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Recommendations based on The Siegeby Helen Dunmore
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
Home Fire
by Kamila Shamsie
A family torn apart by tragedy, facing the choices of loyalty, love and politics.
Isma is free. After years of watching out for her younger siblings in the wake of their mother’s death, she’s accepted an invitation from a mentor in America that allows her to resume a dream long ... (Goodreads)
Elizabeth Is Missing
by Emma Healey
An elderly woman's struggle with dementia, as she desperately searches for her missing friend.
Maud, a grandmother in her 80s living with Alzheimer's disease , relies on sticky notes to get through the day as her memory slowly deteriorates. One day her best friend, another elderly woman named ... (Wikipedia)
A God in Ruins
by Kate Atkinson
An exploration of the life of a World War II pilot and the effects of trauma on his family.
The novel is about the life of Teddy Todd (younger brother of Ursula Todd, the protagonist of the companion work,, Life After Life, ). Events in his life are not revealed in chronological order. The ... (Wikipedia)
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
by Maggie O'Farrell
Story of two women's struggle to uncover a dark family secret and reclaim their freedom.
In the middle of tending to the everyday business at her vintage-clothing shop and sidestepping her married boyfriend’s attempts at commitment, Iris Lockhart receives a stunning phone call: Her ... (Barnes & Noble)
Life After Life
by Kate Atkinson
A woman lives multiple lives, reflecting on choices and consequences and the power of love.
The novel has an unusual structure, repeatedly looping back in time to describe alternative possible lives for its central character, Ursula Todd, who is born on 11 February 1910 to an ... (Wikipedia)
The Miniaturist
by Jessie Burton
Set in 17th century Amsterdam, a woman is given a mysterious gift of a dollhouse replica of her home.
Set in seventeenth century Amsterdam–a city ruled by glittering wealth and oppressive religion--a masterful debut steeped in atmosphere and shimmering with mystery, in the tradition of Emma Donoghue, ... (Goodreads)
The Children Act
by Ian McEwan
A family court judge must make a difficult decision between the law and her conscience.
Fiona Maye is a respected High Court Judge specialising in Family Law and living in Gray's Inn Square. While reviewing a case, she is approached by her husband, Jack, who tells her that because of ... (Wikipedia)
Two Brothers
by Ben Elton
Two brothers grow up in Nazi Germany, one becomes a soldier, the other a Jew. Their paths cross in unexpected ways.
Two Brothers is a heartrending story of two boys growing up under the darkening shadow of the Nazis. Born in Berlin in 1920 and raised by the same parents, one boy is Jewish, his adopted brother is ... (Goodreads)
Stoner
by John Williams
An academic's life of quiet desperation, finding solace in literature.
William Stoner is born on a small farm in 1891. After high school, the county agent advises he go to agriculture school. Stoner enrolls in the University of Missouri , where all agriculture students ... (Wikipedia)
Big Brother
by Lionel Shriver
A woman's obsession with her brother leads to a disturbing and destructive relationship.
For Pandora, cooking is a form of love. Alas, her husband, Fletcher, a self-employed high-end cabinetmaker, now spurns the “toxic” dishes that he’d savored through their courtship, and devotes hours ... (Goodreads)
The Taming of the Queen
by Philippa Gregory
Historical novel about the tumultuous reign of King Henry VIII, told from the perspective of his sixth wife, Kateryn Parr.
Why would a woman marry a serial killer? Because she cannot refuse... Kateryn Parr, a thirty-year-old widow in a secret affair with a new lover, has no choice when a man old enough to be her father ... (Goodreads)
The Secret River
by Kate Grenville
A convict’s journey for redemption and a new life in the Australian Outback.
The early life of William Thornhill is one of Dickensian poverty, depredation and criminality. , After a childhood of poverty and petty crime in the slums of London, William Thornhill is sentenced to ... (Wikipedia)
This Must Be the Place
by Maggie O'Farrell
A story of a family's journey through life, love, and loss, spanning continents and decades.
A dazzling novel from bestselling writer Maggie O'Farrell, winner of the Costa Novel Award—an irresistible love story that crisscrosses continents and time zones as it captures an extraordinary ... (Goodreads)
The Muse
by Jessie Burton
A young woman's exploration of identity and artistry, set in the 1960s England and Spain.
From the #1 internationally bestselling author of, The Miniaturist, comes a captivating and brilliantly realized story of two young women—a Caribbean immigrant in 1960s London, and a bohemian woman ... (Barnes & Noble)
Apple Tree Yard
by Louise Doughty
A woman's journey of self-discovery as she faces a life-altering decision with far-reaching consequences.
After giving a presentation in the House of Commons , Dr Yvonne Carmichael (Watson) meets a lean and mysterious man (Ben Chaplin), who charms her by offering her a tour of the locked Secret Chapel of ... (Wikipedia)
Small Island
by Andrea Levy
A story of post-WWII immigration, exploring themes of identity, belonging, and racism.
Hortense Joseph arrives in London from Jamaica in 1948 with her life in her suitcase, her heart broken, her resolve intact. Her husband, Gilbert Joseph, returns from the war expecting to be received ... (Goodreads)
The Ghost Road
by Pat Barker
A soldier’s journey to face the horrors of World War I, and his attempt to come to terms with his past.
Prior, despite his new-found peace of mind and engagement to munitions worker Sarah, has been affected by the war and therefore does not have a lot of concern for his safety. Prior has been cured of ... (Wikipedia)
The Secret Scripture
by Sebastian Barry
A woman's life story, told through her own words, as she reflects on her life journeys.
The main character is an old woman, Roseanne McNulty, who now resides in the Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital. Having been a patient for some fifty years or more, Roseanne decides to write an ... (Wikipedia)
Days Without End
by Sebastian Barry
A young Irishman flees famine and war, finding love and a new family in the American West during the Indian and Civil Wars.
Thomas McNulty, aged barely seventeen and having fled the Great Famine in Ireland, signs up for the U.S. Army in the 1850s. With his brother in arms, John Cole, Thomas goes on to fight in the Indian ... (Goodreads)
The Shock of the Fall
by Nathan Filer
A young man's struggle with mental illness and his journey to find understanding and acceptance.
What begins as the story of a lost boy turns into a story of a brave man yearning to understand what happened that night, in the years since, and to his very person. While on vacation with their ... (Goodreads)
Longbourn
by Jo Baker
A retelling of "Pride and Prejudice" from the perspective of the servants at Longbourn.
Sarah is a young woman of marrying age. Orphaned, she came to work for the Bennet family with whom she still resides along with the other servants including the married Mr and Mrs Hill and the much ... (Wikipedia)
What a Carve Up!
by Jonathan Coe
A satirical novel that explores the lives of the Winshaw family, a wealthy and corrupt British clan. Darkly humorous and politically charged.
Godfrey, son of the wealthy Matthew and Frances Winshaw of Yorkshire, is shot down by German anti-aircraft fire during a secret wartime mission over Berlin, on 30 November 1942. His sister Tabitha ... (Wikipedia)
The Orenda
by Joseph Boyden
An exploration of the spiritual bonds between a small Huron tribe and their European invaders.
In the remote winter landscape a brutal massacre and the kidnapping of a young Iroquois girl violently re-ignites a deep rift between two tribes. The girl’s captor, Bird, is one of the Huron Nation’s ... (Goodreads)
The Garden of Evening Mists
by Tan Twan Eng
A story of a woman's journey through grief, as she finds solace in the serenity of a Japanese garden.
Malaya, 1949. After studying law at Cambrige and time spent helping to prosecute Japanese war criminals, Yun Ling Teoh seeks solace among the jungle fringed plantations of Northern Malaya where she ... (Goodreads)
Autumn
by Ali Smith
A novel about the friendship between an elderly man and a young woman, exploring themes of memory, time, and the changing of seasons.
Daniel Gluck, a 101-year-old former songwriter, lies asleep and dreaming in his care home. He is regularly visited by 32-year-old Elisabeth Demand, who had been his next door neighbour as a young ... (Wikipedia)
An Officer and a Spy
by Robert Harris
A story of espionage and betrayal set against the backdrop of the Dreyfus Affair.
Upon being promoted to run the Statistical Section , the top secret headquarters of French military intelligence, Georges Picquart begins to discover that the evidence used to convict Alfred Dreyfus ... (Wikipedia)
The Underground Railroad
by Colson Whitehead
An escaped slave's daring escape to freedom, fighting against the brutality of slavery.
The story is told in the third person, focusing mainly on Cora. Scattered single chapters also focus on Cora's mother Mabel, the slavecatcher Ridgeway, a reluctant slave sympathizer named Ethel, and ... (Wikipedia)
Behind the Scenes at the Museum
by Kate Atkinson
A young girl's exploration of her family's history, unravelling their secrets and lies.
Ruby Lennox begins narrating her life at the moment of conception, and from there takes us on a whirlwind tour of the twentieth century as seen through the eyes of an English girl determined to learn ... (Goodreads)
Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War
by Sebastian Faulks
A poignant love story set during World War I, exploring the impact of war on human relationships and the human psyche.
Birdsong has an episodic structure, and is split into seven sections which move between three different periods of time before, during and after the war in the Stephen Wraysford plot, and three ... (Wikipedia)
Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad
A journey into the depths of the human psyche, exploring the darkness of colonialism.
Aboard the Nellie , anchored in the River Thames near Gravesend , Charles Marlow tells his fellow sailors how he became captain of a river steamboat for an ivory trading company. As a child, Marlow ... (Wikipedia)
