Millions of people feel the irresistible draw of big cities—the opportunities for art, culture, and business; the excitement that pulses through daily life—and many novelists likewise choose to set their stories in these rich cityscapes. The rewards of city living, though, can be dubious. E. B. White wrote that New York will bestow on its residents “the gift of loneliness and the gift of privacy.” You can indeed feel utterly alone in a city in a way you can’t in a suburb or a small town, because the city so easily goes about its business and forgets all about you. But urban life also forces us into contact with other people, another complicated gift. The trick—for fictional characters as much as for real residents—is to figure out how you fit into that giant, dense human puzzle. The eight novels below are all about people trying to find their place in bustling cities—Lagos, Chicago, Paris. They form relationships and wreck them; they join the party and grow tired of the party; they struggle to stay afloat …