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Mariana

Monica Dickens · back to the book

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24 books with the same feel

Include books by the same author
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BildungsromanComing of AgeCharmingNostalgic
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When God Was a Rabbit

Sarah Winman · 325 pages

BildungsromanComing of AgeCharmingContemporary Fiction
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Anita and Me

Meera Syal · 336 pages

BildungsromanComing of AgeContemporary FictionNostalgic
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The Excellent Lombards

Jane Hamilton · 273 pages

"From the internationally bestselling author of The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World, a heartfelt coming-of-age story that Karen Joy Fowler calls "a timeless classic book you will read and reread." Mary Frances "Frankie" Lombard is fiercely in love with her family's sprawling apple orchard and the tangled web of family members who inhabit it. Content to spend her days planning capers with her b

BildungsromanComing of AgeContemporary FictionNostalgic
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Stargirl

Jerry Spinelli · 192 pages

A celebration of nonconformity; a tense, emotional tale about the fleeting, cruel nature of popularity--and the thrill and inspiration of first love. Ages 12+ Leo Borlock follows the unspoken rule at Mica Area High School: don't stand out--under any circumstances! Then Stargirl arrives at Mica High and everything changes--for Leo and for the entire school. After 15 years of home schooling, Star

BildungsromanComing of AgeCharmingContemporary Fiction
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Circle of Friends

Maeve Binchy · 560 pages

It began with Benny Hogan and Eve Malone, growing up, inseparable, in the village of Knockglen. Benny--the only child, yearning to break free from her adoring parents...Eve--the orphaned offspring of a convent handyman and a rebellious blueblood, abandoned by her mother's wealthy family to be raised by nuns. Eve and Benny--they knew the sins and secrets behind every villager's lace curtains

BildungsromanComing of AgeCharmingContemporary Fiction
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The House on Mango Street

Sandra Cisneros · 110 pages

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A coming-of-age classic, acclaimed by critics, beloved by readers of all ages, taught in schools and universities alike, and translated around the world—from the winner of the 2019 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. The House on Mango Street is the remarkable story of Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago, inventing for he

BildungsromanComing of AgeContemporary FictionNostalgic
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The Secret Garden

Frances Hodgson Burnett · 256 pages

A ten-year-old orphan comes to live in a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors where she discovers an invalid cousin and the mysteries of a locked garden.

BildungsromanComing of AgeCharmingNostalgic
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Cold Sassy Tree

Olive Ann Burns · 395 pages

Had difficulty with the unfamiliar language spoken by the characters, but once I was able to figure it out I enjoyed the family dynamics. Upon finishing this book, I immediately borrowed "Leaving Cold Sassy".

BildungsromanComing of AgeCharmingNostalgic
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Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen · 239 pages

Northanger Abbey is both a perfectly aimed literary parody and a withering satire of the commercial aspects of marriage among the English gentry at the turn of the nineteenth century. But most of all, it is the story of the initiation into life of its naïve but sweetly appealing heroine, Catherine Morland, a willing victim of the contemporary craze for Gothic literature who is determined to see he

BildungsromanComing of AgeCharmingFemale Lead
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The Silver Star

Jeannette Walls · 304 pages

Two motherless sisters--Bean and Liz--are shuttled to Virginia, where their Uncle Tinsley lives in the decaying mansion that's been in their family for generations. When school starts in the fall, Bean easily adjusts and makes friends, and Liz becomes increasingly withdrawn. Then something happens to Liz and Bean is left to challenge the injustice of the adult world.

BildungsromanComing of AgeCharmingContemporary Fiction
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Kinflicks

Lisa Alther · 503 pages

In Kinflicks, Lisa Alther reels through the ups and downs of Ginny Babcock's coming of age in Hullsport, Tennessee, during the '50s and '60s. Ginny bounces from one identity to another, adopting the values, politics, lifestyle, even the sexual orientation of each new partner. In her wise, funny, and ultimately heartbreaking story, Alther explores the limited roles offered to women in the '60s - f

BildungsromanComing of AgeContemporary FictionFemale Lead
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The Marriage Plot

Jeffrey Eugenides · 406 pages

The story concerns three college friends from Brown University—Madeleine, Leonard, and Mitchell—beginning in their senior year, 1982, and follows them during their first year post-graduation.

BildungsromanComing of AgeContemporary FictionNostalgic
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Setting Free the Kites

Alex George · 326 pages

"From the author of the "lyrical and compelling" (USA Today) novel A Good American comes a powerful story of two friends and the unintended consequences of friendship, loss, and hope. For Robert Carter, life in his coastal Maine hometown is comfortably predictable. But in 1976, on his first day of eighth grade, he meets Nathan Tilly, who changes everything. Nathan is confident, fearless, impetuous

BildungsromanComing of AgeContemporary FictionNostalgic
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Some Things That Stay

Sarah Willis · 275 pages

Tamara Anderson grew up on the move-crossing the country, leaving behind people and bedrooms and belongings. Now she's turning fifteen, and she wants to stay in Mayville, New York.

BildungsromanComing of AgeContemporary FictionFemale Lead
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Purple Hibiscus

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie · 307 pages

“One of the most vital and original novelists of her generation.” —Larissa MacFarquhar, The New Yorker From the bestselling author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists Fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja lead a privileged life in Enugu, Nigeria. They live in a beautiful house, with a caring family, and attend an exclusive missionary school. They're completely shielded fro

BildungsromanComing of AgeContemporary FictionFemale Lead
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Tell the Wolves I'm Home

Carol Rifka Brunt · 384 pages

It is 1987, and only one person has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus -- her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn's company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June's world is turned upside d

BildungsromanComing of AgeContemporary FictionNostalgic
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The Visibles

Sara Shepard · 323 pages

Clinging to an idea introduced by a substitute biology teacher about the role of DNA in defining a person's identity and destiny, introspective teen Summer struggles to make a connection with her abandoning mother, her mentally ill father, and her obsessive brother before embarking on a career in genetics.

BildungsromanComing of AgeContemporary FictionFemale Lead
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Betty Smith · 443 pages

The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchant

BildungsromanComing of AgeNostalgicFemale Lead
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The Bachelor of Arts

R.K. Narayan · 266 pages

BildungsromanComing of AgeCharmingClassics
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Coffee Will Make You Black

April Sinclair · 239 pages

Stevie, a young Afro-American woman in the 60s, tries to deal with her sexuality, Black culture, and social identity.

BildungsromanComing of AgeContemporary FictionFemale Lead
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Big Girls Don't Cry

Connie Briscoe · 375 pages

Naomi Jefferson was born into a comfortable world only occasionally marred by racism - even when she is called a nigger after wandering into the wrong neighborhood, she learns not to let it touch her too deeply. As a teenager in the 1960s, her biggest concerns are when she'll give up her virginity and if you really can't get pregnant the first time, like her friends tell her. But when her adored

BildungsromanComing of AgeContemporary FictionFemale Lead
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Girl in Translation

Jean Kwok · 293 pages

BildungsromanComing of AgeContemporary FictionFemale Lead
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The Country Girls Trilogy

Edna O'Brien · 624 pages

BildungsromanComing of AgeFemale LeadLondon

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