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Recommendations based on Empressby Shan Sa
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Empress Orchid
by Anchee Min
A young girl's rise to power as the last empress of China.
To rescue her family from poverty and avoid marrying her slope-shouldered cousin, seventeen-year-old Orchid competes to be one of the Emperor's wives. When she is chosen as a lower-ranking concubine ... (Goodreads)
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
by Dai Sijie
Two city boys discover the beauty of the countryside, and the power of art, during the Cultural Revolution.
The novel, written by Dai Sijie, is about two teenage boys during the Chinese Cultural Revolution , Luo, described as having "a genius for storytelling", , and the unnamed narrator, "a fine ... (Wikipedia)
The Thorn Birds
by Colleen McCullough
A powerful tale of forbidden love, set in rural Australia in the early 20th century.
The story begins in New Zealand on 8 December 1915, the fourth birthday of Meghann "Meggie" Cleary who is the only daughter of Padriac ("Paddy"), an Irish farm labourer, and Fiona ("Fee"), his wife. ... (Wikipedia)
Kushiel's Dart
by Jacqueline Carey
A story of political intrigue, adventure, and forbidden love, set in a world of gods and mortals.
The book follows Phèdre nó Delaunay's life from birth. She's born with a mote in her eye, which makes her appear inappropriate for service as a religious courtesan, but it is revealed that this is ... (Wikipedia)
Les Liaisons dangereuses
by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
An intricate game of love, lust and manipulation as two rival aristocrats scheme to outwit one another.
The Vicomte de Valmont is determined to seduce the virtuous, married, and therefore inaccessible Madame de Tourvel, who is staying with Valmont's aunt while her husband is away on a court case. At ... (Wikipedia)
Snow Falling on Cedars
by David Guterson
A murder trial in a small, coastal town reveals secrets of the past and its inhabitants.
Set on the fictional San Piedro Island in the northern Puget Sound region of the state of Washington coast in 1954, the plot revolves around a murder case in which Kabuo Miyamoto, a Japanese American ... (Wikipedia)
The Red and the Black
by Stendhal
A young man's ambitious rise in 19th century French society, as he navigates through its politics and passions.
In two volumes,, The Red and the Black: A Chronicle of the 19th Century, tells the story of Julien Sorel's life in France's rigid social structure restored after the disruptions of the French ... (Wikipedia)
The Lover
by Marguerite Duras
A young French girl's exploration of passion, love, and relationships in French Indochina.
Set against the backdrop of French Indochina , The Lover reveals the intimacies and intricacies of a clandestine romance between a pubescent girl from a financially strapped French family and an ... (Wikipedia)
Ask the Dust
by John Fante
A young writer's journey of self-discovery in 1930s Los Angeles.
Ask the Dust is the story of Arturo Bandini, a young Italian-American writer in 1930s Los Angeles who falls hard for the elusive, mocking, unstable Camilla Lopez, a Mexican waitress. Struggling to ... (Goodreads)
First Year
by Rachel E. Carter
Orphaned mage Ryiah enters the Academy to become a mage, but finds herself in a cutthroat competition against her fellow students.
Magic. Romance. Rivals., Perfect for fans of, Throne of Glass, Falling Kingdoms,, and Tamora Pierce., Before the age of seventeen, the young men and women of Jerar are given a choice —pursue a trade ... (Barnes & Noble)
Anne of Avonlea
by L.M. Montgomery
A young girl's coming-of-age in rural Prince Edward Island, full of adventures and misadventures.
Anne is about to start her first term teaching at the Avonlea school, although she will still continue her studies at home with Gilbert, who is teaching at the nearby White Sands School. The book ... (Wikipedia)
Silk
by Alessandro Baricco
Adventure of a 19th century French trader who travels to Japan to find rare silkworm eggs.
The novel tells the story of a French silkworm merchant-turned-smuggler named Hervé Joncour in 19th century France who travels to Japan for his town's supply of silkworms after a disease wipes out ... (Wikipedia)
Moonlight Becomes You
by Mary Higgins Clark
A young woman investigates her father's death and uncovers a web of secrets and lies.
Newport, Rhode Island: a world of old money, old names, and sinister secrets. Maggie Holloway, a fashion photographer, goes to visit a woman who had once been her stepmother, but when she arrives, ... (Goodreads)
Slow Heat in Heaven
by Sandra Brown
A steamy romance novel set in the sultry heat of Louisiana, where passion and danger collide.
Grappling with hidden family secrets, forbidden passions, and a business in peril, the adopted daughter of a Louisiana mogul must confront the past to bring peace back to her hometown. The adopted ... (Goodreads)
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
by Haruki Murakami
A surreal exploration of two separate yet interwoven realities.
The story is split between parallel narratives. The odd-numbered chapters take place in the 'Hard-Boiled Wonderland', although the phrase is not used anywhere in the text, only in page headers. The ... (Wikipedia)
River, Cross My Heart
by Breena Clarke
A young girl drowns in a river, and her family struggles to cope with the aftermath in 1920s Georgetown, Washington D.C.
The acclaimed bestseller – a selection of Oprah's Book Club -- that brings vividly to life the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, circa 1925, and a community reeling from a young girl's ... (Goodreads)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
by Lisa See
Story of two women in 19th-century China, exploring the power of female friendship.
In rural Hunan province called Puwei (nicknamed the Common Beauty Village), a county in China, Lily is destined to become a, laotong, pair with Snow Flower, a girl of the same age from Tongkou (the ... (Wikipedia)
Full Moon Rising
by Keri Arthur
Riley Jenson, half-vampire, half-werewolf, is a guardian of Melbourne's supernatural community. She must solve a series of murders while navigating her complicated love life.
A rare hybrid of vampire and werewolf, Riley Jenson and her twin brother, Rhoan, work for Melbourne’s Directorate of Other Races, an organization created to police the supernatural races–and protect ... (Goodreads)
Père Goriot
by Honoré de Balzac
A tale of ambition, greed, and human relationships in 19th century Paris.
The novel opens with an extended description of the Maison Vauquer, a boarding house in Paris' rue Neuve-Sainte-Geneviève covered with vines, owned by the widow Madame Vauquer. The residents include ... (Wikipedia)
Symptoms of Being Human
by Jeff Garvin
A gender-fluid teenager navigates high school and their politician father's campaign while struggling with depression and anxiety.
Starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist * YALSA Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers * ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults List * 2017 Rainbow List A sharply honest and moving debut ... (Barnes & Noble)
The World According to Garp
by John Irving
A humorous and heart-wrenching journey of life, love and literature.
This is the life and times of T. S. Garp, the bastard son of Jenny Fields—a feminist leader ahead of her times. This is the life and death of a famous mother and her almost-famous son; theirs is a ... (Goodreads)
On the Street Where You Live
by Mary Higgins Clark
A young woman investigates a murder that occurred in her hometown decades ago, uncovering dark secrets and putting herself in danger.
In the gripping new novel from the Queen of Suspense, a woman is haunted by two grisly murders separated by more than a century, yet somehow, inextricably linked... Following a nasty divorce and the ... (Goodreads)
Rashomon and Other Stories
by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
Collection of short stories exploring the complexities of human nature and morality through vivid characters and intricate plots.
The story recounts the encounter between a servant and an old woman in the dilapidated Rashōmon , the southern gate of the then-ruined city of Kyoto , where unclaimed corpses were sometimes dumped. ... (Wikipedia)
The Other Typist
by Suzanne Rindell
In 1920s New York, a prim and proper typist becomes fascinated with a mysterious co-worker, leading to a spiral of obsession and deceit.
A haunting debut novel set against the background of New York City in the 1920s… Confessions are Rose Baker’s job. A typist for the New York City Police Department, she sits in judgment like a high ... (Goodreads)
The Scarlet Pimpernel
by Emmuska Orczy
A daring rescue mission of victims of the French Revolution, under the disguise of a mysterious hero.
The Scarlet Pimpernel is set in 1792, during the early stages of the French Revolution . Marguerite St. Just, a beautiful French actress, is the wife of wealthy English fop Sir Percy Blakeney, a ... (Wikipedia)
The Borgia Bride
by Jeanne Kalogridis
Historical fiction about Sancha of Aragon, who becomes the bride of the notorious Cesare Borgia. A tale of love, betrayal, and political intrigue.
Vivacious Sancha of Aragon arrives in Rome newly wed to a member of the notorious Borgia dynasty. Surrounded by the city's opulence and political corruption, she befriends her glamorous and deceitful ... (Goodreads)
The Virgin Suicides
by Jeffrey Eugenides
A dark and mysterious tale about the mysterious suicides of five teenage sisters in a suburban town.
As an ambulance arrives for the body of Cecilia Lisbon, a group of anonymous adolescent neighborhood boys recalls the events leading up to her death. The Lisbons are a Catholic family living in the ... (Wikipedia)
Noah's Compass
by Anne Tyler
A retired teacher, Liam, struggles to find meaning in his life after a mysterious incident leaves him with memory loss.
On the surface, Liam Pennywell leads an ordered, decent life. Once widowed and once divorced, with three grown-up daughters, he has just been dismissed from his teaching job and, for lack of funds, ... (Wikipedia)
The Tea Planter's Wife
by Dinah Jefferies
A young bride moves to Ceylon in the 1920s to join her tea planter husband, but secrets and lies threaten to destroy their marriage and family.
#1 International bestselling novel set in 1920s Ceylon, about a young Englishwoman who marries a charming tea plantation owner and widower, only to discover he's keeping terrible secrets about his ... (Goodreads)
Foreign Affairs
by Alison Lurie
Two American professors find love and self-discovery while on sabbatical in England.
Unmarried fifty-four-year-old Virginia Miner (Vinnie), a professor at Corinth University who specializes in children's literature, is off to London for another research trip. She loves England and ... (Wikipedia)
