21 Best literary fiction books like Beyond the Door of No Return by David Diop

Cover of Beyond the Door of No Return by David Diop

Beyond the Door of No Return

By: David Diop

3.66

Format: 257 pages, Kindle Edition

The thrilling and deeply moving new novel by David Diop, winner of the International Booker Prize. …

"Despite all my efforts to block it out, the ordeal on the pier in Gorée, after our brief escape beyond the door to the voyage of no return, came back to me intact. I realized then that painting and music have the power to reveal to ourselves our secret humanity. Through art, we can sometimes push open a hidden door leading to the darkest part of our being, as black as the depths of a prison cell. And, once that door is wide open, the corners of our soul are so brightly illuminated that our lies to ourselves no longer have an inch of shade in which they can take refuge, as if exposed to the African sun at its zenith."

-David Diop, Beyond the Door of No Return

"Despite all my efforts to block it out, the ordeal on the pier in Gorée, after our brief escape beyond the door to the voyage of no return, came back to me intact. I realized then that painting and music have the power to reveal to ourselves our secret humanity. Through art, we can sometimes push open a hidden door leading to the darkest part of our being, as black as the depths of a prison cell. And, once that door is wide open, the corners of our soul are so brightly illuminated that our lies to ourselves no longer have an inch of shade in which they can take refuge, as if exposed to the African sun at its zenith."

-David Diop, Beyond the Door of No Return

If you liked the literary fiction plot in Beyond the Door of No Return by David Diop , here is a list of 21 books like this:

Cover of Prophet Song by Paul    Lynch

1. 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 David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • literature
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
"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 The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylväinen

2. The End of Drum-Time

By: Hanna Pylväinen

3.94

Format: 368 pages, Hardcover

An epic love story in the vein of Cold Mountain and The Great Circle, about a young reindeer herder… read more

Similar categories in Hanna Pylväinen's The End of Drum-Time book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • historical
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
Cover of Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck

3. Kairos

By: Jenny Erpenbeck

3.46

Format: 379 pages, Hardcover

Die neunzehnjährige Katharina und Hans, ein verheirateter Mann Mitte fünfzig, begegnen sich Ende de… read more

Similar categories in Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
"She would like a shallow life, swift and shallow, till some day she can start again. Get through her time fast until then. And when will that be? Then."

-Jenny Erpenbeck, Kairos

Cover of James by Percival Everett

4. 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 David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

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

5. 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 David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
Cover of Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

6. Wandering Stars

By: Tommy Orange

3.89

Format: 315 pages, Hardcover

The eagerly awaited follow-up to Pulitzer Prize-finalist Tommy Orange’s breakout best seller There … read more

Similar categories in Tommy Orange's Wandering Stars book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • historical
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
"And in the year 1924 Indian citizenship will have been granted, even though they will mean to dissolve tribes by giving citizenship, dissolve being another word for disappearance, a kind of chemical …"

-Tommy Orange, Wandering Stars

Cover of Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal

7. Eastbound

By: Maylis de Kerangal

3.97

Format: 140 pages, Paperback

From Wellcome Prize winner Maylis de Kerangal comes a fast-paced story of two fugitives set on the … read more

Similar categories in Maylis de Kerangal's Eastbound book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • france
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
Cover of Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

8. Martyr!

By: Kaveh Akbar

4.24

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves… read more

Similar categories in Kaveh Akbar's Martyr! book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • novels
Cover of The Fraud by Zadie Smith

9. The Fraud

By: Zadie Smith

3.30

Format: 464 pages, Hardcover

The extraordinary first historical novel from bestselling author of White Teeth Zadie Smith It i… read more

Similar categories in Zadie Smith's The Fraud book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
"Eliza had long understood her cousin to be beyond the reach of editorial intervention."

-Zadie Smith, The Fraud

"What possesses people? Unhappiness, always. Happiness is otherwise occupied. It has an object on which to focus. It has daisies, it has snowdrifts. Unhappiness opens up the void, which then requires …"

-Zadie Smith, The Fraud

"I know this country well. Well enough to understand that justice takes time, and that the freedoms of a minority are rarely self-evident to the majority. What is perfectly selfevident to God is – unf…"

-Zadie Smith, The Fraud

"God preserve me from novel-writing, thought Mrs Touchet. God preserve me from that tragic indulgence, that useless vanity, that blindness! In a cold dormitory, two hundred miles away, three heartbrok…"

-Zadie Smith, The Fraud

Cover of Wild Houses by Colin  Barrett

10. Wild Houses

By: Colin Barrett

3.78

Format: 272 pages, Hardcover

A darkly funny and deeply moving debut novel about crimes of desperation, dreams abandoned, and sma… read more

Similar categories in Colin Barrett's Wild Houses book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • novels
"What you are in, Dev, is a holding pattern, only you're not holding out for anything."

-Colin Barrett, Wild Houses

"All boys, all children, are capable of cruelty at the right juncture of opportunity and circumstance, but only a few become committed prodigies of sadism..."

-Colin Barrett, Wild Houses

"In the dream, exactly as he had in real life, he sensed the slow, inexorable approach of the shapeless, prospectless days to come, days when there would be no need to get out of bed or brush his teet…"

-Colin Barrett, Wild Houses

"He looked around the empty kitchen. A part of him wanted this of course. A part of him had always wanted this, to be alone, away from even the prospect of any demand upon him to talk, to interact, to…"

-Colin Barrett, Wild Houses

Cover of No es un río by Selva Almada

11. No es un río

By: Selva Almada

3.95

Format: 104 pages, Kindle Edition

Enero y el Negro llevan de pesca a Tilo, hijo adolescente de Eusebio, el amigo muerto. Mientras beb… read more

Similar categories in Selva Almada's No es un río book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • literature
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • novels
Cover of Blackouts by Justin Torres

12. Blackouts

By: Justin Torres

3.77

Format: 306 pages, Hardcover

From the bestselling author of We the Animals, Blackouts mines lost histories--personal and collect… read more

Similar categories in Justin Torres's Blackouts book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
Cover of Orbital by Samantha Harvey

13. Orbital

By: Samantha Harvey

3.73

Format: 207 pages, Hardcover

A slender novel of epic power, Orbital  deftly snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men … read more

Similar categories in Samantha Harvey's Orbital book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • novels
"Maybe we're the new dinosaurs and need to watch out."

-Samantha Harvey, Orbital

"The past comes, the future, the past, the future. It's always now, it's never now."

-Samantha Harvey, Orbital

"Raw space is a panther, feral and primal; they dream it stalking through their quarters."

-Samantha Harvey, Orbital

"That's all this great human endeavor of space exploration really is, he thinks, an animal migration, a bid for survival. A looping song sent into the open, a territorial animal song."

-Samantha Harvey, Orbital

Cover of Tremor by Teju Cole

14. Tremor

By: Teju Cole

3.69

Format: 229 pages, Hardcover

A powerful, intimate novel that masterfully explores what constitutes a meaningful life in a violen… read more

Similar categories in Teju Cole's Tremor book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • literature
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • novels
"I had not noticed before how every stretch of this route contains personal memories, how the city is like one of those movies shot in a single take from the window of a moving car."

-Teju Cole, Tremor

Cover of My Friends by Hisham Matar

15. My Friends

By: Hisham Matar

4.34

Format: 399 pages, Hardcover

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Return , a luminous novel of friendship, family, and … read more

Similar categories in Hisham Matar's My Friends book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
"A vast distance exists between a protester and his slogan; the entire history of politics exists in that gap."

-Hisham Matar, My Friends

"For a writer, exile is prison, a severing from the source, and so, courageous or not, he dies in front of our eyes."

-Hisham Matar, My Friends

"She was older and all the more beautiful, had the weary tiredness of one who, in surrendering to her life, was ennobled by it."

-Hisham Matar, My Friends

"I walked off feeling an emptiness well up inside me. It seemed, for all the emptiness that it was, a presence. It made me want to run away, dive deeper into myself, into that cold desolation, to the …"

-Hisham Matar, My Friends

Cover of What I'd Rather Not Think About by Jente Posthuma

16. What I'd Rather Not Think About

By: Jente Posthuma

3.77

Format: 224 pages, Paperback

What if one half of a pair of twins no longer wants to live? What if the other can’t live without t… read more

Similar categories in Jente Posthuma's What I'd Rather Not Think About book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • literature
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
"Cracks in the ground aren't always visible to the naked eye. Every movement has the potential to take you down."

-Jente Posthuma, What I'd Rather Not Think About

"This was shocking to me, because if the oldest person I knew understood even less about the world than I did, then how was it possible that other adults had all the answers? And what was the point of…"

-Jente Posthuma, What I'd Rather Not Think About

"To be a natural presence, you shouldn't take up too much space, which I always found easy at the beginning of a friendship. It felt nice to reshape myself into precisely the right format until the mo…"

-Jente Posthuma, What I'd Rather Not Think About

Cover of The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

17. The Safekeep

By: Yael van der Wouden

4.08

Format: 272 pages, Hardcover

An exhilarating, twisted tale of desire, suspicion, and obsession between two women staying in the … read more

Similar categories in Yael van der Wouden's The Safekeep book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • historical
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
Cover of Standing Heavy by Gauz

18. Standing Heavy

By: Gauz

3.58

Format: 168 pages, Paperback

Initially a little intrigued, all babies eventually return the security guard's smile. The securit… read more

Similar categories in Gauz's Standing Heavy book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • literary fiction
  • novels
  • literature
  • france
  • fiction
  • african literature
Cover of Held by Anne   Michaels

19. Held

By: Anne Michaels

3.66

Format: 240 pages, Hardcover

A breathtaking and mysterious new novel from the beloved Anne Michaels, internationally bestselling… read more

Similar categories in Anne Michaels's Held book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
"Who can say what happens when we are remembered?"

-Anne Michaels, Held

"Do we really need our own misery to teach us to be kind?"

-Anne Michaels, Held

"We know life is finite. Why should we believe death lasts forever?"

-Anne Michaels, Held

"Would he know the moment of his death or would it be like night falling."

-Anne Michaels, Held

Cover of Loot by Tania James

20. Loot

By: Tania James

3.82

Format: 304 pages, Hardcover

A spellbinding historical novel set in the eighteenth century - a hero’s quest, a love story, the s… read more

Similar categories in Tania James's Loot book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • france
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
"She is reading; he loves the lost expression on her face when she reads."

-Tania James, Loot

Cover of Beyond the Door of No Return by David Diop

21. Beyond the Door of No Return

By: David Diop

3.66

Format: 257 pages, Kindle Edition

The thrilling and deeply moving new novel by David Diop, winner of the International Booker Prize. … read more

Similar categories in David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return book and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return

  • literary fiction
  • novels
  • literature
  • historical
  • senegal
  • france
  • french literature
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • african literature
"Despite all my efforts to block it out, the ordeal on the pier in Gorée, after our brief escape beyond the door to the voyage of no return, came back to me intact. I realized then that painting and m…"

-David Diop, Beyond the Door of No Return

21 must-read fiction books like Beyond the Door of No Return by David Diop

Transform Your Habits

Prophet Song

Paul Lynch

4.10

Transform Your Habits

The End of Drum-Time

Hanna Pylväinen

3.94

Transform Your Habits

Kairos

Jenny Erpenbeck

3.46

Transform Your Habits

James

Percival Everett

4.54

View all the books

20 must-read fiction books like Tremor by Teju Cole

Transform Your Habits

Kairos

Jenny Erpenbeck

3.46

Transform Your Habits

The Maniac

Benjamín Labatut

4.34

Transform Your Habits

Wandering Stars

Tommy Orange

3.89

Transform Your Habits

Day

Michael Cunningham

3.57

View all the books

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