Books like Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski
Swimming in the Dark, written by Tomasz Jedrowski, is a contemporary Polish novel that delves into the coming‑of‑age experience of a young gay protagonist. The book examines themes of identity, belonging, and social acceptance within a modern Polish context.
First publish date: 2020
Genre: LGBTQ+ Fiction/Gay Fiction
Authors: Tomasz Jedrowski
★
★
★
★
★
4.8 (4 community ratings)
How are these books recommended?
The books recommended for Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski are shaped by reader interaction. Votes on how closely books relate, user ratings, and community comments all help refine these recommendations and highlight books readers genuinely find similar in theme, ideas, and overall reading experience.
Have you read any of these books?
Your votes, ratings, and comments help improve recommendations and make it easier
for other readers to discover books they’ll enjoy.
Books similar to Swimming in the Dark (21 similar books)
Pride and Prejudice is a classic novel by Jane Austen.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Set in north England, Jane Eyre follows an orphaned governess who faces abuse, hardship, and ultimately a complicated love with her employer, Edward Rochester, while contemplating marriage to her austere cousin St. John Rivers.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A Little Life follows four college friends in New York as they confront trauma, love and the enduring scars of their pasts, weaving themes of friendship, family, and identity into a profound coming‑of‑age story.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens’s 1837-39 social novel, follows an orphan raised in a workhouse who flees to London, joins a gang of pickpockets, and uncovers family secrets while exposing child labour and exploitation.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Ari, a fifteen‑year‑old Mexican‑American with a brother in prison, meets Dante and a friendship sparks that forces him to confront his identity, family, and sexuality.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A novel about Emma Woodhouse, a young woman's struggles with matchmaking, misplaced pride, and the dangers of meddling in others' lives in 18th-century England.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Set in 1950s Paris, James Baldwin’s novel follows an American expatriate entangled in a doomed love triangle, confronting desire, morality, and sexual identity with stark honesty.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Nick Hornby's second bestselling novel about sex, manliness, and fatherhood, about Will, a 36-year-old man child-free, discovering a way to meet women through single-parent groups, and Marcus, a 12-year-old boy dealing with a mother who makes him listen to Joni Mitchell rather than Nirvana.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A transgender middle‑school girl navigates her identity and friendship when she strives to play Charlotte in her class theater production, with help from her best friend to reveal her true self.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Cameron Post, a gay teen from a conservative Montana ranch town, is sent to a conversion therapy center after her family demands she change her sexual orientation.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A dystopian novel set in Glasgow, Lanark tells the intertwined stories of a young man and a man who has turned to crime.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
After being adopted by a quirky Dublin couple who treat him only as a house‑guest, Cyril embarks on a life‑spanning quest to discover his origins, his place in Ireland, and the meaning of true belonging.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Evelina is a comic novel of manners that follows a young London debutante as she navigates the social world of 18th‑century England, learning wit, confidence, and the subtleties of love.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A foundling named Tom Jones is raised by a benevolent landowner, growing into a kind-hearted young man whose love affair with a well-born daughter sparks class conflict. The novel, one of the first English-language works, explores themes of prostitution and promiscuity.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
In 1993 a queer bartender named Paul Polydoris—shapeshifter extraordinaire—drinks his way through Iowa City, Boystown, Provincetown, and San Francisco, charting a speculative portrait of early ’90s LGBTQ+ politics.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Nicholas Nickleby's struggle to support his mother and sister.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A Nigerian-American teen in Washington, D.C. faces family, cultural and personal turmoil as he navigates coming out and the expectations of two worlds.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
After the monsoon, 14‑year‑old Amrith's summer is transformed when a cousin from Canada arrives, sparking a coming‑of‑age struggle with jealousy, family bonds, and first love in the Sri Lankan coast.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A continuation of Coetzee’s allegorical story, it follows young David and his caretakers as they rebuild their lives in a new town, exploring growing up, family bonds, and the power of memory.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Rainbow Milk is a coming‑of‑age story of nineteen‑year‑old Jesse McCarthy, who wrestles with his racial and sexual identities while growing up in a Jehovah’s Witness household.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Some Other Similar Books
The Address Book by Deirdre FoleyHave a similar book in mind? Let others know!
Please login to submit books!