Books like 'Violeta'
Readers who enjoyed Violeta by Isabel Allende also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical action / adventure military, war & conflict south-america chile historical-fiction magical-realism literary-fiction latinx-mc family
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Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars · 72 ratingsGhana, eighteenth century: two half sisters are born into different villages, each unaware of the other. One will marry an Englishman and lead a life of comfort in the palatial rooms of the Cape Coast Castle. The other will be captured in a raid on her village, imprisoned in the very same castle, and sold into slavery...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama epic family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction -
The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAt the start of the twentieth century, on the edge of the Russian empire, a family prospers. It owes its success to a delicious chocolate recipe, passed down the generations with great solemnity and caution. A caution which is justified: this is a recipe for ecstasy that carries a very bitter aftertaste..Categorized as:
classics drama epic family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction magical-realism -
The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsIt is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. England is facing attacks from the Welsh in the west and the Vikings in the east. Those in power bend justice according to their will, regardless of ordinary people and often in conflict with the king. Without a clear rule of law, chaos reigns.In these turbulent times, three characters find their lives intertwined... -
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... -
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Sea of Memories by Fiona Valpy
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsWhen Kendra first visits her ailing grandmother, Ella has only one request: that Kendra write her story down, before she forgets…In 1937, seventeen-year-old Ella’s life changes forever when she is sent to spend the summer on the beautiful Île de Ré and meets the charismatic, creative Christophe... -
Sodan mainingit by Herman Wouk
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThese two classic works capture the tide of world events even as they unfold the compelling tale of a single American family drawn into the very center of the war's maelstrom.The multimillion-copy bestsellers that capture all the drama, romance, heroism, and tragedy of the Second World War -- and that constitute Wouk's crowning achievement -- are available for the first time in trade paperback... -
My Tender Matador by Pedro Lemebel
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCentered around the 1986 attempt on the life of Augusto Pinochet, an event that changed Chile forever, My Tender Matador is one of the most explosive, controversial, and popular novels to have been published in that country in decades. It is spring 1986 in the city of Santiago, and Augusto Pinochet is losing his grip on power...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction journey latinx-mc lgbtq literary-fiction poc-mc politics -
The Winds of War by Herman Wouk
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsLike 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 global events, as well as all the drama, romance, heroism, and tragedy of World War II, as it immerses us in the lives of a single American family drawn into the very center of the war's maelstrom... -
The Killer Angels: A Novel of the Civil War by Michael Shaara
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsIncisive portraits of Lee, Longstreet, Meade, and other Civil War leaders are interwoven with rich historical detail to provide a fictional recreation of the bloody battle at Gettysburg, in a new thirtieth anniversary edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning historical novel. 10,000 first printing... -
Arch of Triumph by Erich Maria Remarque
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIt is 1939. Despite a law banning him from performing surgery, Ravic – a German doctor and refugee living in Paris – has been treating some of the city’s most elite citizens for two years on the behalf of two less-than-skillful French physicians... -
The Cypress Maze by Fiona Valpy
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn this haunting tale from the bestselling author of The Storyteller of Casablanca, Beatrice kept a wartime secret to protect the innocent. Now, could telling it set her free?Tuscany, 1943. Stranded in war-ravaged Italy, Beatrice’s dream of an escapist year teaching English is shattered... -
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 season-summer literary-fiction fiction -
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... -
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 72 ratings“Spectacular...an absorbing and distinguished work...The House of the Spirits...is a unique achievement, both personal witness and possible allegory of the past, present, and future of Latin America... -
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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 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... -
Take What You Can Carry by Gian Sardar
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsAn aspiring photographer follows her dreams and faces her fears in a poignant novel about finding beauty, promise, and love amid the chaos of war-torn Kurdistan.It’s 1979. Olivia Murray, a secretary at a Los Angeles newspaper, is determined to become a photojournalist and make a difference with her work...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama historical-fiction journey literary-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure -
The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsHaunted all her life by feelings of terror and emptiness, forty-nine-year-old Urania Cabral returns to her native Dominican Republic - and finds herself reliving the events of 1961, when the capital was still called Trujillo City and one old man terrorized a nation of three million people...Categorized as:
classics drama historical-fiction journey latinx-mc literary-fiction magical-realism poc-mc -
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... -
A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom acclaimed novelist Mark Helprin, a lush, literary epic about love, beauty, and the world at war.Alessandro Giuliani, the young son of a prosperous Roman lawyer, enjoys an idyllic life full of privilege: he races horses across the country to the sea, he climbs mountains in the Alps, and, while a student of painting at the ancient university in Bologna, he falls in love...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama epic family historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism -
Standing at the Scratch Line: King Tremain Series, Book 1 by Guy Johnson, Dion Graham
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsRaised in the steamy bayous of New Orleans in the early 1900s, LeRoi "King" Tremain, caught up in his family's ongoing feud with the rival DuMont family, learns to fight. But when the teenage King mistakenly kills two white deputies during a botched raid on the DuMonts, the Tremains' fear of reprisal forces King to flee Louisiana... -
Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsPerfect for readers of The Secret Life of Bees and The Help, a perceptive and searing look at Apartheid-era South Africa, told through one unique family brought together by tragedy.Life under Apartheid has created a secure future for Robin Conrad, a ten-year-old white girl living with her parents in 1970s Johannesburg... -
House of Glass by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWith House Of Glass comes the final chapter of Pramoedya's epic quartet, set in the Dutch East Indies at the turn of the century. A novel of heroism, passion, and betrayal, it provides a spectacular conclusion to a series hailed as one of the great works of modern literature...Categorized as:
classics drama epic historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism politics war -
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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... -
The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsFrom a beguiling voice in Mexican fiction comes an astonishing novel—her first to be translated into English—about a mysterious child with the power to change a family’s history in a country on the verge of revolution.From the day that old Nana Reja found a baby abandoned under a bridge, the life of a small Mexican town forever changed... -
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... -
The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsA reimagining of the world-famous Indian epic, the Mahabharat—told from the point of view of an amazing woman.Relevant to today’s war-torn world, The Palace of Illusions takes us back to a time that is half history, half myth, and wholly magical. Narrated by Panchaali, the wife of the legendary Pandavas brothers in the Mahabharat, the novel gives us a new interpretation of this ancient tale... -
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:
coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction poc-mc politics -
The Covenant by James A. Michener
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsJames A. Michener’s masterly chronicle of South Africa is an epic tale of adventurers, scoundrels, and ministers, the best and worst of two continents who carve an empire out of a vast wilderness. From the Java-born Van Doorn family tree springs two great branches: one nurtures lush vineyards, the other settles the interior to become the first Trekboers and Afrikaners... -
Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSarajevo, spring 1992. Each night, nationalist gangs erect barricades, splitting the diverse city into ethnic enclaves; each morning, the residents – whether Muslim, Croat or Serb – push the makeshift barriers aside.When violence finally spills over, Zora, an artist and teacher, sends her husband and elderly mother to safety with her daughter in England... -
If Not Now, When? by Primo Levi
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsPrimo Levi was among the greatest witnesses to twentieth-century atrocity. In this gripping novel, based on a true story, he reveals the extraordinary lives of the Russian, Polish and Jewish partisans trapped behind enemy lines during the Second World War...Categorized as:
classics drama historical-fiction literary-fiction politics war 20th-century action-adventure -
Caesar's Women by Colleen McCullough
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Colleen McCullough re-creates an extraordinary epoch before the mighty Republic belonged to Julius Caesar—when Rome's noblewomen were his greatest conquest.His victories were legend—in battle and bedchamber alike. Love was a political weapon he wielded cunningly and ruthlessly in his private war against enemies in the forum... -
Four Fires by Bryce Courtenay
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn a small town like any other small town around Australia live the Maloneys. They are a fifth-generation Australian family of Irish Catholic descent who are struggling to reach the first rung of the social ladder. The Maloneys are a family you won't forget: a strong mother, a father broken by war, three boys and two girls, one of whom has an illegitimate daughter... -
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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:
classics drama epic historical-fiction journey literary-fiction magical-realism politics -
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 war action-adventure -
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsSet during the waning days of the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic in 1960, this extraordinary novel tells the story of the Mirabal sisters, three young wives and mothers who are assassinated after visiting their jailed husbands...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction journey latinx-mc literary-fiction -
On the Wings of Hope by Ella Zeiss, Helen MacCormac
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAs World War II draws to a close, can two young people find love, hope—and freedom?February 1942: Terrifying reports of the Wehrmacht’s advance across the Soviet Union spread like wildfire, striking new fear into the already oppressed German families living there.Harri Pfeiffer, now sixteen, is summoned to the forced labour camp in Chelyabinsk... -
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... -
When the Lion Feeds by Wilbur Smith
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsPart of the 'Courtney' series 'Something always dies when the lion feeds and yet there is meat for those that follow him.' The lion is Sean, hero of this tremendous drama of the men who took possession of South Africa in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Sean and his twin-brother Garrick grew up on their father's farm in Natal... -
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsAn alternate cover edition for ISBN 9780525656975 can be found here. Spanning Prohibition-era Montana, the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, New Zealand, wartime London, and modern-day Los Angeles, Great Circle tells the unforgettable story of a daredevil female aviator determined to chart her own course in life, at any cost... -
They Were Counted by Miklós Bánffy, Patrick Leigh Fermor
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsPainting an unrivalled portrait of the vanished world of pre-1914 Hungary, this story is told through the eyes of two young Transylvanian cousins, Count Balint Abady and Count Laszlo Gyeroffy...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction journey literary-fiction politics war 20th-century action-adventure -
Bosnian Chronicle by Ivo Andrić, Joseph Hitrec
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSet in the town of Travnik, Bosnian Chronicle presents the struggle for supremacy in a region that stubbornly refuses to submit to any outsider. The era is Napoleanic and the novel, both in its historical scope and psychological subtley, Tolstoyan. In its portray of conflict and fierce ethnic loyalties, the story is also eerily relevant...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction journey literary-fiction politics war 20th-century action-adventure -
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... -
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The Living Reed: A Novel of Korea by Pearl S. Buck
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsThe Living Reed follows four generations of one family, the Kims, beginning with Il-han and his father, both advisors to the royal family in Korea. When Japan invades and the queen is killed, Il-han takes his family into hiding. In the ensuing years, he and his family take part in the secret war against the Japanese occupation. Pearl S... -
Disoriental by Négar Djavadi, Tina A. Kover
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsKimia Sadr fled Iran at the age of ten in the company of her mother and sisters to join her father in France. Now twenty-five and facing the future she has built for herself, as well as the prospect of a new generation, Kimia is inundated by her own memories and the stories of her ancestors, which come to her in unstoppable, uncontainable waves... -
The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Young Lions is a vivid and classic novel that portrays the experiences of ordinary soldiers fighting World War II. Told from the points of view of a perceptive young Nazi, a jaded American film producer, and a shy Jewish boy just married to the love of his life, Shaw conveys, as no other novelist has since, the scope, confusion, and complexity of war... -
A Single Swallow by Zhang Ling
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe eagerly awaited English translation of award-winning author Zhang Ling’s epic and intimate novel about the devastation of war, forgiveness, redemption, and the enduring power of love.On the day of the historic 1945 Jewel Voice Broadcast—in which Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender to the Allied forces, bringing an end to World War II—three men, flush with jubilation, made a pact...Categorized as:
drama epic family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction magical-realism poc-mc -
The Rice Mother by Rani Manicka
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNothing in Lakshmi's childhood, running carefree and barefoot on the sun-baked earth amid the coconut and mango trees of Ceylon, could have prepared her for what life was to bring her. At fourteen, she finds herself traded in marriage to a stranger across the ocean in the fascinating land of Malaysia...Categorized as:
classics drama family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction magic magical-realism -
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...
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