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24 books with the same feel
Include books by the same authorThe Secret River
Kate Grenville · 349 pages
London, 1806 - William Thornhill, happily wedded to his childhood sweetheart Sal, is a waterman on the River Thames. Life is tough but bearable until William makes a mistake, a bad mistake for which he and his family are made to pay dearly. His sentence: to be transported to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. Soon Thornhill, a man no better or worse than most, has to make the most d
The Kingdom of This World
Alejo Carpentier · 150 pages
Spark of Life: A Novel of Resistance
Erich Maria Remarque
Homegoing
Yaa Gyasi · 320 pages
Two half sisters, Effia and Esi, unknown to each other, are born into two different tribal villages in 18th century Ghana. Effia will be married off to an English colonial, and will live in comfort in the sprawling, palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle, raising half-caste children who will be sent abroad to be educated in England before returning to the Gold Coast to serve as administrators of the
The Scottish Prisoner
Diana Gabaldon · 560 pages
A Grain of Wheat
Ngugi wa Thiong'o · 272 pages
The works of Kenyan author Ngugi have made a powerful impact throughout the world. A Grain of Wheat was recognised as one of Africa's 100 best books of the twentieth century in an initiative organised by the Zimbabwe International Book Fair. The central action in this novel by Ngugi wa Thiong'o takes place in December of 1963 in a village in Kenya that is preparing for the coming of Uhuru (Indepen
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Richard Flanagan · 464 pages
The Narrow Road to the Deep North is a love story unfolding over half a century between a doctor and his uncle’s wife. Taking its title from one of the most famous books in Japanese literature, written by the great haiku poet Basho, Flanagan’s novel has as its heart one of the most infamous episodes of Japanese history, the construction of the Thailand-Burma Death Railway in World War II. In
Trinity: A Novel of Ireland
Leon Uris · 815 pages
In a novel that spans the years 1840 to 1916, the author explores the origins of the present struggle in Northern Ireland. Annotation. The "terrible beauty" that is Ireland comes alive in this mighty epic that re-creates that Emerald's Isle's fierce struggle for independence. Trinity is a saga of glories and defeats, triumphs and tragedies, lived by a young Catholic rebel and the beautiful and val
The Nightingale
Kristin Hannah · 460 pages
Despite their differences, sisters Vianne and Isabelle have always been close. Younger, bolder Isabelle lives in Paris while Vianne is content with life in the French countryside with her husband Antoine and their daughter. But when the Second World War strikes, Antoine is sent off to fight and Vianne finds herself isolated so Isabelle is sent by their father to help her. As the war progresses
Equator
Miguel Sousa Tavares · 374 pages
It is Lisbon in the year 1905 and our hero, Luis, a 37-year-old bachelor and owner of a small shipping business, is revelling in the luxury of Lisbon's high society.
The Moor's Account
Laila Lalami · 323 pages
Brings us the imagined memoirs of the first black explorer of America--a Moroccan slave whose testimony was left out of the official record. In 1527, the conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez sailed from the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda with a crew of six hundred men and nearly a hundred horses. His goal was to claim what is now the Gulf Coast of the United States for the Spanish crown and, in the proc
Noli Me Tángere
Jose Rizal · 406 pages
The book revolves on the struggles of young Crisostomo Ibarra: how he humbly fights for his childhood sweetheart Maria Clara, for himself and for his fellowmen against the Spanish priest Padre Damaso and the Spanish Government who were then conquerors of San Diego, his native hometown. Coming home to San Diego from Spain to mourn for his father's death, he learned how his father, a rich illustrado
El Filibusterismo
Jose Rizal, Harold Augenbraum · 339 pages
José Rizal was one of the leading champions of Filipino nationalism and independence. His masterpiece, Noli Me Tangere, is widely considered to be the foundational novel of the Philippines. In this riveting continuation, which picks up the story thirteen years later, Rizal departs from the Noli's themes of innocent love and martyrdom to present a gripping tale of obsession and revenge. Clearly dem
At Swim, Two Boys
Jamie O'Neill · 609 pages
Set during the year preceding the Easter Uprising of 1916—Ireland’s brave but fractured revolt against British rule—*At Swim, Two Boys* is a tender, tragic love story and a brilliant depiction of people caught in the tide of history. Powerful and artful, and ten years in the writing, it is a masterwork from Jamie O’Neill. Jim Mack is a naïve young scholar and the son of a foolish, aspiring shop
Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
R F Kuang · 560 pages
From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire. Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, orphane
Lilac Girls
Martha Hall Kelly · 512 pages
Inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine, this debut novel reveals a story of love, redemption, and secrets that were hidden for decades. New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon. But Caroline’s world is forever changed when Hitler’s army invades Poland in September 1939—and then sets its sights on Fr
The Piano Teacher
Janice Y.K. Lee · 328 pages
In the sweeping tradition of The English Patient, a gripping tale of love and betrayal set in war-torn Hong Kong. In 1942, Will Truesdale, an Englishman newly arrived in Hong Kong, falls headlong into a passionate relationship with Trudy Liang, a beautiful Eurasian socialite. But their love affair is soon threatened by the invasion of the Japanese as World War II overwhelms their part of the world
The Viceroy of Ouidah
Bruce Chatwin · 125 pages
In this vivid, powerful novel, Chatwin tells of Francisco Manoel de Silva, a poor Brazilian adventurer who sails to Dahomey in West Africa to trade for slaves and amass his fortune. His plans exceed his dreams, and soon he is the Viceroy of Ouidah, master of all slave trading in Dahomey. But the ghastly business of slave trading and the open savagery of life in Dahomey slowly consume Manoel's weal
Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan
Ruth Gilligan · 336 pages
"At the start of the twentieth century, a young girl and her family emigrate from Lithuania in search of a better life in America, only to land on the Emerald Isle instead. In 1958, a mute Jewish boy locked away in a mental institution outside of Dublin forms an unlikely friendship with a man consumed by the story of the love he lost nearly two decades earlier. And in present-day London, an Irish
Code Name Verity
Elizabeth Wein · 347 pages
In 1943, a British fighter plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France and the survivor tells a tale of friendship, war, espionage, and great courage as she relates what she must to survive while keeping secret all that she can.
The Rebels of Ireland
Edward Rutherfurd · 896 pages
A sweep through the past 4 centuries of Irish history, woven around a family saga. Very readable and credible accounts of the historical events, although some of the fictional characters are a bit far fetched at the end of the tale, to round up the whole thing. It answers a lot of questions about the complexity of "THE IRISH QUESTION", and you can see modern day parallels to recent post-colonial
The Death's Head Chess Club
John Donoghue · 400 pages
SS Obersturmfuhrer Paul Meissner arrives in Auschwitz from the Russian front. After being badly wounded he is fit only for administrative duty and his first and most pressing task is to improve flagging camp morale. He sets up a chess club which thrives, as the officers and enlisted men are allowed to gamble on the results of the games. However, when Meissner learns from a chance remark that chess
The Librarian of Auschwitz
Antonio Iturbe · 432 pages
Based on the experience of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, this is the incredible story of a girl who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust.