Set primarily inside an Oregon psychiatric hospital, the narrative is told through the vantage of a patient who presents as deaf and mute. The plot focuses on tensions between the ward’s controlling staff and a charismatic newcomer whose actions unsettle the ward’s fragile order.

Set during World War II in England, the novel follows a wounded young soldier convalescing at a military hospital who confronts feelings for men with very different positions and temperaments.

An aging, small-time Boston criminal and informant navigates deals, betrayals, and legal pressure within the city's Irish-American underworld. The novel focuses on his day-to-day interactions, the negotiations between criminals and law enforcement, and the consequences of compromised loyalties.

Set in a Caribbean social world, the novel tracks characters whose private histories and public roles intersect with race, class, and the island’s social customs. Tensions arise as personal ambitions and generational expectations collide with broader questions about who belongs and who speaks for the community.

After a devastating nuclear war, American society has turned against modern science; rebuilding cities and technological expertise is banned and religious groups that opposed technology before the war now shape public life.

Set in rural Georgia during the cotton/sharecropping era, the novel follows Grange Copeland and the consequences of his decisions across generations.

Set in the mid-20th century American South, the novel follows Ursa Corregidora, a blues singer recovering from a physical accident while carrying a family's intergenerational wounds.

An unnamed Black narrator recounts his journey through segregated American life, encountering institutions, movements, and people that test his sense of self.

Set during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the novel stages the prolonged siege of a fictional Indian town and follows the British residents who must endure shortages, disease risk, and the breakdown of familiar authority.