Books like The conformist [by] Alberto Moravia by Alberto Moravia

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece examines the glittering yet hollow glamour of the Roaring Twenties as the enigmatic Jay Gatsby pursues love, wealth, and identity across the social divide.

In post‑war New York, Newland Archer faces a dilemma when his fiancée’s cousin, the rebellious Ellen Olenska, challenges his elite society’s expectations and his own loyalty.

Set during the French Indochina War, the novel follows British journalist Thomas Fowler, his mistress Phuong, and American idealist Pyle, whose ambitions and tragic fate reshape their lives amid political turmoil.

A Catholic priest, scarred by his past, navigates early 1930s Mexico while the church faces persecution, providing aid to impoverished peasants under the threat of ruthless police and betrayal.

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With the publication of Justine Lawrence Durrell became, almost overnight, one of the most talked about, widely acclaimed novelists of the decade. Now, in Bitter Lemons, his focus has shifted from the world of his imagination to life itself. Writing in the exquisite poetic prose that critics have hailed as unequalled in contemporary literature, he tells the perceptive, often humorous story of his experiences on the island of Cyprus -- first as a visitor, then as a householder and teacher and finally as Press Advisor to a government on the verge of revolution. Partly because of his ability to speak fluent Greek, but mainly because of his rare understanding of the people of Cyprus, Durrell found a ready welcome in the little village where he chose to settle. His portrayal of the warm, friendly people among whom he made his home is but one of this book's many delights. There are vivid pictures of the villages on their ways of life, the ancient edifices, the flowers, mountains and sea, the sunlight that gave the island its unique, peaceful quality. There are, too, hilarious descriptions of the problems of buying a house and teaching English in the local high school, where all the girls fell in love with Durrell and showered him with presents of roses, poems and even a special kind of meatball. Gradually, however, life on the sunny island was darkened by political turmoil which exploded into a revolution when Cypriots, crying for union with Greece, rose up against the British. Durrell movingly recounts the slow deterioration of the political situation and the part he tried to play in helping both sides to understand each other. Finally forced to admit defeat, he resigned from the post he had held for two years as Press Officer and left the island.

Set in the 1860s, The Leopard is the spellbinding story of a decadent, dying Sicilian aristocracy threatened by the approaching forces of democracy and revolution.

An elderly writer stays in Venice, becoming entranced by a young boy named Tadzio while a plague looms, forcing him to confront the tension between artistic longing and the harsh demands of reality.