Ghost Flames: Life and Death in a Hidden War, Korea 1950-1953 by Charles J. Hanley. 123 ratings. Excellent book that tells the story of the Korean War through the eyes of 20 different people, from all sides of the conflict.

Stampede: Gold Fever and Disaster in the Klondike by Brian Castner. 414 ratings. Great book about the 1897-98 Klondike Gold Rush and the desperate people trying to survive in Alaska in the hopes of gold.

Birds of Paradise by Oliver K. Langmead. 376 ratings. This book follows Adam, the first man, along with some of the animals from Eden as Adam works to recover and restore pieces of the Garden of Eden.

The entire Deverry Saga. I'm legit surprised I don't hear about it as often as Wheel of Time. It's a brilliant series of 15 books with interweaving storytelling that uses different time periods, incarnations and the like to tell it's stories. Katharine Kerr is hands down one of my favorite authors of all time.

The Red Shoe - Ursula Dubosarky A strange little story set in a small coastal town in Australia about a family struggling all individually and collectively. Told predominantly through the perspective of the youngest sister, Matilda, who is trying to escape her mean imaginary friend.

Just makes the cut off at 497 ratings.

Fearless - Ashley Lister A very short tale of psychological horror. A fun premise, definitely stressful moments and a dry, almost tongue in cheek humour that really tied it all together.

27 ratings.

Faceless - Jeff Monday A beautiful love story, with wonderful understated world building and some spooky elements. Dark fantasy vibes, but really it's the warmth of the characters that carries it.

122 ratings.

While it doesn't quite hit the OPs threshold, I love talking about this book:

Devils in Daylight by Junichero Tanizaki. 1,070 ratings on GR. This novella coming in at 98 pages was written in 1918 which is why I think it counts. A short murder mystery with themes of voyeurism and obsession and so much more that meets the eye. A really cool observation of films influence on writing too. When I first read it, I thought it was written in the 60s, but for it to be 1918 I was totally blown away it felt so ahead of its time.

I love this as an idea by the way. Can't wait to see more answers.

The loosening skin by Aliya Whiteley

Body Surfing by Dale Peck is to Buffy as The Magicians is to Harry Potter. 144 ratings.

My Ride With Gus by Charles Carillo is short, funny, and surprisingly touching. 265 ratings.

The Names of the Dead by Stewart O'Nan. Beautifully written book about a Vietnam vet. 273 ratings.

Thanks for the link back to the other. Saved for digging through later, and added my book.

Here are two from me with below 500 Goodreads ratings, that I personally rated as 5 star books and have over 4 star average on Goodreads (note: I do not use Goodreads so my rating is not included in that average):

• The White Space Between by Ami Sands Brodoff

>Willow is a loner, an artist and an acclaimed puppeteer whose marionettes have become the family she has missed. But secrets from the past can no longer be hidden away when mother and daughter journey back to their homeland to resurrect the past.

• Diary of Interrupted Days by Dragan Todorovic

>Diary of Interrupted Days is playful, blazingly intelligent, occasionally erotic and ultimately tragic, unfurling from the cliffhanger scene that opens the book: a lone exile, returning to Belgrade for the first time since he fled to Canada in the mid-nineties, is stranded on the only bridge into the city that hasn't been destroyed by NATO bombers as air raid sirens sound.

/editing to add that I didn't even realize they'd both appear to have a 'theme' by the snippets from Goodreads that I quoted. Totally NOT intentional.

The First Verse by Barry McCrea. A freshman at Trinity College in Dublin becomes caught up in a strange cult of people who consult random passages from random books for every decision in their lives. I don't know why a book with a plot that seems tailor made for literature fans is so obscure. Plus this book has such vivid descriptions of Dublin's university scene that I feel like I could find my way around just from having read it, and a realistic portrait of a young gay man navigating his first relationships. Definitely an intriguing read.

Kelly Luce- Three Scenarios In Which Hana Sasaki Grows A Tail

I wouldn't say "unheard of" but one that is definitely overlooked/underrated (it has 862 ratings on Goodreads): The Tall Woman by Wilma Dykeman

Here is an excellent write-up on it: https://crimereads.com/the-strange-rural-noir-of-wilma-dykemans-the-tall-woman/

My favorite book is up to 600 so I guess it no longer qualifies.

But for a hidden gem with fewer reviews, I will say "Because of You" by Lisa Walker. It only has 17 ratings on goodreads and is no longer in print. It follows the story of a girl from childhood into her early 20s, as she deals with a dysfunctional family and dysfunctional relationships. There are some interesting thoughts and observations that she offers along the way. I read it as a teenager when it came out, and I'd still consider it one of my all time favorites.

The Manifold Destiny of Eddie Vegas by Rick Harsch

Not unheard of but Witold Gombrowicz is underrated in the Anglo world.

Odd Women by George Gissing

People are stsrting to talk more about Gissing, but i think he deserves even more recognition.

The Belton Estate by Anthony Trollope

A great standalone novel by the author who is most well-known for his two series.

Go to your local author guild or library and ask about local indie authors. You can probably inquire through Facebook or their email. Chances are there are dozens you haven't heard of and at least half are publishing quality work. You will find more than one hidden gem among them.

I do not recommend going on an open "self published" or "indie authors" group because you'll get a higher percentage of garbage. The ones who are doing readings and workshops with local establishments or who have their books in the local library, are more likely to be edited and good quality writing.

Psychohistorical Crisis by Donald Kingsbury

Good Reads ratings: 276

this is a "re-imagining of the world of Isaac Aismov's Foundation series set after the establishment of the Second Empire" from Wikipedia, which is not recognised as canon by the estate, nor intended to be one. with that said, and a warning that the vocabulary is WAY the hell out there and requires you to either eat a dictionary or use context clues every three paragraphs, this is a fantastic read.

quick rundown of the plot: math has gotten to the point that people can use it to predict the future of populations (psychohistory), and after this was used to limit a dark age from 10,000 years down to a mere 1,000 the galaxy has entered a second empire just like the first one. surely this won't have any negative repurcussions? enter the protagonist Eron Osa, a pscholar (psychohistorian that uses data of the past to predict the future) who was sentenced for a crime he can't remember because his computer brain with the crime recorded on it has been taken from him and has basically been reduced to a toddler since he used the machine instead of his wet brain for 90% of his life. the story follows him as he learns to use his feeble human gray matter in tandem with a much less impressive computer than the old one he had as a pscholar, and piece together what the hell he did to deserve getting it taken away.

it's been a few years since i read it, but i remember being blown away by how well the universe and various worlds were described, the cultures Eron wades through on his journey. it focuses much less on the mystery of his crime than the synopsis would have you think, but the answer is eventually brought to light. most of the fun came from trying to figure out what any of the giant words meant, since i was in high school and had never heard of things like psychohistory before this book, and i still haven't had the opportunity to read Foundation ungortunately. a great standalone book all the same.

Nikolai Nikolaevich and Camouflage: Two Novels, by Yuz Aleshkovsky

The Prodigy: A Biography of William James Sidis, America's Greatest Child Prodigy

206 total ratings on goodreads

William James Sidis is quite possibly the most intelligent man who ever lived, and virtually no one has heard of him. The son of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire, his IQ is estimated to have been upwards of 200. He was the youngest person to ever attend Harvard University, enrolling at the age of 11, and began giving lectures at the age 12 to mathematics post-doctorates on the subject of four dimensional bodies. By the age eight he had taught himself eight languages and by the end of his life was conversant in 25. Sidis was scrutinized and harassed by the press throughout his childhood because of his prodigal abilities and lived most of his adult life in seclusion, constantly using pseudonyms to avoid the attention of the media.

I would suggest the political novels of Rex Warner, written in the runup to WW2: The Wild Goose Chase, The Professor, and The Aerodrome. He was something like a British Kafka, or what Orwell might have been if he'd had more flair and imagination. There are less than 100 ratings for all these books together, and the first (my fave) gets no reviews and 7 ratings, mostly poor. It won't take much googling to show you how little use Goodreads is for books like this.

The WindWalkers - Alain Demasio

Adam Levin has been a pleasant find as someone who loves maximist books and he is similar in vein to DFW or Saunders. Both Mount Chicago and Bubblegum are around 500 or less. The Instructions has over 2500 ratings but also rated the highest. I've read the first two and currently reading The Instructions and all of them have been highly enjoyable and would recommend to anyone who enjoys these types of books.

The Way of the Worm - Ramsey Campbell.

116 ratings.

I don't know how obscure it is as it is the end of the trilogy, but it doesn't seem to have had much love which is a shame as it is the best Lovecraftian horror I've read outside of Lovecraft really.

Dark Erotic Fiction with LGBTQ+ and BDSM Themes - The Mistress and Masters of Restraint series by Erica Chilson will blow you away with it's family saga. This is a long and heavy read that will leave you drained but inspired.

Splatter Gore with a bit of humor - Tim Shaw "How Much To" Series

What We Reckon by Eryk Pruitt 109 ratings, 26 reviews. Southern gothic-ish and a great read.

As Ever, Gordy. By Mary Downing Hahn

The whole Gordy Smith series is great, As Ever, Gordy is a really good melancholic novel that puts you in the shoes of a misbehaving kid in a world that doesn't seem to want him.

I can't say much else without spoilers or references to the other books, but it's stuck with me for at least twenty years as one of the best fiction books I've ever read.

You can’t get lost in Cape Town by Zoe Wicomb - 426 ratings. Mixed race young woman in Apartheid South Africa living as a white woman.

Dancing in the Dust by Kagiso Lesego Molope another South African book. This is a coming of age story of a girl growing up and being made to grow up be society. Was incredible. Needs to be more widely available!

Time on My Hands by Peter Delacorte, 221 ratings: travel writer has to go back in time to Old Hollywood to prevent Ronald Reagan from becoming president, meets/befriends all the stars, becomes a successful screenwriter by writing classic movies he knows from the future

Lloyd--What Happened, A Novel of Business, by Stanley Bing, 92 ratings: hilarious satire of corporate life

What the Dogs Have Taught Me, Merrill Markoe, 343 ratings: humorous essays by the original head writer of Late Night with David Letterman

George Bush, Dark Prince of Love Lydia Millet, 198 ratings: political satire, title says it all