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Ottessa Moshfegh was born in Boston in 1981 to a Croatian mother and an Iranian Jewish father, both musicians who taught at the New England Conservatory. Her first novel, Eileen (2015), is narrated by a young woman working at a boys’ prison in 1960s Massachusetts; it won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018), a young woman in Manhattan in 2000 decides to sleep for a year, on drugs prescribed by an erratic psychiatrist. Lapvona (2022) moves to a medieval village ruled by a cruel lord. Her narrators are rude, self-absorbed and often funny, and her books are frank about bodies, drink and loneliness. The ten writers below share that territory: people who opt out, voices that refuse to be likeable, and the odd comfort of a dark joke.
By Lisanne Swart · 10 authors · Dark comedy · Unlikeable narrators · Updated October 2026
Quick answer
If you love Ottessa Moshfegh, start with Sayaka Murata, whose Convenience Store Woman (2016) follows another woman who will not live the life expected of her. Jean Rhys’s Good Morning, Midnight (1939) follows a woman in Paris organising her days around drink and sleep, and Patricia Highsmith wrote the calm criminal inner voice that Eileen recalls. Further down are the nineteenth-century narrator who started it all and a writer who covers the same ground with tenderness.
10 authors like Ottessa Moshfegh
Where to start if you loved Ottessa Moshfegh
If you loved My Year of Rest and Relaxation, read Jean Rhys.
Good Morning, Midnight: a woman in Paris getting through the days on drink and sleep.
If you loved Eileen, read Patricia Highsmith.
The Talented Mr. Ripley: a calm voice drifting towards crime.
If you want another woman who opts out, read Sayaka Murata.
Convenience Store Woman: Keiko is happy at work; everyone else is the problem.
If you want the frankness with warmth, read Lucia Berlin.
A Manual for Cleaning Women: stories of bad jobs and drink from a narrator who likes people.
If you want more Moshfegh, read her in order.
McGlue (2014), Eileen (2015), Homesick for Another World (2017), My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018), Death in Her Hands (2020) and Lapvona (2022).
Frequently asked questions about authors like Ottessa Moshfegh
Who writes like Ottessa Moshfegh?
Sayaka Murata, Jean Rhys and Patricia Highsmith are the closest matches. Murata’s Convenience Store Woman has another woman who opts out, Rhys’s Good Morning, Midnight a woman who lives on drink and sleep, and Highsmith the calm criminal voice that Eileen recalls.
What should I read after My Year of Rest and Relaxation?
Jean Rhys’s Good Morning, Midnight (1939), Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman (2016) and Han Kang’s The Vegetarian (2007). All three follow women who withdraw from the lives expected of them.
Does Ottessa Moshfegh have a new book?
Her most recent novel is Lapvona (2022). We found no announced publication date for a new book when this list was reviewed in October 2026.
Which Ottessa Moshfegh book should I read first?
My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018) is the usual starting point. Eileen (2015), her Booker-shortlisted first novel, is darker and closer to a thriller, and Homesick for Another World (2017) collects her stories.
Is Ottessa Moshfegh like Patricia Highsmith?
In part. Both keep readers inside the head of someone they should not trust, and Eileen is the closest Moshfegh comes to Highsmith’s crime territory. Moshfegh’s books are more comic and more physical.
Are Ottessa Moshfegh’s books dark?
Yes: they deal with addiction, violence, abuse and loneliness, often in graphic physical detail. They are also often funny, in the manner of Flannery O’Connor’s stories.
Sources
- Ottessa Moshfegh — Wikipedia
- Sayaka Murata — Wikipedia
- Patricia Highsmith — Wikipedia
- Flannery O'Connor — Wikipedia
List last reviewed 31 October 2026.
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