Like Sister Carrie, Dreiser's second novel, Jennie Gerhardt, draws from experiences in Dreiser's sisters' lives. Published in 1911, the story centers on Jennie, the poor and immoral daughter of an immigrant who detests the methods by which his daughter tries to achieve happiness.

Jennie Gerhardt has been compared to Thomas Hardy's 1919 classic, Tess of the D 'Urbervilles, if only because of the similarities between their main characters. Like Jennie, Tess comes from a common background. She admits to her husband that she has had a child out of wedlock, who died in infancy. Her husband leaves her. In order to save her family, she goes to live as the mistress of the wealthy Alec D'Urberville, the father of the dead child.

Jude the Obscure, another of Thomas Hardy's books, is similar to Sister Carrie. Published in 1919, the story is about a...