I like Au Bonheur des Dames by Emile Zola or The ladie's Paradise. It talks about the rise of discount store (I mean big market such as today) in Paris during the 19 s. . The main character is a teenager (but a young adult in this time) who has to take care of her two brothers because they became orphan. She decided to come to Paris to meet, live and work with their uncle and his family whose have a little shop behind a big discount store and the competition is stiff...
My favourite book is Blindness by Jose Saramago. In my opinion it's a very well written book and unusual. It talks about an epidemic of blindness that affects almost everyone in an unknown city and fun-fact....it starts with people put in quarantine. So I think it's the best moment to read it!