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Recommendations based on Cold Sassy Treeby Olive Ann Burns
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates
by Mary Mapes Dodge
A heartwarming tale of a poor Dutch boy and his sister who dream of winning a skating race and buying their father a new pair of skates.
In Holland , poor but industrious and honorable 15 year-old Hans Brinker and his younger sister Gretel yearn to participate in December's great ice skating race on the canal . They have little chance ... (Wikipedia)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
by Betty Smith
A coming of age story set in Brooklyn, depicting a young girl's struggles and growth.
The novel is split into five "books", each covering a different period in the characters' lives. Book One opens in 1912 and introduces 11-year-old Francie Nolan, who lives in the Williamsburg ... (Wikipedia)
Time and Again
by Jack Finney
A man travels back in time to the past to explore its secrets and mysteries.
In November 1970, Simon Morley, an advertising sketch artist, is approached by U.S. Army Major Ruben Prien to participate in a secret government project. He is taken to a huge warehouse on the West ... (Wikipedia)
How Green Was My Valley
by Richard Llewellyn
A Welsh family struggles with the destruction of their ancestral home and a changing way of life.
The novel is set in South Wales during the reign of Queen Victoria . It tells the story of the Morgans, a respectable mining family of the South Wales Valleys , through the eyes of one of the sons, ... (Wikipedia)
The Enchanted April
by Elizabeth von Arnim
Four women embark on a journey to a magical Italian villa, discovering joy and transformation.
The novel follows four dissimilar women in 1920s England who leave their rainy, grey environments to go on holiday in Italy. Mrs Arbuthnot and Mrs Wilkins, who belong to the same ladies' club but ... (Wikipedia)
The Beekeeper of Aleppo
by Christy Lefteri
A Syrian couple's journey to escape war-torn Aleppo and find safety in Europe, while holding onto hope and memories of their past.
The unforgettable love story of a mother blinded by loss and her husband who insists on their survival as they undertake the Syrian refugee trail to Europe. Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an ... (Goodreads)
For Whom the Bell Tolls
by Ernest Hemingway
A soldier's story of courage and survival in the Spanish Civil War.
The novel graphically describes the brutality of the Spanish Civil War. It is told primarily through the thoughts and experiences of the protagonist, Robert Jordan. It draws on Hemingway's own ... (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)
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 Secret Keeper
by Kate Morton
A woman unravels her family's past, uncovering secrets and lies that span generations.
During a summer party at the family farm in the English countryside, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson has escaped to her childhood tree house and is happily dreaming of the future. She spies a ... (Goodreads)
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)
Howards End
by E.M. Forster
Exploration of the societal divides in early 20th century England, and the consequences of class prejudice.
Howards End is a novel by E. M. Forster about social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. A strong-willed and intelligent woman refuses to allow the ... (Goodreads)
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)
This Tender Land
by William Kent Krueger
Four orphans escape a cruel boarding school and embark on a journey down the Mississippi River during the Great Depression.
INSTANT, NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER! “If you liked, Where the Crawdads Sing, you’ll love, This Tender Land, ...This story is as big-hearted as they come.” —, Parade, The unforgettable story of four ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Call of the Wild
by Jack London
A dog's adventure in the wilderness, confronting the primal struggle for survival.
The story opens in 1897 with Buck, a powerful 140-pound St. Bernard – Scotch Collie mix, , , happily living in California 's Santa Clara Valley as the pampered pet of Judge Miller and his family. One ... (Wikipedia)
The Forgotten Garden
by Kate Morton
A woman's quest to uncover the secrets of her family's past, leading to a mysterious garden.
At Nell's joyous 21st birthday party her world falls apart when her father tells her she was adopted as a 4-year-old in 1913, seemingly abandoned on an Australian wharf and unable to remember her ... (Wikipedia)
The Bean Trees
by Barbara Kingsolver
A young woman's journey of self-discovery and resilience as she takes on motherhood and a new life.
Clear-eyed and spirited, Taylor Greer grew up poor in rural Kentucky with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away. But when she heads west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she ... (Goodreads)
Possession
by A.S. Byatt
Two modern academics uncover a hidden romance between two Victorian poets.
Obscure scholar Roland Michell, researching in the London Library , discovers handwritten drafts of a letter by the eminent Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash, which lead him to suspect that the ... (Wikipedia)
Cold Mountain
by Charles Frazier
A Confederate soldier's homecoming journey, filled with danger and adventure.
The novel opens in a Confederate military hospital near Raleigh, North Carolina , where Inman is recovering from battle wounds during the American Civil War . The soldier is tired of fighting for a ... (Wikipedia)
Little House in the Big Woods
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Childhood memories of living on a family farm in the Midwest during the late 19th century.
The novel describes the homesteading skills Laura observed and began to practice during her fifth year. It does not contain the more mature (yet real) themes addressed in later books of the series ... (Wikipedia)
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
by Kim Michele Richardson
A young woman, Cussy, delivers books to the rural people of Kentucky during the Great Depression, facing discrimination and finding solace in her blue skin.
In 1936 eastern Kentucky, 19-year-old Cussy Mary Carter works for the New Deal–funded Pack Horse Library Project , delivering reading material to the remote hill people of the Appalachian Mountains . ... (Wikipedia)
Miracles on Maple Hill
by Virginia Sorensen
A family moves to a farm in Maple Hill to heal from the effects of war. They find joy and healing in nature and community.
Marly's father just returned from the war; he is suffering from mood swings and depression, and seems to be tired all the time. Lee, Marly's mother, moves the family to Maple Hill, a town where the ... (Wikipedia)
Jude the Obscure
by Thomas Hardy
A tale of struggle and sorrow for a poor, uneducated man amid the rigid conventions of Victorian England.
The novel tells the story of Jude Fawley, who lives in a village in southern England (part of Hardy's fictional county of Wessex ), who yearns to be a scholar at "Christminster", a city modelled on ... (Wikipedia)
The Lost Husband
by Katherine Center
After her husband's death, a woman moves to her aunt's goat farm with her children and finds love and healing in unexpected ways.
"Dear Libby, It occurs to me that you and your two children have been living with your mother for – Dear Lord! -- two whole years, and I'm writing to see if you'd like to be rescued." The letter ... (Goodreads)
The Awakening
by Kate Chopin
A woman's journey of self-discovery, challenging the norms of the Victorian era.
When first published in 1899, The Awakening shocked readers with its honest treatment of female marital infidelity. Audiences accustomed to the pieties of late Victorian romantic fiction were taken ... (Goodreads)
The Splendour Falls
by Susanna Kearsley
A woman travels to a remote Welsh village to heal from a tragedy, but finds herself drawn into a centuries-old mystery.
Chinon-chateau of legend, steeped in the history of France and England. It is to Chinon that Emily goes on a long-awaited holiday, to meet her charming but unreliable cousin, Harry. Harry wanted to ... (Goodreads)
The Nature of Jade
by Deb Caletti
Jade struggles with anxiety until she meets a boy who helps her see the world in a new light.
I am not my illness. "Girl with Anxiety," "Trauma of the Week" - no. I hate stuff like that. Everyone, everyone has their issue. But the one thing my illness did make me realise is how necessary it ... (Goodreads)
Isle of Palms
by Dorothea Benton Frank
A woman escapes to her family's beach house on the Isle of Palms after a devastating divorce, finding healing and love in unexpected places.
Anna Lutz Abbot considers herself independent and happy, until one steamy summer when she must find a way to deal with the secrets of her unpredictable family-and her past. ... (Goodreads)
The Girl With No Name
by Diney Costeloe
A young girl is evacuated from London during WWII and ends up in a new family, facing challenges and uncovering secrets about her past.
Thirteen-year-old Lisa has escaped from Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport. She arrives in London unable to speak a word of English, her few belongings crammed into a small suitcase. Among them is ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Age of Innocence
by Edith Wharton
A romantic drama set in the high society of 19th century New York, exploring the limits of love and longing.
Newland Archer, gentleman lawyer and heir to one of New York City's most illustrious families, happily anticipates his highly desirable marriage to the sheltered and beautiful May Welland. Yet he ... (Wikipedia)
