Books like 'A Tranquil Star: Unpublished Short Stories'
Readers who enjoyed A Tranquil Star: Unpublished Short Stories by Primo Levi also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical fantasy 20th century military, war & conflict classics ww2 historical-fiction war
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Dead Eagles by Phil Ward
Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsIn this sequel to Those Who Dare, U.S.Major John Randal, Commander of Strategic Raiding Forces is back, leading a crew of British Commandos, Royal Marines and Royal Navy raiders on bigger and bolder missions to foil Hitler's Third Reich. Off the Gold Coast colony in Africa, the Germans are operating a naval intelligence ring that gathers information about British convoys in the southern sea-lane... -
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsAt Thermopylae, a rocky mountain pass in northern Greece, the feared and admired Spartan soldiers stood three hundred strong. Theirs was a suicide mission, to hold the pass against the invading millions of the mighty Persian army.Day after bloody day they withstood the terrible onslaught, buying time for the Greeks to rally their forces...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult ancient-civilization audiobook -
Signal Moon by Kate Quinn
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA short story about an impossible connection across two centuries that could make the difference between peace or war.Yorkshire, 1943. Lily Baines, a bright young debutante increasingly ground down by an endless war, has traded in her white gloves for a set of headphones. It’s her job to intercept enemy naval communications and send them to Bletchley Park for decryption... -
Falls the Shadow by Sharon Kay Penman
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsThis is Simon de Montfort's story—and the story of King Henry III, as weak and changeable as Montfort was brash and unbending. It is a saga of two opposing wills that would later clash in a storm of violence and betrayal, a story straight from the pages of history that brings the world of the thirteenth century completely, provocatively, and magnificently alive... -
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Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsThirteenth-century Wales is a divided country, ever at the mercy of England's ruthless, power-hungry King John. Then Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, secures an uneasy truce with England by marrying the English king's beloved, illegitimate daughter, Joanna. Reluctant to wed her father's bitter enemy, Joanna slowly grows to love her charismatic and courageous husband who dreams of uniting Wales...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult book british-isles -
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:
historical-fiction war ww2 20th-century action-adventure book british-isles bullying -
In the Land of Armadillos: Stories by Helen Maryles Shankman
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA debut collection of linked stories from a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, set in a German-occupied town in Poland, where tales of myth and folklore meet the real-life monsters of the Nazi invasion.1942. With the Nazi Party at the height of its power, the occupying army empties Poland’s towns and cities of their Jewish populations... -
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... -
Aztec by Gary Jennings
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsAztec is the extraordinary story of the last and greatest native civilization of North America...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult ancient-civilization book -
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:
historical-fiction war ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies audiobook -
The Royal Succession by Maurice Druon
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHistorical series about 14th century France, the novels take place during the reigns of the last five Direct Capetian kings and the first two Valois kings, from Philip the Fair to John II. The plot revolves around the attempts of Robert of Artois to reclaim the county of Artois from his aunt Mahaut... -
Yonder by Ali Standish
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom Ali Standish, award-winning author of The Ethan I Was Before , August Isle , How to Disappear Completely , and The Mending Summer , comes a captivating historical fiction middle grade novel about a boy on the home front in World War II who must solve the mystery of the disappearance of his best friend... -
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:
classics historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult animals audiobook -
World at War, 1944 by Mary Pope Osborne
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe first Magic Tree House(R) Super Edition--and Jack and Annie's most dangerous mission ever in the scariest time the world has ever known--World War II... -
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The Most Precious of Cargoes by Jean-Claude Grumberg
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSet during the height of World War II, a powerful and unsettling tale about a woodcutter and his wife, who finds a mysterious parcel thrown from a passing train.Once upon a time in an enormous forest lived a woodcutter and his wife. The woodcutter is very poor and a war rages around them, making it difficult for them to put food on the table. Yet every night, his wife prays for a child... -
Triomf van de Verschroeide Aarde by Thea Beckman
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMatthis is met z'n zestien jaar niet zo'n geweldig soldaat; maar als heraut en secretaris van de ongeletterde held van Bretagne, Bertrand du Guesclin, staat hij zijn mannetje. Veel durf, maar ook veel humor komt boven bij dit moedige verzet van de Bretons tegen de Engelse overheersing. Dan moet Matthis naar Parijs om geld te halen voor het verzet in Bretagne...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war fiction children-books historical young-adult action-adventure 20th-century -
The She-Wolf by Maurice Druon
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratings‘This was the original game of thrones’ George R.R. MartinCharles IV is now king of France and his sister is Edward II of England’s Queen. Having been imprisoned by Edward as leader of the rebellious English barons, Roger Mortimer escapes to France, where he joins the war against the English Aquitaine... -
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:
historical-fiction war ww2 20th-century 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Legend by David Gemmell
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsDruss, Captain of the Axe, was the stuff of legends. But even as the stories grew in the telling, Druss himself grew older. He turned his back on his own legend and retreated to a mountain lair to await his old enemy, death. Meanwhile, barbarian hordes were on the march. Nothing could stand in their way. Druss reluctantly agreed to come out of retirement...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult assassins audiobook -
The Deer and the Cauldron: The First Book by Jin Yong
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOn the Dragon Throne of China sits the young Manchu Emperor Kang Xi. Back in 1644, his great-uncle Dorgon broke through the Great Wall from Manchuria in the north-east and took the Imperial capital, Peking. Now twenty years later, the Manchus are quelling the last sparks of Chinese resistance, hounding down members of the underground movement known as the Triad Secret Society... -
The Mahabharata by Jean-Claude Carrière
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA unique dramatization of India's greatest epic poem, fifteen times longer than the Bible, The Mahabharata has played to enthralled audiences throughout Europe, the Far East and America. Regarded as the culmination of Peter Brook's extraordinary research into the possibilities of theatre, the production has been hailed as the 'theatrical event of this century' (Sunday Times)... -
The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen a woman discovers a rare book that has connections to her past, long-held secrets about her missing sister and their childhood spent in the English countryside during World War II are revealed.In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War... -
Threads of Blue by Suzanne LaFleur
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA war took Mathilde away from her family when she was chosen to serve her country, Sofarende, with other children working on a secret military project. But now the other children—including her best friend, Megs—have fled to safety, and Mathilde is all alone, determined to complete her mission. In this sequel to Beautiful Blue World, Mathilde must make her way through a new stage of the war... -
The Poisoned Crown by Maurice Druon
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsA crown is a poisonous thing...After having his first wife murdered and his mistress exiled, the weak and impotent King Louis X of France becomes besotted with the lovely and pious Princess Clemence of Hungary.Having made her his new queen, and believing the succession assured, Louis foolishly embarks upon an ill-fated war against Flanders.The kingdom needs an Iron King... -
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Island of Ghosts by Gillian Bradshaw
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAriantes is a Sarmatian, a barbarian warrior-prince, uprooted from his home and customs and thrust into the honorless lands of the Romans. The victims of a wartime pact struck with the emperor Marcus Aurelius to ensure the future of Sarmatia, Ariantes and his troop of accomplished horsemen are sent to Hadrian's Wall...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult ancient-civilization book christian -
The Midnight Guardians by Ross Montgomery
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen Col's childhood imaginary friends come to life, he discovers a world where myths and legends are real. Accompanied by his guardians - a six-foot tiger, a badger in a waistcoat and a miniature knight - Col must race to Blitz-bombed London to save his sister.But there are darker forces at work, even than the Nazi bombings... -
Day of War by Cliff Graham
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn ancient Israel, at the crossroads of the great trading routes, a man named Benaiah is searching for a fresh start in life. He has joined a band of soldiers led by a warlord named David, seeking to bury the past that refuses to leave him. Their ragged army is disgruntled and full of reckless men. Some are loyal to David, but others are only with him for the promise of captured wealth... -
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsDuring the Great War, a combat nurse searches for her brother, believed dead in the trenches despite eerie signs that suggest otherwise, in this hauntingly beautiful historical novel with a speculative twist from the New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the NightingaleJanuary 1918... -
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 ww2 war middle-grade fantasy fiction action-adventure children-books -
The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsJeanette Winterson’s novels have established her as one of the most important young writers in world literature. The Passion is perhaps her most highly acclaimed work, a modern classic that confirms her special claim on the novel... -
The Martyr's Song by Ted Dekker
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsWhat would you die for?That's the question suddenly thrust upon a small band of women and children in Bosnia at the close of World War II. When a group of bitter soldiers stumble upon their peaceful village, they suddenly face an insidious evil...and the ultimate test.It is then, in the midst of chaos and pain that the Martyr's Song is first heard... -
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsA masterful epic of magic, politics, war, and the power of love and hate — from the renowned author of The Fionavar Tapestry and Children of Earth and Sky.Tigana is the magical story of a beleaguered land struggling to be free. It is the tale of a people so cursed by the black sorcery of a cruel despotic king that even the name of their once-beautiful homeland cannot be spoken or remembered..Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book -
Flanders by Patricia Anthony
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratings"A harrowing and beautiful novel, demonstrating — again — that Patricia Anthony is one of our great writers." — Publishers WeeklyIn this gritty look at World War I's trench warfare, a young American sharpshooter ventures into no man's land each night to be ready by daybreak for the grim business of slaying record numbers of enemies... -
Gather the Bones by Alison Stuart
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEngland 1923 and the Great War still casts a dark shadow over the lives of ordinary people. Grieving widow, Helen Morrow and her husband’s cousin, the wounded and reclusive Paul, are haunted not only by the horrors of the trenches but ghosts from another time and another conflict... -
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Weeping in the Wings by Terry Lynn Thomas
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSan Francisco, March 1943Sarah Bennett harbors two secrets: She sees ghosts, and she’s in love with a spy.When Sarah takes a job with occult expert Dr. Matthew Geisler, he promises to help her understand the sorrowful spirit that seems to have attached itself to her—a spirit whose incessant weeping only she can hear... -
The Royal Librarian by Daisy Wood
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA royal palace. A closed book. A betrayal that will echo through generations…Windsor, 1940: War rages, and as bombs rain down across Britain, nowhere is safe: not even a royal palace.Secretly tasked with foiling a suspected plot, Sophie Klein is placed in the Royal Library at Windsor castle, where the princesses reside... -
The Mind's Eye by K.C. Finn
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA girl with a telepathic gift finds a boy clinging to his last hope during the war-torn climate of Europe, 1940. At fifteen, Kit Cavendish is one the oldest evacuees to escape London at the start of the Second World War due to a long term illness that sees her stuck in a wheelchair most of the time...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war ww2 20th-century action-adventure book coming-of-age disability -
The Beast's Garden by Kate Forsyth
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt's August 1939 in Germany, and Ava's world is in turmoil. To save her father, she must marry a young Nazi officer, Leo von Löwenstein, who works for Hitler's spy chief in Berlin. However, she hates and fears the brutal Nazi regime, and finds herself compelled to stand against it.Ava joins an underground resistance movement that seeks to help victims survive the horrors of the German war machine... -
The Watchmaker's Daughter by Dianne Haley
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsHiding the worn piece of paper among her father’s watch deliveries, her eyes fill with tears at the memory of her brave friend walking towards the Nazi soldiers, and the sharp sound of gun fire. Her friend sacrificed herself so that she could deliver this message... -
The Darkest Hour by Barbara Erskine
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom the Sunday Times bestselling author comes an epic tale of love, passion and heartbreak.In the summer of 1940, eyes are focussed on the skies above the South of England: the Battle for Britain has just begun. But Evie Lucas has eyes for no-one but a dashing young pilot called Tony... -
Nora & Kettle by Lauren Nicolle Taylor
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratings"What if Peter Pan was a homeless kid just trying to survive, and Wendy flew away for a really good reason?"Seventeen-year-old Kettle has had his share of adversity... -
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... -
The Circus Train by Amita Parikh
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAt the World of Wonders, Europe's most magnificent travelling circus, every moment is full of magic, and nothing is as it seems--especially for the people who put on the show Lena Papadopoulos has never quite found her place within the circus, even as the daughter of the extraordinary headlining illusionist, Theo... -
The Lion Above the Door by Onjali Q. Raúf
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom Onjali Q. Rauf, the award-winning and best-selling author of The Boy at the Back of the Class , comes an incredible story about missing histories and the concept of a universal family, told with humour and heart.Leo and his best friend Sangeeta are the odd ones out in their school. But as Leo's dad is always telling him, it's because they're special... -
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The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Romans have abandoned Britain, leaving it open to the twin threats of civil war and Saxon invasion. When his home and all he loves are destroyed, Aquila endures years of torment before deciding to put some meaning back into his life...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure ancient-civilization arthurian book -
The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsBlending archaeological fact and legend, the myths of the gods and the feats of heroes, Marion Zimmer Bradley breathes new life into the classic tale of the Trojan War-reinventing larger-than-life figures as living people engaged in a desperate struggle that dooms both the victors and the vanquished, their fate seen through the eyes of Kassandra-priestess, princess, and passionate woman with the...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure ancient-civilization anthologies epic -
Crusade in Jeans by Thea Beckman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsRudolf Hefting of Amsterdam thought he was engaged in an experiment that would take him back to the Middle Ages to a tournament of knights. But by a miscalculation of the computer, he arrives in the Rhineland at the exact time that the Children's Crusade is passing through. A stranded traveler in time, Rudolf joins the immense children's army -- almost 10,000 strong...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book children -
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA poignant and suspenseful retelling of a classic fairy tale set in a war-torn world. In the last months of the Nazi occupation of Poland, two children are left by their father and stepmother to find safety in a dense forest. Because their real names will reveal their Jewishness, they are renamed "Hansel" and "Gretel... -
The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsIn The Last of the Wine, two young Athenians, Alexias and Lysis, compete in the palaestra, journey to the Olympic games, fight in the wars against Sparta, and study under Socrates. As their relationship develops, Renault expertly conveys Greek culture, showing the impact of this supreme philosopher whose influence spans epochs...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult ancient-civilization audiobook -
Echoes of the Great Song by David Gemmell
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsThe Avatars are immortal and live like kings–even though the empire is dying. Their immortality is guaranteed by magic crystals whose influence is now waning, overwhelmed by the sheer power of a great flood and a sudden ice age...
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