8 Utopian Fiction Novels to Get You Through These Dystopian Times

Dystopian fiction remains fairly popular, with many such stories—The Handmaid’s Tale, Man in the High Castle, and Silo, to name a few—having been adapted in recent years for film and television. Each portrays a society that is repressive, authoritarian, and manipulative and showcases the worst models of human civilization. 

The genre’s opposite twin, utopian fiction, has largely fallen out of favor, but the best examples are equally as imaginative, rewarding and insightful. A utopia is an imagined country, or world, where humans live peaceably, equably, and without strife. In essence, utopian novels hold a dual purpose—to entertain with a good story, and to critique our current views and values by way of contrast to a fictional idyll. 

If you fancy a break from corrupt politicians and dark futures, consider diving into one of the below books.

1. The Book of the City of Ladies (1404)  // Christine de Pizan 
2. Utopia (1516) // Thomas More 
3. Erewhon (1872) // Samuel Butler 
4. Herland (1915) // Charlotte Perkins Gilman 
5. Lost Horizon (1933) // James Hilton
6. Islandia (1942) // Austin Tappan Wright 
7. The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia (1974) // Ursula K. Le Guin 
8. Too Like the Lightning (2016) // Ada Palmer 

The Book of the City of Ladies (1404)  // Christine de Pizan 

Christine de Pizan was born in the Republic of Venice in 1364. She worked as a court writer—an author who wrote works for aristocratic patrons on commission. Her clients included royalty, and The Book of the City of Ladies was written while she was employed by John the Fearless, the Duke of Burgundy. 

In the novel, de Pizan imagines an allegorical city of women. These women are fictionalized versions of real inspirational figures drawn from history and serve as foundations for the city. Through their presence, de Pizan builds a thesis advocating for women’s education and their status as equal to men. The Book of the City of Ladies is often considered the first feminist novel and remains an extraordinary achievement.

Utopia (1516) // Thomas More 

This is the book that gave the genre its name—Thomas More devised the word utopia; it’s derived from Greek elements that mean “not” and “place,” and translates to “nowhere.” 

More served as Lord High Chancellor of England under King Henry VIII. He was a lawyer, philosopher, and theologian who opposed the King’s separation from the Catholic Church, a stance for which he was ultimately executed. 

More features as a character in Utopia. He meets a traveler named Raphael Hythlody, who relates his visit to a land where slavery is condemned, democracy rules, and the pursuit of wealth is viewed as folly. No private property exists in Utopia, and every citizen participates in communal work that is fairly apportioned. This is a work so radical it is still being discussed to this day.

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Erewhon (1872) // Samuel Butler 

Samuel Butler’s satirical masterpiece uses the fictional, idyllic country of Erewhon as a mirror to highlight the iniquities of Victorian society. The novel follows the story of an unnamed protagonist who leaves England in the hope of finding his fortune and stumbles upon the titular land; his adventures therein throw up questions as to the nature and purpose of morality and civilization. 

Butler’s response to the Industrial Revolution is a remarkably prescient feature of the book. In three chapters that make up “The Book of the Machines,” the author warns against the potential dangers of artificially intelligent and self-replicating machines. George Orwell admired Erewhon, praising its imagination and bravery.

Herland (1915) // Charlotte Perkins Gilman 

The plot of Herland charts the adventures of three men—Vandyck Jennings, Terry Nicholson, and Jeff Margrave—who set out in search of a rumored land where the population is composed entirely of women. Charlotte Perkins Gilman skilfully uses these three disparate characters to outline common views men have of women, as shaped by society. 

When the trio eventually discovers Herland, they are at first captured by its inhabitants but gradually allowed more freedom to explore. They realize it is a land free from violence and warfare, a peaceful, egalitarian place, where the concepts of romance or sex are unheard of. Needless to say, the three men struggle to adapt and find themselves questioning many long-held beliefs. 

Gilman’s work went largely unnoticed upon publication. It wasn’t until reprints began to appear in the 1960s and ‘70s that her writing received the attention it justly deserves.

Lost Horizon (1933) // James Hilton

If you’ve ever wondered where the name Shangri-La originated, this is it. In James Hilton’s novel, Hugh Conway, a British consul based in India, along with his vice-consul, Charles Mallinson, American Henry Barnard, and English missionary Roberta Brinklow, find themselves stranded in the mountains of Tibet following a plane crash. Their dying pilot advises them to head for the nearby Buddhist monastery of Shangri-La. There, they discover a peaceful and isolated paradise that wants for nothing. The book’s plot centers around the four interlopers’ reactions to their new environment and its contrasts to Western society. Director Frank Capra adapted Lost Horizon was for film in 1933. 

Islandia (1942) // Austin Tappan Wright 

Austin Tappan Wright’s book, published posthumously, and its fictional setting of Islandia—a place of inclusion and equality, wherein a love of nature is paramount—is remarkably detailed. The novel was a work of passion, developed over a long period during which the author worked up an entire history of his imagined utopia, including its history, geology, language, and culture. These complete papers have never been published; what became the novel was substantially edited down. Nonetheless, the fruits of Wright’s labor shine through as he chronicles the tale of American John Lang, one of a strictly limited number of visitors allowed to enter the fictional land.

The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia (1974) // Ursula K. Le Guin 

This novel from acclaimed author Ursula K. Le Guin numbers among only a handful of works to achieve the feat of winning all of the “big three” science fiction awards: the Hugo, Locus, and Nebula. The setting for each chapter in The Dispossessed alternates between the planet Urras and its moon Anarres. Urras is a deeply hierarchical and authoritarian capitalist society; Anarres has no laws and is essentially cooperative in nature. Le Guin offers no easy answers and highlights the difficulties that arise from the struggle between individualism and collectivism. 

Too Like the Lightning (2016) // Ada Palmer 

One of few modern exponents of utopian fiction, American writer Ada Palmer’s Too Like the Lightning is the first in a quartet of works collectively known as Terra Ignota. The setting for this novel is Earth in the year 2454, a world where advances in technology have led to a golden age of humanity. Geographic nations are no more. People instead have the option of joining one of seven Hives, each of which possesses its own language and government and all of which form part of the Universal Free Alliance Senate. The book is presented as a history written by the colorful Mycroft Canner, a brilliant criminal, now paroled. It contains within it a story of vying powers and a beguiling mystery.