Elizabeth Day has long been drawn to stories about belonging, identity, and the quiet ache of not quite fitting in. Through her bestselling novels and hit podcast How To Fail, she’s explored what it means to be human in all its messy, uncertain glory. Her latest novel, One of Us, is a gripping read set in the world of the wealthy and influential – but at its heart, it’s a story about outsiders, and the emotional cost of being on the margins.
So which novels about outsiders has she found most powerful? Here, Day shares the five books which have shaped her life and writing…
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
“Ishiguro is brilliant at writing outsiders because he understands that, at some fundamental level, these characters are also strangers to their real selves. Stevens, the emotionally repressed butler at the heart of The Remains of the Day, is one such example – not only because of his class and profession (the ultimate observer) but also because of his inability to connect with the human intimacy he so yearns for. His devotion to duty makes him a spectator of life rather than a participant, relegating him to the periphery of great historical and personal events.
“I was lucky enough to interview Ishiguro for an episode of my podcast, How To Fail, and we explored how much his own upbringing – he moved with his family from Nagasaki in Japan to Guildford at the age of five – played into this sense of dislocation and alienation. His thoughtful answers make it one of my most memorable podcast conversations.”
Faber, £8.99
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“One of my favourite novels of all time, on any theme. Our heroine, Ifemelu, leaves Nigeria to study in the United States, where she is abruptly confronted with the reality of race in a way she never experienced at home. She becomes an outsider twice over: as an immigrant navigating American society and when she returns home, struggling to fit back into Nigeria after her years abroad. As a result, she is perpetually suspended between two worlds and never fully herself in either.
“Americanah examines how outsidership is shaped not just by geography but also by class, gender and the politics of belonging.”
Fourth Estate, £9.99
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
“I first read this book when I was visiting the Caribbean island of Dominica where it is set. It’s a deeply atmospheric place, punctuated by active volcanoes and sulphuric hot springs. I had incredibly vivid dreams while there and Rhys’s novel adeptly conveys the intensity of the location while reimagining the story of the ‘madwoman in the attic’ from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. In Rhys’s hands, she is Antoinette, a Creole heiress in colonial Jamaica – too white to be accepted by the Black community, yet too Caribbean to be fully embraced by the British elites.
“Her outsider status is both cultural and psychological, intensified when she is married off to an Englishman who seeks to erase her identity. The novel powerfully interrogates race, gender, and empire, showing how outsiders are not merely marginalised but actively silenced by dominant structures.”
Penguin Modern Classics, £7.99
The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
“The Urtext of outsidership. I keep returning to this novel – and to the exquisite 1999 film adaptation by Anthony Minghella – as a source of inspiration.
“When Tom Ripley is sent to Italy to retrieve the dilettante Dickie Greenleaf at the behest of his anxious parents, he instead becomes infatuated with Dickie and his lifestyle. It’s a chilling portrait of a sociopathic outsider who inveigles his way into a world of affluence and privilege.
“Highsmith writes Ripley without judgement, letting the reader slowly piece together their own discomfort by observing his actions and responses. It’s a perfect example of showing rather than telling. Her real brilliance, to my mind, is that despite his terrible actions, you can’t help but root for Ripley because his desperation to be loved (without ever truly understanding what love means) goes to the heart of the human condition.”
Vintage Classics, £9.99
The Go-Between by LP Hartley
“A haunting evocation of innocence and betrayal, told through the eyes of schoolboy Leo Colston who is invited to spend the summer at the family estate of his wealthy schoolfriend, Marcus Maudsley. From the outset, Leo is acutely conscious of his lower social standing, his clothes (which are all wrong) and his awkwardness among the glamorous upper classes. His position as the go-between of the title – delivering secret love letters between Marcus’s older sister and a local farmer – highlights this liminal role, both inside the drama yet never truly part of it.
“The novel captures Leo’s painful awakening to adult realities and the lasting scars of exclusion. It’s a book that has inspired not just me but countless other literary luminaries from Alan Hollinghurst to Ali Smith.”
Penguin Modern Classics, £8.99
‘One of Us’ is published by Fourth Estate, £18.99
