Books like 'Butcher's Crossing'
Readers who enjoyed Butcher's Crossing by John Williams also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 63 ratingsLibrarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found hereIt is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama historical-fiction literary-fiction survival 20th-century 21st-century -
Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsBased on the true story of a forgotten hero, Beneath a Scarlet Sky is the triumphant, epic tale of one young man’s incredible courage and resilience during one of history’s darkest hours. Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He’s a normal Italian teenager—obsessed with music, food, and girls—but his days of innocence are numbered...Categorized as:
coming-of-age crime drama historical-fiction literary-fiction military survival 20th-century -
The Letter by Ruth Saberton
Rated: 4.61 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Letter is a beautiful novel set in England between the First World War and the present day. Perfect for fans of Downton Abbey, it is the story of an aristocratic family, a forbidden love affair and the darkest of secrets kept for over one hundred years. On the eve of the First World War aspiring poet Kit Rivers looks forward to a bright future...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction literary-fiction military 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
Shōgun by James Clavell
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsAfter Englishman John Blackthorne is lost at sea, he awakens in a place few Europeans know of and even fewer have seen--Nippon...Categorized as:
classics drama epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military 20th-century action-adventure -
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Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsWhile the Titanic and Lusitania are both well-documented disasters, the single greatest tragedy in maritime history is the little-known January 30, 1945 sinking in the Baltic Sea by a Soviet submarine of the Wilhelm Gustloff, a German cruise liner that was supposed to ferry wartime personnel and refugees to safety from the advancing Red Army... -
Winter of the World by Ken Follett
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsWinter of the World picks up right where the first book left off, as its five interrelated families—American, German, Russian, English, Welsh—enter a time of enormous social, political, and economic turmoil, beginning with the rise of the Third Reich, through the Spanish Civil War and the great dramas of World War II, up to the explosions of the American and Soviet atomic bombs...Categorized as:
classics drama epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military 20th-century 21st-century -
A Fire Sparkling by Julianne MacLean
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsFrom the USA Today bestselling author of A Curve in the Road comes a spellbinding novel about one woman’s love, loss, and courage during wartime.After a crushing betrayal by the man she loves, Gillian Gibbons flees to her family home for a much-needed escape, but when she finds an old photograph of her grandmother in the arms of a Nazi officer, Gillian’s life gets even more complicated...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction literary-fiction military survival 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Kane & Abel by Jeffrey Archer
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsBorn on the same day near the turn of the century on opposite sides of the world, both men are brought together by fate and the quest of a dream. These two men -- ambitious, powerful, ruthless -- are locked in a relentless struggle to build an empire, fuelled by their all-consuming hatred...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age crime drama epic historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century -
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 91 ratingsBarcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals from its war wounds, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer's son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julian Carax. But when he sets out to find the author's other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age crime drama historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century 21st-century -
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsAn alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here.In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption. 1947...Categorized as:
coming-of-age crime drama historical-fiction literary-fiction military survival 20th-century -
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsNEW YORK TIMES "BESTSELLER For readers of "The Nightingale" and "Sarah s Key, " inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine, this powerful debut novel reveals an incredible story of love, redemption, and terrible secrets that were hidden for decades. New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon...Categorized as:
coming-of-age crime drama historical-fiction literary-fiction survival 20th-century abuse -
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 88 ratingsMarie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama historical-fiction literary-fiction military survival 20th-century -
Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 72 ratingsThis is an epic of love, hatred, war and revolution. This is a huge novel that follows five families through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for votes for women. It is 1911. The Coronation Day of King George V. The Williams, a Welsh coal-mining family is linked by romance and enmity to the Fitzherberts, aristocratic coal-mine owners...Categorized as:
classics drama epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military 20th-century 21st-century -
Once We Were Brothers by Ronald H. Balson
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThe gripping tale about two boys, once as close as brothers, who find themselves on opposite sides of the Holocaust.Elliot Rosenzweig, a respected civic leader and wealthy philanthropist, is attending a fundraiser when he is suddenly accosted and accused of being a former Nazi SS officer named Otto Piatek, the Butcher of Zamosc...Categorized as:
crime drama historical-fiction literary-fiction survival 20th-century 21st-century action-adventure -
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City of Thieves by David Benioff
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 68 ratingsDuring the Nazis’ brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful Soviet colonel to use in his daughter’s wedding cake...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age crime drama historical-fiction literary-fiction military survival -
The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsA glorious novel of the controversial Richard III - a monarch betrayed in life by his allies and betrayed in death by history...Categorized as:
classics drama epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military 20th-century action-adventure -
The Captains by W.E.B. Griffin
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsIt was more than an incident. It was a deadly assault across the 38th parallel. It was the Korean War. In the fear and frenzy of battle, those who had served with heroism before were called again by America to man the trenches and sandbag bunkers...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction military 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA novel you will never forget... This powerful and breathtaking novel is the story of four cadets who have become bloodbrothers. Together they will encounter the hell of hazing and the rabid, raunchy and dangerously secretive atmosphere of an arrogant and proud military institute. They will experience the violence. The passion. The rage. The friendship. The loyalty. The betrayal... -
The Frozen Hours: A Novel of the Korean War by Jeff Shaara
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe master of military historical fiction turns his discerning eye to the Korean War in this riveting new novel, which tells the dramatic story of the Americans and the Chinese who squared off in one of the deadliest campaigns in the annals of combat: the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, also known as Frozen Chosin. June 1950...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction military 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
The One Man by Andrew Gross
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratings1944. Physics professor Alfred Mendl is separated from his family and sent to the men’s camp, where all of his belongings are tossed on a roaring fire. His books, his papers, his life’s work. The Nazis have no idea what they have just destroyed. And without that physical record, Alfred is one of only two people in the world with his particular knowledge...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction literary-fiction military survival 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Lieutenant Hornblower by C.S. Forester
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsIn this gripping tale of turmoil and triumph on the high seas, Horatio Hornblower emerges from his apprenticeship as midshipman to face new responsibilities thrust upon him by the fortunes of war between Napoleon and Spain... -
Mila 18 by Leon Uris
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIt was a time of crisis, a time of tragedy and a time of transcendent courage and determination. Leon Uris's novel is set in the midst of the ghetto uprising that defied Nazi tyranny, as the Jews of Warsaw boldly met Wehrmacht tanks with homemade weapons and bare fists...Categorized as:
classics drama historical-fiction literary-fiction military 20th-century action-adventure adult -
A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom acclaimed novelist Mark Helprin, a lush, literary epic about love, beauty, and the world at war.Alessandro Giuliani, the young son of a prosperous Roman lawyer, enjoys an idyllic life full of privilege: he races horses across the country to the sea, he climbs mountains in the Alps, and, while a student of painting at the ancient university in Bologna, he falls in love...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military 20th-century -
The Riviera House by Natasha Lester
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Secret weaves a lush and engrossing novel of World War II inspired by a true story and perfect for fans of Kate Quinn and Pam Jenoff. Paris, 1939: The Nazis think Éliane can't understand German. They’re wrong. They think she’s merely cataloging art in a Louvre museum and unaware they’re stealing national treasures for their private collections...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction literary-fiction military 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
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Abigail by Magda Szabó
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAbigail, the story of a headstrong teenager growing up during World War II, is the most beloved of Magda Szabó’s books in her native Hungary. Gina is the only child of a general, a widower who has long been happy to spoil his bright and willful daughter... -
Behind the Lines by W.E.B. Griffin
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBehind the Lines is W. E. B. Griffin's powerful novel of World War II -- and the courage, patriotism, and sacrifice of those who fought it.By 1942, the Japanese have routed the outnumbered American forces and conquered the Philippines. But deep in the island jungles, the combat continues. Refusing to surrender, a renegade Army officer organizes a resistance force and vows to fight to the last man...Categorized as:
classics crime historical-fiction military 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Commodore by P.T. Deutermann
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsP. T. Deutermann's previous novels of the US Navy in World War II - Pacific Glory, Ghosts of Bungo Suido, and Sentinels of Fire - have been acclaimed by reviewers and readers for their powerful drama and authentic detail. In The Commodore, the Navy in 1942-1943 is fighting a losing battle against Japan for control of the Solomon Islands...Categorized as:
historical-fiction indigenous-mc military poc-mc 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsKeeping watch over the young Arthur Pendragon, the prince and prophet Merlin Ambrosius is haunted by dreams of the magical sword Caliburn, which has been hidden for centuries. When Uther Pendragon is killed in battle, the time of destiny is at hand, and Arthur must claim the fabled sword to become the true High King of Britain...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama epic historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure -
The Legend of Deathwalker by David Gemmell
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsEnter a powerful realm of legend, dark sorcery, and conquest, where the mighty Drenai warrior Druss faces his most deadly opponent . . .Druss the Legend, the dark axman known as the Deathwalker, must join the warrior Talisman on a mission of blood and glory... -
Rosa's Gold - A Story of Holocaust Echoes by Ray Kingfisher
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNicole Sutton is a young girl with problems. A tragic car accident has taken away her brother, and ripped her parents' marriage apart. Together with her mother she moves to a new house, a new town, and a life she never wanted. In the dusty cellar of the house she stumbles upon a well-worn notebook – the scribbled war memoirs of Mac, an old soldier...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction military 20th-century action-adventure adult book family -
Along the Broken Bay by Flora J. Solomon
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of A Pledge of Silence comes a story of resistance, intrigue, and risking it all in the WWII Philippines. December 1941. War has erupted in the Pacific, spelling danger for Gina Capelli Thorpe, an American expat living in Manila. When the Japanese invade and her husband goes missing, Gina flees with her daughter to the Zambales Mountains to avoid capture—or worse...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction literary-fiction military 20th-century action-adventure adult asia -
Code of Honor by Alan Gratz
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsLive by the code. Die by the code?Kamran Smith has it all. He’s the star of the football team, dates the most popular girl, and can’t wait to enlist in the army like his big brother, Darius. Although Kamran’s mother is from Iran, Kamran has always felt 100% American. Accepted.And then everything implodes.Darius is accused of being a terrorist. Kamran refuses to believe it... -
Flashman in the Great Game by George MacDonald Fraser
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsOne of literature's most delightful rakes is back in another tale of rollicking adventure and tantalizing seduction. The plucky Flashman's latest escapades are sure to entertain devotees as well as attract new aficionados...Categorized as:
classics crime epic historical-fiction industrial-era literary-fiction military 20th-century -
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsParis, July 1942: Ten-year-old Sarah is brutally arrested with her family in the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, the most notorious act of French collaboration with the Nazis. but before the police come to take them, Sarah locks her younger brother, Michel, in their favorite hiding place, a cupboard in the family's apartment. She keeps the key, thinking that she will be back within a few hours...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama historical-fiction literary-fiction survival 20th-century 21st-century -
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Last of the Breed by Louis L'Amour
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsHere is the kind of authentically detailed epic novel that has become Louis L’Amour’s hallmark. It is the compelling story of U.S. Air Force Major Joe Mack, a man born out of time. When his experimental aircraft is forced down in Russia and he escapes a Soviet prison camp, he must call upon the ancient skills of his Indian forebears to survive the vast Siberian wilderness...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction indigenous-mc literary-fiction military poc-mc survival western -
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 76 ratingsThe #1 New York Times Bestseller“A lovely novel about the search for family that also happens to illuminate a fascinating and forgotten chapter of America’s history. Beautiful...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama historical-fiction indigenous-mc literary-fiction poc-mc survival -
Black Cross by Greg Iles
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIt is January 1944 — and as Allied troops prepare for D-day, Nazi scientists develop a toxic nerve gas that will repel and wipe out any invasion force. To salvage the planned assault, two vastly different but equally determined men are sent to infiltrate the secret concentration camp where the poison gas is being perfected on human subjects...Categorized as:
crime drama historical-fiction military 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Aztec by Gary Jennings
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsAztec is the extraordinary story of the last and greatest native civilization of North America... -
Dances with Wolves by Michael Blake
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsOrdered to hold an abandoned army post, John Dunbar found himself alone, beyond the edge of civilization. Thievery and survival soon forced him into the Indian camp, where he began a dangerous adventure that changed his life forever. Relive the adventure and beauty of the incredible movie, Dances with Wolves...Categorized as:
animals classics drama epic historical-fiction indigenous-mc industrial-era literary-fiction -
The Skipper's Dog Called Stalin by David Black
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSpring, 1941. France has fallen but the Free French naval forces are in no mood to surrender. Royal Navy Sub-Lieutenant Harry Gilmour is also ready for action, despite the horrors of his first taste of submarine warfare.When he is appointed as British Navy Liaison Officer aboard the Free French submarine Radegonde, he finds it anarchic, disorientating—and very French...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction military 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsA grand love story and an epic tale of three brothers whose lives are torn apart by war.Paris, 1937. Andras Lévi, a Hungarian Jewish architecture student, arrives from Budapest with a scholarship, a single suitcase, and a mysterious letter he has promised to deliver to C. Morgenstern on the rue de Sévigné...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama historical-fiction literary-fiction military survival 20th-century 21st-century -
Trustee from the Toolroom by Nevil Shute
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA novel tells the story of a man who leads an ordinary, uneventful life, until overnight he becomes the trustee of his 10-year-old niece, and involved in the search for some missing money...Categorized as:
classics crime historical-fiction literary-fiction military 20th-century action-adventure adult -
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...Categorized as:
crime drama epic historical-fiction literary-fiction military 20th-century action-adventure -
The Paris Orphan by Natasha Lester
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFrom the USA Today bestselling author of The Paris Seamstress comes a World War II novel that spans continents and crosses generations as an American soldier and an enterprising Vogue photographer brave war-torn France to help a lost little girl find the one thing she never had: a family...Categorized as:
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On the Wings of Hope by Ella Zeiss, Helen MacCormac
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAs World War II draws to a close, can two young people find love, hope—and freedom?February 1942: Terrifying reports of the Wehrmacht’s advance across the Soviet Union spread like wildfire, striking new fear into the already oppressed German families living there.Harri Pfeiffer, now sixteen, is summoned to the forced labour camp in Chelyabinsk...Categorized as:
drama epic historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsA magnificent romantic/historical/adventure novel set in India at the time of mutiny. The Far Pavilions is a story of 19th Century India, when the thin patina of English rule held down dangerously turbulent undercurrents. It is a story about and English man - Ashton Pelham-Martyn - brought up as a Hindu and his passionate, but dangerous love for an Indian princess...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age drama epic historical-fiction industrial-era literary-fiction 20th-century -
Word of Honor by Nelson DeMille, Brian Murray
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsHe is a good man, a brilliant corporate executive, an honest, handsome family man admired by men and desired by women. But a lifetime ago Ben Tyson was a lieutenant in Vietnam. There the men under his command committed a murderous atrocity--and together swore never to tell the world what they had done. Now the press, army justice, and the events he tried to forget have caught up with Ben Tyson...Categorized as:
crime drama historical-fiction military 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Across the Winding River by Aimie K. Runyan
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA woman unlocks the mystery of her father’s wartime past in a moving novel about secrets, sacrifice, and the power of love by the bestselling author of Daughters of the Night Sky.Beth Cohen wants to make the most of the months she has left with her elderly father, Max...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction literary-fiction military 20th-century abuse action-adventure adult -
The Great Swindle by Pierre Lemaitre
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsOctober 1918: the war on the Western Front is all but over. Desperate for one last chance of promotion, the ambitious Lieutenant Henri d'Aulnay Pradelle sends two scouts over the top, and secretly shoots them in the back to incite his men to heroic action once more...Categorized as:
crime drama historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century 21st-century action-adventure adult -
The Secret Messenger by Mandy Robotham
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe highly awaited new novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The German Midwife.Venice, 1943The world is at war, and Stella Jilani is leading a double life. By day she works in the lion’s den as a typist for the Reich; by night, she risks her life as a messenger for the Italian resistance...Categorized as:
crime drama historical-fiction industrial-era literary-fiction military western 20th-century
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