Books like 'Bowlaway'
Readers who enjoyed Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical mystery historical-fiction literary-fiction family magical-realism humor epic
-
The Trouble With Secrets: The Kilteegan Bridge Story by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsKilteegan Bridge, County Cork 1958For eighteen year old Lena Mullery, life is predictable and dull. A future of hard work, marriage to a local boy, and a family of her own one day is all she has to look forward to. People from her background know not to expect too much, but Lena yearns for something different.Malachy Berger was different, for him, the world is at his feet... -
Last Port of Call by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsQueenstown, County Cork, IrelandApril 1912Twelve-year-old Harp Delaney is an unusual child, quiet and intelligent far beyond her years. She would rather spend her days in the library of the grand Georgian house that she sees as her home than playing on the streets with other children.Her mother, Rose, is the reserved and ladylike housekeeper at the Cliff House...Categorized as:
epic family historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book british-isles -
Sheltering Angel: A Novel Based on a True Story of the Titanic by Louella Bryant
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratings"Sheltering Angel tells the true story of several lesser-known individuals whose lives were impacted by the Titanic disaster. The stories of Cumings, Cunningham, Siebert and the others are engrossing, and Bryant's passion for the source material shines through on every page... -
An Unexpected Frost by David Johnson
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn the second installment of the gripping Tucker’s Way series, Tucker faces the biggest crisis of her life.Tucker has finally overcome a lifelong fear of trusting others and let her kind neighbor, Ella, into her heart... -
-
Life With Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIt is old Bertie Wooster's habit to land in the soup from time to time. To get into a spot of bother. Circumstances, aided and abetted by Aunt Agatha, Aunt Dahlia, Bingo Little, Tuppy, Sippy and others, seem to conspire against him, and a frightful muddle ensues.Enter Jeeves, the source of all solace. Jeeves of the infinite sagacity...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies classics comedy -
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:
epic family historical-fiction humor literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century action-adventure -
The One Impossible Labyrinth by Matthew Reilly
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsTHE END IS HEREJack West Jr has made it to the Supreme Labyrinth.Now he faces one last race-against multiple rivals, against time, against the collapse of the universe itself-a headlong race that will end at a throne inside the fabled labyrinth.AN IMPOSSIBLE MAZEBut the road will be hard.For this is a maze like no other: a maze of mazes. Uncompromising and complex. Demanding and deadly... -
The Incredible Winston Browne by Sean Dietrich
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBeloved writer Sean Dietrich—also known as Sean of the South—will warm your heart with this rich and nostalgic tale of a small-town sheriff, a mysterious little girl, and a good-hearted community pulling together to help her.Folks in Moab live for ice cream socials, baseball, and the local paper’s weekly gossip column... -
The Promise by Michelle Vernal
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA wonderfully heartwarming, touching and romantic story - Tammy Robinson Author of Differently Normal Two women from different generations brought together by another’s wrongdoing. When British backpacker, Isabel Stark happens across a car accident on a lonely stretch of road in the South Island of New Zealand her life changes forever...Categorized as:
historical-fiction epic literary-fiction humor romance historical 20th-century fiction -
The Memory Tree by Linda Gillard
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsCan the power of love overcome life’s darkest memories and deepest losses? When her favourite beech tree is felled in a storm, Ann feels as if someone has died. But when long-hidden seed packets are found inside the trunk, Ann realises there are more memories than her own lurking within the ancient tree . . -
This Bitter Earth by Bernice L. McFadden
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn This Bitter Earth, Sugar Lacey is on her way out of Bigelow, Arkansas, where she’d come to break with the past. With her worn leopard-print suitcase and her head held high, she walks past the prying eyes of its small-minded, cruel-hearted townsfolk, praying for the strength to keep going. She doesn’t stop until she arrives at her childhood home in Short Junction... -
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods, Evie Gaughan
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOn a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found…For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magical-realism epic literary-fiction family romance fantasy fiction -
An Echo in Time by Boo Walker
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA woman delves into a centuries-old murder to find the truth behind her self-destructive behavior in a powerful novel about love, loss, and healing by the bestselling author of An Unfinished Story and The Stars Don’t Lie.Unable to catch a break in life or love as she approaches thirty, Charli Thurman sees red lights at every crossroads...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magical-realism family romance fiction mystery historical audiobook -
A Valley Secret by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe second book in the brand new Backshaw Moss series from million-copy bestseller Anna JacobsLancashire, 1930s. When her mother dies, leaving her an old sewing box and a clue to her father's identity, 22-year-old Maisie Bassett is determined to make a fresh start.Changing her name and moving to the small town of Rivenshaw, she finds a respectable job in a grocery store... -
-
Blue Horizon by Wilbur Smith
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFollowing on from Monsoon the next generation of Courtneys are out to stake their claim in South Africa. The journey they make takes them through the untouched wilderness of a beautiful land filled with warring tribes and dangerous animals... -
Lady Osbaldestone and the Missing Christmas Carols by Stephanie Laurens
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratings#1 NYT-bestselling author Stephanie Laurens brings you a heartwarming tale of a long-ago country-village Christmas, a grandmother, three eager grandchildren, one moody teenage granddaughter, an earnest young lady, a gentleman in hiding, and an elusive book of Christmas carols... -
The Lost Daughter by Iris Cole
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsClary only wanted to find her mother. She couldn’t know the terrible price she would pay.Clary’s home is the foundling hospital where she has lived since birth. When a terrible tragedy occurs, Clary is blamed and thrown to the streets with her only possession - a token, left by her birth mother... -
Dovetail by Karen McQuestion
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of Hello Love comes a spellbinding new novel of enduring love, family secrets, and mysterious death.Joe Arneson’s ordinary life is upended by troubling dreams of himself as a different man in another place and time. It isn’t until he visits his estranged grandmother, Pearl, in her Wisconsin hometown that a startling connection emerges...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism adult audiobook book female-mc -
The Girl from Ballymor by Kathleen McGurl
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhat would you sacrifice for your children?Ballymor, Ireland, 1847As famine grips the country Kitty McCarthy is left widowed and alone. Fighting to keep her two remaining children alive against all odds, Kitty must decide how far she will go to save her family... -
Uncle Dynamite by P.G. Wodehouse
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom boyhood his has been a gay and happy disposition, and in the autumn of his life he still retains the fresh, unspoiled mental outlook of a slightly inebriated undergraduate.A keen matchmaker and intrepid impersonator, Lord Ickenham is in his element when at large on a sweetness-and-light-spreading excursion... -
The Vanishing of Margaret Small by Neil Alexander
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsMeet Margaret Small: 75, plain spoken and a Cilla Black super fan. Shortly after the death of her idol, Margaret begins receiving sums of money in the post, signed simply 'C'...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family literary-fiction fiction mystery audiobook mental-illness historical -
A Family Affair by Mary Jane Staples
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratings1926 was the year of the General Strike, but Adams Enterprises, under the wily management of Sammy Adams, youngest entrepreneur in Walworth and Lambeth, was doing very well. All the Adams brothers worked in the business, and so did two of the wives, Emily and Susie. There was just one dark cloud on the horizon - the impending trial of Gerald Ponsonby... -
On Mother Brown's Doorstep by Mary Jane Staples
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe big event of the Walworth year was to be the wedding of Sammy Adams, King of Camberwell, to Miss Susie Brown. Everyone was looking forward to it, and Susie was particularly overjoyed when her soldier brother suddenly turned up on leave from service in India in time for the approaching 'knees-up'... -
Margot's Secret by Roberta Kagan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAmid the chaos of Hitler's conquest of Europe, a family teeters on the edge of utter destruction.Trudy is still obsessed with her sister's husband, Max. But Max is torn between his loyalty to his wife, Margot, and giving in to Trudy, who might turn him in for the murder of her husband, the SS officer Rudolph...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family literary-fiction ww2 mystery historical fiction 20th-century -
-
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom the New York Times bestselling author of Long Bright River, an immersive, propulsive novel about a missing child whose disappearance sends equal shockwaves through three very different worlds—an opulent Adirondack summer estate, the rustic teen summer camp that operates in its shadow, and the blue-collar community that serves them both... -
Gullah Secrets by Susan Gabriel
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA family legacy in danger. A stranger in their midst. Do they have the strength to survive the gathering storm of secrets? For the Temple women, the winds of change are blowing. And if they’re not careful, it could sweep them all away…After rising from Temple servant to tea shop owner, Violet finally feels in charge of her destiny...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor literary-fiction magical-realism adult black-mc book female-mc -
The Butterfly Room by Lucinda Riley
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsPosy Montague is approaching her seventieth birthday. Still living in her beautiful family home, Admiral House, set in the glorious Suffolk countryside where she spent her own idyllic childhood catching butterflies with her beloved father, and raised her own children, Posy knows she must make an agonising decision... -
Return to Thrush Green by Miss Read
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIt's Spring again in the village of Thrush Green and with the changing season comes change for many of the villagers... -
The Fourth Daughter by Lyn Liao Butler
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn Taiwan, the bond between grandmother and granddaughter opens up a healing world for them both in an inspiring family saga about the comfort of food, untold histories, and indomitable mother love.Chef Liv Kuo’s star is on the rise…until a traumatic incident leaves her emotionally unable to venture outside her Manhattan apartment...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family literary-fiction romance fiction mystery historical audiobook -
The Drowned Village by Kathleen McGurl
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsBeneath the surface lie forgotten secrets… A village destroyed It’s the summer of 1935 and eleven-year-old Stella Walker is preparing to leave her home forever. Forced to evacuate to make way for a new reservoir, the village of Brackendale Green will soon be lost. But before the water has even reached them, a dreadful event threatens to tear Stella’s family apart... -
The Only Way Home by Jeanette Minniti
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWinner of the 2022 Colorado Authors League 1st Place Award in Historical Fiction!Desperate times. Danger on the rails. A journey to save a family.It is 1933 inside a sweltering courtroom in Macon, Georgia. Fifteen-year-old Robert sits on a bench awaiting sentencing after being picked up for vagrancy and spending a night in jail...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family literary-fiction fiction historical audiobook mystery romantic-love -
Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit by P.G. Wodehouse
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen Bertie Wooster goes to stay with his Aunt Dahlia at Brinkley Court and finds himself engaged to the imperious Lady Florence Craye, disaster threatens from all sides... -
The Bell in the Lake by Lars Mytting
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe engrossing epic novel—a #1 bestseller in Norway-of a young woman whose fate plays out against her village’s mystical church bells As long as people could remember, the stave church’s bells had rung over the isolated village of Butangen, Norway. Cast in memory of conjoined twins, the bells are said to ring on their own in times of danger...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism action-adventure adult audiobook book -
The Potato Factory by Bryce Courtenay
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIkey Solomon is very successful indeed, in the art of thieving. Ikey's partner in crime is his mistress, the forthright Mary Abacus, until misfortune befalls them. They are parted and each must make the harsh journey from 19th century London to Van Diemens Land. In the backstreets and dives of Hobart Town, Mary learns the art of brewing and builds The Potato Factory, where she plans a new future...Categorized as:
epic family historical-fiction literary-fiction action-adventure adult audiobook book -
-
A Well-Tempered Heart by Jan-Philipp Sendker
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe sequel to the international best-selling novel The Art of Hearing Heartbeats Almost ten years have passed since Julia Win came back from Burma, her father’s native country. Though she is a successful Manhattan lawyer, her private life is at a crossroads; her boyfriend recently left her, she has suffered a miscarriage, and she is, despite her wealth, unhappy with her professional life...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism action-adventure adult audiobook book -
Down Lambeth Way by Mary Jane Staples
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe beginning of a wonderful saga telling the story of a Cockney family in peace and war from multi-million copy seller Mary Jane Staples. Perfect for fans of Kitty Neale, Maggie Ford and Katie Flynn... -
Always Believe in Love by Maureen Driscoll
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom the author of the Kellington series of Regency romances, comes the fourth book in the Emerson saga. Nicholas Chilcott is the Earl of Layton, though his biological father was actually the late Earl of Ridgeway. When Nick's cousin Simon challenges him for the title, Nick must travel to the coastal village of Weymouth to uncover secrets from the past... -
Rachel's Legacy by Julie Thomas
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe much anticipated sequel to The Keeper of Secrets, following the fortunes of the Horowitz family from pre-war Berlin to the present. When Dr Kobi Voight is given a set of old letters by his mother he has no inkling that they will lead him around the world and deep into the tragic past of his family... -
The Promise of Rain by Vasundra Tailor
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA treasured necklace that could unlock a family mystery. But why has it been hidden away for sixty years?With her thirtieth birthday on the horizon, Anna Kotze has accepted that there are some family secrets she’ll never know. While her mother’s Zimbabwean roots are woven into her life, all her father will say is that he was adopted... -
The Mercy Seat by Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA breakout novel by “a bitingly intelligent writer” (New York Times Book Review) set during the hours leading up to the scheduled execution of a young black man for the alleged rape of a white woman in a small Louisiana town in 1943.“One of the finest writers of her generation” (Brad Watson), and author of three previously acclaimed novels, Elizabeth H... -
Ruby Flynn by Nadine Dorries
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe darkest sin casts the longest shadow. . . Ruby Flynn, set in Ireland and Liverpool, is the enthralling story of a family haunted by ancient wrongs. The FitzDeanes are wealthy. They have Ballyford Castle in Ireland and a growing shipping business in Liverpool. But Lady FitzDeane is unable to provide an heir. All of her five boys have died in infancy... -
The Wheel of Fortune by Susan Howatch
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsOxmoon, the rambling old mansion on a sprawling estate in Wales, has been for generations, the dream, the downfall, and the destiny of the wealthy Godwin family... -
A Season in Purgatory by Dominick Dunne
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThey were the family with everything. Money. Influence. Glamour. Power. The power to halt a police investigation in its tracks. The power to spin a story, concoct a lie, and believe it was the truth. The power to murder without guilt, without shame, and without ever paying the price. America's royalty, they called the Bradleys. But an outsider refuses to play his part... -
Sins of the Fathers by Susan Howatch
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFull of fascinating dialogue, surprising twists of plot, and well-developed, memorable characters, a stunningly successful work of fiction. NASHVILLE BANNERThis is the tumultuous novel of men and women pitted against a world of wealth, power, and privilege..Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook book fiction -
-
In a Field of Blue by Gemma Liviero
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of The Road Beyond Ruin comes a novel about a family torn apart by grief and secrets, then pulled back together by hope in the wake of World War I.England 1922. It’s been four years since Rudy’s brother Edgar went missing in war-torn France. Still deep in mourning and grappling with unanswered questions, Rudy and his mother struggle to move on... -
The Tour by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsEvery week Conor O'Shea collects a new group of american visitors from Shannon Airport from where they embark on a high end tour of 'The Real Ireland'. But this particular tour with its cast of unintentionally hilarous characters leaves seasoned tour guide Conor speechless for the first time in his life...Categorized as:
epic family historical-fiction humor literary-fiction action-adventure adult audiobook -
Storytellers by Bjørn Larssen
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn March 1920 Icelandic days are short and cold, but the nights are long. For most, on those nights, funny, sad, and dramatic stories are told around the fire. But there is nothing dramatic about Gunnar, a hermit blacksmith who barely manages to make ends meet. He knows nobody will remember his existence – they already don’t... -
The Fledgling by Elizabeth Cadell
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsVitorina's escort from Lisbon to London wore a cloak of respectability which convinced the child's father and aunts, but even before the ten-year-old girl had made her disconcerting discovery of his theft from the rich, private chapel of her home, she had begun to take his measure. Circumstances, plus some contrivance on her own part, enabled the youngster to shake him off...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction humor book coming-of-age fiction historical law-enforcement -
The Day Will Come by Beryl Matthews
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLondon, 1940. The war is raging across Europe and twenty-three-year-old Grace is devastated by the loss of her husband, Brian, at Dunkirk after only a year of marriage. Her secretary job at a law firm keeps her mind from dwelling on her sorrow but when her boss, James, enlists in the air force Grace is left without work... -
Sweet Wattle Creek by Kaye Dobbie
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe chance discovery of an antique wedding dress weaves together the fascinating stories of three women from different eras: Sophie, in hiding from a troubled past; Belle, who must lose everything to learn what really matters; and Martha, forced to give up those she loves in order to avoid exposure...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.