Discover Well-Read Black Girl Books and the projects reshaping publishing →

Handpicked recommendations to other books that have a similar writing style or theme to The Emperor's Children

The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud

The Emperor's Children

by Claire Messud
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (7):
  • Readers' Rating (11):
  • First Published:
  • Aug 29, 2006, 448 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jun 2007, 496 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full read-alike results are for members only

If you liked The Emperor's Children, try these:

  • The Guest Book jacket

    The Guest Book

    by Sarah Blake

    Published May 2020

    More about this book

    Read Reviews

    Sarah Blake's triumphant novel tells the story of a family and a country that buries its past in quiet, until the present calls forth a reckoning.

  • Purity jacket

    Purity

    by Jonathan Franzen

    Published Aug 2016

    More about this book

    Read Reviews

    A magnum opus for our morally complex times from the author of Freedom

  • The Submission jacket

    The Submission

    by Amy Waldman

    Published Mar 2012

    More about this book

    Read Reviews

    Ten years after 9/11, a dazzling, kaleidoscopic novel reimagines its aftermath and wonders what would happen if a Muslim-American was blindly chosen to plan the World Trade Center Memorial.

  • Freedom jacket

    Freedom

    by Jonathan Franzen

    Published Sep 2011

    More about this book

    Read Reviews

    Freedom comically and tragically captures the temptations and burdens of liberty: the thrills of teenage lust, the shaken compromises of middle age, the wages of suburban sprawl, the heavy weight of empire. An indelible and deeply moving portrait of our time.

  • Union Atlantic jacket

    Union Atlantic

    by Adam Haslett

    Published Feb 2011

    More about this book

    Read Reviews

    The eagerly anticipated debut novel from the author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist You Are Not a Stranger Here: a deeply affecting portrait of the modern gilded age, the first decade of the twenty-first century.

  • The Imperfectionists jacket

    The Imperfectionists

    by Tom Rachman

    Published Jan 2011

    More about this book

    Read Reviews

    Set against the gorgeous backdrop of Rome, Tom Rachman’s wry, vibrant debut follows the topsy-turvy private lives of the reporters, editors, and executives of an international English language newspaper as they struggle to keep it—and themselves—afloat.

  • Netherland jacket

    Netherland

    by Joseph O'Neill

    Published Jun 2009

    More about this book

    Read Reviews

    In a New York City made phantasmagorical by the events of 9/11, Hans - a banker originally from the Netherlands - finds himself marooned among the strange occupants of the Chelsea Hotel after his English wife and son return to London.

  • Matrimony jacket

    Matrimony

    by Joshua Henkin

    Published Aug 2008

    More about this book

    Read Reviews

    It’s 1987, and Julian Wainwright, aspiring writer and Waspy son of New York City old money, meets beautiful, Jewish Mia Mendelsohn in the laundry room at Graymont College. So begins a relationship that spans twenty years, as it takes Julian and Mia across the country and through the depths of family tragedy, love and friendship, money and ...

  • The Echo Maker jacket

    The Echo Maker

    by Richard Powers

    Published Sep 2007

    More about this book

    Read Reviews

    Following a near-fatal accident, Mark Schluter is nursed by his reluctant sister. But when he emerges from his coma, Mark believes that this woman – who looks, acts, and sounds just like his sister – is really an identical impostor. As a famous neurologist investigates his condition, Mark tries to learn what really happened the night of ...

  • Special Topics in Calamity Physics jacket

    Special Topics in Calamity Physics

    by Marisha Pessl

    Published Apr 2007

    More about this book

    Read Reviews

    A darkly hilarious coming-of-age novel and a richly plotted suspense tale told through the distinctive voice of its heroine, Blue van Meer.

  • On Beauty jacket

    On Beauty

    by Zadie Smith

    Published Aug 2006

    More about this book

    Read Reviews

    A brilliant analysis of family life, the institution of marriage, intersections of the personal and political, and an honest look at people's deceptions. It is also, as you might expect, very funny indeed.

  • The Falls jacket

    The Falls

    by Joyce Carol Oates

    Published Aug 2005

    More about this book

    Read Reviews

    'This big, enthralling novel recaptures the gift for Dreiserian realism that distinguishes such Oates triumphs as What I Lived For, and We Were the Mulvaneys. It's her best ever, and a masterpiece.' Kirkus Reviews.

  • Drop City jacket

    Drop City

    by T.C. Boyle

    Published Jan 2004

    More about this book

    Read Reviews

    Infused with the lyricism and take-no-prisoners storytelling for which T.C. Boyle is justly famous, this is a surprisingly rich, allusive, and non-sentimental look at the ideals of the 60's generation and their impact on today's radically transformed world.

  • A Man In Full jacket

    A Man In Full

    by Tom Wolfe

    Published Oct 1999

    More about this book

    Read Reviews

    A pitch-perfect coast-to-coast portrait of our wild and woolly, no-holds-barred, multifarious country on the cusp of the millennium.

Join free to see the complete list of recommendations.
How we choose read-alikes

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    A Pair of Aces
    by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray
    Two women on opposite sides of the law team up to bring down gangster Lucky Luciano in this gripping novel.
  • Book Jacket
    When No One Else Will
    by Amanda Skenandore
    1940s Chicago nurse risks everything at an illegal women’s clinic during a high-profile trial of courage and sisterhood.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket
    The Jellyfish Problem
    by Tessa Yang
    A marine biologist rescues a Maine island menaced by a giant glowing jellyfish in this inventive debut.
  • Book Jacket
    The Reimagining of Thornwood House
    by Jaleigh Johnson
    A witch and her ward discover a magical walking house and find the true meaning of home.
  • Book Jacket
    Feast
    by Catherine Kurtz
    In 19th-century France, a girl with a magical taste becomes a duc’s poison taster amid nobility and danger.
  • Book Jacket
    Summer's Never Over
    by Darby Bozeman
    A woman revisits a Southern summer camp where a counselor's death may not have been an accident.
Who Said...

In youth we run into difficulties. In old age difficulties run into us

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Book
Trivia
  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

Q S, S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.