I’m writing a novel that takes place over one (I may change that to two) days, and I’m looking for other examples. My husband suggested Ulysses by James Joyce, any other ideas?
I’m especially interested in children’s/YA novels and thrillers.
Thanks!
A Day In The Life Of Ivan Denosovich
Ian McKewen’s Saturday.
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Wish I could have back the time it took me to read it though.
HIT by Delilah Dawson is a YA thriller, and it’s either in two or three days.
I think Catcher in the Rye is a very short timeframe.
There are flashbacks to earlier times, but otherwise, almost everything in Malcolm Lowry’s Under the Volcano takes place in a single 24 hour day- specifically, Mexico’s Day of the Dead.
Crónica de una muerte anunciada (Chronicle of a Death Foretold) by Gabriel García Márquez. There are flashbacks, but the main events occur within a day or two.
I had to read it in eigth grade for school. That counts as YA, right?
I know this doesn’t fit the ‘one day’ rule, but since I/we don’t know how you’re formatting the book, I’ll toss in Gone Girl. The bulk of the book takes place over about a week and a half. The chapter titles usually let you know what day it is relative to when it started, but because of the nature of the book the whole week or so it just one big blur as days and nights run together.
Depending on what you’re trying to accomplish, this may or may not work as an example (with some trimming, it could be told over 48 hours).
The third novel in (primarily) George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards series, Jokers Wild, takes place in one day. I don’t know how much sense it would make to read just that one, as it’s the third in a 12-book series.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman purports to be the start of the biography of Tristram Shandy, but doesn’t get much further than the day he was born (though with numerous flashbacks and flashforwards).
Really? It’s one of my favourite books :(.
Similarly, Michel Butor’s Second Thoughts (La Modification) takes place in about a day in a single train carriage but includes flashbacks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Thoughts_%28Butor_novel%29
The 600+ pages of Georges Perec’s Life a User’s Manual (La Vie mode d’emploi) arguably take place in a single moment… with lots of hilarious digressions and interwoven sub-plots. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_a_User’s_Manual
Delores Claiborne technically takes place in one day as the entire thing is a woman’s statement to the police. She tells stories of course, though, and the main one she tells takes place over awhile. It’s all one big monologue, though.
Gerald’s Game is all in one or two days, I think…and by coincidence, it’s connected to Delores Claiborne too (both are written by Stephen King and the characters in both novels go through the same solar eclipse event, although they’re miles apart and don’t know each other).
You said young adult, though, and SK wouldn’t really apply there.
Nicholson Baker’s The Mezzanine takes place during the length of an escalator ride.
Going after Cacciato by Tim O’Brien.
Actually takes place in the space of one night, but you don’t find that out until the very end.
***Gone South *** by Robert R McCammon, though I think it’s more like three (or even four) days.
I believe **A Rude Awakening **took place over a day or so. It was set in Indonesia in 1946, when the european empires in Asia were collapsing and the main character, a British soldier, was awaiting transportation back to the UK. I think Brian Aldis was the author. Anyone?
I think The Secret Place by Tana French takes place over a couple of days - although it is so filled with backstory that it doesn’t really have that feel.
Most of the books in The Dresden Files series take place over a few days. Pretty sure at least some of them span two days or less.