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Recommendations based on Rich Man, Poor Manby Irwin Shaw
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
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)
Exodus
by Leon Uris
The story of the birth of Israel, following the lives of Jewish refugees from WWII to the establishment of the state.
In 1946 American foreign correspondent Mark Parker and American nurse Kitty Fremont reunite as old friends. Kitty is an American volunteer at the Karaolos internment camp on Cyprus , where thousands ... (Wikipedia)
QB VII
by Leon Uris
A courtroom drama that explores the aftermath of a libel suit brought by a Polish doctor against an American author.
A famous author, Abraham Cady, stands trial for libel. In his book The Holocaust , he named eminent surgeon Sir Adam Kelno as one of the Jadwiga concentration camp 's most sadistic inmate/doctors. ... (Wikipedia)
A Woman of Substance
by Barbara Taylor Bradford
The rags-to-riches story of Emma Harte, who overcomes poverty and adversity to build a retail empire.
One of the top-ten bestselling novels ever written. “An extravagant, absorbing novel of love, courage, ambition, war, death and passion.” —,The New York Times, Barbara Taylor Bradford’s The Emma ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Shell Seekers
by Rosamunde Pilcher
A family explores their past, present, and future while examining the importance of treasured objects.
Shifting in time, the novel tells the story of Penelope Keeling, the daughter of unconventional parents (an artist father and his much-younger French wife), examining her past and her relationships ... (Wikipedia)
Eye of the Needle
by Ken Follett
A thrilling tale of espionage and wartime romance, set in the chaos of WWII.
In 1940, Henry Faber, a German spy nicknamed 'die Nadel' ('The Needle') due to his trademark weapon being a stiletto , is working at a London railway depot, collecting information on troop movements. ... (Wikipedia)
The Far Pavilions
by M.M. Kaye
Epic adventure story set in 19th century India, exploring the clash of East and West.
Ashton Pelham-Martyn (Ash) is the son of a British botanist travelling through India; he is born on the road shortly before the Sepoy uprising of 1857 . His mother dies from childbed fever shortly ... (Wikipedia)
The Prince of Tides
by Pat Conroy
A man's search for solace and understanding in his troubled family's past.
Tom Wingo is a middle-aged man with a wife and three young daughters who has recently lost his job as a high school English teacher and football coach. He learns that his twin sister, Savannah, has ... (Wikipedia)
War and Remembrance
by Herman Wouk
Epic saga of a Jewish family's journey through WWII, facing the struggles of a war-torn world.
War and Remembrance completes the cycle that began with, The Winds of War, . The story includes historical occurrences at Midway , Yalta , Guadalcanal , and El Alamein as well as the Allied invasions ... (Wikipedia)
Centennial
by James A. Michener
Epic journey through the history of the American West, painting a vivid picture of its people and culture.
Written to commemorate the Bicentennial in 1976, James A. Michener’s magnificent saga of the West is an enthralling celebration of the frontier. Brimming with the glory of America’s past, the story ... (Goodreads)
River God
by Wilbur Smith
An epic tale of the rise and fall of a powerful ancient Egyptian kingdom.
River God follows the fate of the Egyptian Kingdom through the eyes of Taita, a multi-talented and highly skilled eunuch slave. Taita is owned by Lord Intef and primarily looks after his daughter, ... (Wikipedia)
The Client
by John Grisham
A young boy is thrust into a legal battle, as he tries to protect himself and his family.
Boyd Boyette, a United States Senator from Louisiana, goes missing. Because of his vocal opposition to a proposed major toxic landfill project by a company known to be Mafia-backed, murder is ... (Wikipedia)
Presumed Innocent
by Scott Turow
Prosecutor Rusty Sabich is accused of murdering his colleague and mistress. He must prove his innocence while navigating a web of lies and deceit.
The novel begins with the discovery of Carolyn Polhemus, dead in her apartment. She is the victim of what appears to be a sexual bondage encounter gone wrong, killed outright by a fatal blow to the ... (Wikipedia)
Evergreen
by Belva Plain
A family saga spanning generations, exploring the complexities of love, loss, and the ties that bind us.
“A grand, sweeping panorama . . . richly written, finely detailed . . . vivid and memorable.”—,Daily News ,(New York), Yearning for a better life, Anna Friedman fled Poland for New York at the turn ... (Barnes & Noble)
North and South
by John Jakes
A story of two families divided by the Civil War and their journey to reconciliation and understanding.
Part history, part novel, this book chronicles two great American dynasties over three generations. Though brought together in a friendship that neither jealousy nor violence could shatter, the ... (Goodreads)
Roots: The Saga of an American Family
by Alex Haley
A multigenerational saga tracing the journey of an African American family in the U.S.
Roots tells the story of Kunta Kinte —a young man taken from the Gambia when he was seventeen and sold as a slave—and seven generations of his descendants in the United States. Kunta, a Mandinka ... (Wikipedia)
The Day of the Jackal
by Frederick Forsyth
An assassin attempts to kill the president of France in a thrilling race against time.
The book begins in 1962 with the (historical) failed attempt on de Gaulle 's life plotted by, among others, Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry in the Paris suburb of Petit-Clamart : ... (Wikipedia)
Hawaii
by James A. Michener
Epic saga of the history, culture and people of the Hawaiian Islands.
The novel tells the history of Hawaiian Islands from the creation of the isles to the time they became an American state, through the viewpoints of selected characters who represent their ethnic and ... (Wikipedia)
The Bastard
by John Jakes
Epic journey of a young man searching for his identity amidst the chaos of the American Civil War.
The story begins in November 1770 in Auvergne , France , near Chavaniac . Philippe Charboneau, a seventeen-year-old boy, is living with his mother, Marie, in an inn inherited from her deceased ... (Wikipedia)
Sophie's Choice
by William Styron
A survivor of the Holocaust is confronted with a devastating moral dilemma.
Stingo, a novelist who is recalling the summer when he began his first novel, has been fired from his low-level reader's job at the publisher McGraw-Hill and has moved into a cheap boarding house in ... (Wikipedia)
Absolute Power
by David Baldacci
A power-hungry President, a daring thief and a determined investigator collide in a thrilling tale of manipulation and murder.
An experienced burglar, Luther Whitney, breaks into a billionaire's house with the intent of robbing it. While there, he witnesses the President of the United States and the billionaire's wife having ... (Wikipedia)
The Master and Margarita
by Mikhail Bulgakov
A fantastical, satirical examination of Soviet life, intersecting with the supernatural.
The novel has two settings. The first is Moscow during the 1930s, where Satan appears at Patriarch's Ponds as Professor Woland . He is accompanied by Koroviev, a grotesquely-dressed valet; Behemoth , ... (Wikipedia)
Lonesome Dove
by Larry McMurtry
Epic tale of two former Texas Rangers on a cattle drive from Texas to Montana.
It is the late 1870s. , Captain Woodrow F. Call and Captain Augustus "Gus" McCrae, two famous retired Texas Rangers , run the Hat Creek Cattle Company and Livery Emporium in the small Texas border ... (Wikipedia)
Queen Margot
by Alexandre Dumas
An epic tale of political and religious intrigue, filled with love and revenge.
The story begins in Paris in August 1572, during the reign of the Valois King Charles IX , it is the French Wars of Religion . The protagonist is Marguerite de Valois , better known as Margot, the ... (Wikipedia)
The Other Side of Midnight
by Sidney Sheldon
A gripping tale of love, betrayal, and revenge. The story follows the lives of two women and the man they both love.
Set in between the two World Wars, Noelle Page is born to a poor family in Marseille , France, though she is led to believe she is better than everyone else. She is initially devoted to her father, ... (Wikipedia)
East of Eden
by John Steinbeck
Exploration of the timeless struggle between good and evil, set against a backdrop of a family saga.
In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden “the first book,” and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas ... (Goodreads)
The Robe
by Lloyd C. Douglas
A Roman tribune's journey from persecutor to believer in the wake of Jesus's crucifixion.
The book explores the aftermath of the crucifixion of Jesus through the experiences of the Roman tribune, Marcellus Gallio and his Greek slave Demetrius. Prince Gaius, in an effort to rid Rome of ... (Wikipedia)
The Bourne Ultimatum
by Robert Ludlum
Secret agent Jason Bourne on a mission to uncover the truth behind his life and identity.
The novel follows David Webb, alias Jason Bourne , as he works to find his old enemy, Carlos the Jackal , who is trying to kill him. As the Jackal enters old age and his infamy fades, he decides that ... (Wikipedia)
The Winds of War
by Herman Wouk
The story of a family caught in the middle of World War II and their struggles to survive.
Like no other masterpiece of historical fiction, Herman Wouk's sweeping epic of World War II is the great novel of America's Greatest Generation. , Wouk's spellbinding narrative captures the tide of ... (Barnes & Noble)
Pet Sematary
by Stephen King
A family's terrifying journey of life and death, as the line between the living and the dead blurs.
Louis Creed, a doctor from Chicago , is appointed director of the University of Maine 's campus health service. He moves to a large house near the small town of Ludlow with his wife Rachel, their two ... (Wikipedia)
