Some stories leave an afterimage. Long after the credits roll, you’re still thinking about the choices the characters made (or didn’t). The rooms they lived in. The words they swallowed.
Even the Faithful belongs to that same emotional lineage. Set in postwar Midwestern America, it’s shaped by restraint, moral tension, and the quiet ache of lives lived within strict boundaries. If any of the films below resonate with you, you may find yourself at home in its pages.
Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
Midcentury expectations, social repression, and women quietly questioning the futures prescribed to them. If you’re drawn to stories about longing for more in a world that discourages it, this one belongs on your list.
The Imitation Game (2014)
A devastating portrait of brilliance and secrecy and the brutal cost of repressing identity. Its moral gravity and emotional restraint echo the unspoken conflicts at the heart of Even the Faithful.
A League of Their Own (1992)
Set in the 1940s Midwest, this film captures a fleeting moment when women were allowed independence and the inevitability of its withdrawal. Lighter on the surface, but serious beneath.
Brooklyn (2015)
Catholic culture, immigration, marriage as moral choice, and the weight of leaving one life for another. Quiet, devastating, and deeply interior.
Call Me By Your Name (2017)
Though set later, its emotional core is timeless: longing shaped by silence, restraint, and the knowledge that love does not always lead to permanence.
Revolutionary Road (2008)
A study in midcentury marriage, repression, and the claustrophobia of unrealized lives. It refuses comfort, and so does Even the Faithful.
Brideshead Revisited (1981 / 2008)
Catholicism, beauty, forbidden love, and moral reckoning. If faith and desire colliding is your literary sweet spot, this is essential viewing.
The Magic of Ordinary Days (2005)
A quiet wartime story of a marriage of convenience that becomes something gentler and more honest. Its emotional register aligns closely with Lotte and Albert’s world.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
A slow-burn tragedy of love constrained by era, geography, and fear. Its compassion for lives shaped by silence places it firmly in Even the Faithful’s orbit.
A Christmas Story (1983)
Midcentury Midwestern life in miniature: the houses, the schools, the winter light. Not the drama itself, but the world around it.
De-Lovely (2004)
Lavender marriage, public respectability, and private truth in midcentury America. Particularly resonant for readers drawn to Albert’s storyline.
These films share more than a time period. They understand that the most compelling stories often unfold quietly through what is withheld, endured, or chosen at great personal cost.
If this is the kind of storytelling you seek, Even the Faithful was written for you. Preorder is now open on Amazon and is coming to additional major retailers within the next few days.
Photo by DMRACREATOR • BY DANIELLA on Unsplash