Plot-Moving Nested Narratives đȘč
When character reads or listens to anotherâs personâs story or is told a longer tale about something which then affects that character in some way. The character needs to comment on reading or listening to the story and it needs to affect their action. The nested story needs to be significantly long. Bonus if there is multiple nested narratives. Epistolary novels where multiple character write to each other also count. (This list is still work in progress, suggestions welcome.)
created by TheLibrarian
last updated July, 2026
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I am currently listening to Wuthering Heights in preparation for the winter read a long, and it's largely a dude being told the story of the dude he's renting from.
Iâve read Wuthering Heights ages ago and I think the outside story is not really significant enough to count for this. Itâs a great book but the character being told the story is not really affected by it in any meaningful way that moves the plot if that makes sense. I could be forgetting something though.
That makes total sense!
I feel like House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski would fit here.
Looks great! Iâll add it, thank you!
Lucy Undying by Kirsten White is SO THIS.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Anne Shaffer is an epistolary novel from multiple POVs.
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed does this with diary entries, pieces by Lord Byron, and a few paintings iirc.
The Echo of Old Books by Barbara Davis involves a woman who has almost... psychometric powers when it comes to books and absorbs the stories of the people who owned the books before. That leads her down a rabbit hole with a particular book, and informs her pursuit of those related to the one who owned the book, and then that character's experience with the book. It's hard to explain, but applies to the prompt đ
All really great suggestions. Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!
would If on a Winter's Night a Traveler work for this? it's a story within a story and very trippy and fun!
Yes! Thank you!
How about The Princess Bride by William Goldman?
Iâve only seen the movie. How much of the outside framing narrative is in the book?
It there in full, like the movie.
ooo Trust by Hernan Diaz def would fit this! love this list
Very different genre from all others but definitely fits the book list based on the blurb. Thank you!
Just read The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels and it should fit this category!
Iâve read the blurb and I just wanted to ask you how is the case represented in the text, like is it newspaper articles or someone telling the story to the reporters?
Itâs two reporters gathering evidence for their books on the same topic, so itâs emails and texts from several different parties and newspaper articles and other documents related to the case
Ok. I think that fits. Iâll add it. Thank you for recommending it!
10000 doors of January!
Thank you! We actually have this one in the library but I havenât read it yet.
Gilded by Marissa Meyer might fit here The main character gets her self into trouble with lots of stories and they impact the people around her
Is she being pulled into the stories? Thatâs what I got from the blurb but I could be misinterpreting. I think it could work if the main narrative is still separate from the stories.
Hmmm she does kinda get 'pulled in' so maybe doesn't work for this list
Still sounds great. Maybe a seperate list for being pulled into stories.
The buffalo hunter hunter would fit great! 3 stories nested within one!
Is someone from the outside story reading the nested ones? The blurb said something about being written in transcripts.
Yep! (If Iâm understanding you correctly). One character tells a second character their story. The second character writes that down in a journal. Third character finds the journal, transcribes it, and writes their own journal
Perfect! Thank you. Blurbs are sometimes really vague. I want to read this one too. I love the complexity of it too. The more nested, the better!
Magpie Murders has a book nested inside the narrative, and there are ties between the two
Thank you. Iâll add it.
Would Unwieldy Creatures by Addie Tsai and The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar count for this?
Iâll look them up. To be honest if youâve read them and think they count, Iâm okay adding them.
Iâm going to add Thirty Names of Night, but I have a question about Unwieldy Creatures. Besides being retelling of Frankenstein, does it follow a similar nested narrative? I havenât read it and the blurb doesnât mention anything like that, just the characters so your feedback would be useful.
While none of the letters in This Is How You Lose The Time War are very long, I'd say the entire plot is moved forward based on their reactions to the stories they tell in their letters.
Iâve heard about this one, Iâll add it.
Dracula! While it is 100% diary entries and letters, the diary entries and letters that you experience as the reader are later in the story read by the characters. An example is Jonathanâs journal he writes while trapped in Draculas castle. His diary is later read by his wife and Van Helsing and is a large catalyst for the rest of the plot. Not sure if it counts, but it is fun to read what the characters will later read before they read it đ Kind of meta!! Hopefully that makes sense lol
No, no, it does. Itâs funny how many classics actually have nested narratives that really work.
I think I explained this poorly hopefully it makes sense đ
Also this is such a creative list, thank you!!
I love stories like this. Two of them are on my all time favourite list. So this is more for me than anything else. But Iâm glad others find it useful too!
awesome list, I looove frame tale stories!
- âMadonna in a Fur Coatâ could fit. a man learns his coworkerâs lifestory from the coworkerâs notebook which then deeply impacts his relationship with said coworker
- âTurn of The Screwâ could work too. the male narrator reads from the manuscript of the houseâs governess which adds to the uncertainty of the governessâs story
