Books like 'The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell'
Readers who enjoyed The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical action / adventure historical-fiction coming-of-age drama family literary-fiction realistic friendship religion
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The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsFrom the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Boy In the Striped Pajamas, a sweeping, heartfelt saga about the course of one man's life, beginning and ending in post-war IrelandCyril Avery is not a real Avery -- or at least, that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be...Categorized as:
bildungsroman coming-of-age drama family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic -
The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron
Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe extraordinary story of Stefania Podgorska, a Polish teenager who chose bravery and humanity by hiding thirteen Jews in her attic during WWII -- from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sharon Cameron.One knock at the door, and Stefania has a choice to make..Categorized as:
coming-of-age family friendship historical-fiction realistic religion spirituality 20th-century -
We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsIt is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows closer. The talk around the family Seder table is of new babies and budding romance, not of the increasing hardships threatening Jews in their hometown of Radom, Poland...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic religion spirituality 20th-century -
Pather Panchali: Song of the Road by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPather Panchali deals with the life of the Roy family, consisting of Harihar, Sarbajaya, Apu and Durga, both in their ancestral village Nishchindipur in rural Bengal and later when they move to Varanasi in search of a better life, as well as the anguish and loss they face during their travels... -
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Fire of the Covenant by Gerald N. Lund
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn the summer of 1856, three companies of handcarts were outfitted and sent west from Iowa to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. All went well, and they arrived without undue incident. But two additional companies — one captained by James G. Willie, and the other by Edward Martin — left England late in the season...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction religion spirituality action-adventure audiobook book christian -
Come Unto Me by Gerald N. Lund
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the Galilee to Jerusalem to the great city of Rome, Come Unto Me continues the story of the people whose lives are forever changed by the teachings of a simple carpenter from Nazareth. Award-winning author Gerald N. Lund masterfully blends the biblical account of the greatest story ever told with unforgettable fictional characters in this dramatic epic...Categorized as:
historical-fiction realistic religion spirituality action-adventure book christian fiction -
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 51 ratingsTwelve-year-old Amir is desperate to gain the approval of his father and resolves to win the local kite-fighting tournament, to prove that he has the makings of a man...Categorized as:
bildungsroman coming-of-age drama family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic -
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 bildungsroman literary-fiction friendship fiction -
The Mersey Mothers by Sheila Riley
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLiverpool 1953January sees the dawn of the Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation year as the mothers of Reckoners Row unite in preparation for the celebration of the new Queen.Meanwhile Evie Kilgaren is dreaming of her summer wedding to Danny Harris, but trouble looms for Skinner & Sons with a new rival trying to put them out of business, but no-one knows why...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family friendship historical-fiction religion spirituality 19th-century 20th-century -
Fishers of Men by Gerald N. Lund
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFishers of Men is a sweeping epic filled with memorable characters who bring to life an extraordinary time in the history of the world. It is a story about the importance of family, the power of faith, the miracle of forgiveness, and the strength needed to follow your heart...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction realistic religion spirituality action-adventure book christian -
The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsWith the epic sweep of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko or Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing and the lyrical beauty of Vaddey Ratner’s In the Shadow of the Banyan, The Mountains Sing tells an enveloping, multigenerational tale of the Tran family, set against the backdrop of the Viet Nam War...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic religion spirituality -
Praise to the Man by Gerald N. Lund
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsWritten with a dramatic intensity and an eye for historical detail that thousands of readers have come to appreciate in previous volumes, Praise to the Man — volume 6 in the series The Work and the Glory — follows the story of the restored Church and of the ficitonal Steed family from the summer of 1841 to the summer of 1844...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction religion spirituality action-adventure audiobook book christian -
The Queen of Beauty by Petra Durst-Benning, Edwin Miles
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsPetra Durst-Benning’s captivating historical novel pays homage to the trailblazing women of the early twentieth century—like Elizabeth Arden and Estée Lauder—who shaped culture, shattered convention, and strived to make the world around them more beautiful...Categorized as:
drama family friendship historical-fiction religion spirituality 20th-century action-adventure -
The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsMitch Albom creates a magical world through his love of music in this remarkable new novel about the power of talent to change our livesThis is the epic story of Frankie Presto—the greatest guitar player who ever lived—and the six lives he changed with his six magical blue stringsFrankie, born in a burning church, abandoned as an infant, and raised by a music teacher in a small Spanish town,...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic religion -
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The Orphan Keeper by Camron Wright
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBased on a remarkable true story of Taj Rowland. Seven-year-old Chellamuthu's life is forever changed when he is kidnapped from his village in India, sold to a Christian orphanage, and then adopted by an unsuspecting couple in the United States. It takes months before the boy can speak enough English to tell his parents that he already has a family back in India...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family friendship historical-fiction realistic spirituality action-adventure -
Nobody's Boy by Hector Malot
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsA compelling story in which orphaned Remi gets hired out to a traveling street entertainer when his foster parents fall on hard times. Going from village to village with its act, ‘nobody’s boy’ has numerous adventures until his boss also falls on hard times and perishes, homeless and destitute... -
The Rent Collector by Camron Wright
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsSurvival for Ki Lim and Sang Ly is a daily battle at Stung Meanchey, the largest municipal waste dump in all of Cambodia. They make their living scavenging recyclables from the trash. Life would be hard enough without the worry for their chronically ill child, Nisay, and the added expense of medicines that are not working...Categorized as:
drama family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic action-adventure audiobook -
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... -
The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe new kid in school needs a new name! Or does she?Being the new kid in school is hard enough, but what about when nobody can pronounce your name? Having just moved from Korea, Unhei is anxious that American kids will like her. So instead of introducing herself on the first day of school, she tells the class that she will choose a name by the following week...Categorized as:
bullying coming-of-age family friendship historical-fiction realistic action-adventure book -
Cora's Courage by Kathleen Ball
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsChristian Historical Western Romance Cora feels indebted to Eddie Connor who saves her and her baby Esther. She travels on the treacherous Oregon Trail with him. He's not such a hero after all. She works hard yet he criticizes everything she does. He seems a bit crazy... -
No Unhallowed Hand by Gerald N. Lund
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsPicking up the story shortly after the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, No Unhallowed Hand — volume 7 in the series The Work and the Glory — takes the saga of the Restoration the the fictional Steed family from the end of June 1844 to February 1846. As this volume opens, it is a time of great sadness and of uncertainty...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction religion spirituality action-adventure audiobook book christian -
A True Gentleman by M.A. Nichols
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThey say reformed rakes make the best husbands. They were wrong. Ten years ago, Tabby Russell married the man of her dreams. Or so she thought. The reformed rake had seemed vastly appealing when she was younger, but as life marched on and his old habits returned, Tabby realized too late that she should have chosen wiser when facing the marriage alter... -
Northern Borders: A Novel by Howard Frank Mosher
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA New York Times Notable A novel about growing up in a remote corner of Vermont, from the author Richard Russo calls “one of our very best writers... -
Pillar of Light by Gerald N. Lund
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratings"You believe me, don't you, Nathan." It was not a question, but a statement, filled with wonder.It stunned Nathan."You believe it all. I can see it on your face."For a moment, time seemed suspended as Nathan probed the inward recesses of his soul. There was still the incredulousness, still the sense of hearing something that couldn't possibly be true. And yet he knew it was...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction realistic religion spirituality action-adventure audiobook -
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Like a Fire Burning by Gerald N. Lund
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSwept up in the drama of an infant Church expanding westward into Ohio and Missouri, the fictional Steed family members become eyewitnesses to miracles as well as the horror of mob violence. This groundbreaking historical fiction series is filled with little known historical information that will captivate the reader...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction realistic religion spirituality action-adventure audiobook -
Daughter of the Reich by Louise Fein
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFor fans of The Nightingale and All the Light We Cannot See, a spellbinding story of impossible love set against the backdrop of the Nazi regime. She must choose between loyalty to her country or a love that could be her destruction… As the dutiful daughter of a high-ranking Nazi officer, Hetty Heinrich is keen to play her part in the glorious new Thousand Year Reich... -
The Memory House by Rachel Hauck
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom the New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding Dress comes a new captivating novel of two women whose lives have been destroyed by disaster but find healing in a special house. In the spring of 1953, Everleigh Applegate is happily married and newly pregnant. But a tornado sweeps through Waco, Texas, taking her hopes of a bright future with it...Categorized as:
drama family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction religion spirituality action-adventure -
The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsA new novel inspired by historical events: a story of three young women on a journey in search of family amidst the destruction of the post-Civil War South, and of a modern-day teacher who rediscovers their story and its connection to her own students' lives...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic spirituality -
Nothing More Dangerous by Allen Eskens, Kevin Stillwell
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe summer of 1976 is a turning point for 15-year-old Boady Sanden. He's managed to outrun and outwit the bullying seniors throughout his freshman year at St. Ignatius High; he's working multiple jobs for Wally Schenicker's construction company; and he finally makes a friend his own age--Thomas Elgin, son of the only black family on Boady's side of town...Categorized as:
bildungsroman coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 20th-century -
The Awakening by Tamara Leigh
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom USA Today Bestselling author, Tamara Leigh, the seventh book in the inspirational AGE OF FAITH series—featuring Lady Laura Middleton of THE YIELDING and Sir Lothaire Soames of THE VEXING. FAR BETTER TO LOVE WITHOUT PROFIT… Even if she must sell herself in marriage to the highest bidder, Lady Laura Middleton is determined to provide her daughter a home and protector...Categorized as:
drama family friendship historical-fiction religion spirituality abuse action-adventure -
The Dressmaker’s Secret by Lorna Cook
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsParis, 1941: As Coco Chanel’s assistant, Adèle lives side by side with German officers in the splendor of The Ritz hotel. But Adèle has a secret. She is working for the resistance, right under the German’s noses... -
The People We Keep by Allison Larkin, Julia Whelan
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsListening Length 11 hours and 8 minutesThe People we Keep is about a young songwriter longing to find a home in the world.Little River, New York, 1994: April Sawicki is living in a run-down motorhome, flunking out of school, and picking up shifts at the local diner...Categorized as:
bildungsroman coming-of-age drama family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic -
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... -
Waiting for the Miracle by Anna McPartlin
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratings2010Caroline has hit rock bottom. After years of trying, it's clear she can't have children, and the pain has driven her and her husband apart. She isn't pregnant, her husband is gone and her beloved dog is dead.The other women at her infertility support group have their own problems, too. Natalie's girlfriend is much less excited about having children than her...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family realistic literary-fiction medical drama friendship fiction -
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A History of Loneliness by John Boyne
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsPropelled into the priesthood by a family tragedy, Odran Yates is full of hope and ambition. When he arrives at Clonliffe Seminary in the 1970s, it is a time in Ireland when priests are highly respected, and Odran believes that he is pledging his life to "the good."Forty years later, Odran's devotion is caught in revelations that shatter the Irish people's faith in the Catholic Church...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic religion spirituality 20th-century -
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:
bildungsroman coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 20th-century -
The Sorrow of Angels by Jón Kalman Stefánsson
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Sorrow of Angels is the second novel in an epic and elemental trilogy by the winner of the Icelandic Prize for Literature Jón Kalman Stefánsson, and the follow up to Heaven and Hell (publishing in paperback 3/11/15...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama historical-fiction literary-fiction action-adventure book fiction historical -
Green City in the Sun by Barbara Wood
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA magnificent saga of two proud and powerful families—one British, one African—and their battle over Kenya’s destiny in the twentieth century.In 1917, Dr. Grace Treverton arrives in Kenya, determined to bring modern medicine to the African natives. Her brother, Sir Valentine Treverton, has his own dream for the British protectorate: to establish an agricultural empire to rival any in England...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction action-adventure adult book fiction -
Tuareg by Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Tuaregs are the true sons of the desert. They can survive in the harshest of conditions like nobody else. The noble inmouchar Gacel Sayah, is the master of a large extension of the desert. One day, two fugitives arrive from the north and Gacel, following his ancient and sacred hospitality laws, gives them shelter...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult book fiction -
The City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre, Elina Klersy Imberciadori
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsMade into a movie starring Patrick Swayze, this is the inspiring story of an American doctor who experienced a spiritual rebirth in an impoverished section of Calcutta... -
The Raveling by Tamara Leigh
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBY HONOR BOUND TO SEEK THE FOUND, HERE BEGINS A TALESir Elias De Morville is no ordinary man of the sword, possessing both the heart of a warrior and a troubadour. When he sets out to rescue a boy who may be his son, more than ever he must prove worthy of the Wulfrith dagger that ranks him among the greatest of knights...Categorized as:
family friendship historical-fiction religion spirituality action-adventure adult audiobook -
Be Still the Water by Karen Emilson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFinalist 2019 Canadian Book Club AwardsShortlisted for the 2017 Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction2017 IPPY Silver Medal WinnerSet in 1906 along the unspoiled shores of Lake Manitoba, Be Still the Water brings us into the fold of the Gudmundsson Family—immigrants determined to begin life anew in the Icelandic farming and fishing community of Siglunes...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction family coming-of-age friendship fiction historical outdoors -
My Family for the War by Anne C. Voorhoeve
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWinner of the Mildred L. Batchelder medal for most oustanding children's book in translation.Escaping Nazi Germany on the kindertransport changes one girl's life foreverAt the start of World War II, ten-year-old Franziska Mangold is torn from her family when she boards the kindertransport in Berlin, the train that secretly took nearly 10,000 children out of Nazi territory to safety in England...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family friendship historical-fiction realistic religion spirituality -
This Is Happiness by Niall Williams, Shashi Martynova
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAbout This Is HappinessThe most enchanting novel you'll read this year, from the acclaimed author of Man Booker-longlisted History of the RainChange is coming to Faha, a small Irish parish that hasn't changed in a thousand years.For one thing, the rain is stopping. Nobody remembers when it started; rain on the western seaboard is a condition of living... -
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Galway Bay by Mary Pat Kelly
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn a hidden Ireland where fishermen and tenant farmers find solace in their ancient faith, songs, stories, and communal celebrations, young Honora Keeley and Michael Kelly wed and start a family. Because they and their countrymen must sell both their catch and their crops to pay exorbitant rents, potatoes have become their only staple food... -
The Third Daughter by Talia Carner
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the author of Jerusalem Maiden comes a remarkable story, inspired by little-known true events, about the thousands of young Jewish women who were trafficked into prostitution at the turn of the 20th century, and whose subjugation helped build Buenos Aires.The turn of the 20th century finds fourteen-year-old Batya in the Russian countryside, fleeing with her family endless pogroms... -
A Dublin Student Doctor by Patrick Taylor
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPatrick Taylor's devoted readers know Doctor Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly as a pugnacious general practitioner in the quaint Irish village of Ballybucklebo. Now Taylor turns back the clock to give us a portrait of the young Fingal--and show us the pivotal events that shaped the man he would become... -
The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff, Sanna Majuri
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratings1942. Sadie Gault is eighteen and living with her parents amid the horrors of the Kraków Ghetto during World War II. When the Nazis liquidate the ghetto, Sadie and her pregnant mother are forced to seek refuge in the perilous sewers beneath the city. One day Sadie looks up through a grate and sees a girl about her own age buying flowers...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family friendship historical-fiction literary-fiction religion spirituality -
Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima, Michael Gallagher
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTokyo, 1912. The closed world of the ancient aristocracy is being breached for the first time by outsiders - rich provincial families, a new and powerful political and social elite.Kiyoaki has been raised among the elegant Ayakura family - members of the waning aristocracy - but he is not one of them...Categorized as:
bildungsroman coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction religion spirituality -
A Well-Tempered Heart by Jan-Philipp Sendker
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe sequel to the international best-selling novel The Art of Hearing Heartbeats Almost ten years have passed since Julia Win came back from Burma, her father’s native country. Though she is a successful Manhattan lawyer, her private life is at a crossroads; her boyfriend recently left her, she has suffered a miscarriage, and she is, despite her wealth, unhappy with her professional life...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction religion spirituality action-adventure adult
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