Books like 'Conversation in the Cathedral'
Readers who enjoyed Conversation in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical 20th century alternate history action / adventure classics historical-fiction journey literary-fiction politics magical-realism
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11/22/63 by Stephen King
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 79 ratingsOn November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? Stephen King’s heart-stoppingly dramatic new novel is about a man who travels back in time to prevent the JFK assassination—a thousand page tour de force... -
![Excalibur by Bernard Cornwell]()
Excalibur by Bernard Cornwell
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsIn The Winter King and Enemy of God Bernard Cornwell demonstrated his astonishing ability to make the oft-told legend of King Arthur fresh and new for our time. Now, in this riveting final volume of The Warlord Chronicles, Cornwell tells the unforgettable tale of Arthur's final struggles against the Saxons and his last attempts to triumph over a ruined marriage and ravaged dreams... -
![Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell]()
Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsThe balance of King Arthur's unified kingdom is threatened by Merlin's quest for the last of Britain's 13 Treasures; by the conflict between the ancient religion and the new Christianity; and by Britain's war with the Saxons. A master storyteller continues his retelling of the Arthurian legend...Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history arthurian audiobook -
![Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson]()
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsCryptonomicon zooms all over the world, careening conspiratorially back and forth between two time periods—World War II and the present. Our 1940s heroes are the brilliant mathematician Lawrence Waterhouse, crypt analyst extraordinaire, and gung-ho, morphine-addicted marine Bobby Shaftoe...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction literary-fiction politics 20th-century action-adventure adult -
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![The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay]()
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... -
![Operation Easy Street by William Peter Grasso]()
Operation Easy Street by William Peter Grasso
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsPort Moresby was bad. Buna was worse.The WW2 alternative history adventure of Jock Miles continues as MacArthur orders American and Australian forces to seize Buna in Papua New Guinea. Once again, the Allied high command underestimates the Japanese defenders, plunging Jock and his men into a battle they’re not equipped to win...Categorized as:
historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history book fiction historical -
![A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay]()
A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBased on the troubadour culture that rose in Provence during the High Middle Ages, this panoramic, absorbing novel beautifully creates an alternate version of the medieval world...Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book -
![The Secret Wife by Gill Paul]()
The Secret Wife by Gill Paul
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsA Russian grand duchess and an English journalist. Linked by one of the world’s greatest mysteries . . . Love. Guilt. Heartbreak. 1914 Russia is on the brink of collapse, and the Romanov family faces a terrifyingly uncertain future. Grand Duchess Tatiana has fallen in love with cavalry officer Dmitri, but events take a catastrophic turn, placing their romance – and their lives – in danger . . -
![The German Midwife by Mandy Robotham]()
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... -
![Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart]()
Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsWhen the children of his village were struck with a mysterious illness, Number Ten Ox sought a wiseman to save them. He found master Li Kao, a scholar with a slight flaw in his character. Together, they set out to find the Great Root of Power, the only possible cure... -
![Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy]()
Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 58 ratings"Allah!"With that shrill cry, three Muslim terrorists blow up a key Soviet oil complex, creating a critical oil shortage that threatens the stability of the USSR... -
![The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell]()
The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsUther, the High King, has died, leaving the infant Mordred as his only heir. His uncle, the loyal and gifted warlord Arthur, now rules as caretaker for a country which has fallen into chaos - threats emerge from within the British kingdoms while vicious Saxon armies stand ready to invade...Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure alternate-history arthurian audiobook book -
![The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins, Maria Luisa Bocchino]()
The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins, Maria Luisa Bocchino
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsIn November of 1943, an elite team of Nazi paratroopers descends on British soil with a diabolical goal: to abduct Winston Churchill and cripple the Allied war effort. The mission, ordered by Hitler himself and planned by Heinrich Himmler, is led by ace agent Kurt Steiner and aided on the ground by IRA gunman Liam Devlin... -
![Proper Scoundrels by Allie Therin]()
Proper Scoundrels by Allie Therin
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDon’t miss this spin-off from Allie Therin's acclaimed Magic in Manhattan universe! Their scandalous pasts have left them wounded and unworthy—and hopelessly perfect together. London, 1925Sebastian de Leon is adjusting to life after three years spent enthralled by blood magic... -
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![The Philosopher's War by Tom Miller]()
The Philosopher's War by Tom Miller
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe second book in the thrilling series that began with The Philosopher’s Flight finds Robert Canderelli Weekes as a rookie Rescue and Evacuation flier on the front lines of World War I in France. He came to save lives, but has no idea how far he’ll have to go to win the war... -
![Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler]()
Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsDoro is an entity who changes bodies like clothes, killing his hosts by reflex--or design. He fears no one--until he meets Anyanwu. Anyanwu has also died many times. She can absorb bullets and make medicine with a kiss, give birth to tribes, nurture and heal, and savage anyone who threatens those she loves. She fears no one--until she meets Doro... -
![Inglourious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino]()
Inglourious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom the most original and beloved screenwriter of his generation, the complete Oscar-nominated screenplay of Quentin Tarantino's World War II epic Inglorious Basterds...Categorized as:
historical-fiction 20th-century 21st-century action-adventure adult alternate-history book fiction -
![Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin]()
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 Nonborn King by Julian May]()
The Nonborn King by Julian May
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOn Earth, six million B.C., two species of alien ruled, the graceful humanoid Tanu and their twisted brethren, the Firvulag. Then men from twenty-second century Earth arrived through a one-way time tunnel — and soon the aliens were locked in a battle to the death, for the humans had upset the precarious balance of power that existed between them...Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history anthologies -
![The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill]()
The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe pushcarts have declared war! New York City's streets are clogged with huge, rude trucks that park where they want, hold up traffic, and bulldoze into anything that is in their way, and the pushcart peddlers are determined to get rid of them. But the trucks are just as determined to get rid of the pushcarts, and chaos results in the city...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction politics 20th-century action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book -
![The Adversary by Julian May]()
The Adversary by Julian May
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsPan edition paperback vg++ In stock shipped from our UK... -
![To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis]()
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsConnie Willis' Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Doomsday Book uses time travel for a serious look at how people connect with each other. In this Hugo-winning companion to that novel, she offers a completely different kind of time travel adventure: a delightful romantic comedy that pays hilarious homage to Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat... -
![Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay]()
Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsCrispin is a master mosaicist, creating beautiful art with colored stones and glass. Summoned to Sarantium by imperial request, he bears a Queen's secret mission, and a talisman from an alchemist...Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction politics 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook -
![The Story of the Stone by Barry Hughart]()
The Story of the Stone by Barry Hughart
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsIn the valley of Sorrows, a monk is brutally murdered for a worthless manuscript, and the abbot of the humble monastery calls upon Master Li and Number Ten Ox to investigate the seemingly senseless killing. The most likely suspect is the infamous Laughing Prince, founder of the valley, whose murderous frenzies have made him a legend... -
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![The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker]()
The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsChava is a golem, a woman made of clay, able to hear the thoughts and longings of the people around her and compelled by her nature to help them. Ahmad is a jinni, a perpetually restless and free-spirited creature of fire, imprisoned in the shape of a man... -
![Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken]()
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:
classics historical-fiction politics 20th-century action-adventure alternate-history book children -
![The Golden Torc by Julian May]()
The Golden Torc by Julian May
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBy A.D. 2110 nearly 100,000 humans had fled the civilized strictures of the Galactic Milieu for the freedom they thought existed at the end of the one-way time tunnel to Earth, six million B.C.But all of them had fallen into the hands of the Tanu, a humanoid race who'd fled their own galaxy to avoid punishment for their barbarous ways...Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history book -
![The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne]()
The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFrom the author of The Absolutist, a propulsive novel of the Russian Revolution and the fate of the Romanovs. Part love story, part historical epic, part tragedy, The House of Special Purpose illuminates an empire at the end of its reign. Eighty-year-old Georgy Jachmenev is haunted by his past—a past of death, suffering, and scandal that will stay with him until the end of his days... -
![All Clear by Connie Willis]()
All Clear by Connie Willis
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn Blackout, award-winning author Connie Willis returned to the time-traveling future of 2060—the setting for several of her most celebrated works—and sent three Oxford historians to World War II England: Michael Davies, intent on observing heroism during the Miracle of Dunkirk; Merope Ward, studying children evacuated from London; and Polly Churchill, posing as a shopgirl in the middle of the... -
![River of Bones by Taylor Anderson]()
River of Bones by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe crew of a WWII destroyer face their greatest challenge yet as they try to survive in a strange new world in the next thrilling book in the New York Times bestselling series.Commander Matt Reddy and his crew are afraid it may finally be the end of the USS Walker... -
![Team Yankee by Harold Coyle]()
Team Yankee by Harold Coyle
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsNATO and the Soviet bloc are at war. The awesome Russian invasion force smashes across the West German border, driving for a breakthrough. With M-1 tanks and a mechanized infantry division, Captian Sean Bannon's "Team Yankee" must defend their vital strategic post. They will engage the enemy with the ultimate in sophisticated weaponry... -
![The Valley of Horses by Jean M. Auel, Sandra Burr]()
The Valley of Horses by Jean M. Auel, Sandra Burr
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 68 ratingsLibrarian note: See an alternate cover edition here.This unforgettable odyssey into the distant past carries us back to the awesome mysteries of the exotic, primeval world of The Clan of the Cave Bear, and to Ayla, now grown into a beautiful and courageous young woman... -
![Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay]()
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.. -
![Maid of Baikal by Preston Fleming]()
Maid of Baikal by Preston Fleming
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhat if a Siberian Joan of Arc had rescued the White Armies at a critical point of the Russian Civil War in 1919? MAID OF BAIKAL offers an alternative outcome to that war through the intervention of Zhanna Dorokhina, a young woman from the shores of Siberia’s Lake Baikal... -
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![Nightbirds on Nantucket by Joan Aiken]()
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... -
![Tower of Babylon by Ted Chiang]()
Tower of Babylon by Ted Chiang
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA Vintage Shorts “Short Story Month” Selection Together with a crew of other miners and cart-pullers, Hillalum is recruited to climb the Tower of Babylon and unearth what lies beyond the vault of heaven... -
![The Many-Colored Land by Julian May]()
The Many-Colored Land by Julian May
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen a one-way time tunnel to Earth's distant past, specifically six million B.C., was discovered by folks on the Galactic Milieu, every misfit for light-years around hurried to pass through it. Each sought his own brand of happiness. But none could have guessed what awaited them. Not even in a million years...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history -
![The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper]()
The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTepper's finest novel to date is set in a post-holocaust feminist dystopia that offers only two political alternatives: a repressive polygamist sect that is slowly self-destructing through inbreeding and the matriarchal dictatorship called Women's Country...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction politics 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history -
![Time and Time Again by Ben Elton]()
Time and Time Again by Ben Elton
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIt’s the 1st of June 1914 and Hugh Stanton, ex-soldier and celebrated adventurer is quite literally the loneliest man on earth. No one he has ever known or loved has been born yet. Perhaps now they never will be.Stanton knows that a great and terrible war is coming. A collective suicidal madness that will destroy European civilization and bring misery to millions in the century to come... -
![The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin]()
The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsAlive and hiding in South America, the fiendish Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele gathers a group of former colleagues for a horrifying project—the creation of the Fourth Reich. Barry Kohler, a young investigative journalist, gets wind of the project and informs famed Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman, but before he can relay the evidence, Kohler is killed...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction journey literary-fiction politics 20th-century action-adventure adult -
![Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold]()
Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsCharles Carter—a.k.a. Carter the Great—is a young master performer whose skill as an illusionist exceeds even that of the great Houdini. But nothing in his career has prepared Carter for the greatest stunt of all, which stars none other than President Warren G. Harding and which could end up costing Carter the reputation he has worked so hard to create... -
![The Ruins of Ambrai by Melanie Rawn]()
The Ruins of Ambrai by Melanie Rawn
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsThe first book of the Exiles trilogy introduces a magical world of political intrigue and family secrets that may determine the fate of an entire nation.A thousand years ago, Mageborns fled prejudice and persecution to colonize the planet Lenfell—pristine, untouched, a perfect refuge for those whose powers were perceived as a threat by people not gifted with magic...Categorized as:
epic politics 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history book coming-of-age -
![The Plastic Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg]()
The Plastic Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWall Street Journal bestselling author Charlie N. Holmberg returns to the enchanting world of The Paper Magician.Alvie Brechenmacher has arrived in London to begin her training in Polymaking—the magical discipline of bespelling plastic. Polymaking is the newest form of magic, and in a field where there is so much left to learn, every Polymaker dreams of making the next big discovery... -
![Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank]()
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 46 ratings“An extraordinary real picture of human beings numbed by catastrophe but still driven by the unconquerable determination of living creatures to keep on being alive.” —The New Yorker“Alas, Babylon.” Those fateful words heralded the end... -
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![Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon]()
Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsStar Maker is a science fiction novel by Olaf Stapledon, published in 1937. The book describes a history of life in the universe, dwarfing in scale Stapledon's previous book, Last and First Men (1930), a history of the human species over two billion years... -
![The Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy]()
The Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn this savagely audacious novel, James Ellroy plants a pipe bomb under the America in the 1960s, lights the fuse, and watches the shrapnel fly. On November 22, 1963 three men converge in Dallas. Their job: to clean up the JFK hit’s loose ends and inconvenient witnesses. They are Wayne Tedrow, Jr., a Las Vegas cop with family ties to the lunatic right; Ward J... -
![Eight Skilled Gentlemen by Barry Hughart]()
Eight Skilled Gentlemen by Barry Hughart
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsOnce again World Fantasy Award-winner Barry Hughart blends folklore and fantasy to create a work of enchantment set in an ancient China that never was…but should have been. Master Li and Number Ten Ox—heroes of Bridge of Birds and The Story of the Stone—return to solve the mystery of how and why respected mandarins are being mysteriously murdered... -
![Polostan by Neal Stephenson]()
Polostan by Neal Stephenson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe first installment in Neal Stephenson’s three-part Bomb Light cycle, Polostan follows the early life of the enigmatic Dawn Rae Bjornberg. Born in the American West to a clan of cowboy anarchists, Dawn is raised in Leningrad after the Russian Revolution by her Russian father, a party line Leninist who re-christens her Aurora...Categorized as:
historical-fiction politics literary-fiction fiction sci-fi historical audiobook fantasy -
![Red Phoenix by Larry Bond]()
Red Phoenix by Larry Bond
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsViolent riots formented by foreign agents are breaking out in South Korea. Seizing the opportunity, North Korea launches a lightning invasion, with heavy Soviet support, whose aim is to unite North and South under Communist rule. The second Korean War has begun and World War III may be imminent...Categorized as:
historical-fiction politics 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book -
![Lest Darkness Fall & Related Stories by L. Sprague de Camp, Pohl Frederik]()
Lest Darkness Fall & Related Stories by L. Sprague de Camp, Pohl Frederik
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsRarely do books have such a great influence on a genre as Lest Darkness Fall has had on science fiction. Frequently quoted as one of the 'favorite' books of many of the masters of the field, this book by L. Sprague de Camp helped establish time-travel as a solid sub-genre of science fiction...
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