Books like 'The Star of Kazan'
Readers who enjoyed The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical fantasy mystery action / adventure 20th century historical-fiction children family friendship classics
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The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 91 ratingsBarcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals from its war wounds, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer's son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julian Carax. But when he sets out to find the author's other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written... -
Boy's Life by Robert McCammon
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsAn Alabama boy’s innocence is shaken by murder and madness in the 1960s South in this novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of Swan Song. It’s 1964 in idyllic Zephyr, Alabama. People either work for the paper mill up the Tecumseh River, or for the local dairy. It’s a simple life, but it stirs the impressionable imagination of twelve-year-old aspiring writer Cory Mackenson...Categorized as:
children classics coming-of-age family friendship historical-fiction suspense 20th-century -
Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsAn impassioned, uplifting, and virtuosic tour de force from a treasured storyteller!Lost and alone in a forbidden forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and suddenly finds himself entwined in a puzzling quest involving a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica...Categorized as:
children coming-of-age family friendship historical-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 73 ratingsMoscow, 1929: a city that has lost its way amid corruption and fear, inhabited by people who have abandoned their morals and forsaken spirituality. But when a mysterious stranger arrives in town with a bizarre entourage that includes a giant talking cat and a fanged assassin, all hell breaks loose...Categorized as:
animals classics historical-fiction journey 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
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The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsKeeping watch over the young Arthur Pendragon, the prince and prophet Merlin Ambrosius is haunted by dreams of the magical sword Caliburn, which has been hidden for centuries. When Uther Pendragon is killed in battle, the time of destiny is at hand, and Arthur must claim the fabled sword to become the true High King of Britain... -
The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsJo, Bessie and Fanny take their cousin Rick on an adventure he'll never forget to the magic Faraway Tree, where he meets Moon-Face, Silky the fairy and Saucepan Man, and visits all the different lands at the top of the Faraway Tree...Categorized as:
children classics coming-of-age family friendship 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 89 ratingsIn this beloved story, readers travel with Mary Lennox, a spoiled and sullen orphan, from colonial India to Misselthwaite Manor, a forbidding estate on the Yorkshire moors. There, in the unlikeliest of places, Mary discovers and helps restore an abandoned garden and, in the process, blossoms herself into a creature of loving kindness...Categorized as:
children classics coming-of-age family friendship historical-fiction realistic 20th-century -
The Valley of Lost Secrets by Lesley Parr
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSeptember 1939.When Jimmy is evacuated to a small village in Wales, it couldn't be more different from London. Green, quiet and full of strangers, he instantly feels out of place.But then he finds a skull hidden in a tree, and suddenly the valley is more frightening than the war. Who can Jimmy trust? His brother is too little; his best friend has changed...Categorized as:
children family friendship historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure book british-isles -
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 71 ratingsCimorene is everything a princess is not supposed to be: headstrong, tomboyish, smart - and bored. So bored that she runs away to live with a dragon - and finds the family and excitement she's been looking for...Categorized as:
animals children classics coming-of-age friendship 20th-century action-adventure alpha-mc -
A Prince Without a Kingdom by Timothée de Fombelle
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThis was the only treasure that Vango was after: the secret of his life.Vango has been in danger for as long as he can remember. He has spent his life running along rooftops, fleeing to mysterious islands, and abandoning those he loves in order to protect them from the demons of his past. But Vango will not run for much longer...Categorized as:
children coming-of-age family friendship high-school historical-fiction 20th-century 21st-century -
Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsSent in 1910 to live with distant relatives who own a rubber plantation along the Amazon River, English orphan Maia is excited. She believes she is in for brightly colored macaws, enormous butterflies, and "curtains of sweetly scented orchids trailing from the trees." Her British classmates warn her of man-eating alligators and wild, murderous Indians...Categorized as:
animals children classics coming-of-age family friendship historical-fiction journey -
The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsJo, Bessie and Fanny move to the country and find an Enchanted Wood right on their doorstep. In the magic Faraway Tree live the magical characters that soon become their new friends – Moon-Face, Silky the fairy, and Saucepan Man...Categorized as:
animals children classics coming-of-age family friendship 20th-century action-adventure -
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsFifth century Britain is a country of chaos and division after the Roman withdrawal. This is the world of young Merlin, the illegitimate child of a South Wales princess who will not reveal to her son his father's true identity. Yet Merlin is an extraordinary child, aware at the earliest age that he possesses a great natural gift - the Sight... -
A Trail of Fire by Diana Gabaldon
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFour extraordinary stories featuring characters from the bestselling OUTLANDER series. In Lord John and the Plague of Zombies Lord John Grey is posted to Jamaica to assist the Governor as he faces a most unusual kind of uprising among the colony's slave population...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies audiobook -
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The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsHis father and uncles are enchanters, his mother a powerful sorceress, yet nothing seems magical about Christopher Chant except his dreams. Night after night, he climbs through the formless Place Between and visits marvelous lands he calls the Almost Anywheres. Then Christopher discovers that he can bring real, solid things back from his dreams...Categorized as:
animals boarding-school children classics coming-of-age friendship 20th-century action-adventure -
The Ballad of the White Horse by G.K. Chesterton
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe Ballad of the White Horse is one of the last great epic poems in the English language. On the one hand it describes King Alfred's battle against the Danes in 878. On the other hand it is a timeless allegory about the ongoing battle between Christianity and the forces of nihilistic heathenism...Categorized as:
animals classics high-school historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsBarcelona, 1957. It is Christmas, and Daniel Sempere and his wife Bea have much to celebrate. They have a beautiful new baby son named Julian, and their close friend Fermín Romero de Torres is about to be wed. But their joy is eclipsed when a mysterious stranger visits the Sempere bookshop and threatens to divulge a terrible secret that has been buried for two decades in the city's dark past...Categorized as:
classics family friendship historical-fiction journey suspense 20th-century 21st-century -
Carbonel: The King of the Cats by Barbara Sleigh
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsBack in print in the U.S. for the first time in over 30 years.Rosemary's plan to clean houses during her summer break and surprise her mother with the money hits a snag when an old lady at the market talks her into buying a second-rate broom and a cat she can't even afford to keep. But appearances can be deceiving...Categorized as:
animals children classics friendship 20th-century action-adventure anthropomorphism book -
Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsHer story begins on a train.The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule. To commemorate their Great Victory, Hitler and Emperor Hirohito host the Axis Tour: an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents. The victor is awarded an audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor’s Ball in Tokyo... -
The Secrets of the Wild Wood by Tonke Dragt
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA stunning gift edition of the thrilling Sunday Times and Telegraph Book of the Year, the sequel to The Letter for the King.One of the King's most trusted knights has vanished in the snow, so young Sir Tiuri and his best friend Piak must journey into the shadowy heart of the forest to find him. The Wild Wood is a place of mysteries, rumours and whispered tales...Categorized as:
children classics historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book female-author -
Redwall by Brian Jacques
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsA quest to recover a legendary lost weapon by bumbling young apprentice monk, mouse Matthias. Redwall Abbey, tranquil home to a community of peace-loving mice, is threatened by Cluny the Scourge savage bilge rat warlord and his battle-hardened horde. But the Redwall mice and their loyal woodland friends combine their courage and strength...Categorized as:
animals children classics coming-of-age friendship high-school historical-fiction 20th-century -
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 89 ratingsLost in a new world, Lyra finds Will—a boy on the run, a murderer—a worthy and welcome ally. For this is a world where soul-eating Specters stalk the streets and witches share the skies with troops of angels.Each is searching—Lyra for the meaning of Dark Matter, Will for his missing father—but what they find instead is a deadly secret, a knife of untold power... -
Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 69 ratingsA magnificent epic set against a history of seven thousand years of the struggles of Gods and Kings and men - of strange lands and events - of fate and a prophecy that must be fulfilled! THE BELGARIADLong ago, so the Storyteller claimed, the evil God Torak sought dominion and drove men and Gods to war. But Belgarath the Sorcerer led men to reclaim the Orb that protected men of the West... -
Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsFollows the adventures of Talia as she trains to become a Herald of Valdemar in the first book in the classic epic fantasy Arrows trilogyChosen by the Companion Rolan, a mystical horse-like being with powers beyond imagining, Talia, once a runaway, has now become a trainee Herald, destined to become one of the Queen's own elite guard...Categorized as:
animals children classics coming-of-age friendship horses 20th-century action-adventure -
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Forgetting to Remember by M.J. Rose
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDiscover a spellbinding love story in this dazzling time-travel adventure from the NYT bestselling author of The Last Tiara, M.J. Rose...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family suspense romance fantasy fiction time-travel magical-realism -
Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 54 ratingsFifteen-year-old Oscar Drai meets the strange Marina while he's exploring an old quarter of Barcelona. She leads Oscar to a cemetery, where they watch a macabre ritual that occurs on the last Sunday of each month. At exactly ten o'clock in the morning, a woman shrouded in a black velvet cloak descends from her carriage to place a single rose on an unmarked grave... -
The Changeling by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIvy Carson belonged to the notorious Carson family, which lived in a run-down house in suburban Rosewood. But Ivy was not a typical Carson. There was something wonderful about her. Ivy explained it by saying that she was a changeling, a child of supernatural parents who had been exchanged for the real Ivy Carson at birth. This classic book was first published in 1970...Categorized as:
children classics coming-of-age family friendship realistic 20th-century action-adventure -
The Amazing Mr Blunden by Antonia Barber
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIt was such an old house it sometimes seemed to Lucy that all the past was gathered up inside it as if in a great box; as though it had a life of its own that continued to exist just beyond the reach of her eyes and ears...Categorized as:
children classics historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure book children-books fiction -
Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIll and bored with having to stay in bed, Marianne picks up a pencil and starts doodling - a house, a garden, a boy at the window. That night she has an extraordinary dream. She is transported into her own picture, and as she explores further she soon realises she is not alone...Categorized as:
children classics coming-of-age friendship 20th-century action-adventure book children-books -
Linnets and Valerians by Elizabeth Goudge
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe four Linnet children: Nan, Robert, Timothy and Betsy are sent to live with their strict grandmother while their father travels to Egypt. Locked away in separate rooms as punishment by their ruthless grandmother, the Linnets feel at once that their new life is unbearable—and decide to make their escape—out of the house, out of the garden and into the village...Categorized as:
animals children classics dogs family historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure -
Mossflower by Brian Jacques
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 53 ratingsThe thrilling prequel to "Redwall". The clever and greedy wildcat Tsarmina becomes ruler of all Mossflower Woods and is determined to govern the peaceful woodlanders with an iron paw. The brave mouse Martin and quick-talking mouse thief Gonff meet in the depths of Kotir Castle's dungeon. The two escape and resolve to end Tsarmina's tyrannical rule...Categorized as:
animals children classics high-school 20th-century action-adventure anthropomorphism audiobook -
Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSimon, the foundling from The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, arrives in London to meet an old friend and pursue the study of painting. Instead he finds himself unwittingly in the middle of a wicked crew's fiendish caper to overthrow the good King James and the Duke and Duchess of Battersea...Categorized as:
children classics historical-fiction suspense 20th-century action-adventure alternate-history book -
The Farseekers by Isobelle Carmody
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA Children's Book Council of Australia Honor Book In this powerful sequel to Obernewtyn, young Elspeth Gordie-possessed of extraordinary mental powers-has united with others Misfits for refuge on the remote mountain keep of Obernewtyn. Yet the threat from the totalitarian Council to their safety is ever present...Categorized as:
animals children friendship 20th-century action-adventure alpha-mc apocalyptic audiobook -
Star Cursed by Jessica Spotswood
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWith the Brotherhood persecuting witches like never before, a divided Sisterhood desperately needs Cate to come into her Prophesied powers. And after Cate's friend Sachi is arrested for using magic, a war-thirsty Sister offers to help her find answers—if Cate is willing to endanger everyone she loves... -
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Arrow's Flight by Mercedes Lackey
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsSet in the medieval fantasy kingdom of Valdemar, this unique and exciting novel continues the story of Talia. Having mastered the powers necessary to a guardian of the kingdom, she faces the final preparation for her initiation as adviser and protector of the Queen... -
Tonight on the Titanic by Mary Pope Osborne
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsJack and Annie are in for an exciting, scary, and sad adventure when the Magic Tree House whisks them back to the decks of the "Titanic...Categorized as:
animals children family historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book -
The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsNicola Marter was born with a gift. When she touches an object, she sometimes glimpses those who have owned it before. When a woman arrives with a small wooden carving at the gallery Nicola works at, she can see the object’s history and knows that it was named after the Firebird—the mythical creature from an old Russian fable...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction journey suspense 20th-century 21st-century action-adventure audiobook -
A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsIn this companion volume to A Wrinkle In Time (Newbery Award winner) and A Wind In The Door fifteen-year-old Charles Wallace and the unicorn Gaudior undertake a perilous journey through time in a desperate attempt to stop the destruction of the world by the mad dictator Madog Branzillo. They are not alone in their quest...Categorized as:
children classics coming-of-age family high-school historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure -
To The Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsSet again in the Alaskan landscape that she brought to stunningly vivid life in The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey's second novel is a breathtaking story of discovery and adventure, set at the end of the nineteenth century, and of a marriage tested by a closely held secret...Categorized as:
animals family historical-fiction suspense 20th-century 21st-century action-adventure adult -
Max in the Land of Lies: A Tale of World War II by Adam Gidwitz
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsMax Bretzfeld's dangerous mission begins when he returns home to Berlin as a British spy in the much-anticipated second book in Adam Gidwitz's duology that began with Max in the House of Spies.Max was on a mission. Well, two missions. One mission his British spymasters knew about: infiltrating the Funkhaus, the center of Nazi radio and propaganda. The other, they did not: finding his parents...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family friendship middle-grade fantasy fiction action-adventure ww2 -
The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse by John R. Erickson
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen it comes to dealing with Tuerto, the one-eyed stud horse from the next ranch over, Hank's usual approach is not to approach him at all. But when Tuerto breaks loose and charges Little Alfred and his cousins, it's up to Hank to save them. USA Today calls the hilarious Hank the Cowdog series "...the best family entertainment in years... -
Nightbirds on Nantucket by Joan Aiken
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHaving had enough of life on board the ship that saved her from a watery grave, Dido Twite wants nothing more than to sail home to England. Instead, Captain Casket's ship lands in Nantucket, where Dido and the captain's daughter, Dutiful Penitence, are left in the care of Dutiful's sinister Aunt Tribulation. In Tribulation's farmhouse, life is unbearable... -
The Chimneys of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLucy Maria Boston's thrilling and classic time fantasy tales of Green Knowe, an ancient English manor house and its grounds whose setting was based on her own long-time home of The Manor at Hemingford Grey, have been entertaining readers of all ages for decades.This book was renamed Treasure of Green Knowe for the American reading market...Categorized as:
children classics historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book children-books -
Tuscan Rose by Belinda Alexandra
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom an international bestselling author comes a richly woven tale of passion, longing, witchcraft, and magic set in Italy during World War II.A magical, richly woven World War II– era saga filled with passion, secrets, beauty, and horror from internationally acclaimed bestselling author Belinda Alexandra. FLORENCE, 1914...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction journey 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
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The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNewly orphaned Peggy Grahame is caught off-guard when she first arrives at her family's ancestral estate. Her eccentric uncle Enos drives away her only new acquaintance, Pat, a handsome British scholar, then leaves Peggy to fend for herself. But she is not alone. The house is full of mysteries and ghosts...Categorized as:
children classics family historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure book fiction -
Die Schattenspinnerin by Susan Fletcher, Anne Brauner
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn an adventure equal to any a storyteller might relate, a crippled serving girl faces the intrigues of the harem, the dangers of the streets, and the anger of the Sultan himself to find the needed ending to an incomplete story...Categorized as:
children classics coming-of-age historical-fiction realistic suspense 20th-century action-adventure -
The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhat if the ordinary things in life suddenly…disappeared?Aila Quinn’s mother, Juliet, has always been a mystery: vibrant yet guarded, she keeps her secrets beyond Aila’s reach. When Juliet dies, Aila and her younger brother Miles are sent to live in Sterling, a rural town far from home--and the place where Juliet grew up.Sterling is a place with mysteries of its own... -
Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen orphan Maria arrives at Moonacre Manor, she feels like she's come home. Her new guardian is kind, like an old friend. However, beneath the beauty and comfort lies a tragedy. Maria is determined to find out about it, change it, and give her own life story a happy ending... -
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsWicked wolves and a grim governess threaten Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia when Bonnie's parents leave Willoughby Chase for a sea voyage. Left in the care of the cruel Miss Slighcarp, the girls can hardly believe what is happening to their once happy home. The servants are dismissed, the furniture is sold, and Bonnie and Sylvia are sent to a prison-like orphan school...Categorized as:
animals boarding-school children classics coming-of-age family friendship historical-fiction -
Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 79 ratingsIn a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals - the old art known as the Wit - gives him solace and companionship...Categorized as:
animals classics coming-of-age historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure assassins audiobook
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