Books like 'The Kite Runner'
Readers who enjoyed The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical action / adventure military, war & conflict historical-fiction classics drama literary-fiction war coming-of-age realistic
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The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron
Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe extraordinary story of Stefania Podgorska, a Polish teenager who chose bravery and humanity by hiding thirteen Jews in her attic during WWII -- from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sharon Cameron.One knock at the door, and Stefania has a choice to make..Categorized as:
coming-of-age family friendship high-school historical-fiction realistic religion spirituality -
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 84 ratingsA Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years - from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding - that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms... -
We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsIt is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows closer. The talk around the family Seder table is of new babies and budding romance, not of the increasing hardships threatening Jews in their hometown of Radom, Poland...Categorized as:
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A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsWith a compassionate realism and narrative sweep that recall the work of Charles Dickens, this magnificent novel captures all the cruelty and corruption, dignity and heroism, of India. The time is 1975. The place is an unnamed city by the sea...Categorized as:
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The Storyteller's Secret: A Novel by Sejal Badani, Soneela Nankani
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsAn Amazon Charts, USA Today, and Washington Post bestseller.From the bestselling author of Trail of Broken Wings comes an epic story of the unrelenting force of love, the power of healing, and the invincible desire to dream.Nothing prepares Jaya, a New York journalist, for the heartbreak of her third miscarriage and the slow unraveling of her marriage in its wake...Categorized as:
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Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsLina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known...Categorized as:
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Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsMarion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution...Categorized as:
bildungsroman classics coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction -
Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA heart-wrenching, powerfully written novel that could do for Palestine what The Kite Runner did for Afghanistan. Forcibly removed from the ancient village of Ein Hod by the newly formed state of Israel in 1948, the Abulhejas are moved into the Jenin refugee camp...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family friendship historical-fiction islam journey literary-fiction -
Last Summer Boys by Bill Rivers
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn this rapturous coming-of-age debut, a naive-yet-determined Appalachian boy will go to any length to save his family over the course of one life-changing summer.“If you’re famous, you don’t have to go to war.”Summer 1968. When thirteen-year-old Jack Elliot overhears the barbershop men grousing, he devises a secret plan to keep his oldest brother, Pete, from the draft...Categorized as:
historical-fiction coming-of-age family drama war bildungsroman literary-fiction friendship -
Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA sweeping and lyrical novel that follows a young Palestinian refugee as she slowly becomes radicalized while searching for a better life for her family throughout the Middle East, for readers of international literary bestsellers including Washington Black, My Sister, The Serial Killer, and Her Body and Other Parties... -
To Live by Yu Hua, 余华
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the author of Brothers and China in Ten Words this celebrated contemporary classic of Chinese literature was also adapted for film by Zhang Yimou. This searing novel, originally banned in China but later named one of that nation's most influential books, portrays one man's transformation from the spoiled son of a landlord to a kindhearted peasant... -
Les Misérables: Fantine by Victor Hugo
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsOne terrible winter, Jean Valjean steals a loaf of bread to feed his young nieces and nephews. He is caught and put in jail -- for 19 years When he finally gets out, Jean changes his name and tries to start a new life. But evil Inspector Javert wants him back in jail. As Jean hides from the law, he cares for the sick, the injured, and the poor -- those known as . . .Les Miserables...Categorized as:
classics drama historical-fiction literary-fiction war action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Source by James A. Michener
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsIn the grand storytelling style that is his signature, James Michener sweeps us back through time to the very beginnings of the Jewish faith, thousands of years ago...Categorized as:
classics drama family high-school historical-fiction journey literary-fiction religion -
The Heart of Aleppo: A Story of the Syrian Civil War by Ammar Habib
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratings#1 Bestseller in Asian-American Literature!Available in paperback, Kindle, and Kindle Unlimited!Winner of the 2019 Independent Press Award From the ashes of the Syrian Civil War comes this story of hope, love, and courage... After standing for over 7,000 years, Aleppo's ruin came overnight... -
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Confessions by Jaume Cabré
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAt 60, Adrià Ardèvol re-examines his life before his memory is systematically deleted. He recalls a loveless childhood where the family antique business and his father’s study become the centre of his world; where a treasured Storioni violin retains the shadows of a crime committed many years earlier...Categorized as:
classics drama family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction religion spirituality -
A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story by Linda Sue Park
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsCherished by millions of readers, this #1 New York Times best-selling novel is a powerful tale of perseverance and hope. Newbery Medalist Linda Sue Park interweaves the stories of two Sudanese children who overcome mortal dangers to improve their lives and the lives of others...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama family friendship high-school historical-fiction journey -
The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsWith the epic sweep of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko or Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing and the lyrical beauty of Vaddey Ratner’s In the Shadow of the Banyan, The Mountains Sing tells an enveloping, multigenerational tale of the Tran family, set against the backdrop of the Viet Nam War...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction poc-mc realistic -
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsFrom the celebrated author of the international bestseller The Secret Life of Bees comes an extraordinary novel about two exceptional women.Sarah Grimké is the middle daughter. The one her mother calls difficult and her father calls remarkable...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama family friendship high-school historical-fiction literary-fiction -
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsA portrait of love, silence, and secrets under a Spanish dictatorship.Madrid, 1957. Under the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile, tourists and foreign businessmen flood into Spain under the welcoming promise of sunshine and wine...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family friendship high-school historical-fiction journey literary-fiction -
Alamut by Vladimir Bartol
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAlamut takes place in 11th Century Persia, in the fortress of Alamut, where self-proclaimed prophet Hasan ibn Sabbah is setting up his mad but brilliant plan to rule the region with a handful elite fighters who are to become his "living daggers... -
Trinity by Leon Uris
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsLeon Uris’s beloved Irish classic, available in Avon mass market. From the acclaimed author who enthralled the world with Exodus, Battle Cry, QB VII, Topaz, and other beloved classics of twentieth-century fiction comes a sweeping and powerful epic adventure that captures the "terrible beauty" of Ireland during its long and bloody struggle for freedom... -
Abigail by Magda Szabó
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAbigail, the story of a headstrong teenager growing up during World War II, is the most beloved of Magda Szabó’s books in her native Hungary. Gina is the only child of a general, a widower who has long been happy to spoil his bright and willful daughter...Categorized as:
bildungsroman classics coming-of-age family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction religion -
All We Have Left by Wendy Mills
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTwo girls. Two lives. One event that changed them—and the world—forever.Now: Sixteen-year-old Jesse is used to living with the echoes of the past. After her older brother died in the September 11th attacks, her dad filled their home with anger and grief. When Jesse gets caught up with the wrong crowd, one thoughtless decision turns her life upside down...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family friendship high-school historical-fiction islam literary-fiction -
Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsAnne's children were almost grown up, except for pretty, high-spirited Rilla. No one could resist her bright hazel eyes and dazzling smile. Rilla, almost fifteen, can't think any further ahead than going to her very first dance at the Four Winds lighthouse and getting her first kiss from handsome Kenneth Ford...Categorized as:
bildungsroman classics coming-of-age drama family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction -
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Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsA previously published edition of ISBN 9781616202415 can be found here.Fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja lead a privileged life in Enugu, Nigeria. They live in a beautiful house, with a caring family, and attend an exclusive missionary school. They're completely shielded from the troubles of the world...Categorized as:
bildungsroman classics coming-of-age drama family high-school historical-fiction journey -
The Arsonists' City by Hala Alyan
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"Feels revolutionary in its freshness." --Entertainment Weekly"The Arsonists' City delivers all the pleasures of a good old-fashioned saga, but in Alyan's hands, one family's tale becomes the story of a nation--Lebanon and Syria, yes, but also the United States. It's the kind of book we are lucky to have...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction poc-mc war action-adventure -
The Book of Fate by Parinoush Saniee
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA bestselling novel in Iran, despite being banned twice by the government, The Book of Fate follows a teenage girl in pre-revolutionary Iran through five turbulent decades, from before the 1979 revolution, through the Islamic Republic, and up to the present in this powerful story of friendship, passion, and hope...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction islam journey literary-fiction religion -
Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsSet in Hawai'i more than a century ago, this is the story of Rachel Kalama, a spirited seven-year-old Hawaiian girl, who dreams of visiting far-off lands like her father, a merchant seaman. Then one day a rose-colored mark appears on her skin, and those dreams are stolen from her...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family friendship high-school historical-fiction journey literary-fiction -
The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsLarry Darrell is a young American in search of the absolute. The progress of this spiritual odyssey involves him with some of Maugham's most brillant characters - his fiancee Isabel, whose choice between love and wealth have lifelong repercussions, and Elliot Templeton, her uncle, a classic expatriate American snob...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama family high-school historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic -
The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThis stirring, poignant novel, based on real historical events that made of actual people true heroes, unfolds the tragedy that befell the Armenian people in the dark year of 1915. The Great War is raging through Europe, and in the ancient, mountainous lands southwest of the Caspian Sea the Turks have begun systematically to exterminate their Christian subjects...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction islam journey literary-fiction spirituality war 20th-century -
Swami and Friends by R.K. Narayan
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratings"There are writers—Tolstoy and Henry James to name two—whom we hold in awe, writers—Turgenev and Chekhov—for whom we feel a personal affection, other writers whom we respect—Conrad for example—but who hold us at a long arm's length with their 'courtly foreign grace...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama friendship historical-fiction journey literary-fiction realistic -
Small Country by Gaël Faye
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratings‘A luminous and poignant novel about childhood, war, exile and identity…this is literature at its most powerful’ Le Parisien Magazine Burundi, 1992. For ten-year-old Gabriel, life in his comfortable expat neighbourhood of Bujumbura with his French father, Rwandan mother and little sister, Ana, is something close to paradise...Categorized as:
bildungsroman coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction poc-mc -
Apeirogon by Colum McCann
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsFrom the National Book Award-winning and bestselling author of Let the Great World Spin comes an epic novel rooted in the real-life friendship between two men united by loss.Colum McCann's most ambitious work to date, Apeirogon--named for a shape with a countably infinite number of sides--is a tour de force concerning friendship, love, loss, and belonging.Bassam Aramin is Palestinian...Categorized as:
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The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsA grand love story and an epic tale of three brothers whose lives are torn apart by war.Paris, 1937. Andras Lévi, a Hungarian Jewish architecture student, arrives from Budapest with a scholarship, a single suitcase, and a mysterious letter he has promised to deliver to C. Morgenstern on the rue de Sévigné...Categorized as:
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Noli Me Tángere by José Rizal, Harold Augenbraum
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn more than a century since its appearance, José Rizal's Noli Me Tangere has become widely known as the great novel of the Philippines...Categorized as:
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The Kites by Romain Gary
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOn a small farm in Normandy, as Hitler rises to power in Germany, young Ludo comes of age in the care of his Uncle Ambrose, an eccentric mailman, kite-maker, and pacifist. Ludo’s quiet existence changes the day he meets Lila, a girl from the aristocratic Polish family who own the estate next door. In a single glance, Ludo instantly falls in love forever; Lila, on the other hand, remains elusive...Categorized as:
classics high-school historical-fiction journey literary-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure -
Sooley by John Grisham
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author John Grisham takes you to a different kind of court in his first basketball novel. Samuel "Sooley" Sooleymon is a raw, young talent with big hoop dreams...and even bigger challenges off the court...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic sad -
The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsAfghan-American Nadia Hashimi's literary debut novel, The Pearl that Broke Its Shell is a searing tale of powerlessness, fate, and the freedom to control one's own fate that combines the cultural flavor and emotional resonance of the works of Khaled Hosseini, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Lisa See... -
The War of the End of the World by Mario Vargas Llosa
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe War of the End of the World is one of the great modern historical novels. Inspired by a real episode in Brazilian history, Mario Vargas Llosa tells the unforgettable story of an apocalyptic movement, led by a mysterious prophet, in which prostitutes, beggars and bandits establish Canudos, a new republic, a libertarian paradise...Categorized as:
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Jessica by Bryce Courtenay
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratings'A superb storyteller ... it is impossible not to be impressed by Courtenay's talents' - The Times JESSICA is based on the real life of a remarkable young Australian woman who defied the conventions of her time. She had a stubborn streak and the courage to act out her convictions ... in spite of the consequences...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic sad -
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 81 ratingsTen-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think of life before the war. It's now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching through town. When the Jews of Denmark are "relocated," Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be one of the family...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama family friendship high-school historical-fiction literary-fiction -
Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz, Naguib Mahfouz
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThis is a sweeping and evocative portrait of both a family and a country struggling to move toward independence in a society that has resisted change for centuries. Set against the backdrop of Britain's occupation of Egypt immediately after World War I, Palace Walk introduces us to the Al Jawad family... -
Leo Africanus by Amin Maalouf
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratings"I, Hasan the son of Muhammad the weigh-master, I, Jean-Leon de Medici, circumcised at the hand of a barber and baptized at the hand of a pope, I am now called the African, but I am not from Africa, nor from Europe, nor from Arabia. I am also called the Granadan, the Fassi, the Zayyati, but I come from no country, from no city, no tribe...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction islam literary-fiction religion spirituality war 20th-century -
The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway, John Hemingway
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsTHE ONLY COMPLETE COLLECTION BY THE NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR In this definitive collection of Ernest Hemingway's short stories, readers will delight in the author's most beloved classics such as "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," "Hills Like White Elephants," and "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," and will discover seven new tales published for the first time in this collection... -
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My Family for the War by Anne C. Voorhoeve
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWinner of the Mildred L. Batchelder medal for most oustanding children's book in translation.Escaping Nazi Germany on the kindertransport changes one girl's life foreverAt the start of World War II, ten-year-old Franziska Mangold is torn from her family when she boards the kindertransport in Berlin, the train that secretly took nearly 10,000 children out of Nazi territory to safety in England...Categorized as:
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You Will Be Safe Here by Damian Barr
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAn extraordinary debut that explores legacies of abuse, redemption, and the strength of the human spirit--from the Boer Wars in South Africa to brutal wilderness camps for teenage boys. South Africa, 1901. It is the height of the second Boer War. Sarah van der Watt and her six-year-old son Fred are forced from their home on Mulberry Farm... -
What the Day Owes the Night by Yasmina Khadra
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratings'If a woman loves you, Younes, if she truly loves you, and if you have the wisdom to appreciate this great privilege, then there is no god to touch you.'As a young man Younes' life is irrevocably changed when he leaves his broken home for the vibrant, colourful and affluent European district of Río Salado...Categorized as:
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The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSydney Taylor Award-winning novel Berlin Boxing Club is loosely inspired by the true story of boxer Max Schmeling's experiences following Kristallnacht. Karl Stern has never thought of himself as a Jew. But the bullies at his school in Nazi-era Berlin, don't care that Karl has never been in a synagogue or that his family doesn't practice religion...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age family friendship high-school historical-fiction journey poc-mc -
China by Edward Rutherfurd
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe internationally bestselling author of Paris and New York takes on an exhilarating new world with his trademark epic style in China: The Novel Edward Rutherfurd has enthralled millions of readers with his grand, sweeping historical sagas that tell the history of a famous place over multiple generations... -
The Girl from the Train by Irma Joubert
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSix-year-old Gretl Schmidt is on a train bound for Auschwitz. Jakób Kowalski is planting a bomb on the tracks. As World War II draws to a close, Jakób fights with the Polish resistance against the crushing forces of Germany and Russia. They mean to destroy a German troop transport, but Gretl’s unscheduled train reaches the bomb first. Gretl is the only survivor...Categorized as:
drama family friendship historical-fiction journey literary-fiction realistic religion
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