is in the form of a grandmother writing to her absent granddaughter – but, like Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead, this is really just a way of telling us about everything in the world of these fascinating women.
Gentleman Overboard by Herbert Clyde Lewis
Henry Standish falls off a ship into the sea. And then the rest of the novella concerns the hours afterwards – as Standish is adrift in the ocean, and the passengers carry on with their lives. Lewis presents it all with true psychological acumen.
The Heir by Vita Sackville-West
A romance – where one of the lovers is a house. Having inherited an enormous home he can’t afford, the main character is keen to sell – but, as the point of losing the house grows nearer, he realises he can’t be parted from it. A beautiful example of how important home can be.
Ignorance by Milan Kundera
Translated from French, the novella opens with a Czech woman being asked why she is staying in France after her affair with a Frenchman is over – and Kundera uses it as a jumping-off point to explore the concept of nostalgia. As usual with Kundera, he swims and dashes all over the place, with The Odyssey and composer Arnold Schoenberg the points he often returns to.
A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence
A masterpiece of melancholy literature. Rachel lives with her mother in the small Canadian town where she grew up, feeling alone and hopeless. Into that world steps a man she used to know at school, and she begins to hope for the future – all the while doubting the security of these hopes.
A Kind Man by Susan Hill
What if a man had the power to miraculously cure people? Hill went through a period of writing short, powerful, parable-esque novellas, and this has a wry beauty and poignancy to it.
The Love Child by Edith Olivier
Up there with my all-time favourite novellas, The Love Child is about a childless spinster who accidentally conjures her imaginary childhood best friend into life – beginning a path of wish-fulfilment that descends into a power struggle. A brilliant slant on the ‘surplus women’ problem of the 1920s.
The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono
Almost a short story, this French classic is an allegory about a man who plants trees, as the title suggests. The very simplicity of the story is what is so striking. My edition (not the one pictured above) has sumptuous woodcuts by Michael McCurdy.
No Mama No by Verity Bargate
Don’t be put off by the terrible title – this isn’t a misery memoir. Instead, it is the sharp cry of a woman who hates having young sons – or, rather, hates the identity it has forced on her. Her only freedom is a parallel life where she pretends her sons are daughters. Sprase, odd, and breathtaking prose.
The Only Problem by Muriel Spark
Only Muriel Spark would bring together a theologian writing about the Book of Job with a story about a terrorist organisation. It’s quintessential Spark – strange, spiky, beguiling. You’ll see The Driver’s Seat recommended a lot this month, I’m sure, but it’s worth remembering how wide and deep her talents are.
Portait of Jennie by Robert Nathan
I think this could just sneak into novella territory – I certainly read it in one go, sat on a bench in Washington DC. An artist starts painting portraits of a young girl he meets in the park – but every time he meets her, she has somehow aged several years. A compelling fantasy book in Nathan’s usual readable, affectionate style.
Q’s Legacy by Helene Hanff
Ok, it’s non-fiction, but Q is tricky, ok? It tells of the aftermath of 84, Charing Cross Road – the book’s success, adaptation onto stage, and the consequent whirlwind of fame Hanff experienced.
The Red House by E. Nesbit
Sadly there isn’t a decent edition of this around – my attempts to get it into the British Library Women Writers series have proved fruitless – but it’s a fun novel about a novelist who suspects her house might be haunted, as well as dealing with other domestic inconveniences. It is chiefly notable for some of her more-famous children’s book characters popping up as cameos.
The Skin Chairs by Barbara Comyns
Another one the British Library said no to, actually! Comyns is as strange and matter-of-fact as ever in her coming-of-age tale populated by bizarre and often dangerous characters – and, yes, a group of chairs covered in human skin.
Three To See The King by Magnus Mills
Mills’ books are always a clever mix of surreal and everyday, so that you feel disoriented but don’t quite know why. One of his best is about houses that turn up at long distances in a desert, and what is going on with a curious and charismatic newcomer in the district.
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
What would the Queen read? A fun tale about Queen Elizabeth II getting obsessed with books – starting with Ivy Compton-Burnett, which is often how people first come across her now, it seems.
Valentino by Natalia Ginzburg
Translated from Italian, and coming in at a mere 62pp, Ginzburg gets a whole world into Valentino – a world of resentment, pride, stubbornness and intrigue amongst a family.
Who Will Run The Frog Hospital? by Lorrie Moore
Not a great title, but a very good novella about girls Berie and Sils who work together at a sort of theme park, whose friendship splinters when Sils believes herself ready for adult life. It’s all told from the perspective of Berie in the future, which gives an added poignancy to the story.
X… ok, I had to give up on X. I did my best. I’m so sorry!
Yellow by Janni Visman
Stella is agoraphobic and neurotic, and Visman’s sparse narrative tells of her growing paranoia and attempts to control it. Hitchcockian and powerful.
Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm
Imagine a woman so beautiful that a whole bunch of undegraduates drown themselves. Beerbohm has a lot of fun with this OTT parable of beauty and infatuation.
So, there you have it! A slightly incomplete alphabet of brilliant novellas. I do hope it has inspired you with something to read this November.
Bravo Simon well done with your (nearly) whole alphabet of novellas. My tbr is toppling again but I can always make an extra pile! I already have Listen to my Voice and Follow your Heart by Tamaro in my pile and have just reserved The Man who Planted Trees and The Heir as I loved the descriptions of those so much. That will teach me to start reading a 400 pager in the last week of October!
I loved The Man Who Planted Trees! Wonderful story. You’ll love it!
Thank you for that endorsement Linda. I will look forward to reading it all the more.
Thanks Sarah! I feel sure you’ll love The Heir particularly.
Just popping back to say you were right and thank you for highlighting The Heir; I have just finished it (sneaking another in for novellas in November) and I did indeed love it!
I have reserved the Susan Hill “A KIND MAN” from the library and 2 others by her.So thank you for reminding me of her.
I cannot believe THE SKIN CHAIRS was rejected for re printing –I tried to buy this and could not find a copy about 6 months ago.I read it 20 years ago and thought it was worthy of a reprint if anything was.
It has certainly become a scarcity in recent years – I’d love someone to bring it back.
I love this – If you don’t mind I might try it for myself… I have read and loved a good handful of your picks.
I’m so glad you made your own alphabet!
The Age of Grief by Jane Smiley would fit on this list. And I am not sure how far you are going back, but Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Anne Porter.
I think the oldest on this list is probably Zuleika Dobson, from 1911.
What a fabulous list Simon – so many on there I love, particularly the Bruton and Gentleman Overboard. Just goes to show you can create works of genius without them being chunksters!!
Novellas really show an author’s abilities – and may be my favourite literary form.
I have read my books for this year’s Novellas in November, but I hope I remember this list next year!
That’s the good thing about novellas – easy to sneak another one (or dozen)!
What a fun post! I’ve read eight of your 25, and have made note of several to look for. I love a good novella and admire authors who can tell a compelling story in a relatively few pages.
Thanks Grier! Yes, it shows such talent when they can get a whole world in.
What a brilliant post!
Thanks so much!
Wow! What a great post. Haven’t read any of these so adding a few to my wishlist.
Such a fun way of approaching this topic, Simon, especially as you managed to cover almost every letter! I love the Comyns and the Ginzburg, and that Muriel Spark sounds very tempting. Lots of food for thought here!
Spark did SO many wonderful novellas! In fact only a couple of her books were longer, and they’re among her worst IMO. She moved around the alphabet until I had a gap to fill, but I nearly chose Symposium.
What an achivement – and so many brilliant novellas!
I’ve not read the Trefusis, it sounds fun!
It has been a long time, but I remember finding it SUCH an enjoyable read.
Thank u for doing all this categorizing for us. Wonderful. My all time fav will always be Uncommon Reader. Gives lovely presentation of the meaning of reading for some. I give this bk to everyone since most folks don’t seem to read, figure they might manage to enjoy this warm story, full of humanity, understanding n love of reading. Thank u as always
I must have read it at least three times – such a fun, lively time.
This is brilliant and I didn’t know about Q so thank you for that especially!
You’re welcome! People talk about Duchess of Bloomsbury more, but I definitely preferred Q’s Legacy.
This is awesome — thanks so much! I’ve read 6 of your picks. And by chance, I just started Q’s Legacy last night.
Wow! What a remarkable present to November. As I read through the list, so many unknown, I realized– I love recommendations. I’ve marked many with an X, so there X is accounted for.
This looks like an interesting list. I have only read “The Uncommon Reader” (great book) but a few novels by some of the other authors. I’ll have a look into the others. Thanks a lot.
Excellent post! I didn’t realise that about The Red House (I have an ebook of it I’m sure).
Brilliant!
I have only read 3!
I loved the Uncommon Reader. I lent it out and didn’t get it back – you’ve inspired me to get another copy.
What an awesome list! I’m very tempted by The Kind Man
I’m always on the lookout for a good short read, so thanks for this! I also recommend Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton and Up at the Villa by W. Somerset Maugham, two of my all-time favorites.
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Simon, I love The Red House! Tell the Brit Library that I will buy it if they publish it . Yes, I am THE mad E. Nesbit fan in the U.S. And how could we not love the Bastables popping in? (At least I think it’s the Bastables; it’s been a while.) The POV editions are very disappointing. I do have it on my e-reader, but I much prefer a good book.
Great list of novellas!