11 Top historical fiction books like This Is Happiness by Niall Williams

Cover of This Is Happiness by Niall Williams

This Is Happiness

By: Niall Williams

4.21

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

About This Is Happiness The most enchanting novel you'll read this year, from the acclaimed author…

"Nobody who's lived an anyway decent amount of life remembers everything."

-Niall Williams, This Is Happiness

"Nobody who's lived an anyway decent amount of life remembers everything."

-Niall Williams, This Is Happiness

"It seems to me the true and individual nature of a human being's eyes defy description, or at least my capabilities. They're not like anything else, or anyone else's, and may be the most perfect proof of the existence of a Creator."

-Niall Williams, This Is Happiness

"It seems to me the true and individual nature of a human being's eyes defy description, or at least my capabilities. They're not like anything else, or anyone else's, and may be the most perfect proof of the existence of a Creator."

-Niall Williams, This Is Happiness

If you liked the historical fiction plot in This Is Happiness by Niall Williams , here is a list of 11 books like this:

Cover of The Man in the Wooden Hat (Old Filth, #2) by Jane Gardam

1. The Man in the Wooden Hat (Old Filth, #2)

By: Jane Gardam

4.10

Format: 233 pages, Paperback

The New York Times called Sir Edward Feathers one of the most memorable characters in modern litera… read more

Similar categories in Jane Gardam's The Man in the Wooden Hat (Old Filth, #2) book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels

2. Heroic Measures

By: Jill Ciment

5.00

Format: 36 pages, Hardcover

From the author of The Tattoo Artist comes a new novel--taut, moving, accomplished--set in a fraugh… read more

Similar categories in Jill Ciment's Heroic Measures book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

3. Foster

By: Claire Keegan

3.92

Format: 256 pages, Paperback

A small girl is sent to live with foster parents on a farm in rural Ireland, without knowing when s… read more

Similar categories in Claire Keegan's Foster book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

Cover of Prophet Song by Paul    Lynch

4. Prophet Song

By: Paul Lynch

4.10

Format: 259 pages, Kindle Edition

A fearless portrait of a society on the brink as a mother faces a terrible choice, from an internat… read more

Similar categories in Paul Lynch's Prophet Song book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • ireland
  • irish literature
  • audiobook
"people are entitled to some small moment of peace."

-Paul Lynch, Prophet Song

"the child absorbing the mother’s trauma and storing it in his body for later use,"

-Paul Lynch, Prophet Song

"... time is at once addition and subtraction, time adds one day to the next and always takes away from what's left..."

-Paul Lynch, Prophet Song

"...knowing how it is so that all boys grow up and pull away from home to unmake the world in the guise of making it, nature decrees it so."

-Paul Lynch, Prophet Song

Cover of After Annie by Anna Quindlen

5. After Annie

By: Anna Quindlen

4.03

Format: 304 pages, Hardcover

When Annie Brown dies suddenly, her husband, her four young children and her closest friend are lef… read more

Similar categories in Anna Quindlen's After Annie book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

6. Tom Lake

By: Ann Patchett

3.99

Format: 309 pages, Hardcover

In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again prov… read more

Similar categories in Ann Patchett's Tom Lake book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • book club
  • audiobook
"You can’t pretend this [Covid] isn’t happening,"

-Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

"In the summer the pear trees were fine. In the summer, all that is hideous about a pear tree is hidden by leaves and pears. But once those disguises were removed they were nothing but acres of murder…"

-Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

"Hazel, listen to me. I'm going to tell you something important, you need to be brave.' I then explained to the dog how I have told myself for so many years that my career fell apart because I wasn't …"

-Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

"It's as if someone bought all the diamonds at Tiffany's, and crushed them into dust, then spread that dust across the water so that it sifts down evenly, filtering through the shards of light that cu…"

-Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

Cover of The Covenant of Water by Abraham   Verghese

7. The Covenant of Water

By: Abraham Verghese

4.45

Format: 724 pages, Hardcover

From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial ep… read more

Similar categories in Abraham Verghese's The Covenant of Water book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
  • book club
  • audiobook
Cover of James by Percival Everett

8. James

By: Percival Everett

4.54

Format: 303 pages, Hardcover

A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , both harrowing and f… read more

Similar categories in Percival Everett's James book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
  • audiobook
Cover of North Woods by Daniel       Mason

9. North Woods

By: Daniel Mason

4.15

Format: 372 pages, Hardcover

A sweeping novel about a single house in the woods of New England, told through the lives of those … read more

Similar categories in Daniel Mason's North Woods book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
  • audiobook
Cover of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James   McBride

10. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

By: James McBride

4.00

Format: 385 pages, Hardcover

In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new housing de… read more

Similar categories in James McBride's The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • book club
  • audiobook
Cover of This Other Eden by Paul Harding

11. This Other Eden

By: Paul Harding

3.78

Format: 224 pages, Hardcover

Set at the beginning of the twentieth century and inspired by historical events, This Other Eden te… read more

Similar categories in Paul Harding's This Other Eden book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
  • audiobook
Cover of Long Island (Eilis Lacey, #2) by Colm Tóibín

12. Long Island (Eilis Lacey, #2)

By: Colm Tóibín

3.82

Format: 294 pages, Hardcover

From the beloved, critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author comes a spectacularly movi… read more

Similar categories in Colm Tóibín's Long Island (Eilis Lacey, #2) book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • ireland
  • irish literature
  • audiobook
Cover of The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

13. The Bee Sting

By: Paul Murray

3.96

Format: 656 pages, Hardcover

From the author of Skippy Dies comes Paul Murray's The Bee Sting, an irresistibly funny, wise, and … read more

Similar categories in Paul Murray's The Bee Sting book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • novels
  • book club
  • irish literature
  • ireland
  • audiobook
"It is for love. You are doing this for love."

-Paul Murray, The Bee Sting

"We all have problems. But often instead of accepting the truth about ourselves, we cover it up. We try to make ourselves the way we think we’re expected to be."

-Paul Murray, The Bee Sting

"Maybe every era has an atrocity woven into its fabric. Maybe every society is complicit in terrible things and only afterwards gets around to pretending they didn’t know. When the kids ask, tell them…"

-Paul Murray, The Bee Sting

"Maybe that’s how it will go – instead of one definitive cataclysm, a series of ‘anomalies’, each time lasting longer, with the stretches of what you call normal life becoming further and further apar…"

-Paul Murray, The Bee Sting

Cover of Absolution by Alice McDermott

14. Absolution

By: Alice McDermott

3.81

Format: 324 pages, Hardcover

A riveting account of women’s lives on the margins of the Vietnam War. In Saigon in 1963, two yo… read more

Similar categories in Alice McDermott's Absolution book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
  • audiobook
Cover of Table for Two by Amor Towles

15. Table for Two

By: Amor Towles

4.26

Format: 464 pages, Hardcover

From the bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway, A Gentleman in Moscow, and Rules of Civility, a… read more

Similar categories in Amor Towles's Table for Two book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • audiobook
"And though she couldn’t remember the exact reference and whether it was from mythology or the Bible, she knew instinctively as they approached the pier’s limit she mustn’t look back."

-Amor Towles, Table for Two

"It is a funny aspect of life, thought Charlie, how a group of grown people can convince themselves to do something that none of them really want to do. They start by talking an idea into existence. O…"

-Amor Towles, Table for Two

Cover of The Hunter (Cal Hooper, #2) by Tana French

16. The Hunter (Cal Hooper, #2)

By: Tana French

4.12

Format: 467 pages, Hardcover

It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in a small village in the West of Ireland. One of them is… read more

Similar categories in Tana French's The Hunter (Cal Hooper, #2) book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • ireland
  • irish literature
  • fiction
  • audiobook
"She'll bake bread and make jam, because she likes those made her way, but she says she cooked a good meal from scratch every night of her marriage, and now if she wants to live mainly off toasted san…"

-Tana French, The Hunter (Cal Hooper, #2)

"Trey has a bone-deep mistrust of marriage or anything resembling it. She knows that Lena sometimes stays the night at Cal's place, but Lena also has a place of her own, which she can go back to whene…"

-Tana French, The Hunter (Cal Hooper, #2)

Cover of Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy

17. Sipsworth

By: Simon Van Booy

4.26

Format: 240 pages, Hardcover

Over the course of a single week, a woman who is ready to die discovers an unexpected reason to liv… read more

Similar categories in Simon Van Booy's Sipsworth book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • audiobook
Cover of I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger

18. I Cheerfully Refuse

By: Leif Enger

4.03

Format: 336 pages, Hardcover

Set in a not-too-distant America, I Cheerfully Refuse is the tale of Rainy, an aspiring musician se… read more

Similar categories in Leif Enger's I Cheerfully Refuse book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • audiobook
"Those thieves and lovers and wandering poets- what big lives they had! I began watching everyone I met for secret greatness."

-Leif Enger, I Cheerfully Refuse

"I think the sea has no in-between: you get either rage and wayward lightning and schizoid frenzy or such freehanded beauty that time contract or turns in on itself leaving you forgetful and no more n…"

-Leif Enger, I Cheerfully Refuse

"One shelf became two. Then a wall. Then eight-foot rolling racks from a shut library in Hayward, Wisconsin. Maudie suggested changing the shop name to reflect its inventory. Bread and Books. Loaves a…"

-Leif Enger, I Cheerfully Refuse

"Much as I wanted to think of Lark in someplace better, I knew from a thousand conversations that she never worried abut that place. Maybe it was real and full of saints and poets, or maybe it was poe…"

-Leif Enger, I Cheerfully Refuse

Cover of So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men by Claire Keegan

19. So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men

By: Claire Keegan

3.99

Format: 128 pages, Hardcover

Librarian's Note: This is the entry for the short story collection. Please don't combine it with th… read more

Similar categories in Claire Keegan's So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • literary fiction
  • ireland
  • irish literature
  • fiction
"You know what is at the heart of misogyny? When it comes down to it?’ ‘So I’m a misogynist now?’ ‘It’s simply about not giving,’ she said."

-Claire Keegan, So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men

Cover of This Is Happiness by Niall Williams

20. This Is Happiness

By: Niall Williams

4.21

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

About This Is Happiness The most enchanting novel you'll read this year, from the acclaimed author… read more

Similar categories in Niall Williams's This Is Happiness book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • literary fiction
  • coming of age
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
  • book club
  • irish literature
  • ireland
  • audiobook
"Nobody who's lived an anyway decent amount of life remembers everything."

-Niall Williams, This Is Happiness

"It seems to me the true and individual nature of a human being's eyes defy description, or at least my capabilities. They're not like anything else, or anyone else's, and may be the most perfect proo…"

-Niall Williams, This Is Happiness

"When you've been raised inside a religion, it's not a small thing to step outside it. Even if you no longer believe in it, you can feel its absence. There's a spirit-would to a Sunday. You can patch …"

-Niall Williams, This Is Happiness

"It was a condensed explanation, but I came to understand him to mean you could stop at, not all, but most of the moments of your life, stop for one heartbeat and, no matter what the state of your hea…"

-Niall Williams, This Is Happiness

Cover of Sandwich by Catherine Newman

21. Sandwich

By: Catherine Newman

3.75

Format: 229 pages, Hardcover

From the beloved author of We All Want Impossible Things, a moving, hilarious story of a family sum… read more

Similar categories in Catherine Newman's Sandwich book and Niall Williams's This Is Happiness

  • audiobook
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • novels
"What does loss look like, in your body? Where is it? It feels like an air bubble stuck in your psyche. It feels like peering down into a deep hole. The vertigo of that. The potential for obliteration…"

-Catherine Newman, Sandwich

"We're just ruined by sex, women---our bodies, our psyches. We're sexually assaulted every five minutes. We're infected with everything. Traumatized by conceiving, by not conceiving. But let's keep at…"

-Catherine Newman, Sandwich

19 Best fiction books like This Is Happiness by Niall Williams

Transform Your Habits

The Man in the Wooden Hat (Old Filth, #2)

Jane Gardam

4.10

Transform Your Habits

Prophet Song

Paul Lynch

4.10

Transform Your Habits

After Annie

Anna Quindlen

4.03

Transform Your Habits

Tom Lake

Ann Patchett

3.99

View all the books

15 Top fiction books like The Man in the Wooden Hat (Old Filth, #2) by Jane Gardam

Transform Your Habits

The Dressmaker

Beryl Bainbridge

3.55

Transform Your Habits

Someone at a Distance

Dorothy Whipple

4.21

Transform Your Habits

Blaming

Elizabeth Taylor , Jonathan Keates

3.76

Family Album

Penelope Lively

3.79

View all the books

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