Books like 'The Peppered Moth'
Readers who enjoyed The Peppered Moth by Margaret Drabble also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical historical-fiction literary-fiction family epic female-mc
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The Memory of an Elephant by Alex Lasker
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 16 ratings"The Memory of an Elephant" is an epic saga told by an aging African elephant as he makes a last, perilous journey to find the humans who rescued him as an orphan some fifty years ago...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction epic family fiction animals action-adventure anthropomorphism -
Roaring Liberty by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNew York City, 1922Harp Devereaux is torn. Part of her desperately wants to return to Ireland to finish what she and her family and friends started, and to witness the departure of the British forces from Ireland after eight hundred long years. But the other part finds life in America during the Roaring Twenties too exciting to trade for the sleepy streets of County Cork... -
Moonlight and Ashes by Rosie Goodwin
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDespite being trapped in an abusive marriage, Maggie still feels blessed with her eight-year-old twins, Danny and Lizzie, and baby girl, Lucy. But when the Second World War begins it seems that her blessings may have run out.Although the war lets her escape her husband when he's sent to the front, she must also lose the twins, as they're evacuated to North Wales... -
The Ribbon Weaver by Rosie Goodwin
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOne winter’s night, Molly Ernshaw rescues a baby from the snow and changes two families for ever.The tiny girl grows into a gifted young woman. Although devoted to Molly, Amy has far-reaching ambitions – encouraged by her neighbour’s son, Toby, she longs to move beyond ribbon-weaving to designing the hats and clothes the ribbons adorn... -
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With a Kiss and a Prayer by Ellie Dean
Rated: 4.70 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCliffehaven, May 1944 Peggy Reilly is enjoying a rare moment alone in the garden of her Beach View Boarding House. Against the now familiar backdrop of squadrons roaring overhead and the wireless humming, it seems both impossible that war continues, and yet inconceivable that it will ever come to an end... -
An Orphan's Journey by Rosie Goodwin
Rated: 4.70 of 5 stars · 10 ratings1874.Growing up in extreme poverty in London, Pearl thinks life can get no worse. But when her parents discover there's yet another baby on the way, they have to tighten the belt even further. Pearl's mother decides to send her and her younger sister Eliza to the workhouse, where they are forced into a new life of hardship and struggle... -
Silva Rerum II by Kristina Sabaliauskaitė
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsRomāna darbība notiek no 1707. līdz 1710.gadam. Karš, mēris, bads, nesamērīga greznība un nāvīgs izsalkums, zviedru un krievu karavīri, jūdu ārsti, holandiešu kāršu spēlmaņi, turku konkubīnes, franču dāmas, spītīgi žemaiši un ironiski viļņieši, bezvārda mūks, kurš apglabājis vairāk nekā divdesmit tūkstošus mēra upuru, un, protams, vēl viena bajāru Norvaišu dzimtas paaudze... -
Beyond the Distant Hills by AnneMarie Brear
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of The Slum Angel.Beyond the Distant Hills is the sequel to A Distant Horizon.Australia 1853Settled in the colony, Ellen embarks on making a happy new life for her family and to forget the horrors of famine-struck Ireland... -
Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA debut about three women whose lives are bound together by a long-lost letter, a mother’s love, and a secret network of women fighting for the right to choose—inspired by true stories.2017: When Angela Creighton discovers a mysterious letter containing a life-shattering confession, she is determined to find the intended recipient... -
The Girl with the Diary by Shari J. Ryan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratings“What if you never come back?” I asked.“I will find you, Amelia. I promise I will find you.”“What if you die trying?”Nazi-occupied Prague, 1942: Amelia is hiding in her closet when flashlights blind her and she’s captured by the SS. Out on the cobblestone street, she is shoved onto a freight train with hundreds of others. Hours pass as they travel in darkness...Categorized as:
epic family female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook -
Born to Trouble: All she wanted was a better life by Rita Bradshaw
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA compelling saga guaranteed to tug at the heartstrings.Born into the worst of families in Sunderland's filthy, crime-ridden East End, Pearl Croft's childhood is miserable. Shortly after her violent, drunken father is killed in a fight, Pearl's elder brothers are sent to prison leaving her, still a child herself, to care for her baby brothers... -
Mary Kate by Nadine Dorries
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratings'Dorries is the queen of the saga and she is back with a heart-wrenching, captivating new novel' Bookish Jottings. Liverpool, 1963. Mary Kate Malone is seventeen and bitterly unhappy that her father has married again after the death of her mother. On her last day at school, she decides to leave home in Tarabeg on the west coast of Ireland and head for Liverpool to find her mother's sister... -
The Berlin Sisters by Soraya M. Lane
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of The Secret Midwife comes a story of bravery, sacrifice and resilience in war-torn Berlin―and two sisters who will risk it all to make a difference. Berlin, 1943: Ava Müller is a proud supporter of the German war effort, working for Joseph Goebbels alongside her father, a high-ranking official in the Reich... -
The Ballymara Road by Nadine Dorries
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe final gripping instalment of the great trilogy, which began with THE FOUR STREETS and continued in HIDE HER NAME. On Christmas morning, in the unforgiving harshness of a convent in Galway, Kitty Doherty gives birth to her baby - who is immediately taken away for adoption in America... -
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Calico Road: The Staley Family, Book 2 by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCalico Road runs through a tiny Lancashire hamlet up on the edge of the moors, miles from anywhere. Its folk are an independent breed -- and in 1827 they are a thorn in the side of the vicious mill owner in the valley below. Toby Fletcher's father ignored his bastard son while alive. Now Toby is the new owner of the rambling old inn, an unwitting keeper of its secrets... -
One Perfect Family by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLancashire, 1934. When Tam Crawford is unexpectedly bequeathed some money, he can finally realise his dream of settling down in the beautiful village of Ellindale. Tam knows he can be impulsive - his nickname isn't Crazy Tam for nothing! - but this time he is determined not to be ruled by his big heart and hot head... -
The Lost Song of Paris by Sarah Steele
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratings'For a moment she closed her eyes and imagined she was perched on the diving board at the Piscine Molitor, the sun beating down on her bare shoulders and the sound of Parisians at play beneath her. All she had to do was jump.'1941. Darkness descends over London as the sirens begin to howl and the bombs rain down. Devastation seeps from every crack of the city... -
Sarah and Solomon: Only A Stone Should Be Alone by Roberta Kagan
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“…Fathers and Give me your children!” – Chaim RumkowskiIt is September 1942, and the already battered occupants of the Lodz Ghetto have just been dealt another horrendous blow from Hitler’s iron fist. They must surrender their sick, elderly, and children for ‘deportation... -
Forsaken by Rosie Goodwin
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBorn on a Friday, Sophie Winters has always been a loving and giving child, who'd do anything for her family. Yet her father, Bill, has always seemed to resent her. For her mother's sake, Sophie learns to live with Bill's animosity - until the night he drunkenly forces himself upon her.Left pregnant and ashamed at seventeen, Sophie doesn't know where to turn... -
The Orphan's Mother by Marion Kummerow
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratings1945, the German-Polish border: With Nazis on one side and Soviet forces approaching on the other, a mother and her little boy are torn apart, and so begins an unforgettable tale of courage, heartbreak and motherhood in wartime.“If you ever get lost, Jacob, you need to stay where you are and wait, because I’ll come looking for you. And I’ll always find you... -
Return to the Island by Kate Hewitt
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhat would her life look like without her beloved island in it? Where would she go? Ellen had come back here—to the place she felt she belonged—thinking she would stay here. But was it home… or just a place to hide?1918, Canada: The First World War is over and those who have been fighting in Europe are heading for home, forever changed... -
Fires of Change by Sarah Lark, Kate Northrop
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSarah Lark, author of The Fire Blossom, continues her epic family saga as a defiant new generation of women comes of age amid social unrest and precarious love in colonial New Zealand.It’s 1863, nearly twenty years since Ida Lange came to New Zealand to change her life and realize a dream... -
Lancashire Legacy by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAt eighteen Cathie longs for more than life as a settler in the Australian bush. She accepts her uncle's offer to send her to England and runs away from her family, not realising he is using her to get revenge on his sister Liza. Attacked at the docks in Liverpool, Cathie takes refuge with the man who saved her, a man who has his own troubles... -
The Mother’s Day Club by Rosie Hendry
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsPregnant Marianne Archer is evacuated from London to the beautiful Norfolk countryside - but the villagers are expecting to house children! Thea wants to welcome more people to Rookery House - the rambling five-bedroom farmhouse is too big for just herself, especially in wartime. But when Marianne arrives, Thea quickly realises that she has her own secrets... -
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Break of Dawn by Rita Bradshaw
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsEach day brings a new beginning... Her mother's death in childbirth leaves Sophy Hutton at the mercy of her cruel aunt and uncle, and her childhood is brutal. At sixteen, Sophy learns the shocking truth behind her birth and escapes to London to pursue a career as an actress, determined to put the past behind her... -
Belle of the Back Streets by Glenda Young
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA dramatically powerful and romantic saga of tragedy and triumph, perfect for fans of Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin... -
The Letter by Michelle Vernal
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWORDS HAVE THE POWER TO HEAL, REUNITE AND TO HURT... Isabel opened her bag and pulled the letter out, glancing at the address one last time before she slid it through the slot, hearing it land with a plunk. It was gone. She’d done it, and now she’d have to wait to see what happened next... -
The Tuppenny Child by Glenda Young
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratings'Real sagas with female characters right at the heart' Woman's HourIf you love Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin, you'll LOVE Glenda Young's 'amazing novels!' (ITV's This Morning presenter Sharon Marshall)'In the world of historical saga writers, there's a brand new voice' My WeeklyWhat readers are saying about Glenda's dramatically powerful saga of secrets, friendship, motherhood, love and... -
Lancashire Lass by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSeventeen-year-old Liza is happy working as a lady's maid - until her employers decide to emigrate and her father makes up his mind that she is to wed an older widower whom she detests... -
One Quiet Woman: Book 1 in the heartwarming Ellindale Saga by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratings1930, Lancashire: Leah Turner's father has been killed in an accident at the laundry, and since her mother died years ago it falls to her to become sole provider for her little sister. But women's wages are half those of men and pawning the few belongings she has left will only keep their vicious rent collector at bay for a few weeks, so even if she finds a job, they'll lose their home... -
Jessie's Promise by Rosie Clarke
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of LIZZIE'S SECRET and LIZZIE'S WAR, a story about resilient, strong women surviving adversity post World War 1. DEVON 1918. When Jessie Hale loses her nursing job at the end of the First World War, she leaves London to become the nursemaid to the Kendle family in Devon. On arrival she finds the family in disarray... -
The Wretched Needle Worker by Iris Cole
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsVera has uncovered things she never wanted to know. Her father was a monster.How could Vera have been so blind to what was right before her eyes?After the death of her kind and loving Papa, Vera’s home is claimed by ne’er do well Uncle Merritt, who drives the household with cruelty and deprivation...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family literary-fiction female-mc epic historical fiction industrial-era -
Wedding Bells for Nurse Connie by Jean Fullerton
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEast End saga queen Jean Fullerton returns with a delightful new novel in the Nurse Connie series It's 1948 and the nurses of the East End of London are making the most of life post-war. For Connie in particular, things are looking rosy as she looks forward to planning a future with her sweetheart, Malcolm... -
Hope for the Railway Girls by Maisie Thomas
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe brand new Spring Railway Girls novel set in Manchester during WWII. Perfect for fans of Nancy Revell, Daisy Styles and Margaret Dickinson.___________________Manchester, 1942A new year brings new hope for the railway girls.Alison's romance with the charming Dr Maitland is blossoming, but then she is posted away from Manchester... -
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The Memory Tree by Linda Gillard
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsCan the power of love overcome life’s darkest memories and deepest losses? When her favourite beech tree is felled in a storm, Ann feels as if someone has died. But when long-hidden seed packets are found inside the trunk, Ann realises there are more memories than her own lurking within the ancient tree . . -
Bitter Winds by Kay Bratt
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe third book of the Tales of the Scavenger’s Daughters series, Bitter Winds continues the saga of Chinese couple Benfu and Calli, and the abandoned young women in their care.Since the night her sister was almost burned alive in a fire and they were taken from their mother, Ivy has been the self-appointed guardian and guide to her blind twin, Lily... -
The Fire Blossom by Sarah Lark
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe bestselling author of the Sea of Freedom Trilogy returns with a sweeping family saga of two women in nineteenth-century New Zealand and their epic journey to survive in a world of their own making. It’s 1837, and immigrating to a small New Zealand fishing village is an opportunity for Ida Lange’s family to build a better future... -
A Daughter's Sorrow by Cathy Sharp
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsHeartache and hardship in London’s East End, from the bestselling author of The Orphans of Halfpenny StreetBridget has always been the one to take on the responsibility for looking after her family... -
Yesterday's Girl by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Great War opened up an exciting new career for Vi in London. But that was yesterday. Now, the war's over, her husband is dead and she needs to pick up the pieces of her life. On her way home she meets a man who needs her help. Recently demobbed, Joss Bentley has no job or home, and with his wife dead, there's a new baby to care for -- and it's not his... -
Liverpool Daughter by Katie Flynn
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA brand new novel from the bestselling author Katie Flynn. This is book one in her brilliant series about a young girl trying to make her way in war-torn Liverpool. Liverpool, August 1940 As the Luftwaffe turns its attention to Liverpool, Shane Quinn decides to move his family back to the safety of Ireland. But his only child, the beautiful Dana, refuses point blank... -
A Daughter's Price by Emma Hornby
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsGritty and page-turning historical saga set in Northern England in the late 1800s, for fans of Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin... -
Down Weaver's Lane by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsEmmy Carter's mother is a prostitute - and her life has made Emmy determined to avoid the same fate. But Emmy is beautiful, so attracts unwanted attention; her mother's protector has his eye on her, as does evil Marcus Armistead, her employer's nephew. Marcus is excited by Emmy's virginity and has her kidnapped, but Emmy hits him over the head and escapes... -
Bright Day Dawning: Music Hall Series, Book 3 by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsGwynna had fallen from grace once, bearing a stillborn child out of wedlock. Determined to have a respectable future, she finds a position for herself as a nursemaid at Hungerton House. But just as she begins to find her feet, the secrets of her past are revealed. She is swiftly dismissed but not before she becomes the target of a lascivious groom... -
Return to Sarah's Valley: Sequel to Sarah's Valley by Sharon Mierke
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsReturn to Sarah's Valley is a follow-up story to Sarah's Valley, which was published in 2012 by the same author, Sharon Mierke. In Sarah's Valley, Patrick Smithson meets Frank Lawdry. Frank, who prefers his Abenaki name, Winnipesaukee, spends the night recalling his life story. He and his sister, Sarah, were left orphans when everyone on a wagon train died in a horrific tragedy... -
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The Winter Posy: The intriguing, new women's fiction series by Michelle Vernal
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBook 2 in the bestselling, must read historical, timeslip series to transport you from the days of big hair in the eighties to even bigger hair and the Beatles in the sixties, by award winning author, Michelle VernalTucked away on Liverpool’s Bold Street is a bridal shop where there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye…For nearly twenty years Sabrina’s wondered why she was abandoned as a...Categorized as:
historical-fiction female-mc epic literary-fiction historical time-travel paranormal fiction -
The River Maid by Dilly Court
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe first in a stunning new series from Sunday Times bestseller, Dilly Court London, 1854: twenty-year-old Essie Chapman lives with her father in poverty stricken Limehouse, working on the river as a boatman. Her life seems set before her, never to leave this part of London and forever at her father’s beck and call... -
Emma's War by Rosie Clarke
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAll she wanted was her husband to come home… Newly married to the caring RAF pilot Jonathan Reece, Emma thinks that life couldn’t be better. But her happiness is short-lived: within months, Jon’s plane is shot down over France and he is declared missing, presumed dead. Alone and with two children to care for, Emma’s first thought is how to support her family... -
The Legend of Fire Mountain by Sarah Lark, Kate Northrop
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBold new paths in life and love are forged in nineteenth-century New Zealand in the stirring final chapter of bestselling author Sarah Lark’s multigenerational Fire Blossom Saga.It’s 1880 in the North Island town of Otaki, where Aroha lives contentedly with her mother, Linda—until a fateful tragedy leaves Aroha traumatized and plagued by a cursed guilt... -
The Island We Left Behind by Kate Hewitt
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“I love you. Of course I do. But we haven’t any choice in the matter, do we? If our little boy’s health, even his survival, is at stake, we have to do whatever it takes.”1928, New York City: Ellen and Lucas Lyman have made a heart-wrenching decision to leave their beloved Amherst Island behind in search of a new life... -
Millie by AnneMarie Brear
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA brand new series from the author of the Kitty McKenzie series and The Slum Angel. The Great War is over, and Millie is ready to leave her loving family home and be a wife to Jeremy who is everything she had hoped for. Until… Not long after their wedding, Millie discovers Jeremy is affected by shell shock and moving into his late father’s cold dark estate escalates the problem...
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