Don't worry, you are not alone.
Sure, you might actually, physically be alone. I am alone. But none of us are truly alone because we have internet, telephones and books to keep us company. However, the characters of these books didn't even have that, more often than not! They are truly alone - either because there are no other people around, they live in secluded areas or because they are ostracized from society.
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Following a bad storm, in which his entire ship crew is killed, Robinson Crusoe is left stranded on a deserted island alone. What follows is an ordinary man's struggle to survive on his own for nearly three decades with little company but that of animals. The central question to this story? What decides a man's future - fate or God?
Published in 1719 I would say that Robinson Crusoe is the original and quintessential 'isolated man' story. In some ways you could probably say that the rest of the books on this list draw inspiration from Defoe in chronicling the hardships of isolation on body and mind.
Read it if you like: Timeless classics, stories of survival, fate vs. God
The Shining by Stephen King
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jack Torrence needs a new start and a chance to reconnect with his wife. Wendy, and son, Danny. He takes a job at the Overlook Hotel as the off-season manager, which means they'll be secluded and alone all through winter. However, there's something sinister at the hotel, that threatens their idyl. And Danny seems to be the only one who sees.
I sincerely hope that your quarantine is better than Jack, Danny and Wendy's. I hope you have no sinister presences that mean you harm. But if you're looking to feel a whole lot better about your own quarantine by reading about how horrible it could have been, then look no further than The Shining! Guaranteed to make you appreciate your own situation!
Read it if you like: Horror, paranormal occurrences, child psychics
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Kya lives alone on a marsh on North Carolina. The townspeople avoid her and derisively call her 'Marsh Girl'. In 1969, when the handsome, young Andrew Chase is found dead, fingers immediately point at the reclusive, strange Marsh Girl.
Kya's seclusion is the result of her otherness. She has raised herself in a hut in the wild marsh, meaning she was very little understanding of people or social conduct. She does know a lot about animals and the marsh, however, but that's not enough to make her likable to the townspeople. I really enjoyed this beautifully written account of Kya and the the marsh she lived in.
Read it if you like: Who-dunnit mysteries with a twist, beautiful prose, independent characters
The Island on Bird Street by Uri Orlev
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
During WWII Alex, a young Jewish boy, lives with his father and a friend in the Warsaw Ghetto. One day the Nazis come to take them away, but Alex manages to escape. Now he has to survive on his own in a ruined house in the empty ghetto.
I read this book when I was around 10 years old and it has stuck with me ever since then. Alex is truly all alone and must learn how to fend for himself, find food and places to hide from the Nazis. But he must also learn how to kill time and how to hold out hope that one day things will be better and he will see his father again. Truly inspirational.
Read it if you like: Holocaust fiction, ingenious children, stories of hope
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
On the verge of the next world war a plane full of school boys crash onto an uncharted island. At first the boys celebrate their new freedom far from rules and restrictions, but slowly they begin trying to build a civilisation - but that is not as easy as it seems.
Sure, these boys are not exactly alone - they have each other. But they most definitely are isolated. The story of how they try to create a society but end up with something more akin to savagery is a great examination of what human nature is really like when left unchecked by convention and rules. A definite must read if you ask me.
Read it if you like: children getting by on their own, dystopia, nature vs. nuture
The Martian by Andy Weir
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Mark Whatney was one of the first 6 people to walk on Mars, but a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to take off without him. Now he is stranded on Mars with no way to contact his crew or Earth. It would seem that Mark is destined to die alone - either from exposure, starvation or human error. But Mark isn't ready to give up, though survival will take every skill he's got.
I absolutely loved this book - loved Mark's ingenuity, his tenacity and his intelligence. This was a true race-against-time story that really swept me away. Though Mark is pretty much the only character, there's not a moment where you don't feel he's not enough.
Read it if you like: Race against time, science made understandable, space travels
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Victor Frankenstein, a young science student, is obsessed with the quest to create life. From stolen body parts, Frankenstein manages to assemble a man and reanimate him. However, the end result is not what he imagined, and when he recoils in horror at the sight of his creation, the monster flees. After years of isolation the monster decides it's time for revenge - on his creator.
Frankenstein's monster is an outcast and therefore isolated and lonely. He starts out benevolent og gentle, but his isolation warps him and turns him into the monster everyone believes him to be. Hopefully the rest of us won't follow a similar storyline...
Read it if you like: Gothic horror, misunderstood characters, revenge
The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Forced into exile, the last Romanov family lives cut off from all of society. Their only point of contact with the outside world comes through their oppressive and aggressive guards - and a kitchen boy, Leonka, who now, decades later, claims to be the last living witness to the heinous murder of the Russian Royal Family.
Many books have been written on the topic of what happened to the last Romanovs. Many of them tell it from the point of view of one of the 4 daughters, or someone else in the immediate family. This book, however, tells their story through an outsider, the kitchen boy Leonka, who followed them into exile.
Read it if you like: Speculative history, Russian revolution, questions of the true truth
Out of Africa by Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen)
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐
In 1914 Karen Blixen moved from Denmark to Kenya with her husband. Once they separated she stayed on the farm by herself, only occasionally visited by her lover. Out of Africa is Blixen's memoirs of her beloved African farm, written after she came back to Denmark in 1932.
Looking on this list I noticed that not a lot of the isolated characters were women, so I added this book for good measure - and also because as a Dane I am proud to share a nationality with this internationally acclaimed author. Blixen is not strictly alone on her farm, but she is isolated and away from the society she grew up and her stories of life in Africa are breathtaking.
Read it if you like: Memoirs, culture clashes, strong minded women who go against their time
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