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Quick answer: If you loved The Dutch House, try Commonwealth, Tom Lake, Bel Canto, Ask Again, Yes, The Most Fun We Ever Had and Hello Beautiful. Each one is a rich family novel about siblings, memory and the homes we cannot leave behind.
Ann Patchett's novel follows Danny and Maeve Conroy, a brother and sister cast out of their grand Pennsylvania home by their stepmother after their father's death. For decades they park outside the house and revisit the past. Readers love its quiet humor, its sibling bond and the way it shows how old grief shapes a life. These books share its elegant prose, its family secrets and its long view of time.
Table of Contents
Quick Picks at a Glance
| Book | Author | Theme | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commonwealth | Ann Patchett | Blended families | readers who want more Patchett |
| Tom Lake | Ann Patchett | Mothers and daughters | readers who like gentle storytelling |
| Bel Canto | Ann Patchett | Unexpected bonds | readers who want Patchett's most lyrical book |
| Ask Again, Yes | Mary Beth Keane | Neighbors | readers who like decades-long drama |
| The Most Fun We Ever Had | Claire Lombardo | Sisters | readers who like big family sagas |
| Hello Beautiful | Ann Napolitano | Sisters | readers who like sister bonds |
| A Spool of Blue Thread | Anne Tyler | Family home | readers who love a house at the center |
| Olive Kitteridge | Elizabeth Strout | Small town | readers who like linked stories |
| The Interestings | Meg Wolitzer | Lifelong ties | readers who like long friendships |
| The Corrections | Jonathan Franzen | Family dysfunction | readers who want a darker comedy |
| Little Fires Everywhere | Celeste Ng | Secrets | readers who like tense suburban drama |
| Rebecca | Daphne du Maurier | Great houses | readers who love a house that haunts |
| Howards End | E.M. Forster | Great houses | readers who like a house that decides everything |
| A Tree Grows in Brooklyn | Betty Smith | Childhood | readers who like coming-of-age classics |
| Brooklyn | Colm Tóibín | Home and leaving | readers who like quiet prose |
1. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
One kiss at a christening party reshapes two families for fifty years.
Best for: readers who want more Patchett.
2. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
A mother tells her grown daughters about a long-ago romance with a famous actor.
Best for: readers who like gentle storytelling.
3. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Hostages and captors form surprising bonds in a South American mansion.
Best for: readers who want Patchett's most lyrical book.
4. Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane
Two New York police families are tied by love and a terrible night.
Best for: readers who like decades-long drama.
5. The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
Four sisters and their happily married parents face a family secret.
Best for: readers who like big family sagas.
6. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
A lonely young man marries into a close-knit Chicago family of sisters.
Best for: readers who like sister bonds.
7. A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
Three generations of a Baltimore family remember their home.
Best for: readers who love a house at the center.
8. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
A prickly retired teacher shapes life in a small Maine town.
Best for: readers who like linked stories.
9. The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
Friends from a summer arts camp follow each other into midlife.
Best for: readers who like long friendships.
10. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Grown children return for one last family Christmas.
Best for: readers who want a darker comedy.
11. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Two families in an Ohio suburb collide over a custody battle.
Best for: readers who like tense suburban drama.
12. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
A young bride lives in the shadow of her husband's first wife at Manderley.
Best for: readers who love a house that haunts.
13. Howards End by E.M. Forster
Three English families are bound together by a country house in the early 1900s.
Best for: readers who like a house that decides everything.
14. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
A bright girl grows up in poverty in early-1900s Brooklyn.
Best for: readers who like coming-of-age classics.
15. Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
A young Irish woman moves to 1950s New York and is torn between two lives.
Best for: readers who like quiet prose.
How to Choose
Patchett's other novels are the obvious next step: Commonwealth is the nearest in theme, and Tom Lake shares the same relaxed storytelling voice. If it was the grand house that you could not forget, Rebecca and A Spool of Blue Thread put a home at the center of their stories. For the long view of family, read Ask Again, Yes or The Most Fun We Ever Had. For a sister story, Hello Beautiful is a clear winner and a real tearjerker. If you prefer a much sharper edge with your family drama, The Corrections offers plenty of biting comedy. Many readers also enjoy listening to these books, and The Dutch House's audiobook, read by Tom Hanks, is especially popular.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is The Dutch House about?
Two siblings are thrown out of their family's grand home by their stepmother and spend decades unable to let it go.
Who narrates the audiobook of The Dutch House?
Tom Hanks reads the audiobook.
Was The Dutch House a Pulitzer finalist?
Yes. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2020.
Where is The Dutch House set?
Mainly in Elkins Park, a suburb of Philadelphia.
Is The Dutch House sad?
It has real sadness in it, but its humor and its sibling love keep it warm.