Here are 7 books that My Phantoms fans have personally recommended if you like My Phantoms. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

In Memoriam

By Alice Winn ,

Book cover of In Memoriam

emilyanaymark

From emilyanaymark's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

By emilyanaymark Author

Unknown Author Why emilyanaymark loves this book

This novel found a way to write about war that was clear, emotional without sentimentality, brutal in an understated manner. Just great writing all around.

In Memoriam

By Alice Winn ,

Why should I read it?

11 authors picked In Memoriam as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER OF WATERSTONES NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD
A TOP FIVE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS DEBUT OF THE YEAR

'If you haven't read it, you're missing out' Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY

'One of the best debuts I've read in recent years . . . please rush out and buy it' ELIZABETH DAY
______________________

In 1914, war feels far away to Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood. They're too young to enlist, and anyway, Gaunt is fighting his own private battle - an all-consuming infatuation with the dreamy, poetic Ellwood - not having…

Explore
Topics
Genres

If you love My Phantoms...

Ad

Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

The Black Dress

By Deborah Moggach ,

Book cover of The Black Dress

Susan Grossey Author Of Ostler

From Susan's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

By Susan Grossey Author

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Susan's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Book cover of In Memoriam Book cover of The Black Dress Book cover of My Phantoms

Susan Grossey Why Susan loves this book

Often stories about female empowerment are about young women, but in this we meet - and grow to love - the feisty Pru, who is a woman of mature years. Dumped by her husband, she looks for ways to fill her time - and starts attending funerals in a stylish little black dress that she has bought in a charity shop. What could possibly go wrong? It sounds slight, but Pru is an engaging character and Moggach's comic touch is sure.

The Black Dress

By Deborah Moggach ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Black Dress as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?


'I barked out loud. Not since Freud has sex been more in bed with death. She gets sharper and more mordant with age and about age. This page-turner is like the best wakes, it will make you feel hungry and alive' The Times

'She really is the Nora Ephron of North London' Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures

Pru is on her own. But then, so are plenty of other people. And while the loneliness can be overwhelming, surely she'll find a party somewhere?

Pru's husband has walked out, leaving her alone to contemplate her future. She's missing not so…

Explore
Topics
  • Coming soon!
Genres
  • Coming soon!

The Incendiaries

By R.O. Kwon ,

Book cover of The Incendiaries

Anna Noyes Author Of The Blue Maiden

From Anna's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

By Anna Noyes Author

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Mother Reader Islander Mainer at heart Walker

Anna's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Plus, Anna's 2-year-old's favorite books.

Book cover of How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing Book cover of The Western Wind Book cover of The Incendiaries

Anna Noyes Why Anna loves this book

This novel’s language turns me utterly present, each breath and the surface of my skin attuned to the words. It’s a rare piece of writing that gives me this feeling, but in Kwon’s hands, every sentence–down to the syllables and commas–is deliberate, artfully chosen.

The result–which took her ten years–is soaring, exhalant, and musical. One of her characters is a former virtuoso concert pianist, and I can’t help but think reading Kwon is like being overcome by a brilliant piece of music, not one note out of place.  

The Incendiaries

By R.O. Kwon ,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The Incendiaries as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'R. O. Kwon is the real deal' LAUREN GROFF

'Absolutely electric . . . Everyone should read this book' GARTH GREENWELL

'Every explosive requires a fuse. That's R. O. Kwon's novel, a straight, slow-burning fuse' VIET THANH NGUYEN

'In dazzlingly acrobatic prose, R. O. Kwon explores the lines between faith and fanaticism, passion and violence, the rational and the unknowable' CELESTE NG

'A sharp, little novel as hard to ignore as a splinter in your eye' WASHINGTON POST

'Raw and finely wrought' NEW YORK TIMES

'The Incendiaries packs a disruptive charge, and introduces R. O. Kwon as a major talent'…

Explore
Topics
Genres

If you love Gwendoline Riley...

Ad

Book cover of Trusting Her Duke

Trusting Her Duke by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.

Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…

First Love

By Gwendoline Riley ,

Book cover of First Love

Jenna Clake Author Of Disturbance

From my list on abusive and toxic relationships.

By Jenna Clake Author

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a poet, novelist, and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Teesside University in the UK. I like to write and read about particularly gender power dynamics, and how those come to play in domestic situations. I love lyrical novels and books that explore characters’ interiority, and I’m interested in how, generally speaking, ‘toxic’ and ‘abusive’ relationships have become synonymous – even though they are quite different. These novels helped me write my own, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading them as much as I did!

Jenna's book list on abusive and toxic relationships

Book cover of The Incendiaries Book cover of Asylum Road Book cover of Second Place Book cover of When I Hit You Book cover of First Love

Jenna Clake Why Jenna loves this book

This might be one of my favourite books of all time.

Riley’s prose is exquisite – pared back, yet lyrical – and her dialogue is unmatched. Neve has married Edwyn, an older and more financially stable man. As Neve thinks about all the decisions and circumstances that led to her marriage – including trying to escape her bully of a father and her intense and naïve mother – Riley deftly and subtly details cycles of abuse and neglect.

Edwyn has terrible moods, which Neve excuses, and for which she blames herself. Riley truly understands and captures the psychology of loving and making excuses for an abusive partner or family member. 

First Love

By Gwendoline Riley ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked First Love as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'A singular, devastating journey into the ungovernable reaches of the heart' Observer

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2017

Neve is a writer in her mid-30s married to an older man, Edwyn. For now they are in a place of relative peace, but their past battles have left scars. As Neve recalls the decisions that led her to this marriage, she tells of other loves and other debts, from her bullying father and her self-involved mother to a musician who played her and a series of lonely flights from place to place.

Drawing the reader into the battleground…

Explore
Topics
Genres

When I Hit You

By Meena Kandasamy ,

Book cover of When I Hit You

Anu Kandikuppa Author Of The Confines: Stories

From my list on marriage, family, and social constraints in India.

By Anu Kandikuppa Author

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an Indian-American writer who moved to the U.S. for graduate school over thirty years ago. Growing up in a conservative Indian family, I witnessed women bound by unspoken rules, for example, expectations of modesty enforced not by law but by societal norms. And, of course, I encountered daily indignities, euphemistically referred to as “eve-teasing.” Only in adulthood, as my world expanded beyond those confines, did I begin to question and resent them. While I live in the U.S., where women’s circumstances are better, though not perfect, I remain deeply interested in how life for Indian women has changed and avidly seek out books set in India.

Anu's book list on marriage, family, and social constraints in India

Book cover of The Heart Is a Shifting Sea: Love and Marriage in Mumbai Book cover of The Private Life of Mrs Sharma Book cover of When I Hit You Book cover of One Part Woman Book cover of A Kitchen in the Corner of the House

Anu Kandikuppa Why Anu loves this book

I was deeply struck by the honest depiction of domestic violence and manipulation in this novel, which is based on the author’s own experience of marriage. The novel builds up slowly, with facts of the marriage interspersed with the retrospective analysis of the author.

The writing is lovely—stark, poetic, and, given the subject, improbably funny. Even with the humor, this is not at all an easy novel to read, but the reward is a haunting, visceral understanding of how even a well-educated woman can turn unlikely victim. 

When I Hit You

By Meena Kandasamy ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked When I Hit You as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2018
LONGLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2018
SHORTLISTED FOR THE JHALAK PRIZE 2018

Guardian's Best Books of 2017
Daily Telegraph's Best Books of 2017
Observer Best Books of 2017
Financial Times Best Books of 2017

"Meena Kandasamy's vivid, sharp and precise writing makes a triumph of When I Hit You: Or, a Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife(Atlantic)"- Guardian

Seduced by politics, poetry and an enduring dream of building a better world together, the unnamed narrator falls in love with a university professor. Moving with him to a rain-washed coastal…

Explore
Topics
Genres

Second Place

By Rachel Cusk ,

Book cover of Second Place

Jenna Clake Author Of Disturbance

From my list on abusive and toxic relationships.

By Jenna Clake Author

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a poet, novelist, and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Teesside University in the UK. I like to write and read about particularly gender power dynamics, and how those come to play in domestic situations. I love lyrical novels and books that explore characters’ interiority, and I’m interested in how, generally speaking, ‘toxic’ and ‘abusive’ relationships have become synonymous – even though they are quite different. These novels helped me write my own, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading them as much as I did!

Jenna's book list on abusive and toxic relationships

Book cover of The Incendiaries Book cover of Asylum Road Book cover of Second Place Book cover of When I Hit You Book cover of First Love

Jenna Clake Why Jenna loves this book

Sometimes the most toxic relationships are born out of an all-consuming desire to become friends (or more).

So is the case for the narrator of Second Place, M, who becomes obsessed with impressing an artist, L, who stays in her home during the COVID-19 pandemic. L is an awful guest, but M is cringe-worthy in her attempts to impress him, as she begins to reflect on her relationship with her daughter, her husband, and her own body.

The novel is indebted to the Mabel Dodge Luhan’s 1932 memoir Lorenzo in Taos, about DH Lawrence’s stay at her artists’ colony in New Mexico. Lawrence threatened to ‘destroy’ his hostess, as L threatens M in this novel. With every twist and turn, Second Place becomes more surreal, horrifying, and darkly humorous.

Second Place

By Rachel Cusk ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Second Place as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A haunting fable of art, family, and fate from the author of the Outline trilogy.

A woman invites a famous artist to use her guesthouse in the remote coastal landscape where she lives with her family. Powerfully drawn to his paintings, she believes his vision might penetrate the mystery at the center of her life. But as a long, dry summer sets in, his provocative presence itself becomes an enigma―and disrupts the calm of her secluded household.

Second Place, Rachel Cusk’s electrifying new novel, is a study of female fate and male privilege, the geometries of human relationships, and the…

Explore
Topics
Genres

If you love My Phantoms...

Ad

Book cover of The Duke's Christmas Redemption

The Duke's Christmas Redemption by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.

Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…

Asylum Road

By Olivia Sudjic ,

Book cover of Asylum Road

Jenna Clake Author Of Disturbance

From my list on abusive and toxic relationships.

By Jenna Clake Author

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a poet, novelist, and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Teesside University in the UK. I like to write and read about particularly gender power dynamics, and how those come to play in domestic situations. I love lyrical novels and books that explore characters’ interiority, and I’m interested in how, generally speaking, ‘toxic’ and ‘abusive’ relationships have become synonymous – even though they are quite different. These novels helped me write my own, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading them as much as I did!

Jenna's book list on abusive and toxic relationships

Book cover of The Incendiaries Book cover of Asylum Road Book cover of Second Place Book cover of When I Hit You Book cover of First Love

Jenna Clake Why Jenna loves this book

Anya and Luke like to listen to true crime podcasts together, but they refuse to share much else: Anya tries to hide her body hair, her family, how she escaped from Sarajevo, and her concern that Luke will leave her.

Luke is stoical, difficult to read, and Anya feels isolated from his wealthy, middle-class English family. When they get engaged, it seems as though Anya might finally be able to settle, but the declaration of commitment only sets off a series of events, estrangements, and secrets that will unravel Anya’s world.

With the tension and pacing of a thriller, and the introspection of a woman who has only known precarity, Sudjic’s novel is terrifying and gripping. 

Asylum Road

By Olivia Sudjic ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Asylum Road as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'An eerily familiar reflection of our current moment ... It continues to haunt me' NATASHA BROWN, I PAPER BOOKS OF THE YEAR
'I will go wherever she takes me. A phenomenal book' DAISY JOHNSON
'A brilliant, scalding novel ... sharp, intricately layered, impossible to forget' MEGAN HUNTER
'Stunning ... beautifully written and deeply unsettling' BOOKSELLER, EDITOR'S CHOICE

CHOSEN AS A 2021 BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR BY OBSERVER, INDEPENDENT, FINANCIAL TIMES, EVENING STANDARD, GRAZIA, STYLIST, ELLE THE NATIONAL, FIVE BOOKS AND BURO

A couple drive from London to coastal Provence. Anya is preoccupied with what she feels is a relationship…

Explore
Topics
Genres
Book cover of In Memoriam
Book cover of The Black Dress
Book cover of The Incendiaries

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,210

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Share my 3 favs