Books like The Lincoln Highway

A sprawling, sun-drenched American road trip that balances youthful optimism with the sobering realities of fate and consequence. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with The Lincoln Highway.

sun-drenched
adventurous
bittersweet
expansive

01
A Gentleman in Moscow
Amor Towles
A masterclass in charm and resilience, inviting you to sip fine wine and find an entire world within the walls of a single grand hotel.
Shares:
- bittersweet
- wry
- nostalgic
02
Cloud Cuckoo Land
Anthony Doerr
A sweeping, time-bending love letter to the enduring power of stories and the fragile beauty of the world.
Shares:
- earnest
03
To Paradise
Hanya Yanagihara
A sweeping, symphonic epic that shatters the illusion of utopia across three centuries of American longing and heartbreak.
Shares:
- earnest
- the American Dream
04
Under the Whispering Door
T. J. Klune
A warm cup of tea and a gentle, lingering hug at the end of a long, difficult life.
Shares:
- bittersweet
- wry
- earnest
05
The Dutch House
Ann Patchett
A sweeping, melancholic meditation on the places we can never return to and the siblings who anchor us when we are cast out.
Shares:
- wry
- nostalgic
06
Harlem Shuffle
Colson Whitehead
A stylish, wryly observed love letter to 1960s Harlem wrapped in a morally complex heist caper.
Shares:
- wry
07
Rules of Civility
Amor Towles
A sparkling, martini-dry plunge into 1930s Manhattan society, where ambition and chance collide in a haze of jazz and cigarette smoke.
Shares:
- bittersweet
- wry
- nostalgic
08
Bewilderment
Richard Powers
A fiercely tender exploration of a father's love for his neurodivergent son, set against the backdrop of a dying, beautiful planet.
Shares:
- earnest
09
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Gabrielle Zevin
A sweeping, bittersweet love letter to the messy, beautiful sanctuary of creative partnership and lifelong friendship.
Shares:
- bittersweet
- nostalgic
- earnest
10
Mystery of Mrs. Christie
Marie Benedict
A clever, atmospheric puzzle box of a novel that reimagines a famous historical disappearance as a masterclass in female agency and revenge.
Feels:
- tense
- shadowy
- deceptive
11
Apples Never Fall
Liane Moriarty
A deliciously sharp and suspenseful deep-dive into the cracks of a fiercely competitive family.
Shares:
- wry
12
Quichotte
Salman Rushdie
A hallucinatory, maximalist road trip through the fractured landscape of a post-truth America.
Shares:
- wry

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