Books like 'The Hungry Ghosts'
Readers who enjoyed The Hungry Ghosts by Shyam Selvadurai also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical 20th century lgbtq historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc politics family asian-mc mlm
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The Secrets of the Tea Garden by Janet MacLeod Trotter
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsShe’s gone in search of happy memories. But was her idyllic childhood in India an illusion? After the Second World War, Libby Robson leaves chilly England for India, and the childhood home where she left her heart—and her beloved father, James—fourteen years ago. At first Libby is intoxicated by India’s vibrant beauty: the bustle of Calcutta, the lush tea gardens of Assam... -
![My Tender Matador by Pedro Lemebel]()
My Tender Matador by Pedro Lemebel
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCentered around the 1986 attempt on the life of Augusto Pinochet, an event that changed Chile forever, My Tender Matador is one of the most explosive, controversial, and popular novels to have been published in that country in decades. It is spring 1986 in the city of Santiago, and Augusto Pinochet is losing his grip on power...Categorized as:
historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction mlm poc-mc politics 20th-century 21st-century -
![Perfectly Ordinary People by Nick Alexander]()
Perfectly Ordinary People by Nick Alexander
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn occupied France, two people sacrificed everything. Now their granddaughter has come looking for the truth…Ruth’s childhood was a happy one, and her family—on her mother’s side—large and loving. But her father’s French origins have always remained a mystery. Now, with aged relatives beginning to die, Ruth decides to research her father’s family before it’s too late... -
![Boy Underground by Catherine Ryan Hyde]()
Boy Underground by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDuring WWII, a teenage boy finds his voice, the courage of his convictions, and friends for life in an emotional and uplifting novel by the New York Times and #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author.1941. Steven Katz is the son of prosperous landowners in rural California. Although his parents don’t approve, he’s found true friends in Nick, Suki, and Ollie, sons of field workers... -
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![The Ways of White Folks by Langston Hughes]()
The Ways of White Folks by Langston Hughes
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOne of his best-known works, Hughes wrote The Ways of White Folks while living in Carmel, California. In it, he shares acrid and poignant stories of blacks colliding--sometimes humorously, but often tragically--with whites throughout the 1920s and 1930s...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc politics 20th-century adult anthologies -
![The Orphan's Mother by Marion Kummerow]()
The Orphan's Mother by Marion Kummerow
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratings1945, the German-Polish border: With Nazis on one side and Soviet forces approaching on the other, a mother and her little boy are torn apart, and so begins an unforgettable tale of courage, heartbreak and motherhood in wartime.“If you ever get lost, Jacob, you need to stay where you are and wait, because I’ll come looking for you. And I’ll always find you... -
![Gilding the Lily by Rita Bradshaw]()
Gilding the Lily by Rita Bradshaw
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA heartrending tale of two sisters and their quest for a place to belong, from much-loved author Rita Bradshaw.Lily and Sarah Brown's childhood is an unhappy one. Sarah escapes by marrying Ralph Turner, a Sunderland dock worker, but Lily doesn't trust Ralph - a dark volatile man with a hidden cruel streak. When he tries to seduce Lily on his wedding day, her worst fears are confirmed... -
![The Colours of Love by Rita Bradshaw]()
The Colours of Love by Rita Bradshaw
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCan love survive when all is lost? England is at war, but nothing can dim land girl Esther Wynford's happiness at marrying the love of her life - fighter pilot Monty Grant. Their short honeymoon results in a baby, but on the birth of her daughter, Joy, Esther's world falls apart... -
![On a Wing and a Prayer by Helen Carey]()
On a Wing and a Prayer by Helen Carey
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratings‘This dramatic and poignant novel depicts the resilience of ordinary people caught up in an extraordinary war.Unputdownable!’ Western Telegraph Life is hard in London in 1941, and yet Helen de Burrel finds herself volunteering to join the SOE. Nobody knows that her cool exterior conceals such courage ... and such fear. It also means that love, when it strikes unexpectedly, is doubly dangerous...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book fiction historical -
![Kinfolk by Pearl S. Buck]()
Kinfolk by Pearl S. Buck
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsKinfolk is the story of a Chinese family. Dr. Liang moves to America in search of a better life, but his children long to return to China. Each responds to their new life in China differently, providing rich insight into the struggles between Eastern and Western culture, and the differences between generations...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family politics literary-fiction fiction classics historical 20th-century -
![A Mind at Peace by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar]()
A Mind at Peace by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsLibrarian note: Alternate cover edition of: 9780976395096Set on the eve of World War II, A Mind at Peace captures the anxieties of a Turkish family facing the difficult reality entrenched in the early republic, founded on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire in 1923...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction politics 20th-century adult book classics fiction -
![Early Novels & Stories: Go Tell It on the Mountain / Giovanni’s Room / Another Country / Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin]()
Early Novels & Stories: Go Tell It on the Mountain / Giovanni’s Room / Another Country / Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“The civil rights struggle,” said The New York Times Book Review, “found eloquent expression in [Baldwin’s] novels. His historical importance is indisputable.” Here, in a Library of America volume edited by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, is the fiction that established James Baldwin’s reputation as a writer who fused unblinking realism and rare verbal eloquence... -
![The Secret Diary by Anna Stuart]()
The Secret Diary by Anna Stuart
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsTwo women. One house. And a secret that spans decades…The past merges with the present in an unforgettable, poignant story of love, loss and courage in this beautifully written story set between World War Two and the present day.She steps into the room and it’s like going back in time.Catapulting her right into the heart of the 1940s.The spindle of the record player frozen and ready to play...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book female-mc fiction -
![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 family romance historical 20th-century fiction epic -
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![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 . -
![Margot's Secret by Roberta Kagan]()
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 -
![When the Clouds Go Rolling By by June Francis]()
When the Clouds Go Rolling By by June Francis
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe secrets of the past can never be forgotten An orphaned young woman is overjoyed to find a family she never knew existed, but has to come to terms with their troubled history. Since her parents died Clara O’Toole has lived with her grandmother, Bernie... -
![The Garden of the Departed Cats by Bilge Karasu]()
The Garden of the Departed Cats by Bilge Karasu
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn an ancient Mediterranean city, a tradition is maintained: every ten years an archaic game of human chess is staged, the players (visitors versus locals) bearing weapons. This archaic game, the central event of The Garden of the Departed Cats, may prove as fatal as the deadly attraction our narrator feels for the local man who is the Vizier, or Captain, of the home team...Categorized as:
historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction 20th-century adult book fiction historical -
![The Traveller's Daughter by Michelle Vernal]()
The Traveller's Daughter by Michelle Vernal
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsROSA’S PAST IS HER PANDORA’S BOX, AND THE LID IS ABOUT TO BE LIFTED … ‘If you lie down with dogs you’ll rise with fleas’ – Irish Proverb Rosa Sorenson’s conversation was often peppered with sayings from her homeland. It was these conversational clangers that gave her daughter Kitty the only clue as to a childhood her mother refused to speak of...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book female-mc fiction -
![The Wife Who Risked Everything by Ellie Midwood]()
The Wife Who Risked Everything by Ellie Midwood
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBerlin, 1943: “Where’s your husband?” the SS man demanded.“There’s no one home,” Margot said before they started tearing the place apart. “I’m alone here.” In his eyes was nothing but ice and death, and it occurred to Margot that only she stood between her husband and the soldier’s machine gun.In Nazi Germany, Margot refuses to buckle under the weight of Hitler’s tyranny...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction politics 20th-century adult book espionage -
![1921: The Great Novel of the Irish Civil War by Morgan Llywelyn]()
1921: The Great Novel of the Irish Civil War by Morgan Llywelyn
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Irish fight for independence is one of the most captivating tales of the twentieth century. Morgan Llywelyn, the acclaimed historical writer of books like Lion of Ireland, Bard and The Horse Goddess , is the writer born to bring this epic battle to life...Categorized as:
historical-fiction politics literary-fiction fiction historical war 20th-century audiobook -
![Woesten by Kris Van Steenberge]()
Woesten by Kris Van Steenberge
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsHet indringende debuut van Kris Van Steenberge brengt ons naar de Vlaamse klei, waar de negentiende eeuw ten einde loopt. In het dorp Woesten treedt Elisabeth, dochter van de smid, in het huwelijk met de jonge arts Guillaume Duponselle. Maar er rust geen zegen op hun verbintenis. Als Elisabeth acht maanden later van een tweeling bevalt, blijkt de eerstgeborene een prachtige zoon, Valentijn... -
![Missing Soluch by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi]()
Missing Soluch by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPerhaps the most important work in modern Iranian literature, this starkly beautiful novel examines the trials of an impoverished woman and her children living in a remote village in Iran, after the unexplained disappearance of her husband, Soluch.Lyrical yet unsparing, the novel examines her life as she contends with the political corruption, authoritarianism, and poverty of the village...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction politics 20th-century adult audiobook book fiction -
![Properties of Thirst by Marianne Wiggins]()
Properties of Thirst by Marianne Wiggins
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA National BestsellerA New Yorker Best Book of 2022Fifteen years after the publication of Evidence of Things Unseen , National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist Marianne Wiggins returns with a “big, bold book” ( USA TODAY ) destined to be an American classic: a sweeping masterwork set during World War II about the meaning of family and the limitations of the American Dream... -
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![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... -
![Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe]()
Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratings"This is book club fiction at its finest!" —Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author From New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe comes her highly anticipated Where the Rivers Merge, the first of two epic and triumphant novels celebrating one intrepid woman's life across multiple generations in the American South...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family literary-fiction romantic-love fiction audiobook historical coming-of-age -
![Into the Burning Dawn: Heartbreaking and gripping World War 2 historical fiction set in Italy by Natalie Meg Evans]()
Into the Burning Dawn: Heartbreaking and gripping World War 2 historical fiction set in Italy by Natalie Meg Evans
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn the terrace courtyard of the palazzo overlooking a sparkling bay, the scent of ripening lemons filled the air. His deep brown eyes gazed into hers with determination and longing. ‘Will you do it? Risk everything and join us?’Twenty-one-year-old Imogen Fitzgerald was raised in an English orphanage and never knew her parents... -
![As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories by Alistair MacLeod]()
As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories by Alistair MacLeod
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe superbly crafted stories collected in Alistair MacLeod’s As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories depict men and women acting out their “own peculiar mortality” against the haunting landscape of Cape Breton Island... -
![The Cake Tree in the Ruins by Akiyuki Nosaka]()
The Cake Tree in the Ruins by Akiyuki Nosaka
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIntensely moving stories that tell of the absurd violence of war, and tenderly depict the animals and children caught in its vortex.In 1945, Akiyuki Nosaka watched the Allied firebombing of Kobe kill his adoptive parents, and then witnessed his sister starving to death...Categorized as:
asian-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc 20th-century adult anthologies fiction -
![Lost Angel by Kitty Neale]()
Lost Angel by Kitty Neale
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsHope never dies… The dramatic new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of NOBODY’S GIRL.DesperateWithout any possessions or even a home, Hilda Stone and her 14-year-old daughter Ellen are desperate for a miracle... -
![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... -
![Almonds and Raisins by Maisie Mosco]()
Almonds and Raisins by Maisie Mosco
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe first in a trilogy about a Jewish family who flee Eastern Europe in the early 20th century and settle in Manchester, England. In the cold world of Manchester in 1905 the family Sandberg found the good things of life scarce and the hardships bitter as the chill northern winds. Sarah, the mother. A born survivor stranded in a land of strangers by the vicious tides of persecution... -
![This Is How It Begins by Joan Dempsey]()
This Is How It Begins by Joan Dempsey
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratings“In a time when religious liberty is on trial, This Is How It Begins is an extraordinarily pertinent novel dripping in suspense and powerful scenes of political discourse . . . a must read . . .” —Foreword (starred review)A woman bearing a thorny secret. A man fighting for religious freedom. A battle neither saw coming. Massachusetts, 2009. Ludka Zeilonka is relishing her emeritus status... -
![A True Novel by Minae Mizumura, Juliet Winters Carpenter]()
A True Novel by Minae Mizumura, Juliet Winters Carpenter
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA remaking of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights set in postwar Japan A True Novel begins in New York in the 1960s, where we meet Taro, a relentlessly ambitious Japanese immigrant trying to make his fortune...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc 20th-century 21st-century adult book -
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![The Family Moskat by Isaac Bashevis Singer]()
The Family Moskat by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe vanished way of life of Eastern European Jews in the early part of the twentieth century is the subject of this extraordinary novel. All the strata of this complex society were populated by powerfully individual personalities, and the whole community pulsated with life and vitality... -
![The Lilac People by Milo Todd]()
The Lilac People by Milo Todd
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFor readers of All the Light We Cannot See and In Memoriam, a moving and deeply humane story about a trans man who must relinquish the freedoms of prewar Berlin to survive first the Nazis then the Allies while protecting the ones he loves. In 1932 Berlin, Bertie, a trans man, and his friends spend carefree nights at the Eldorado Club, the epicenter of Berlin's thriving queer community... -
![Mother's Boy by Patrick Gale]()
Mother's Boy by Patrick Gale
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratings'Tender, evocative' TLS'Richly engaging' SpectatorA Radio 4 Serial Fiction Book of the Week'A characteristically tender novel about a young man growing up in the shadow of one war and the whispers of the next' Observer'A wonderful novel about relationships, particularly between a mother and son... -
![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 Pursuit of Happiness by Douglas Kennedy]()
The Pursuit of Happiness by Douglas Kennedy
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsManhattan, Thanksgiving Eve, 1945. The war was over, and Eric Smythe's party was in full swing. All his clever Greenwich Village friends were there. So too was his sister Sara -- an independent, canny young woman, starting to make her way in the big city. And then in walked a gatecrasher, Jack Malone -- a U. S...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction politics 20th-century 21st-century adult book -
![News from the Empire by Fernando del Paso]()
News from the Empire by Fernando del Paso
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOne of the acknowledged masterpieces of Mexican literature, Fernando del Paso's News from the Empire is a powerful and encyclopedic novel of the tragic lives of Maximilian and his wife, Carlota, the short-lived Emperor and Empress of Mexico...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction politics fiction historical 20th-century book adult -
![The Fig Orchard by Layla Fiske]()
The Fig Orchard by Layla Fiske
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe unforgettable story of a woman splintered by war and cultural mores, desperately struggling to hold her family together, THE FIG ORCHARD is a rich, compelling epic of love, heroism, family and empowerment... -
![Memory Board by Jane Rule]()
Memory Board by Jane Rule
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFor forty years David Crown has kept his twin sister Diana a secret. Until his wife's death, not even his children -- Diana's nieces and nephews -- have known about Diana and her lifetime companion Constance. But now David seeks to bridge over those years and recapture the closeness of childhood, to become part of Diana's life, to have her be a major part of his... -
![Buddies by Ethan Mordden]()
Buddies by Ethan Mordden
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratings"What unites us, all of us, surely is brotherhood, a sense that our friendships are historic, designed to hold Stonewall together," muses on character in Ethan Mordden's Buddies. This need for friendship, for nonerotic affection, for buddies, shines forth as an American obsession from Moby-Dick through Of Mice and Men to The Sting... -
![Palace of Tears by Anna King]()
Palace of Tears by Anna King
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen Emily Ford’s kindly employers decide to escape the Zeppelin raids that bedevil Hackney in 1916, the pretty housemaid is delighted to return to her parents for an unexpected break.But the holiday proves anything but peaceful...Categorized as:
romantic-love literary-fiction historical-fiction family fiction historical drama war -
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![The Less You Know The Sounder You Sleep by Juliet Butler]()
The Less You Know The Sounder You Sleep by Juliet Butler
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBased on a true story, The Less You Know the Sounder You Sleep is a tale of survival and self-determination, innocence and lies.‘We’re waiting. I squeeze my eyes shut and dig my fingers into Masha’s neck where I’m holding her. She digs hers into mine. The curtains slowly open. I can’t see anything because the spotlight is on us, bright as anything and blinding me, but I can hear the gasp go up...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction politics 20th-century adult book classics -
![I Been in Sorrow's Kitchen and Licked Out All the Pots by Susan Straight]()
I Been in Sorrow's Kitchen and Licked Out All the Pots by Susan Straight
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBeginning in the late 1950s, this novel tells the story of Marietta Cook, a tall girl growing up in Pine Gardens, a Gullah-speaking village in South Carolina. When Marietta's mother dies, she heads to Charleston in search of her uncle - only to find a lover and return pregnant with twins two years later... -
![Passage West by Rishi Reddi]()
Passage West by Rishi Reddi
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA Recommended Book from BookRiot, Bustle, The Millions and Teen Vogue A Los Angeles Times BEST CALIFORNIA BOOK of 2020 * A New England Independent Booksellers' 2020 NEW ENGLAND BOOK AWARD FINALISTA sweeping, vibrant first novel following a family of Indian sharecroppers at the onset of World War I, revealing a little-known part of California history1914: Ram Singh arrives in the Imperial Valley... -
![The Manor by Isaac Bashevis Singer]()
The Manor by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis novel portrays the difficulties encountered by traditionalist Jews coming to terms with the social changes that rocked Poland in the late 19th century. The central figure of the novel is Calman Jacoby, who stands between the old and the new, unable to embrace either whole-heartedly...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction family fiction classics historical 20th-century book -
![Four Meals by Meir Shalev]()
Four Meals by Meir Shalev
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom the author of the critically acclaimed A Pigeon and a Boy, the extraordinary story of Zayde, his enigmatic mother Judith, and her three loversWhen Judith arrives in a small, rural village in Palestine in the early 1930s, three men compete for her attention: Globerman, the cunning, coarse cattle-dealer who loves women, money, and flesh; Jacob, owner of hundreds of canaries and host to the...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction mlm romantic-love 20th-century adult audiobook -
![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:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook book fiction
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