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Recommendations based on The Double Comfort Safari Clubby Alexander McCall Smith
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
Tea Time for the Traditionally Built
by Alexander McCall Smith
A humorous detective novel set in Botswana, exploring themes of community and justice.
The latest installment of this universally beloved and best-selling series finds Precious Ramotswe in personal need of her own formidable detection talents . . . . Mma Ramotswe's ever-ready tiny ... (Goodreads)
The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party
by Alexander McCall Smith
A lighthearted exploration of romance, tradition, and family ties in contemporary Botswana.
Precious Ramotswe is taunted by a dream in which she is driving her old white van. She discovers that her van is fixed up and running well again, so she hopes to retrieve it. Charlie is accused of ... (Wikipedia)
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
by Alexander McCall Smith
A humorous and heartwarming tale of an African family's daily life, tackling the issues of modern society.
Mma Ramotswe meets her second cousin, who comes to the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency for help. Tati Monyena works for the hospital in Mochudi, where a series of three deaths in the same bed in the ... (Wikipedia)
Minding Frankie
by Maeve Binchy
A struggling single father, aided by a community of unlikely friends, learns to care for his special needs daughter.
Emily Lynch arrives from America to the fictional Dublin neighborhood of St. Jarlath Crescent and, in her encouraging and resourceful way, rehabilitates the lives of everyone she meets. The main plot ... (Wikipedia)
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
by Rachel Joyce
An elderly man's unexpected quest of faith, discovering the power of hope and love.
Harold Fry, 65, has cut the lawn outside his home at Kingsbridge on the south coast of Devon when he receives a letter. A colleague of twenty years ago, Queenie Hennessy, has cancer and is in a ... (Wikipedia)
The Lacuna
by Barbara Kingsolver
Exploring the ties between art, politics and identity in tumultuous 1930s Mexico.
The novel tells the story of Harrison William Shepherd beginning with his childhood in Mexico during the 1930s. His parents are separated so he lives back and forth between the United States with his ... (Wikipedia)
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
by Helen Simonson
A widower finds love and acceptance in an unlikely place, challenging social conventions.
You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as ... (Goodreads)
The Language of Bees
by Laurie R. King
Detective story of a British nobleman's investigation into the murder of Sherlock Holmes.
Russell and Holmes return to their home in Sussex, England , in 1924 after seven months abroad in India, Japan and California. The novel features a domestic mystery as a hive on Holmes's farm has ... (Wikipedia)
Winter Solstice
by Rosamunde Pilcher
Five people come together in a Scottish country house for Christmas, each with their own struggles and secrets.
In Winter Solstice Rosamunde Pilcher brings her readers into the lives of five very different people.... Elfrida Phipps, once of London's stage, moved to the English village of Dibton in hopes of ... (Goodreads)
The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion
by Fannie Flagg
A woman discovers the truth about her family's past, unlocking a legacy of secrets.
Poland, 1909 Stanislaw is determined to escape the Russians and follow his brother to America, a land where anything seems possible. Wisconsin, 1941 With all the men off to war, Fritzi and her ... (Goodreads)
Started Early, Took My Dog
by Kate Atkinson
Private investigator Tracy Waterhouse rescues a child and buys a dog, leading to a complex web of secrets and lies.
The main story takes place over a few days in present-day (2010) Leeds, England and vicinity. There are frequent flashbacks to 1975, when the mystery being investigated originated. ... (Wikipedia)
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
by David Mitchell
An epic tale of love and adventure set in an 18th century Japanese trading port.
The novel begins in the summer of 1799 at the Dutch East India Company trading post Dejima in the harbor of Nagasaki . It tells the story of a Dutch trader's love for a Japanese midwife who is ... (Wikipedia)
An American Marriage
by Tayari Jones
A newlywed couple's lives are torn apart when the husband is wrongfully convicted of a crime. The novel explores love, loyalty, and injustice.
Roy, a sales representative for a textbook company, and Celestial, an artist specializing in custom made baby dolls, are newlyweds who live in Atlanta. After their first year of marriage they travel ... (Wikipedia)
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
by Jamie Ford
A touching story of the intersection of love, family, and culture during World War II.
Henry Lee, the son of Chinese parents in Seattle , Washington, is the only Asian child at his elementary school. His father makes him wear an "I Am Chinese" button so he will not be mistaken for a ... (Wikipedia)
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag
by Alan Bradley
Flavia de Luce, a precocious 11-year-old chemist and amateur detective, solves another murder mystery in her small English village.
From Dagger Award-winning and internationally bestselling author Alan Bradley comes this utterly beguiling mystery starring one of fiction's most remarkable sleuths: Flavia de Luce, a dangerously ... (Goodreads)
Pope Joan
by Donna Woolfolk Cross
A story of a female Pope's rise to power in a male-dominated world.
Joan, the daughter of a priest and his Saxon wife, is born in 814 as the last of three children. When he discovers that Joan has learned to read, her father calls her “child of the devil” and blames ... (Wikipedia)
The House at Riverton
by Kate Morton
A family saga spanning generations, uncovering secrets and lies of a mysterious house.
Ninety-eight-year-old Grace Bradley, a maid at Riverton Manor in the 1920s, has long hidden a terrible secret. A film is being made about a famous incident at Riverton when well-known poet Robbie ... (Wikipedia)
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)
The Good Earth
by Pearl S. Buck
A story of humble farmers facing the struggles of poverty and the upheaval of social change.
The story begins on Wang Lung 's wedding day and follows the rise and fall of his fortunes. The House of Hwang, a family of wealthy landowners, lives in the nearby town, where Wang Lung's future ... (Wikipedia)
Gilead
by Marilynne Robinson
A reverend's reflections on life in the Midwest, and the lessons of faith and family.
The book is an account of the memories and legacy of John Ames as he remembers his experiences of his father and grandfather to share with his son. All three men share a vocational lifestyle and ... (Wikipedia)
And the Mountains Echoed
by Khaled Hosseini
Interconnected stories of family and love, tracing the consequences of decisions made throughout life.
The novel opens in the year 1952. Saboor, an impoverished farmer from the fictional village of Shadbagh, decides to sell his three-year-old daughter Pari to a wealthy, childless couple in Kabul. ... (Wikipedia)
Suite Française
by Irène Némirovsky
A story of love and loss set against the backdrop of Nazi-occupied France.
The first two stories of a masterwork once thought lost, written by a pre-WWII bestselling author who was deported to Auschwitz and died before her work could be completed. By the early l940s, when ... (Goodreads)
P is for Peril
by Sue Grafton
Private investigator Kinsey Millhone is hired to find a missing doctor, but the case takes a dangerous turn.
It is now nine weeks since Dr Dowan Purcell vanished without trace. The sixty-nine-year-old doctor had said goodnight to his colleagues at the Pacific Meadows nursing home, had climbed into his car ... (Goodreads)
Lilac Girls
by Martha Hall Kelly
A story of three women's lives, intertwined by World War II, and their remarkable courage.
Inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine, this powerful debut novel reveals an incredible story of love, redemption, and terrible secrets that were hidden for decades. On the eve of a ... (Goodreads)
These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901
by Nancy E. Turner
A young woman's struggle for independence, chronicles her journey through the American Southwest.
“Belongs on your must-read list. This novel is a gem.” — Omaha World-Herald Nancy E. Turner's unforgettable, These Is My Words, melds the sweeping adventures and dramatic landscapes of, Lonesome ... (Barnes & Noble)
September
by Rosamunde Pilcher
A story of family, friends and romance, spanning across generations and continents.
As spring comes to Scotland and the hills burst into life, a dance is planned for September. The invitations summon home the group of people Violet Aird has cared for most in her long life. The ... (Goodreads)
Scarlet Feather
by Maeve Binchy
Two friends start a catering business in Dublin, facing challenges and personal struggles along the way.
Set in contemporary Ireland, filled with warmth, wit, and drama, Scarlet Feather is the story of Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather, their spouses, families, and friends, and the struggling new catering ... (Goodreads)
Private
by James Patterson
A military investigation into a private security firm gone rogue, uncovering a secret conspiracy.
Former CIA agent Jack Morgan runs Private, a renowned investigation company with branches around the globe, for maximum force and maximum discretion. Already deep into the investigation of a ... (Goodreads)
The Round House
by Louise Erdrich
A teenage boy seeks justice for a crime committed against his mother in a Native American community.
The novel opens with Joe Coutts and his father, Judge Bazil Coutts, pulling out saplings from their house's garden and foundation. They realize Joe's mother and Bazil's wife, Geraldine Coutts, has ... (Wikipedia)
The Language of Flowers
by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
A young woman's journey of healing and redemption through the power of flowers.
The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in ... (Goodreads)
