Looking for an eclectic collection of books similar to The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah? As an award-winning author and veteran blogger, I’ve spent over a decade reading, analyzing, and recommending the most impactful novels that portray tough topics like domestic abuse with epic storytelling, deeply relatable characters, and dark psychological suspense like that found in The Housemaid.
You’ll find detailed reviews of a dozen of my favorites in the roundup below. I’ve personally curated this collection from my own bookshelves, and I’m confident that these stories will also appeal to you. Some find strong women who struggle against intense, often traumatic situations, including twisted love, while others are historical. Some are set in winter. Some deal with violence and murder.
Junior Missing by Khristina Chess
“He kissed me again and again, and I began bargaining once more with the wind. I vowed to do better and try harder to keep this Quentin who loved me and kept me safe. The Quentin who I loved. Who loved me. Who didn’t treat me badly. Sex was the one place where he was always himself. His very best self. “― Khristina Chess, quote from Junior Missing
Wow! Readers who empathized with Cora and Ernt’s unhealthy love story in The Great Alone will enjoy this one. For me, what makes Junior Missing so special is the slow-boil depiction of how Grace’s forbidden attraction turns into a trap set by an older man who takes her in—and won’t let her go!
The story starts as sixteen-year-old Grace Keegan, darling of the child pageant world with a bright future, is missing. At first, police assume she ran away. But when they find her abandoned phone along the highway, the truth becomes far more terrifying.
No one knows about Quentin Brock—the musician she met online. He’s charming, funny, gorgeous, and perfect.
Until he isn’t. Until she’s kidnapped and trapped in another state with no way out.
I highly recommend this intense, thought-provoking, and morally-complex novel depicts how someone can be so easily manipulated and hurt in a toxic relationship. I couldn’t put it down.
The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton
“I feel like I don't have all the ingredients a person is supposed to have.” ― Jane Hamilton, quote from The Book of Ruth
I first read this novel when it became an Oprah's Book Club pick (a long time ago), and because I remember loving it, I decided to choose it for re-reading. It's funny how a person's taste in books changes over time. This time, I wasn't sure I liked it at all, but by the end, I saw why this book meant so much to me.
Ruth tells the story. From the beginning, she lets the reader know that she's trying to clarify something that happened, and to do that, she goes for a long time on tangents that don't seem to matter that much. It felt slow, but I kept going on the journey with her. A few times, I even went back to re-read that opening paragraph, where Ruth assures me that there's a point to all of this.
Ruth is poor. She lives with a mother who is poor and bitter about her life. Ruth meets and marries Ruby, who is "off", but who Ruth understands and appreciates. There are several other characters in the story who support and love Ruth: her aunt Sid, her boss at the dry cleaning store, her friend Daisy. Ruth shows us a world that is hard but not without beauty. She shows us the good that exists in all people, even in small portions, as well as the bad that's also there in all of us.
I stayed up late finishing the book. Readers who enjoy hard-luck stories about salt-of-earth people like the families in The Great Alone will also enjoy Ruth's story.
It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
“Cycles exist because they are excruciating to break. It takes an astronomical amount of pain and courage to disrupt a familiar pattern. Sometimes it seems easier to just keep running in the same familiar circles, rather than facing the fear of jumping and possibly not landing on your feet. My mother went through it. I went through it. I'll be damned if I allow my daughter to go through it.” ― Colleen Hoover, quote from It Ends With Us
Lily grew up watching her mother suffer from domestic violence, and after meeting the perfect guy, Rile, she finds herself sliding into the exact same pattern of violence.
This bestselling Colleen Hoover book is gut-wrenching. I did not want it to end (and in fact, there is a sequel). No wonder Colleen Hoover is such a popular author! The story between Lily and Ryle is heartbreaking and real, and there is a love triangle thing between the present and the past, between Lily and Atlas and Lily and Ryle, and this adult romance book is just so, so, so good.
The Girl Who Fell by S. M. Parker
“Still, there’s a rumbling in the pit of my stomach telling me I’m missing out on something. Something I wouldn’t have missed for all the world before Alec.” ― S.M. Parker, quote from The Girl Who Fell
In this hypnotic story, Zephyr Doyle falls in love with the wrong boy. Only, he seems like the perfect boy. A boy she's willing to give up everything for: friends, her hockey team, even her future. He's saccharine sweet, but a bit jealous. Creepy. But she can't see his emotional abuse for what it is until it's too late.
I really enjoyed this one and read it quickly. Although I guessed the relationship was doomed (surely?!), I couldn't tell how it would fall apart and was surprised by the twists at the end. Creepy behavior just escalated into more and more aggressive awfulness. It shows how a person can lose herself in a dating relationship that she believes is love.
Purge by Sofi Oksanen
"The only thing left alive was the shame." ― Sofi Oksanen, quote from Purge
I picked up Purge to add to my list of YA books about human trafficking, but this novel is pure literature, a stunning international masterpiece that spans decades of history, generations of pain, and dark twisted family secrets.
Set in Estonia and bouncing between 1941 and 1992, two protagonists tell their tales in a long and dizzying narrative that weaves between present terror and past horror. These women are bound to each other in multiple ways. Their mutual distrust them unreliable narrators, so that only the reader really only has the full picture, and sometimes even that picture is murky.
As I think back on each of these women's experiences, I see so many parallels in what happened to each, even though the details are very different on the surface. For example, both are raped. Both are silenced. Both are shamed. One is betrayed. One is a betrayer.
This is the kind of epic novel that I can think about for a long time and even read again. I missed things and know that I would see even more in a second reading because the book is so sweeping and full of such meaningful symbolism and detail.
If you loved The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah and want another sweeping historical novel, be sure to add Purge to your TBR pile.
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
“It’s an unimaginative accusation and one that I am frankly tired of hearing. Witchcraft. As though there is no other explanation for a woman who excels at her work.”― Ariel Lawhon, quote from The Frozen River
What a wonderful book! Historical fiction isn't my usual genre, but the cover and the accolades for The Frozen River made me give it a try.
On a high level, this mystery is about a midwife named Martha Ballard. The body of an accused rapist is found frozen in the river, and after examination, Martha says that the victim was murdered. She becomes a key witness in a trial for the woman who was raped because she treated the woman's wounds after the assault. The other accused man is a judge.
This novel has many layers. Beyond the mystery, there is the social commentary on women, family, sexual assault, and society during early days of America in New England. Paul Revere is mentioned as a friend of the family. The author depicts a rich setting of cold winter, warm homes and hearts, young love and pre-marital relationships, and the early court system. I couldn't put it down.
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
“What young people didn't know, she thought, lying down beside this man, his hand on her shoulder, her arm; oh, what young people did not know. They did not know that lumpy, aged, and wrinkled bodies were as needy as their own young, firm ones, that love was not to be tossed away carelessly . . . No, if love was available, one chose it, or didn't chose it.” ― Elizabeth Strout, quote from Olive Kitteridge
Oh!
What a lovely surprise! It took me awhile to plug through this book because it's a slow burn, all character-driven stories with lovely writing, understated but poignant, full of these beautiful, small-town moments, and you don't quite realize it's all building together until suddenly, there you are. That last story, oh!
I picked this up because Olive, Again came out, and I wanted to read the first book before reading it. I'm so glad I did. No wonder this won the Pulitzer Prize.
(P.S. The HBO Mini-series is awesome, too!)
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
“I wept because i had no shoes, until i met a man who had no feet.” ― Ruta Sepetys, quote from Salt to the Sea
Going in, I had no idea what this book was about, except that lots of people were reading it and it won awards. For sure, I had no prior knowledge of the historical event at its heart.
Inspired by the real-life tragedy that was the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff (the greatest maritime disaster in history), a group of refugees fleeing the Nazis find their lives intertwined by fate and horror. The multiple viewpoints and short scenes took a while to hook me. I didn’t like Alfred from the beginning, but the stories of the others pulled me in, the secondary characters as well as the main ones. All of them had compelling secrets. I wanted everyone in the group to escape, to be the handful of refugees to survive that horrific war.
Graphic details created a vivid backdrop. I could see the horses entombed in the ice with the people. I could see the starving cow, its udders burst in the cold. The dead and dying. War.
If the cold wilderness of The Great Alone by Ariel Lawhon left you breathless, you will love Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys.
The Women by Kristin Hannah
“The women had a story to tell, even if the world wasn't quite yet ready to hear it, and their story began with three simple words. We were there.“― Kristin Hannah, quote from The Women
I learned so much from this beautiful novel! Frankie is a well-crafted character who is immensely sympathetic, even when she begins her really self-destructive spiral as a result of PTSD. Maybe even more so because of everything she went through. She and the other women are fierce, loyal, compassionate, and inspirational.
One image that sticks with me is the army regulation "uniform" with high heels that Frankie arrives in Vietnam wearing. Another is the way Americans spit on her when she returned home at the end of her tour. Another is the way the Veterans hospitals kept turning her away.
This is my second Kristin Hannah, and I loved it as much as The Great Alone. Kristin Hannah has an impressive catalog of titles, and I'll be going back for more!
Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
“Sometimes, it was just a little rough: a blocking bruise. Other times, a hard foul. And if things were really bad—full contact.” ― Sarah Dessen, quote from Dreamland
I've read a couple Sarah Dessen books that were "okay," but wow, this one really, really grabbed me!
It starts when Caitlin's sister, Cass, runs away. I knew the story was about relationship abuse, and I was expecting the runaway sister Cass to be with a bad guy, but no. After she disappears, Caitlin falls for a guy named Rogerson who ends up being the abusive one. Caitlin's downward spiral is emotional, realistic, and heartbreaking. From the first time Rogerson hits her, I kept waiting for someone to intervene or for her to wake up, but it went on and on until the climactic moment when something had to shatter.
I felt really bad for Caitlin. She seemed invisible to everyone who supposedly loved her. She was hiding her pain in front of everyone. And people she loved kept leaving her: first her sister Cass and then her new friend Corinna.
Fans of The Great Alone will empathize with the strong themes of domestic abuse in this story.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
“Unworthy boys make a lot of noise.” ― Delia Owens, quote from Where the Crawdads Sing
This novel is beautiful, thrilling, sad, surprising, and engrossing. Kya Clark is a resilient child who is abandoned by her mother at six in a rural no-man’s-land. Her alcoholic father is barely a parent, and he soon leaves her as well. Somehow, she finds a way to survive on her own, even thrive, despite an aching loneliness.
But a beautiful young girl who lives in solitude in the woods is destined for danger. And heartbreak.
Most people in the town call her “Marsh Girl” and ostracize her. She’s an outcast from society: poor, uneducated, and strange.
The mystery surrounding the death of Chase Andrews is the inciting incident of the novel, and it's soon clear that he was not such a swell guy. Foul play is suspected. Is Kya a murder? Or someone else?
There's plenty to love here, and the pages definitely turned quickly for me. Kya’s character and voice is compelling.
If you’re looking for a wonderful coming-of-age book like The Great Alone, you won’t want to miss Where the Crawdads Sing. The movie is also great.
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
“To be groomed is to be loved and handled like a precious, delicate thing.” ― Kate Elizabeth Russell, quote from My Dark Vanessa
What a deeply disturbing book. I wondered what made 15-year-old Vanessa so malleable to Strane's grooming and manipulation. It seemed like more than just being a lonely kid in search of approval. Her confusion about what was happening in the early days of the relationship was clear. Did she imagine that? Was it real? And then, the first sexual encounter with them was so horrible. Even in that moment of being raped, she was confused and tried to explain what was happening to her.
It was sad that the adult Vanessa was so messed up. She couldn't break free of him and what he did to her. She even seemed bent on repeating the cycle with another teacher, and I'm not sure I really believe the hopeful notes at the end of the story. I'm not sure Vanessa will ever recover from Strane.
Also, I was confused about what actually happened with the other girls. Was she really the only one who was raped, or was that just something she told herself?
The psychological elements of the abuse in this novel reminded me of The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah.
Criminal by Terra Elan McVoy
“But in remembering, and in telling them what they needed to know, that golden feeling I’d had with Dee came back over me—the feeling of being a kind of temple for him. I was someone who worshipped him and understood him, in all the ways he needed and deserved. I could feel them hating me, thinking I was wrong, but they’d never had Dee’s hands on them, never felt him as completely as I had.” ― Terra Elan McVoy, quote from Criminal
This book was so absorbing I read the whole thing on a Saturday afternoon. I couldn't put it down.
It's a sad story about a girl from a bad home who falls in love for the worst kind of guy, and she is pulled into a crime with him. How far will she go to protect him? Why?
I loved Nikki's character. I loved how blind she is by her obsession with Dee. She’s honest, not particularly likeable, but real. Her mother was terrible, and Nikki found friendship and safety for herself with Bird. It was no wonder that she found herself in this bad relationship with Dee. Her world is tragic, but she is strong and makes good choices, even if they're really, really late.
Criminal shows the escalating nature of the psychological manipulation in a dysfunctional relationship, which reminds me of the psychological abuse and physical violence between the parents in The Great Alone.
How Girls Are Made by Mindy McGinnis
I love Mindy McGinnis' books. She has been a longtime favorite author. She’s amazing!
However, How Girls Are Made is such a radical departure from her work. I did not like this at all and could not stick it out. Instead of this one, I highly recommend that you check out The Female of the Species and Heroine by this author.
However, if you’re looking for books that address themes of dating violence and bullying like in The Great Alone, you might give this one a look.
Other Books You’ll Devour If You Liked The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
If you’re looking for other books like The Great by Kristin Hannah, Goodreads also offers a great book list: Readers Who Enjoyed The Great Alone.
You might also be interested in my post, Other Good Reads.
About the Author: Khristina Chess
Khristina Chess is an award-winning author of more than a dozen young adult novels, including The Cutting Edge of Friendship, The Delinquent Hero, and Junior Missing. Her novel about eating disorders, Hollow Beauty, was named a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She tackles tough teen topics and writes binge-worthy books across multiple genres, including contemporary, thriller, mystery, dystopian, and adventure.
