Books like 'A Death-Struck Year'
Readers who enjoyed A Death-Struck Year by Makiia Lucier also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical romance action / adventure 20th century military, war & conflict historical-fiction realistic survival coming-of-age war
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The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 90 ratingsIn love we find out who we want to be. In war we find out who we are. FRANCE, 1939: In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says good-bye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front... -
The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsIn 1942, Europe remains in the relentless grip of war. Just beyond the tents of the Russian refugee camp she calls home, a young woman speaks her wedding vows. It’s a decision that will alter her destiny…and it’s a lie that will remain buried until the next century.Since she was nine years old, Alina Dziak knew she would marry her best friend, Tomasz... -
The Emerald Horizon by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBerlin, 1944. Ariella Bannon is being hunted. Someone is determined to betray her as a Jew, but she has survived against incredible odds, and the end is in sight. She will be reunited with her precious children, no matter what it takes.Meanwhile, Liesl and Erich have found a home in Ireland, away from the chaos of war-ravaged Europe...Categorized as:
family female-mc friendship historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
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 female-mc historical-fiction war ww1 20th-century action-adventure adult -
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The Memory Keeper of Kyiv by Erin Litteken
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsPerfect for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Beekeeper of Aleppo.In the 1930s, Stalin’s activists marched through the Soviet Union, espousing the greatness of collective farming. It was the first step in creating a man-made famine that, in Ukraine, stole almost 4 million lives... -
The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsInspired by an astonishing true story from World War II, a young woman with a talent for forgery helps hundreds of Jewish children flee the Nazis in this unforgettable historical novel from the bestselling author of the “epic and heart-wrenching World War II tale” (#1 New York Times bestselling author Alyson Noel), The Winemaker’s Wife... -
Three Comrades by Erich Maria Remarque
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe year is 1928. On the outskirts of a large German city, three young men are earning a thin and precarious living. Fully armed young storm troopers swagger in the streets. Restlessness, poverty, and violence are everywhere. For these three, friendship is the only refuge from the chaos around them... -
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... -
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsLina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family female-mc friendship high-school historical-fiction realistic -
Sea of Memories by Fiona Valpy
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsWhen Kendra first visits her ailing grandmother, Ella has only one request: that Kendra write her story down, before she forgets…In 1937, seventeen-year-old Ella’s life changes forever when she is sent to spend the summer on the beautiful Île de Ré and meets the charismatic, creative Christophe... -
Return to Robinswood by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsOne Irish house, two very different families, and a war that changed everything. Robinswood Estate, County Waterford, Ireland. 1946.Years of neglect and abandonment have left the family seat of the Keneficks almost derelict, but the new Lord Kenefick and his charming young wife Kate, are determined to breathe life into the old house once more...Categorized as:
family female-mc friendship historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
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 family female-mc historical-fiction survival war 20th-century action-adventure -
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 84 ratingsA tale based on interviews that were conducted with Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov.In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau... -
The Cypress Maze by Fiona Valpy
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn this haunting tale from the bestselling author of The Storyteller of Casablanca, Beatrice kept a wartime secret to protect the innocent. Now, could telling it set her free?Tuscany, 1943. Stranded in war-ravaged Italy, Beatrice’s dream of an escapist year teaching English is shattered... -
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Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 89 ratingsScarlett O'Hara, the beautiful, spoiled daughter of a well-to-do Georgia plantation owner, must use every means at her disposal to claw her way out of the poverty she finds herself in after Sherman's March to the Sea... -
The Girl From the Island by Lorna Cook
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA world at war.One woman will risk everything.Another will uncover her story.1940: When the island of Guernsey is invaded by the Nazis, two sisters are determined to rebel in any way they can. But when forced to take in a German soldier, they are shocked to find a familiar face on their doorstep – a childhood friend who has now become their enemy...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family female-mc friendship historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure -
The Secrets We Left Behind by Soraya M. Lane
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsOccupied France, 1940. When the staff at a field hospital draw straws to find out who will join the evacuation from Dunkirk, Nurse Cate is left behind. But when the Nazis arrive to claim prisoners of war, she takes her chance and flees into the night, taking one patient with her.Fifty miles away, the surrendering soldiers of the Royal Norfolk Regiment are shot dead by the advancing Germans...Categorized as:
drama family female-mc friendship historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure -
So Much Owed: An Irish World War 2 Story by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsIn a turbulent and uncertain world, the birth of two children revitalise a small Irish town and set the stage for a closer look into lives torn asunder by war. When Dr. Richard Buckley returns home to his wife and beloved hometown of Dunderrig, his mind is wearied by the ravages of The Great War... -
Where the Sky Begins by Rhys Bowen
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA woman’s future is determined by fate and choice in a gripping WWII novel about danger, triumph, and second chances by the New York Times bestselling author of The Venice Sketchbook and The Tuscan Child.London, 1940. Bombs fall and Josie Banks’s world crumbles around her. Her overbearing husband, Stan, is unreachable, called to service. Her home, a ruin of rubble and ash... -
Under a Sky of Memories by Soraya M. Lane
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of The Last Correspondent comes the powerful story of three brave women who go to war—and end up fighting for their lives.Sicily, 1943. Three American women, all nurses in the Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron, are determined to do all they can for their country...Categorized as:
family female-mc friendship historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Take What You Can Carry by Gian Sardar
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsAn aspiring photographer follows her dreams and faces her fears in a poignant novel about finding beauty, promise, and love amid the chaos of war-torn Kurdistan.It’s 1979. Olivia Murray, a secretary at a Los Angeles newspaper, is determined to become a photojournalist and make a difference with her work...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama female-mc historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
Eternal by Lisa Scottoline
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsWhat war destroys, only love can heal.Elisabetta, Marco, and Sandro grow up as the best of friends despite their differences. Elisabetta is a feisty beauty who dreams of becoming a novelist; Marco the brash and athletic son in a family of professional cyclists; and Sandro a Jewish mathematics prodigy, kind-hearted and thoughtful, the son of a lawyer and a doctor... -
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsCan a woman ever really know herself if she doesn’t know her mother? From the author of the smash-hit bestseller Firefly Lane and True Colors comes a powerful, heartbreaking novel that illuminates the intricate mother-daughter bond and explores the enduring links between the present and the past Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be... -
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsA portrait of love, silence, and secrets under a Spanish dictatorship.Madrid, 1957. Under the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile, tourists and foreign businessmen flood into Spain under the welcoming promise of sunshine and wine... -
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The Watchmaker of Dachau by Carly Schabowski
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSnow falls and a woman prepares for a funeral she has long expected, yet hoped would never come. As she pats her hair and straightens her skirt, she tells herself this isn’t the first time she’s lost someone. Lifting a delicate, battered wristwatch from a little box on her dresser, she presses it to her cheek. Suddenly, she’s lost in memory…January 1945, Dachau, Germany...Categorized as:
family female-mc friendship historical-fiction survival war 20th-century action-adventure -
The Skylark's Secret by Fiona Valpy
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsLoch Ewe, 1940. When gamekeeper’s daughter Flora’s remote highland village finds itself the base for the Royal Navy’s Arctic convoys, life in her close-knit community changes forever. In defiance of his disapproving father, the laird’s son falls in love with Flora, and as tensions build in their disrupted home, any chance of their happiness seems doomed...Categorized as:
drama family female-mc friendship historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure -
The Beantown Girls by Jane Healey
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsAn Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestseller.A novel of love, courage, and danger unfolds as World War II’s brightest heroines—the best of friends—take on the front lines.1944: Fiona Denning has her entire future planned out. She’ll work in city hall, marry her fiancé when he returns from the war, and settle down in the Boston suburbs...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama female-mc friendship historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure -
The Spitfire Girls by Soraya M. Lane
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThree skilled aviators determined to help win the war. Three brave women who know their place is not at home. At the height of World War II, the British Air Transport Auxiliary need help. A group of young women volunteer for action, but the perils of their new job don’t end on the tarmac. Things are tough in the air, but on the ground their abilities as pilots are constantly questioned...Categorized as:
family female-mc friendship historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Girl from the Tea Garden by Janet MacLeod Trotter
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn the dying days of the Raj, Anglo-Indian schoolgirl Adela Robson dreams of a glamorous career on the stage. When she sneaks away from school in the back of handsome Sam Jackman’s car, she knows a new life awaits—but it is not the one she imagined...Categorized as:
boarding-school drama family high-school historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure -
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... -
Girls on the Line by Aimie K. Runyan
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the celebrated author of Daughters of the Night Sky comes a stirring novel inspired by the courage, dedication, and love of the unsung heroines of the Great War. December 1917. As World War I rages in Europe, twenty-four-year-old Ruby Wagner, the jewel in a prominent Philadelphia family, prepares for her upcoming wedding to a society scion... -
Bluebird by Sharon Cameron
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA historical novel, set in postwar New York City.In 1946, Eva leaves behind the rubble of Berlin for the streets of New York City, stepping from the fiery aftermath of one war into another, far colder one, where power is more important than principles, and lies are more plentiful than the truth... -
A Maiden's Voyage by Rosie Goodwin
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThursday's child has far to go . . . 1912, London.Eighteen-year-old Flora Butler is going up in the world. She has the prized position of lady's maid to young Constance Ogilvie, and is able to provide for her beloved parents and four younger siblings. She has even fallen in love, and though she does not feel quite ready to marry the charming Jamie Branning, her future seems clear... -
My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsFrom the New York Times bestselling authors of America’s First Daughter comes the epic story of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton—a revolutionary woman who, like her new nation, struggled to define herself in the wake of war, betrayal, and tragedy...Categorized as:
drama family female-mc historical-fiction realistic war 20th-century action-adventure -
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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 87 ratingsA remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German Occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name.“Treat yourself to this book, please - I can’t recommend it highly enough.” (Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love)“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers... -
The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsThere on her forearm, next to a small brown birthmark, were six tattooed numbers. 'Do you remember me now?' he asked, trembling. She looked at him again, as if giving weight and bone to a ghost. 'Lenka, it's me,' he said. 'Josef. Your husband.' During the last moments of calm in prewar Prague, Lenka, a young art student, falls in love with Josef...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction realistic survival war 20th-century action-adventure -
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThis edition is edited and updated for younger readers (12 and older), and also contains extra materials, including classroom discussion points, additional photos, maps and documents and other educational resources. I tattooed a number on her arm. She tattooed her name on my heart. In 1942, Lale Sokolov arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau...Categorized as:
historical-fiction realistic survival war 20th-century action-adventure book fiction -
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... -
Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsAnne's children were almost grown up, except for pretty, high-spirited Rilla. No one could resist her bright hazel eyes and dazzling smile. Rilla, almost fifteen, can't think any further ahead than going to her very first dance at the Four Winds lighthouse and getting her first kiss from handsome Kenneth Ford... -
The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsRoya, a dreamy, idealistic teenager living amid the political upheaval of 1953 Tehran, finds a literary oasis in kindly Mr. Fakhri’s neighborhood stationery shop, stocked with books and pens and bottles of jewel-colored ink.Then Mr... -
Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsCalling Me Home by Julie Kibler is a soaring debut interweaving the story of a heartbreaking, forbidden love in 1930s Kentucky with an unlikely modern-day friendship. Eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle McAllister has a favor to ask her hairdresser Dorrie Curtis. It's a big one... -
The Poppy Field by Deborah Carr
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratings‘One to Watch’ Good Housekeeping This year marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. Young nurse, Gemma, is struggling with the traumas she has witnessed through her job in the NHS. Needing to escape from it all, Gemma agrees to help renovate a rundown farmhouse in Doullens, France, a town near the Somme... -
The Girls of Pearl Harbor by Soraya M. Lane
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of Wives of War comes a harrowing tale of four brave young nurses whose lives change forever in the wake of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.When Grace, April, and Poppy join the US Army Nurse Corps, they see it as little more than an adventure, one made all the better by their first station: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii... -
What Once Was True: An Irish WW2 Story by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsRobinswood, Co Waterford, 1939. The once grand Irish house is home to two very different families. Despite delusions of grandeur, Lord and Lady Kenefick and their adult children, live a life of decayed opulence as the money needed to keep such a large house and grounds ever dwindles...Categorized as:
family female-mc friendship historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
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A Prince Without a Kingdom by Timothée de Fombelle
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThis was the only treasure that Vango was after: the secret of his life.Vango has been in danger for as long as he can remember. He has spent his life running along rooftops, fleeing to mysterious islands, and abandoning those he loves in order to protect them from the demons of his past. But Vango will not run for much longer...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family friendship high-school historical-fiction war 20th-century 21st-century -
Angels of the Resistance by Noelle Salazar
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratings“Angels of the Resistance brings to life a deadly-effective and deeply moving sisterhood.” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose CodeFrom the bestselling author of The Flight Girls comes a story inspired by true events, about courageous women who risked everything for country, for family, and for each other...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family female-mc friendship historical-fiction survival war 20th-century -
The Flight Girls by Noelle Salazar
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsInspired by the real team of female pilots who trained World War II soldiers, The Flight Girls is a stunning debut novel about friendship and its power to make us soarAudrey Coltrane has always wanted to fly. It's why she implored her father to teach her at the little airfield back home in Texas. It's why she signed up to train military pilots in Hawaii when the war in Europe began...Categorized as:
drama family female-mc friendship historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure -
All the Flowers in Paris: A Novel by Sarah Jio
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTwo women are connected across time by the city of Paris, a mysterious journal, and shocking secrets, sweeping from World War II to the present--for readers of Sarah's Key. When Caroline wakes up in a Paris hospital with no memory of her past, she's confused to learn that she's lived a sad, reclusive life for years in a sprawling apartment on the Seine... -
Blood for Blood by Ryan Graudin
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsThere would be blood. Blood for blood. Blood to pay. An entire world of it.For the resistance in the Third Reich, the war may be over, but the fight has just begun. Death camp survivor Yael, who has the power to skinshift, is on the run: the world has just seen her shoot and kill Hitler. But the truth of what happened is far more complicated, and its consequences are deadly... -
Into the Darkest Day by Kate Hewitt
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsShe had to step outside and hold the paper up to the moonlight to read it, but when she was able to make out the words, her heart felt as if it would drop right out of her chest. Because the message was in German.1944, London:When Lily meets enigmatic GI Matthew in war-torn London, she doesn’t expect to fall in love...
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