History ContrivedCoincidence / Literature

*** The plot kicks off because 1) The Weasley's win the wizard lottery, 2) This gets them a large front-page picture, 3) Ron's pet rat is in said picture, and 4) Cornelius Fudge just happens to be carrying this exact issue when he goes to visit Sirius Black.

* Deconstructed, Lampshaded, and Played Straight in book 36 of ''Literature/HankTheCowdog'', where Hank mocks the titular Raging Rottweiler and his pal Drover just knows he’ll come back for them. Hank explains that in real life that would be too much of a coincidence and is unrealistic. Sure enough, they never see him again...until 20 minutes later.

** ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'': Mr Darcy and Mr Wickham, men with a long and recently antagonistic history, independently happen to come to reside in Elizabeth Bennet's village at the same time. Soon comes Mr Bennet's distant heir, Mr Collins, who happens to be the protege of Mr Darcy's aunt. Much later, on holiday with her aunt and uncle, Elizabeth takes the opportunity to be a tourist in Mr Darcy's grand house only after checking that none of the family will be there [[spoiler: - but Mr Darcy arives unexpectedly while she is there. Then Mr Darcy is present when Elizabeth gets news of Mr Wickham and Lydia running away together.]]
** ''Literature/SenseAndSensibility'': [[spoiler: Edward's unwanted fiance]] Lucy happens to be the cousin of the Dashwood's neighbour Mrs Jennings. [[spoiler: Mr Willoughby was the seducer of Colonel Brandon's ward.]] Elinor and Marianne spend time at Mrs Jenning's daughter's house, which happens to be walking distance from Mr Willoughby's post-marriage household, [[spoiler: leading to Marianne moping around in the rain and getting sick.]]
** ''Literature/{{Persuasion}}'': Anne's family's house is rented to Admiral Croft, who is brother-in-law to Captain Wentworth, to whom Anne had been briefly engaged 7 years ago. While in Lyme, Anne becomes acquanted with William Elliot, [[spoiler: not knowing he is her cousin and her father's heir presumptive.]] Later he starts courting Anne. When Anne visits an old school friend Mrs Smith, she discoveres that Mr Elliot was responsible for her impoverished state, by neglecting his duties as her late husband's executor.

** In Martin Chuzzlewit, to wrap things up during the happy ending, Mark Tapley happens to randomly bump into the couple that they left behind as their nextdoor neighbours in the "town" of Eden. This even though the couple were last seen in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in central USA, and the ending happens in London. (The fact that the woman in the couple is the same woman that Mark befriended on the boat to America was already a coincidence in itself.) With Dickens it's easier just to think of it as a form of [[Creator/TerryPratchett Narrative Causality]] by which his universe ensures that anybody necessary for the plot happens to be exactly where they need to be, even if they're on the ''wrong continent''.

** In ''Literature/GreatExpectations'', a coincidence that is central to the plot is the fact that [[spoiler:Miss Havisham has the same lawyer as Pip's real benefactor, Magwitch the convict]]. However, for no good reason other than to tie up loose ends, it also turns out that [[spoiler:Magwitch's nemesis is the same man who left Miss Havisham at the altar, and that Magwitch is Estella's father]].
** ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'': Dr. Manet is sent to the Bastille by a French noble. Years later, in Englan, he and his daughter Lucy are witnesses at a trial for man who's lawyer's partner happens to look enough like the defendant to create reasonable doubt. Manet's daughter falls in love with and marries Darnet, the defendant. It then turns out that Darnet is the son of the nobleman who sent Dr. Manet to the Bastille in the first place. Also, one of the prosecution witnesses against Darnet turns up in Revolutionary France in a position where he can be blackmailed into helping save Darnet from the guillotine.

** In ''Discworld/GuardsGuards'', it is stated that a chance of one in a million holds true in nine of ten cases. This "universal truth" is later used by a bunch of people in a (failed) attempt to slay a dragon. And then [[spoiler:accidentally, when it's a million-to-one chance that they ''won't'' die in the ensuing chaos. Naturally, they're fine]].

** In fact, the plot of ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'' is explained away as a battle between the personifications of Luck and Fate.
** In ''Discworld/{{Maskerade}}'', the supposedly foreign Enrico Basilica announces on stage that he is returning to his Morporkian birth-name of Henry Slug. A woman in the audience, who has never attended the opera before and probably never will again, is present to recognise the name of her long-lost beau. Agnes refuses to believe this sort of thing happens, but Nanny Ogg points out reality is [[NarrativeCausality currently conforming to the rules of opera]], where it happens all the time.
** In ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'', it looks as though Vimes is about to become a victim of 'friendly fire' when he comes face-to-face with one of the few men in the city who'd recognise him instantly: [[spoiler:his own butler]].
** In ''Discworld/{{Snuff}}'', it is mentioned that this sort of thing happens ''all the time'' to Colon and Nobby. It's one of the reasons why they're still on the (otherwise fairly respectable now) force (apparently, one time a major case was solved because [[NoodleIncident something tried to lay an egg in Nobby's nose]]). The one that is relevant to the plot in that book is that Colon happens to buy a cigar with a goblin [[spoiler: SoulJar]] pot in it.

** The first Literature/{{Pellucidar}} novel, ''At the Earth's Core''. The main character, after coming to the inner world of Pellucidar, immediately meets a [[DamselInDistress beautiful]] [[TheChick girl]] who happens to be a [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses princess]], an old man who happens to be a king, and soon after a young man who happens to be [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking yet another king]]. Needless to say, he will need the help of all these royals and their kingdoms later in the story.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': ''Literature/MillenniumFalcon'' by James Luceno has way too many to preserve willing suspension of disbelief. The heroes decide to figure out the ship's history just as one of its previous pilots regains conscience after a 60-year-long coma. Said pilot starts out from a medical facility one of whose members just so happens to have piloted the Falcon in the past as well. The pilot, the heroes ''and'' the mastermind behind the whole thing just so happen to be in the same city of the same planet at the same time. Then they finally get to their target planet right as it's about to blow up.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''{{Literature/Foundation}}'':

* Creator/HenrikIbsen was not oblivious to this. ''Literature/TerjeVigen'', his most known poem, uses it to a T: Terje was captured by a young British captain during UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars, and is imprisoned for five years. Many years after returning to Norway, and working as a coastal pilot, he has to rescue an English yacht before it sinks. The owner of the yacht just ''happens'' to be the same captain that arrested him years before, and this man`s daughter just ''happens'' to carry the name of Terje`s own daughter who died of starvation because of the British nobleman`s action. The whole thing is so awesome [[TropesAreNotBad it actually works]]! Consider that the Norwegian coastline is 100 915 kms long, and the sheer coincidence of crashing into land at the exact spot where Terje lives is ''even more'' contrived.

** [[FridgeBrilliance And of those two, Jake is not only a natural leader but also the brother of a host, and therefore has an incredible motivation to fight]]. More stacking the deck? [[SarcasmMode Impossible]].

** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'' during the final battle Voldermort lingers just long enough for the Minister of Magic to arrive to the scene and see him thus granting previously lacking ground to Harry's and DD's claims of his return. Of course, it does help that he was tied up in a duel with Dumbledore.

* In the author's note at the beginning of ''Literature/TheThirtyNineSteps'', John Buchan admits it was written in deliberate emulation of the kind of cheap thriller "where the incidents defy the probabilities, and march just inside the borders of the possible". Throughout the novel, coincidences crop up to save the hero when all hope seems lost or to make things interesting when everything seems to be going smoothly.

* Creator/JaneAusten, while being positively restrained compared to Charles Dickens or Victor Hugo, as a 19th century novelist still manages quite a few coincidences.

*** Later the Trio are looking for a very important locket. Not only did they happen to pay special attention to that specific locket out of all the assorted junk in a mansion a couple years ago, but then it turns out, that out of hundreds or thousands of wizards who could have bought the locket from a petty thief who stole it, it was not only a person that the kids knew, but the one with a peculiar enough appearance that the thief would remember her and they would recognise her from his sketchy description.

[[folder:A]]
* ''The Adventures of Blue Avenger'' by Norma Howe argues that this trope falls under RealityIsUnrealistic. Unlikely coincidences happen all the time, and MillionToOneChance events are pretty common in a world with nearly seven billion people. So here comes one...
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'':
** The entire series is just one small part of an epic cosmic struggle between Crayak and the Ellimist, so there are more than a few moments in the books that are just chalked up to "[[AWizardDidIt the Ellimist did it]]." However, there is one very specific instance that is lampshaded: In their war on Earth, the [[PuppeteerParasite Yeerks]] are the pawns of Crayak, while the Animorphs are the (begrudging) soldiers of the Ellimist. The deal between the two meant that the Animorphs were supposed to consist of six random humans. Instead, we've got Ax (an Andalite, and Elfangor's brother), Tobias ([[spoiler:Elfangor's son]]), Marco ([[spoiler:the son of Visser One's host body]]), and Cassie ([[spoiler:a sub-temporal grounded anomaly, who's mere existence means any attempts to alter the timeline will be doomed to failure]]). And yes, that means [[TheHero Jake]] and ''[[BloodKnight Rachel]]'' are the normal ones. The Drode (Crayak's [[TheDragon Dragon]]) notes that this is impossible, and accuses the Ellimist of stacking the deck.
--->'''Ellimist:''' ''(laughing)'' [[MagnificentBastard Did I? If I did, that would be very clever of me]].
** [[FridgeBrilliance And of those two, Jake is not only a natural leader but also the brother of a host, and therefore has an incredible motivation to fight]]. More stacking the deck? [[SarcasmMode Impossible]].
** There are several apparent ones in Book #27, but it is ultimately an aversion. Erik is left unable to move or project his hologram, so the Animorphs carry him out of the mall. There was a major sale, so virtually everyone was elsewhere in the mall and all the cameras are down. They take a bus, and the bus driver doesn't notice. This makes them suspicious. Later, when they realize they will need a sperm whale morph, a sperm whale "happens" to beach itself. This they all realize can't be a coincidence, and that someone is pulling the strings. The Drode turns out to have been behind all of it.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''{{Literature/Foundation}}'':
** "Literature/TheMerchantPrinces": When Hober Mallow visits Korell, he is in a out-of-the-way spaceport, with the nearest city 150 kilometers away, when a priest appears, immediately followed by a mob. This fact clues Mallow in the fact that [[spoiler:it is a ruse played by the Korellian leaders to prevent the Religion of Science from spreading to their world.]]
** "Literature/TheMule": The forces of the Mule happens to launch their big attack against the Foundation at the exact same time as the FoundingDay appearance of [[PosthumousCharacter Hari Seldon]]. There is no indication that they knew the timing beforehand.

* ''Literature/TheAvengingChance'': At the beginning, Sheringham [[LampshadeHanging mentions]] how many mysteries are solved by such a coincidence, as if chance itself were avenging the victim. The case is ultimately solved by such an event.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:B]]
* In ''Literature/{{Beastly}}'', Kyle just happens to meet Lindsy, the girl who would break his curse, on the same night he was cursed. He also just happened to give her a rose corsage, which was the only thing that convinced Kendra to give him a chance to break the curse at all. At the end of the book, there's one that's also a ShoutOut to Literature/JaneEyre, when [[spoiler:Kyle hears Lindsy screaming for help through the magic mirror, giving him enough warning to find and rescue her from a kidnapper]]. This happens the last night in his time period to break the curse [[spoiler:and happens to be the event that leads to the curse being broken]].

* In Lawrence Block's ''The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian'', Bernie gives up on trying to get into the nigh-impregnable Charlemagne and goes to a bar around the corner to get a drink. While there he ''just happens'' to be approached by a middle-aged resident of the Charlemagne who ''just happens'' to be fond of taking strange young men back to her apartment for the night.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:C]]
* ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'': The Captain had these in a few books.
** The 4th book ''The Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants'', opened with George and Harold having to stay at school during a class trip. For revenge, they rig the teacher's lounge to spray the teachers with glue and Styrofoam pellets, turning them into "snowmen". This leads to the science teacher retiring after seeing them, thinking he's gone nuts. Thus, Professor Poopypants takes up the now-open job of science teacher, [[HalfwayPlotSwitch leading to the main plot]].
** The aliens attacking the school in the third book use "Zombie Nerd Juice" to turn all the students into zombie nerds. All it takes to change them back is a dose of the conveniently available, [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded generously]], "Anti-Evil Zombie Nerd Juice".
** A dandelion happens to grow right outside the window where George pours the "Ultra-Evil Growth Juice" out of. [[GoneHorriblyWrong It goes horribly wrong]].
** Subverted for laughs in the 7th book, where the Captain jumps out a window to take flight, unaware that he has lost his superpowers. He falls several stories to the ground, and crashes onto ''the only patch of ground'' not covered by extra fluffy pillows, a trampoline, or a haystack.
* ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'':
** The book has this with regards to the fates of the four bratty kids. Willy Wonka, leading them through his factory, keeps making stopovers in rooms and/or giving demonstrations of things that, in turn, appeal to each of the brats. Each disobeys him and gets an instant-karmic punishment for their trouble. Although the tour ''does'' turns out to be a SecretTest of the kids' virtue or lack thereof, there is no hint given in the novel that Mr. Wonka is intentionally leading these kids into potential/inevitable trouble, and no one remarks upon how odd it is that the Oompa-Loompas' {{Crowd Song}}s about them are so specific and elaborate. Given that Mr. Wonka is also marked by his CallousnessTowardsEmergency and having NoSympathy for the brats, and for being a complete eccentric, he has since become an InterpretativeCharacter and some adaptations of the novel have played around with this trope.
** In [[Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory the 2005 film adaptation]], Mr. Wonka is actually questioned over how "rehearsed" and detailed the Oompa-Loompas' first CrowdSong is. He chalks it up to skilled improvisation, nothing more...
** The [[Theatre/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory 2013 stage musical]] has ''one'' outright example of this trope and it factors into TheReveal. [[spoiler: At the very beginning Willy Wonka, in a bout of self-pity, ventures into the outside world disguised as a tramp and encounters Charlie at the dump the boy lives near, their conversation revealing to Mr. Wonka that the boy could be the successor he's just launched the Golden Ticket contest to find.]] Interestingly, this coincidence [[spoiler: means that at least a few of the subsequent highly unlikely events involving Charlie, such as his finding the last ticket, were engineered by Mr. Wonka]].

* A particularly JustForFun/{{egregious}} case of this trope occurs towards the end of ''Literature/AClockworkOrange'' in which the brainwashed and rehabilitated ex-hoodlum Alex just so happens to bump into every single person he ever wronged throughout the course of the book, all within in the same evening. The consequences were dire.
* In Creator/RobertEHoward's Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian story "Literature/ThePhoenixOnTheSword", Thoth-amon was [[MadeASlave enslaved]] because of the loss of his RingOfPower, which just ''happens'' to turn up in the hand of a noble he is guarding.
* In Creator/MarkTwain's ''Literature/AConnecticutYankeeInKingArthursCourt'' the eponymous Yankee's time of execution happens to coincide with a solar eclipse. (Not to even mention that he knew the exact date and time said eclipse would occur despite its status as obscure fourteen-hundred-year-old history.) The real coincidence being that he was the kind of person who would calculate all the solar eclipse dates in the past few millenia for fun... ''just'' before getting time warped into the past. This was based on an actual event when Christopher Columbus used an eclipse to frighten the natives in Jamaica, except that a) it was a lunar eclipse, not a solar one, b) Columbus had access to astronomical journals which calculated it and c) Columbus had to wait months for the eclipse to arrive. In short, the real event was coincidental, but much less unlikely.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:D]]
* Anthony Powell's ''Literature/ADanceToTheMusicOfTime'' runs on this. In a cycle of [[{{Doorstopper}} twelve novels]] tracing the lives of a group of upper-class English people from the [[GenteelInterbellumSetting 1920s]] to the 1970s, characters keep coincidentally running into each other or finding unexpected connections to people they used to know. The constant use of coincidence is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in one of the later novels, which quotes the mystic {{cult}} leader Dr. Trelawney as saying: "Coincidence is no more than magic in action."

* Adams also used this trope a lot in his ''Literature/DirkGently'' novels, this time without the excuse of the Infinite Improbability Drive. Rather, Dirk's convoluted "holistic" philosophy of detection — which he'd concocted purely as an excuse to charge trips to Majorca on the expense accounts of clients whose cats go missing in London — actually seems to ''work'' for him, no doubt to his disgust.
** As does his 'zen' method of navigation; find a car that looks like it knows where it's going and follow it. You won't get to where you wanted to go, but you will end up where you needed to be.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** In ''Discworld/GuardsGuards'', it is stated that a chance of one in a million holds true in nine of ten cases. This "universal truth" is later used by a bunch of people in a (failed) attempt to slay a dragon. And then [[spoiler:accidentally, when it's a million-to-one chance that they ''won't'' die in the ensuing chaos. Naturally, they're fine]].
** Rincewind's ''life'' is one Contrived Coincidence after another. This is explained as the interference of [[strike:Luck]] The Lady herself.
** In fact, the plot of ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'' is explained away as a battle between the personifications of Luck and Fate.
** In ''Discworld/{{Maskerade}}'', the supposedly foreign Enrico Basilica announces on stage that he is returning to his Morporkian birth-name of Henry Slug. A woman in the audience, who has never attended the opera before and probably never will again, is present to recognise the name of her long-lost beau. Agnes refuses to believe this sort of thing happens, but Nanny Ogg points out reality is [[NarrativeCausality currently conforming to the rules of opera]], where it happens all the time.
** In ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'', it looks as though Vimes is about to become a victim of 'friendly fire' when he comes face-to-face with one of the few men in the city who'd recognise him instantly: [[spoiler:his own butler]].
** In ''Discworld/{{Snuff}}'', it is mentioned that this sort of thing happens ''all the time'' to Colon and Nobby. It's one of the reasons why they're still on the (otherwise fairly respectable now) force (apparently, one time a major case was solved because [[NoodleIncident something tried to lay an egg in Nobby's nose]]). The one that is relevant to the plot in that book is that Colon happens to buy a cigar with a goblin [[spoiler: SoulJar]] pot in it.
* In Creator/BramStoker's ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', when Dracula goes to England he chooses to arrive in Whitby. Fair enough... except that Mina Murray, the fiancée of Jonathan Harker - the man Dracula hired to find a house for him in England - happens to be on holiday there at the exact same time he arrives. What's more, Lucy Westenra - Mina's best friend - is one of Dracula's very first victims. And it doesn't stop there: one of Lucy's suitors, Dr Seward, happens to be in charge of a lunatic asylum ''practically next door'' to Dracula's aforementioned new house. But wait, there's ''still'' more! Seward's friend and mentor, Abraham van Helsing, just so happens to know a lot about vampires and how to ward them off or kill them. ''Phew.''
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** This goes hand-in-hand with being a [[KnightInShiningArmor Knight of]] [[WarriorMonk the Cross]]-in fact, they basically ''weaponize'' it. When Michael needs to go out in the evening to help Harry save the day, Harry is worried about leaving Michael's children alone. Michael (without even looking) opens the front door to reveal Father Forthill about to knock, who just happens to be there because his car has broken down - and, having some previous experience with this sort of thing, immediately guesses that Michael needs a babysitter. When an old women in a desperate situation prays "Dear God in Heaven, help us!" the very next ''instant'' [[FlatEarthAtheist Sanya]] [[BigDamnHeroes shows up]].
** One example that ''looks'' like this to everyone watching (except Harry) in ''Literature/BloodRites'' involves a "bad luck" curse directed towards a specific person. Harry finds the magical energy and redirects it to one of his current attackers, a vampire. This manifests as Harry doing something vaguely magical, and the vampire getting nuked from orbit by a ''frozen turkey''. [[RuleOfFunny And the pop-up thermometer goes 'ding'.]]
--->Everyone stopped to blink at that for a second. I mean, come on. Impaled by a guided frozen turkey missile. Even by the standards of the quasi-immortal creatures of the night, that ain't something you see twice.\\
"For my next trick," I panted into the startled silence, "anvils."
** The [[TabletopGame/TheDresdenFiles RPG]] (which uses the TabletopGame/{{FUDGE}} spinoff FATE) explicitly has this as a mechanic. Players can spend a Fate Point to make a Declaration, which the book describes as letting one create a convenient coincidence. The examples given are a character having a cigarette lighter right when he needs one despite never smoking, or showing up during a dramatic scene just in time to help out. One of the Faith powers (Guide My Hand) lets a character do this without spending the fate point.
* In ''Literature/{{Dune}}'', House Atreides and all its retainers are scattered to the winds all across the planet Arrakis, and some even father, after the family is attacked by the Harkonnens. Two years later, Paul spots a smugglers' ship and sets a trap for it... and this just so happens to be the same group of smugglers that his mentor Gurney Halleck fell in with after the attack, and he's on that very ship.

[[folder:E]]
* The heroes of SM Stirling's ''Literature/{{Emberverse}}'' novels at first appear to be the beneficiaries of a whole honking string of these, but it gradually becomes clear they are getting very powerful behind-the-scenes help from somewhere. Also, as several characters in the book point out, anyone that survived a global calamity on the scale of The Change had to have been very, very lucky.

[[folder:F]]
* ''{{Literature/Flashman}} and the Angel of the Lord'' requires Flashman to join John Brown on his famous raid. The only way this could be arranged is so contrived that Flash himself [[LampshadeHanging points it out]]; "I'd not have been a within a thousand miles of Harper's Ferry, or blaster Brown, but for the ghastliest series of mischances: three hellish coincidences-three mark you!-that even Dickens wouldn't have dared use for fear of being hooted at in the street.
* In Creator/GeneStrattonPorter's ''Literature/{{Freckles}}'', Angel goes to the orphanage to track down the [[OrphansPlotTrinket clothing]] left with Freckles, to find she's ''just'' in time to have missed it; his aunt and uncle have ''just'' taken them in their despair, and are ''just'' about to leave America for Ireland, being unable to find their nephew.

[[folder:G]]
* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''[[Literature/TheGoldenOecumene The Golden Age]]'', Phaethon ponders whether a meeting is coincidence or arranged by the Earthmind, an AI with a trillion times the brain power of a human such as himself.

** Actually used in-universe in ''Catching Fire''. [[TheEmpire The Capitol]] hosts a special Hunger Games every 25 years called the Quarter Quell have a twist on the rules to further intimidate the Districts. (e.g. Year 25, an election is held to choose the tributes, rather than names being drawn. 50th year, twice the amount of tributes are reaped, so 47 kids die.) They ''claim'' that the twist for each Quell was predetermined at the very beginning, for centuries and centuries of Hunger Games, but for Year 75, [[spoiler: they proclaim that the tributes will be reaped from the existing pool of victors, meaning they'll have to go back into the Arena]]. ''Just'' when the main character Katniss - the only female victor in her District - had accidentally incited uprisings in the Districts. None of the main characters believe that it's "coincidence."

* Creator/StephenKing examples:
** Happens many times in ''Literature/{{IT}}'': the children of those involved in the events of 1958 turn out to be involved in the events of 1985, while their ancestors turn out to have been involved in past incidents with IT. Ben goes to the library in both 1958 and 1985 and hears the librarian telling the same story. The molds that the kids use to make silver slugs to kill IT turn out to have been purchased from an iron factory IT caused to blow up. Etc. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in the following quote:
---> It was one of those odd quirks of fate or coincidence which sometimes obtain (and which, in truth, obtain more frequently in Derry).
** {{Averted|Trope}} in the [[ShowWithinAShow Book Within a Book]] ''Misery's Return'' in ''Literature/{{Misery}}'': Paul is well aware that it would come off as too much of a coincidence for two women in the same town to have been BuriedAlive, so he comes up with a way to link the two events.
** "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption": It just so happens that Tommy Williams shared a cell at Thomaston with Elwood Blatch, the man who ''really'' killed Andy Dufresne's wife (a fact Tommy happens to be privy to because Blatch bragged about the crime). It just so happens that Tommy ends up at Shawshank, where Andy is incarcerated.
** In the "Notes" section of ''Literature/SkeletonCrew'', King describes an outlandish coincidence he claims actually happened to him. When he was an undergraduate, he submitted a story called "The Float" (an earlier version of "The Raft") to a men's magazine, which would pay only upon publication of the story. Later that year, while driving around late at night in the town of Orono, a traffic cone that road workers had failed to remove knocked his car's muffler loose from its tailpipe. Angered, King decided to drive around town picking up other traffic cones which had also been left out. He had picked up a good number of them when he was pulled over by an Orono cop, who took him into custody. The judge levied a fine against King of $250 – which he didn't have. Looking at 30 days in jail if he couldn't come up with the money, King saw no way out -- until a check for $250 came in the mail from the men's magazine to which he'd submitted "The Float".

* Creator/PGWodehouse actually created his character Mr. Mulliner, a fisherman who spins tales at his local pub, so as to use story-ideas which feature flagrant examples of this trope.

** Literature/PrideAndPrejudice: Mr Darcy and Mr Wickham, men with a long and recently antagonistic history, independently happen to come to reside in Elizabeth Bennet's village at the same time. Soon comes Mr Bennet's distant heir, Mr Collins, who happens to be the protege of Mr Darcy's aunt. Much later, on holiday with her aunt and uncle, Elizabeth takes the opportunity to be a tourist in Mr Darcy's grand house only after checking that none of the family will be there [[spoiler: - but Mr Darcy arives unexpectedly while she is there. Then Mr Darcy is present when Elizabeth gets news of Mr Wickham and Lydia running away together.]]
** Literature/SenseAndSensibility: [[spoiler: Edward's unwanted fiance]] Lucy happens to be the cousin of the Dashwood's neighbour Mrs Jennings. [[spoiler: Mr Willoughby was the seducer of Colonel Brandon's ward.]] Elinor and Marianne spend time at Mrs Jenning's daughter's house, which happens to be walking distance from Mr Willoughby's post-marriage household, [[spoiler: leading to Marianne moping around in the rain and getting sick.]]

[[folder:General]]
* Quite a lot of straight romance novels may be use this as well. After all, what are the chances of any two random people meeting and falling in love with each other at first sight?
[[/folder]]

* Lampshaded in ''The Avenging Chance'': At the beginning, Sheringham mentions how many mysteries are solved by such a coincidence, as if chance itself were avenging the victim. The case is ultimately solved by such an event.

[[folder:#]]
* In the author's note at the beginning of ''Literature/TheThirtyNineSteps'', John Buchan admits it was written in deliberate emulation of the kind of cheap thriller "where the incidents defy the probabilities, and march just inside the borders of the possible". Throughout the novel, coincidences crop up to save the hero when all hope seems lost or to make things interesting when everything seems to be going smoothly.
[[/folder]]

* ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'': Mizzamir, the most powerful mage still living who just happens to be there in Bistort so he can come into contact with Sam and jump-start the plot. [[spoiler: He turns out to be Sam's birth father too]].

* In the ''Literature/YoungWizards'' series this is both {{lampshade|Hanging}}d and {{justified|Trope}} by the phrase "There's no such thing as coincidence", meaning that the PowersThatBe and/or {{God}} set things up so they'd happen that way. One example is the fact that whenever Nita and Kit go on anything resembling a vacation, whatever their destination is just happens to be the exact place they need to be in order to fight the [[BigBad Lone Power]]. In the books, this is known as a "[[BusmansHoliday Wizard's Holiday]]". Sounds like it happens pretty often, for it to get a name. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''A Wizard Abroad'', where Nita's [[{{Muggles}} parents]] send her to Ireland so she can have a 'normal summer away from this wizard business.' Nita wearily explains to them that if the Powers That Be have a task for her it doesn't matter where she goes, and sure enough, Nita finds a job waiting for her to do after she gets there.

* In the ''Literature/YoungWizards'' series this is both {{lampshade|Hanging}}d and {{justified|Trope}} by the phrase "There's no such thing as coincidence", meaning that the PowersThatBe and/or {{God}} set things up so they'd happen that way. One example is the fact that whenever Nita and Kit go on anything resembling a vacation, whatever their destination is just happens to be the exact place they need to be in order to fight the [[BigBad Lone Power]]. In the books, this is known as a "[[BusmansHoliday Wizard's Holiday]]". Sounds like it happens pretty often, for it to get a name.