Books like 'The Devil to Pay in the Backlands'
Readers who enjoyed The Devil to Pay in the Backlands by João Guimarães Rosa also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical romance 20th century classics literary-fiction historical-fiction
-
Gone with the Wind Volume 1 by Margaret Mitchell
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsGone With The Wind Volume 1: Special Edition By Margaret Mitchell Tomorrow is another day ... Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Civil War, Margaret Mitchell's magnificent historical epic is an unforgettable tale of love and loss, of a nation mortally divided and a people forever changed...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook book drama -
![A Man by Oriana Fallaci]()
A Man by Oriana Fallaci
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"What's the point anyway — Of suffering, dying? It teaches us to live, boy. A man who does not struggle does not live, he survives." (quote from the book)The book is a pseudo-biography about Alexandros Panagoulis written in the form of a novel. Fallaci had an intense romantic relationship with Panagoulis...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book fiction historical -
![Dreams of the Island by Kate Hewitt]()
Dreams of the Island by Kate Hewitt
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsHenry McAvoy leaned forward. “I have been looking for an artist just like you—a diamond in the rough, so to speak. And really, Miss Copley,” he said gently, “what do you have to lose?”1911, Amherst Island, Canada: When a chance encounter takes Ellen Copley away from the beautiful island she has called home since she was orphaned as a child—she believes it is the new start she has been waiting for...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction romance historical ww1 high-school fiction 20th-century -
![Pygmalion / My Fair Lady by George Bernard Shaw, Alan Jay Lerner]()
Pygmalion / My Fair Lady by George Bernard Shaw, Alan Jay Lerner
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe ancient Greeks tell the legend of the sculptor Pygmalion, who created a statue of a woman of such surpassing beauty that he fell in love with his own creation. Then, Aphrodite, taking pity on this man whose love could not reach beyond the barrier of stone, brought the statue to life and gave her to Pygmalion as his bride...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies audiobook comedy -
-
![Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Richard Harris]()
Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Richard Harris
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThis collection brings together music played by Captain Corelli himself and original pieces evoking the sounds and events of the book and of 3 earlier novels, the Latin Trilogy', by Louis de Bernieres...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book fiction historical -
![Sodom and Gomorrah by Marcel Proust]()
Sodom and Gomorrah by Marcel Proust
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 30 ratings'Flower and plant have no conscious will. They are shameless, exposing their genitals. And so in a sense are Proust's men and women . . . shameless. There is no question of right and wrong. Homosexuality . . . is as devoid of moral implications as the mode of fecundation of the Primula veris or the Lythrum salicoria...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook book coming-of-age -
![Every Mother's Son by Lyn Andrews]()
Every Mother's Son by Lyn Andrews
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMolly and Bernie have been friends forever. As young girls they left Ireland seeking new beginnings in Liverpool. Now they are marrying their sweethearts and looking forward to enjoying the lives they've worked so hard to build. But as the Liverpool Blitz begins, it seems as if their dreams are about to be destroyed. Night after night, horrific bombing tears the city apart... -
![Gora by Rabindranath Tagore, Marguerite Glotz]()
Gora by Rabindranath Tagore, Marguerite Glotz
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsVast in its scope and rich in thought Gora has been acclaimed as a monumental work in the history of Bengali fiction. The story reflects the social, political and religious scene in Bengal at the turn of the century. The forces that were operating in Bengal at that time were one of the intense nationalism and revival of ancient spiritual values and also that of liberal western thought...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook book drama -
![Nuntă în cer by Mircea Eliade]()
Nuntă în cer by Mircea Eliade
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsNeîndoielnic, scriind această carte, autorul ei evadează: în trecut, în imaginaţie, în mit. Nuntă în Cer nu este, desigur, un roman fantastic, deşi misterul nu lipseşte, dar este, cu siguranţă, un roman realist-simbolic, axat pe un mit al iubirii. Un roman de idei, mai puţin livresc decât celelalte, şi un roman liric... -
![The Rose Stone by Teresa Crane]()
The Rose Stone by Teresa Crane
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA dazzling jewel holds the key to a prosperous new life… or total ruin The Rose Stone. A diamond, gained through betrayal and blood, upon which the Rosenberg family's fortunes were founded and whose price is yet to be paid. Kiev, 1875: Josef Rosenberg narrowly escapes death from a Cossack raid, rescuing Tanya, the youngest daughter of his old friend Boris Anatov...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction romance historical 20th-century family fiction epic -
![Birthright by Patricia Dixon]()
Birthright by Patricia Dixon
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA woman's quest to save her family's chateau in France brings danger, rivalry, and romance--and reveals a secret buried since World War II . . .1931, Chateau de Chevalier: Ophélie, La Duchesse de Bombelle, receives a love letter from her admirer Picasso along with a gift: a priceless painting. Nine years later, the Nazis invade France and steal countless works of art, including Ophélie's gift . -
![Five Windows by D.E. Stevenson]()
Five Windows by D.E. Stevenson
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWhere does David belong? David Kirke’s childhood is sheltered, his nature is gentle and peaceable; he is no hero of romance but a human being with faults and failings which lead him into trouble when he adventures into the world to seek his fortune... -
![Katherine's Marriage by D.E. Stevenson]()
Katherine's Marriage by D.E. Stevenson
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsReaders who discovered Katherine Wentworth and Alec MacLaren in Katherine Wentworth will be delighted to learn more about this lively pair. Those who are meeting them for the first time will find that this romantic story stands independently and beautifully on its own. The story opens with the honeymoon of Katherine and Alec at Ardfalloch in the idyllic Scottish Highlands... -
![Aurélien by Louis Aragon]()
Aurélien by Louis Aragon
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsDans cette chronique parisienne de l'entre-deux guerres, Aragon décrit la toute nouvelle société surréaliste. Aurélien, jeune homme sensible et oisif, fréquente les salons parisiens d'avant-garde, y côtoie les poètes, les actrices, les peintres qui ne sont autres que Picabia ou Cocteau... -
-
![Watching Over Her by Jean-Baptiste Andrea]()
Watching Over Her by Jean-Baptiste Andrea
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom French literary talent and Prix Goncourt winner Jean-Baptiste Andrea, a “sprawling fresco and star-crossed love story” (The New York Times) following a dwarf and skilled sculptor as he recounts the moments in his life that inspired his mysteriously powerful masterpiece—perfect for readers of Martyr! and The Covenant of Water.In an Italian monastery, a sculptor named Mimo lays on his deathbed... -
![The Harvester by Gene Stratton-Porter]()
The Harvester by Gene Stratton-Porter
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThis is the story of a young man who lives in the country side with his dog and other animals and grows herbs to sell to medical drug supply houses...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century animals audiobook book fiction -
![The Immigrants by Howard Fast]()
The Immigrants by Howard Fast
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn a passionate, multigenerational novel set against the backdrop of San Francisco, the son of an Italian fisherman struggles from the rubble of the great earthquake to build a shipping empire. Reprint... -
![Battles in the Desert by José Emilio Pacheco]()
Battles in the Desert by José Emilio Pacheco
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThis landmark novella—one of the central texts of Mexican literature, is eerily relevant to our current dark times—offers a child’s-eye view of a society beset by dictators, disease, and natural disasters, set in “the year of polio, foot-and-mouth disease, floods...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction romance fiction 20th-century drama coming-of-age -
![Bless This House by Norah Lofts]()
Bless This House by Norah Lofts
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe fortunes of a beautiful Elizabethan house called Merravay, Built in Suffolk for a queen to sleep in then loved and hated through four centuries. Told in eight episodic narratives by a fascinating pageant of characters including -- a pirate, witch, bawd, rake, recluse, and lovers all of whom play a vital part in the house's history...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book early-modern fiction -
![The Valley Of Decision by Marcia Davenport]()
The Valley Of Decision by Marcia Davenport
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOn the eve of World War II writer Marcia Davenport, best known for her biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, spent several years in Pittsburgh, her imagination caught by the drama of American industry. In 1942, Charles Scribner’s sons published her Pittsburgh novel, The Valley of Decision... -
![Sarah Morris Remembers (Sarah) by D.E. Stevenson]()
Sarah Morris Remembers (Sarah) by D.E. Stevenson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWith the help of her diary, Sarah Morris tries to make a pattern of the lives of her family and her friends... The result is a brightly woven tapestry of which the main thread, Sarah’s own story, is the love which grows naturally from the innocent affection of a child into the all-absorbing passion of a woman. Sarah tells of her happy childhood at the Vicarage...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook book family -
![Love is Just a Word by Johannes Mario Simmel, Йоханес Марио Зимел]()
Love is Just a Word by Johannes Mario Simmel, Йоханес Марио Зимел
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis is the story of Oliver and Verena, who fall in love and risk everything to keep each other.He is the son of a notorious German industrialist. She is the voluptuous, indiscreet wife of a wealthy and ruthless businessman.Apart they have been two lonely people. Half alive. Together, they are radiant... -
![The Heart of the Family by Elizabeth Goudge]()
The Heart of the Family by Elizabeth Goudge
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDespite the "crinkled pink petals strewn in the path of those who would have preferred red," four generations of Eliots have survived the War and are moving forward. The family's remarkable matriarch Lucilla is still with them, though she's facing the dark night of the soul. All is turned on its head with the arrival of Sebastian, another survivor of WWII...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book christian family -
![The Axe by Sigrid Undset]()
The Axe by Sigrid Undset
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSet in 13th-century Norway, The Axe is the first volume in Undset's epic tetralogy, The Master of Hestviken. In it, we meet Olav Audunsson and Ingunn Steinfinnsdatter, who were betrothed as children and raised as brother and sister. In the heedlessness of youth, they become lovers, unaware that their ardor will forge the first link in a chain of murder, exile, and disgrace...Categorized as:
historical-fiction classics literary-fiction europe scandinavia fiction medieval historical -
-
![Long Summer Day by R.F. Delderfield]()
Long Summer Day by R.F. Delderfield
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsPaul Craddock is still young when he is invalided out of the army after the Boer War and he discovers the neglected estate of Shallowford in a secluded corner of Devon. It seems remote from the march of progress. But as storm clouds gather over Europe, Paul learns that no part of England, however remote, can escape the challenge of the times...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
![Someday in Paris by Olivia Lara]()
Someday in Paris by Olivia Lara
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratings'It's about dreams and taking chances. Missed opportunities and mistakes. Loss and sacrifice. But above all, it is about love. The kind of love that survives time, distance... even death. The kind of love I wish for you.' Finding the one is only the beginning...1954. Zara is fifteen the first time she meets Leon...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book female-author fiction historical -
![Love at Any Cost by Julie Lessman]()
Love at Any Cost by Julie Lessman
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsJilted by a fortune hunter, cowgirl Cassidy McClare is a spunky Texas oil heiress without a fortune who would just as soon hogtie a man as look at him. Hoping a summer visit with her wealthy cousins in San Francisco will help her forget her heartache, Cassidy travels west...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book christian fiction historical -
![The Girl in the Photograph by Lygia Fagundes Telles]()
The Girl in the Photograph by Lygia Fagundes Telles
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsComplex and hauntingly beautiful, Lygia Fagundes Telles's most acclaimed novel is a journey into the inner lives of three young women, each revealing her secrets and loves, each awaiting a destiny tied to the colorful and violent world of modern Brazil. Sensual and wealthy Lorena dreams of a tryst with a married man. Unhappy Lia burns with a frantic desire to free her imprisoned fiancé...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book female-author feminism -
![Full Moon by P.G. Wodehouse]()
Full Moon by P.G. Wodehouse
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen the moon is full at Blandings, strange things happen: among them the commissioning of a portrait of The Empress, twice in succession winner in the Fat Pigs Class at the Shropshire Agricultural Show. What better choice of artist, in Lord Emsworth's opinion, than Landseer...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook book comedy -
![Climates by André Maurois]()
Climates by André Maurois
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWritten in 1928 by French biographer and novelist Andre Maurois, Climates became a best seller in France and all over Europe. The first 100,000 copies printed of its Russian translation sold out the day they appeared in Moscow bookstores... -
![The Bracelet of Garnets and Other Stories by Aleksandr Kuprin, Leo Pasvolsky]()
The Bracelet of Garnets and Other Stories by Aleksandr Kuprin, Leo Pasvolsky
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThis scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult book fiction historical -
![Ports of Call by Amin Maalouf, Alberto Manguel]()
Ports of Call by Amin Maalouf, Alberto Manguel
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA graceful story of love across an insuperable gulf and a powerful allegory for the conflict that has beset the Middle East for the last half century. To call your son Ossyane is like calling him Rebellion. For Ossyane’s father it is a gesture of protest by an excited Ottoman prince, for Ossyane himself it is a burdensome responsibility...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book fiction historical -
![Battles in the Desert & Other Stories by José Emilio Pacheco]()
Battles in the Desert & Other Stories by José Emilio Pacheco
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSeven stories depict harsh realities of life in urban Mexico and the tragedies of childhood innocence betrayed...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies audiobook drama -
![Enemies of the Heart by Rebecca Dean]()
Enemies of the Heart by Rebecca Dean
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBerlin 1909 - cousins Vicky and Zelda are about to meet the Remer brothers... Vicky Hudson is only seventeen when she marries Berthold Remer and moves from her idyllic Yorkshire home to Berlin. Adjusting to her new life isn't easy, not least when she discovers that the Remer family are producing weaponry for the German army...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book dystopia fiction historical -
-
![Miranda by Grace Livingston Hill]()
Miranda by Grace Livingston Hill
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsNo one ever would have guessed that one of the richest men in town wanted to marry Miranda—or why she had turned him down. But Miranda was faithful to another... -
![Business as Usual by Jane Oliver, Ann Stafford]()
Business as Usual by Jane Oliver, Ann Stafford
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBusiness As Usual by Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford was first published in 1933. It's a delightful illustrated novel in letters from Hilary Fane, an Edinburgh girl fresh out of university who is determined to support herself by her own earnings in London for a year, despite the mutterings of her surgeon fiance...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction romance fiction humor epistolary season-summer -
![The Blue Sapphire by D.E. Stevenson]()
The Blue Sapphire by D.E. Stevenson
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe blue sapphire is the gem which the Ancients called the hyacinthus and which Solinus described as ‘a gem that feels the influence of the air and sympathises with the heavens and does not shine equally if the sky be cloudy or bright...’ On a beautiful spring day Julia Harburn sat on a seat in Kensington Gardens enjoying the sunshine...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction 20th-century adult book coming-of-age fiction found-family -
![The Way of Beauty by Camille Di Maio]()
The Way of Beauty by Camille Di Maio
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsHearts and dreams evolve in the shadow of the once-magnificent Penn Station. Vera Keller, the daughter of German immigrants in turn-of-the-century New York City, finds her life upended when the man she loves becomes engaged to another woman. But Angelo Bellavia has also inadvertently opened up Vera’s life to unexpected possibilities...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook book family fiction -
![Tūla by Jurgis Kunčinas]()
Tūla by Jurgis Kunčinas
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe unnamed narrator of Jurgis Kuncinas's Tula is our tour guide through the infamous poverty-stricken bohemian quarter of Vilnius known as Uzupis (literally, "beyond the river"), living his life on the fringes of society, including his journeys through various institutions for alcohol treatment... -
![A Room with a View / Howards End by E.M. Forster, Benjamin DeMott]()
A Room with a View / Howards End by E.M. Forster, Benjamin DeMott
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWit and intelligence are the hallmarks of these two probing portraits of the English character written by E.M. Forster. Both are stories of extreme contrasts--in values, social class and cultural perspectives. Romantic relationships lead to conventional happiness in the delightful social comedy A Room with a View, and to unexpected scandal in the richer, deeply moving novel Howards End...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook book edwardian -
![The Art of Joy by Goliarda Sapienza, Angelo Pellegrino]()
The Art of Joy by Goliarda Sapienza, Angelo Pellegrino
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsGoliarda Sapienza's The Art of Joy was written over a nine year span, from 1967 to 1976. At the time of her death in 1996, Sapienza had published nothing in a decade, having been unable to find a publisher for what was to become her most celebrated work, due to its perceived immorality. One publisher's rejection letter exclaimed: 'It's a pile of iniquity...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century audiobook book female-author feminism -
![Jennie Gerhardt by Theodore Dreiser]()
Jennie Gerhardt by Theodore Dreiser
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsJennie Gerhardt was Theodore Dreiser's second novel and his first true commercial success. Today it is generally regarded as one of his three best novels, along with Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy. But the text of Jennie Gerhardt heretofore known to readers is quite different from the text as Dreiser originally wrote it...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook book female-mc -
![Lovesick by Ángeles Mastretta]()
Lovesick by Ángeles Mastretta
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsPublisher: Vintage Date of Publication: 1998 Binding: soft cover Edition: Condition: Fine Description:... -
![Piccadilly Jim by P.G. Wodehouse]()
Piccadilly Jim by P.G. Wodehouse
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe fall brings four more antic novels from comic genius, P. G. Wodehouse. In Picadilly Jim (soon to be a major motion picture), Jimmy Crocker has a scandalous reputation on both sides of the Atlantic and must do an about-face to win back the woman of his dreams...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century audiobook book comedy edwardian -
-
![The Triumph of the Lions by Stefania Auci]()
The Triumph of the Lions by Stefania Auci
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsKnown as the Lions of Sicily, the Florios have officially arrived. Once rich only in ambition, the family has amassed a fortune that includes palaces, factories, ships, silks, and jewels. The city of Sicily admires them, honors them and, above all, fears them...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction romance fiction historical audiobook family 20th-century -
![Tear This Heart Out by Ángeles Mastretta]()
Tear This Heart Out by Ángeles Mastretta
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsExcellent, highly colloquial translation of Arr ancame la vida (see HLAS 48:5193), set in post-revolutionary Mexico...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook book drama -
![Loistava orsini by Samuel Shellabarger]()
Loistava orsini by Samuel Shellabarger
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsA swashbuckling tale of Italy in the 1500s...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult book early-modern -
![1933 Was a Bad Year by John Fante]()
1933 Was a Bad Year by John Fante
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTrapped in a small, poverty-ridden town in 1933, under pressure from his father to go into the family business, seventeen-year-old Dominic Molise yearns to fulfill his own dreams...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century book colorado coming-of-age family -
![The Far Country by Nevil Shute]()
The Far Country by Nevil Shute
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsJennifer fled the drab monotony of post-war London for Australia, and feels like she has come home. When she meets Carl, she has every reason to stay. But the two come from different worlds, and need work to build a life together in a pioneer country...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book fiction -
![An Unsuitable Attachment (Bello) by Barbara Pym]()
An Unsuitable Attachment (Bello) by Barbara Pym
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSet in St Basil’s, an undistinguished North London parish, An Unsuitable Attachment is indeed full of the high comedy for which Barbara Pym is famed. There is Mark Ainger, the vicar, who introduces his sermons with remarks like ‘Those of you who are familiar with the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.
