Books like 'Birds Without Wings'
Readers who enjoyed Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières & Christopher Kay also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical romance 20th century action / adventure military, war & conflict historical-fiction war literary-fiction ww1 journey
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Three Comrades by Erich Maria Remarque
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe year is 1928. On the outskirts of a large German city, three young men are earning a thin and precarious living. Fully armed young storm troopers swagger in the streets. Restlessness, poverty, and violence are everywhere. For these three, friendship is the only refuge from the chaos around them...Categorized as:
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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...Categorized as:
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Return to Robinswood by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsOne Irish house, two very different families, and a war that changed everything. Robinswood Estate, County Waterford, Ireland. 1946.Years of neglect and abandonment have left the family seat of the Keneficks almost derelict, but the new Lord Kenefick and his charming young wife Kate, are determined to breathe life into the old house once more...Categorized as:
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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... -
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The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 84 ratingsA tale based on interviews that were conducted with Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov.In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau...Categorized as:
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Prague Counterpoint by Bodie Thoene, Brock Thoene
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn Vienna Prelude, Elisa Lindheim risked her life helping others escape pre-World War II Austria. The climactic ending finds her safely in Czechoslovakia, but not for long. A million other lives are endangered, and she cannot still their silent cry for help...Categorized as:
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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... -
A Time to Love and a Time to Die by Erich Maria Remarque, Denver Lindley
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the quintessential author of wartime Germany, A Time to Love and a Time to Die echoes the harrowing insights of his masterpiece All Quiet on the Western Front. After two years at the Russian front, Ernst Graeber finally receives three weeks’ leave. But since leaves have been canceled before, he decides not to write his parents, fearing he would just raise their hopes...Categorized as:
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A Song Unheard by Roseanna M. White
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWilla Forsythe is both a violin prodigy and top-notch thief, which makes her the perfect choice for a crucial task at the outset of World War I--to steal a cypher from a famous violinist currently in Wales. Lukas De Wilde has enjoyed the life of fame he's won--until now, when being recognized nearly gets him killed. Everyone wants the key to his father's work as a cryptologist... -
Warsaw Requiem by Bodie Thoene, Brock Thoene
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsHaving overrun Czechoslovakia, the iron baton of Hitler's Third Reich is poised to orchestrate a requiem for Warsaw. Foreshadowing an international nightmare the world will never forget, millions are imperiled, destined to be caught and crushed in the Führer's grasp...Categorized as:
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A Name Unknown by Roseanna M. White
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsEdwardian Romance and History Gains a Twist of Suspense Rosemary Gresham has no family beyond the band of former urchins that helped her survive as a girl in the mean streets of London. Grown now, they concentrate on stealing high-value items and have learned how to blend into upper-class society...Categorized as:
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The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsA glorious novel of the controversial Richard III - a monarch betrayed in life by his allies and betrayed in death by history... -
The Reckoning by Sharon Kay Penman
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 32 ratings"Never forget, Llewelyn, that the world's greatest fool is a Welshman who trusts an English king." His father's words haunt Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, who has been ruling uneasily over his fractious countrymen. Above all else, Llewelyn fears that his life and his own dream—of an independent, united Wales—might be lost to Edward I's desire to expand his English empire...Categorized as:
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So Much Owed: An Irish World War 2 Story by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsIn a turbulent and uncertain world, the birth of two children revitalise a small Irish town and set the stage for a closer look into lives torn asunder by war. When Dr. Richard Buckley returns home to his wife and beloved hometown of Dunderrig, his mind is wearied by the ravages of The Great War...Categorized as:
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Danzig Passage by Bodie Thoene, Brock Thoene
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe net of Hitler's Third Reich begins to close around the Jews in prewar Europe, and millions are trapped in his sinister web. Kristal Nacht, the Night of Broken Glass, shatters the last illusions for thousands who hoped to escape the Nazi terror.As the synagogues of Berlin burn and Jewish homes are plundered, two families face the grim reality of life in New Germany...Categorized as:
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The Sky Above Us by Sarah Sundin
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsNumbed by grief and harboring shameful secrets, Lt. Adler Paxton ships to England with the US 357th Fighter Group in 1943. Determined to become an ace pilot, Adler battles the German Luftwaffe in treacherous dogfights in the skies over France as the Allies struggle for control of the air before the D-day invasion...Categorized as:
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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:
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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... -
The Sea Before Us by Sarah Sundin
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn 1944, American naval officer Lt. Wyatt Paxton arrives in London to prepare for the Allied invasion of France. He works closely with Dorothy Fairfax, a "Wren" in the Women's Royal Naval Service. Dorothy pieces together reconnaissance photographs with thousands of holiday snapshots of France--including those of her own family's summer home--in order to create accurate maps of Normandy...Categorized as:
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The Norwegian Assassin by Hannah Byron
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsVienna, 1938Her family’s gone. Her fiancé taken from her. Esther Weiss sees only one way to fight back.Life is good for Esther and her Jewish family until Hitler annexes their home country Austria. Her wedding to fiancé Carl Bernstein is postponed, and her family's entire life is uprooted...Categorized as:
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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:
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El Regreso a Sion: Cronicas III = Return to Zion-Zion Ch 03 by Bodie Thoene, Brock Thoene
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe first two books in THE ZION CHRONICLES, The Gates of Zion and its sequel, A Daughter of Zion, graphically portrayed the courage and hope of the Jewish people streaming into Israel after the Holocaust. The drama of history and the heart-stopping life-and-death struggle of a nation are captured by bestselling author Bodie Thoene in the lives of the people who live on these pages...Categorized as:
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Hija de Sion by Bodie Thoene, Brock Thoene
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSecond in The Zion Chronicles, this is the story of Rachel, a returning Jewess whose secret past is uncovered. Met with disdain and left in despair, Rachel's story is full of fast-paced action...Categorized as:
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Jerusalem Interlude by Bodie Thoene, Brock Thoene
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFor Jews in prewar Europe, the terrifying truth is uncovered: Truly they have no place to go. Escape or perish, but escape to where? As Central Europe is taken over by the Nazis under celebrated headlines of Peace in Our Times, hundreds of thousands pay the price for Hitler's international deception.In Jerusalem Interlude, Leah and Shimon Feldstein finally reach the Promised Land...Categorized as:
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Munich Signature by Bodie Thoene, Brock Thoene
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn Prague Counterpoint, Elisa Murphy and Leah Feldstein risked everything to stand against the tide of Nazi terrorism and to buy a chance at life for two small boys. When Elisa is at last reunited with Murphy, the danger is past for the small Charles...Categorized as:
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The Girl from the Tea Garden by Janet MacLeod Trotter
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn the dying days of the Raj, Anglo-Indian schoolgirl Adela Robson dreams of a glamorous career on the stage. When she sneaks away from school in the back of handsome Sam Jackman’s car, she knows a new life awaits—but it is not the one she imagined... -
The Painted Castle by Kristy Cambron
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBestselling author Kristy Cambron concludes the Lost Castle novels with this sweeping tale of art and secrets long buried in England. It was supposed to be a one-week job: survey an art find, collect a hefty fee, and use that to settle historian Kiera Foley’s life back into balance... -
Of Windmills and War by Diane Moody
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe rumblings of war in distant countries mattered little to Danny McClain. Growing up in Chicago, his world revolved around after-school jobs, a rescued beagle, his pen pal in Holland, and the Cubs' chance to go to the World Series. Then, in December of 1941, news of the attack on Pearl Harbor hit much too close to home... -
Warleggan by Winston Graham
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsWhen Ross and Elizabeth's old attraction rekindles itself, Demelza retaliates by becoming dangerously involved with a Scots cavalry officer. With bankruptcy an increasing possibility, the Poldarks seem to be facing disaster on all fronts... -
The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsThere on her forearm, next to a small brown birthmark, were six tattooed numbers. 'Do you remember me now?' he asked, trembling. She looked at him again, as if giving weight and bone to a ghost. 'Lenka, it's me,' he said. 'Josef. Your husband.' During the last moments of calm in prewar Prague, Lenka, a young art student, falls in love with Josef...Categorized as:
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On Distant Shores by Sarah Sundin
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLt. Georgiana Taylor has everything she could want. A comfortable boyfriend back home, a loving family, and a challenging job as a flight nurse. But in July 1943, Georgie’s cozy life gets decidedly more complicated when she meets pharmacist Sgt. John Hutchinson. Hutch resents the lack of respect he gets as a noncommissioned serviceman and hates how the war keeps him from his fiancée...Categorized as:
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London Refrain by Bodie Thoene, Brock Thoene
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsEngland teeters on the brink of war. It’s no longer a question of if. It’s a matter of when. In the dark fall of 1939, the hopes of the Polish people fade as Nazi bombers strafe the beloved city of Warsaw. Politicians debate while hundreds stand in lines at the British Embassy, desperate to flee the country before Hitler’s ground forces arrive...Categorized as:
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Heaven Has No Favorites by Erich Maria Remarque
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom one of the twentieth century’s master novelists, the author of the classic All Quiet on the Western Front, comes Heaven Has No Favorites, a bittersweet story of unconventional love that sweeps across Europe. Lillian is charming, beautiful . . . and slowly dying of consumption. But she doesn’t wish to end her days in a hospital in the Alps...Categorized as:
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Rumors of War by Dean Hughes
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe elders could see nothing but smoke until they turned the corner onto the street where the fire was. And then, both of them stopped. "The synagogue!" Elder Thomas said. It had never occurred to him that anyone - even the Nazis - would do such a thing.Elder Thomas got his camera out...Categorized as:
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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:
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Catching the Wind by Melanie Dobson
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhat happened to Brigitte Berthold? That question has haunted Daniel Knight since he was thirteen, when he and eleven-year-old Brigitte escaped the Gestapo agents who arrested both their parents. They survived a harrowing journey from Germany to England, only to be separated upon their arrival...Categorized as:
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The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 74 ratings“Beautiful….Compelling entertainment.”—New York Times“A heart-rending epic…truly marvelous.”—Chicago TribuneOne of the most beloved novels of all time, The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough’s sweeping family saga of dreams, titanic struggles, dark passions, and forbidden love in the Australian Outback, returns to enthrall a new generation...Categorized as:
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The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsRoya, a dreamy, idealistic teenager living amid the political upheaval of 1953 Tehran, finds a literary oasis in kindly Mr. Fakhri’s neighborhood stationery shop, stocked with books and pens and bottles of jewel-colored ink.Then Mr... -
The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsThe ruling Asharites of Al-Rassan have come from the desert sands, but over centuries, seduced by the sensuous pleasures of their new land, their stern piety has eroded. The Asharite empire has splintered into decadent city-states led by warring petty kings...Categorized as:
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The Gates of Zion by Bodie Thoene, Brock Thoene
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEllie, a young American photojournalist, finds herself in the Jerusalem of 1947. She unwittingly becomes a pawn in a political chess game when she photographs some ancient scrolls discovered by Bedouins. David seems to love her dearly, but Moshe has a purpose and commitment in life that intrigues her more than she can say...Categorized as:
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As Long As I Have You by Dean Hughes
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe war is over, and the Thomas family is slowly coming back together at home in Salt Lake City. But that doesn't mean all is well in Zion.In As Long As I Have You, the final volume of the Children of the Promise series, author Dean Hughes presents a moving picture of what life was like for an ordinary LDS family at the end of World War II... -
Children of the Promise, Vol. 3: Far From Home by Dean Hughes
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"All right. Let's go." Alex saw the terror in Howie's eyes as he took off before Alex could. Howie ran hard, angling back and forth only a little, mostly just getting as far away as fast as he could. Alex was a faster runner, and he could make a few more zings and zags in his path and still keep up. For a time it all seemed unnecessary...Categorized as:
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The Loving Cup by Winston Graham
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSet in the closing years of the Napoleonic Wars, this novel is part of the Poldark saga. At the heart of the novel stand Demelza and Ross Poldark, their son, Jeremy, their daughter, Clowance, and the rival family, the Warleggans...Categorized as:
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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... -
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The Other Side Of Paradise: An epic and moving love story under the shadow of war by Margaret Mayhew
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsShe lived only for pleasure...until war forced her to find courage she did not know she had, and love where she least expected it. It is 1941, and while Britain is in the grip of war, life in the Far East is one of wealth and privilege...Categorized as:
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The German Midwife by Mandy Robotham
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsGermany, 1944. A prisoner in the camps, Anke Hoff is doing what she can to keep her pregnant campmates and their newborns alive.But when Anke's work is noticed, she is chosen for a task more dangerous than she could ever have imagined. Eva Braun is pregnant with the Führer's child, and Anke is assigned as her midwife.Before long, Anke is faced with an impossible choice...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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Katherine by Anya Seton, Philippa Gregory
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThis classic romance novel tells the true story of the love affair that changed history—that of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the ancestors of most of the British royal family...Categorized as:
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When We Had Wings by Ariel Lawhon, Kristina McMorris
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom three bestselling authors comes an interwoven tale about a trio of World War II nurses stationed in the South Pacific who wage their own battle for freedom and survival.The Philippines, 1941. When U.S. Navy nurse Eleanor Lindstrom, U.S...Categorized as:
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A Distant Melody by Sarah Sundin
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWill a chance meeting in a time of war change her life forever?Never pretty enough to please her gorgeous mother, Allie will do anything to gain her approval - even marry a man she doesn't love. While Allie has nearly resigned herself to that fate, Lt. Walter Novak - fearless in the cockpit but hopeless with women - takes his last furlough at home in California before being shipped overseas...Categorized as:
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