Looking for recommendations for books that explore themes of individual/”invisible” dystopias that exist alongside utopian/normal societies?

Let me explain what I mean.

I love dystopian fiction, and most dystopian fiction falls into one of two categories: an everyone dystopia where pretty much all of humanity is in some level of misery together (*The Road*, *Parable of the Sower*) or an unequal dystopia where some portion of the population lives an extravagant life of luxury and watches while the masses suffer (*Hunger Games*, *Handmaid’s Tale*).

What I’m looking for is something I actually don’t think I’ve encountered before. I’m basically looking for a book that uses dystopian fiction as a lens to explore situations where some individuals are living in a dystopia that is invisible to the rest of the world. I find it so interesting and horrible how even in our society, people can be living in their own private horror mini-society whether that be an abusive household, a cult or oppressive religion, or even just the demons of their own psyche.

Like imagine if you had *The Handmaid’s Tale* except no one Offred talks to outside the Waterfords even knows handmaids exist. Everyone else is going about their normal lives, not realizing there’s a fascist, theocratic breeding program operating right in front of them. Or maybe they know that a fascist, theocratic breeding program exists, but it could never be happening at the *Waterfords*, my goodness, how dare you suggest such a thing about such a nice upstanding family? That’s kind of what I’m looking for.

The closest thing I can think of is the recent *The Invisible Man* film where Elizabeth Moss’ character is stalked by her tech billionaire abuser who >!owns a suit that turns him completely invisible, enabling him to stalk her extremely effectively in a way that no one else believes could happen!<. That example is more of a literal exploration than a thematic one though.

Idk I’m very interested in dystopia as a mechanic to understand the experiences of people who are abused or oppressed. I guess I also find that a more realistic dystopia would do well to convince most citizens that everything is business as usual, rather than a *V for Vendetta* style overtly militarized totalitarian government.

Any suggestions?

by GoodBoundariesHaver