Books like 'Black Cake'
Readers who enjoyed Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
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The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsThe bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s AmericaIn June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the work farm where he has just served a year for involuntary manslaughter...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america realistic urban -
The Pearl Sister by Lucinda Riley
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsFrom the breathtaking beaches of Thailand to the barely tamed wilds of colonial Australia, The Pearl Sister is the next captivating story in New York Times bestselling author Lucinda Riley’s epic series about two women searching for a place to call home.CeCe D’Aplièse has always felt like an outcast...Categorized as:
drama family female-mc historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction realistic action-adventure -
The Attic Child by Lola Jaye
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA hauntingly powerful and emotionally charged novel about family secrets, love and loss, identity and belonging.Two children trapped in the same attic, almost a century apart, bound by a shared secret. Early 1900s Taken from his homeland, twelve-year-old Celestine spends most of the time locked away in the attic of a large house by the sea...Categorized as:
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The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 81 ratingsFrom The New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white.The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family female-mc grief historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction -
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The Paper Bracelet by Rachael English
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEvery baby's bracelet held a mother's secret... Inspired by heartrending real events, the gripping new novel from No. 1 bestselling author Rachael English. Readers of Diane Chamberlain and Kathryn Hughes will love this book. 'A true storyteller who keeps you turning the pages' Cathy Kelly For almost fifty years, Katie Carroll has kept a box tucked away inside her wardrobe... -
The Second Life of Mirielle West by Amanda Skenandore
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsIn an intoxicating story of resilience, repulsion, and the Roaring 20’s, the glamorous world of a silent film star’s wife abruptly crumbles when she’s forcibly quarantined at America’s only leper colony in Carville, Louisiana…Based on the little-known true story of America’s only leper colony, The Second Life of Mirielle West by RUSA Award-winning author Amanda Skenandore brings vividly to life...Categorized as:
california drama female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america urban usa -
Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsThe author of A Bridge Across the Ocean and The Last Year of the War journeys from the present day to World War II England, as two sisters are separated by the chaos of wartime...Current day, Oxford, England...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama england family female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic -
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 Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThe new novel from the bestselling, National Book Award-winning, Oprah Book Club-picked, Barack Obama favourite James McBride.In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well...Categorized as:
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The Arsonists' City by Hala Alyan
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"Feels revolutionary in its freshness." --Entertainment Weekly"The Arsonists' City delivers all the pleasures of a good old-fashioned saga, but in Alyan's hands, one family's tale becomes the story of a nation--Lebanon and Syria, yes, but also the United States. It's the kind of book we are lucky to have...Categorized as:
drama family grief historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction poc-mc action-adventure -
Smiling at Heaven by Karen J. Hasley
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn the fall of 1919, Thea Hansen’s world seems to spiral out of control. First, her dearly loved father dies suddenly from the influenza epidemic sweeping across the globe. Then her brother, Lloyd, returns from The Great War transformed into a brooding stranger. Could it get any worse? Yes, indeed... -
The Lost Girls of Devon by Barbara O'Neal
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIt’s been years since Zoe Fairchild has been to the small Devon village of her birth, but the wounds she suffered there still ache. When she learns that her old friend and grandmother’s caretaker has gone missing, Zoe and her fifteen-year-old daughter return to England to help.Zoe dreads seeing her estranged mother, who left when Zoe was seven to travel the world...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic thriller -
Between Earth and Sky by Amanda Skenandore
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsOn a quiet Philadelphia morning in 1906, a newspaper headline catapults Alma Mitchell back to her past. A federal agent is dead, and the murder suspect is Alma’s childhood friend, Harry Muskrat. Harry—or Asku, as Alma knew him—was the most promising student at the “savage-taming” boarding school run by her father, where Alma was the only white pupil...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america poc-mc urban usa -
The Moonshiner's Daughter by Donna Everhart
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPublisher's Weekly STARRED REVIEWBooklist STARRED REVIEWSouthern Literary Review January 2020 Book of the MonthGoodreads Most Popular Releases for December 2019MaryJane'sFarm Book Club PickSheReads Most Anticipated Women's Fiction 2020Southern Lady Book Club Pick for FebruarySet in North Carolina in 1960 and brimming with authenticity and grit, The Moonshiner's Daughter evokes the singular life...Categorized as:
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Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsAn “evocative, sensitive, and compelling novel” (Delia Owens, New York Times bestselling author of Where the Crawdads Sing) that explores the deadly consequences of a love triangle in an English farming village as dangerous secrets from the past resurface—perfect for fans of The Paper Palace and Where the Crawdads Sing.“The farmer is dead. He is dead and all anyone wants to know is who killed him... -
The Quarry Girls by Jess Lourey
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsMinnesota, 1977. For the teens of one close-knit community, summer means late-night swimming parties at the quarry, the county fair, and venturing into the tunnels beneath the city. But for two best friends, it’s not all fun and games.Heather and Brenda have a secret. Something they saw in the dark. Something they can’t forget. They’ve decided to never tell a soul...Categorized as:
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A Splendid Ruin by Megan Chance
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA spellbinding novel of dark family secrets and a young woman’s rise and revenge set against the backdrop of the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake.The eve of destruction. After her mother’s death, penniless May Kimble lives a lonely life until an aunt she didn’t know existed summons her to San Francisco. There she’s welcomed into the wealthy Sullivan family and their social circle...Categorized as:
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The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsSet in 1920s Mississippi, this debut Southern novel weaves a beautiful and harrowing story of two teenage girls cast in an unlikely partnership through murder—perfect for readers of Where the Crawdads Sing and If the Creek Don't Rise.Ada promised herself she would never go back to the Trace, to her hard life on the swamp and her harsh father...Categorized as:
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The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA haunting, epic novel about betrayal, revenge, and redemption that follows three generations of Russian women, from the 1917 revolution to the last days of the Soviet Union, and the enduring love story at the center.In a faraway kingdom, in a long-ago land... .. -
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...Categorized as:
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Clover Blue by Eldonna Edwards
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsSet against the backdrop of a 1970s commune in Northern California, Clover Blue is a compelling, beautifully written story of a young boy's search for identity. There are many things twelve-year-old Clover Blue isn't sure of: his exact date of birth, his name before he was adopted into the Saffron Freedom Community, or who his first parents were...Categorized as:
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The Commandant's Daughter by Catherine Hokin
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratings1933, Berlin. Ten-year-old Hanni Foss stands by her father’s side watching the torchlit procession to celebrate Adolf Hitler as Germany’s new leader. As the lights fade, she knows her safe and happy childhood is about to change forever. Practically overnight, the father she adores becomes unrecognisable, lost to his ruthless ambition to oversee an infamous concentration camp…Twelve years later...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult -
Nell and Lady by Ashley Farley
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA heart-stirring novel of family and forgiveness from bestselling author Ashley Farley. In her grand home in Charleston, Willa Bellemore raised two girls during the tumultuous 1970s. One was her daughter, Lady. The other was Lady’s best friend, Nell—adopted after the sudden, heartbreaking death of her mother, the Bellemores’ beloved maid... -
The Crooked Branch by Jeanine Cummins
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the national bestselling and highly acclaimed author of The Outside Boy comes the deeply moving story of two mothers—witty, self-deprecating Majella, who is shocked by her entry into motherhood in modern-day New York, and her ancestor, tough and terrified Ginny Doyle, whose battles are more fundamental: she must keep her young family alive during Ireland’s Great Famine... -
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The Time Between by Karen White
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA stunning new novel of betrayal and forgiveness from The New York Times bestselling author.Thirty-four-year-old Eleanor Murray is consumed with guilt for causing the accident that paralyzed her sister—and for falling in love with her sister’s husband... -
The Italian Girl by Lucinda Riley
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsRosanna Menici is just eleven years old when she meets Roberto Rossini, the man who will change her life forever. In the years to come, their destinies are bound together by their extraordinary talents as opera singers and by their enduring but obsessive love for each other - a love that will ultimately affect the lives of all those closest to them... -
A Tangled Mercy by Joy Jordan-Lake
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTold in alternating tales at once haunting and redemptive, A Tangled Mercy is a quintessentially American epic rooted in heartbreaking true events examining the harrowing depths of human brutality and betrayal, and our enduring hope for freedom and forgiveness... -
The Pecan Man by Cassie Dandridge Selleck
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe Pecan Man is a work of Southern fiction whose first chapter was the First Place winner of the 2006 CNW/FFWA Florida State Writing Competition in the Unpublished Novel category.In the summer of 1976, recently widowed and childless, Ora Lee Beckworth hires a homeless old black man to mow her lawn... -
The Marriage Portrait: A novel by Maggie O'Farrell
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsREESE’S BOOK CLUB DECEMBER PICK • NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • The author of award-winning Hamnet brings the world of Renaissance Italy to jewel-bright life in this unforgettable fictional portrait of the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de' Medici as she makes her way in a troubled court.“I could not stop reading this incredible true story...Categorized as:
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Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt, Кэрол Рифка Брант
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsIn this striking literary debut, Carol Rifka Brunt unfolds a moving story of love, grief, and renewal as two lonely people become the unlikeliest of friends and find that sometimes you don't know you've lost someone until you've found them. 1987. There's only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that's her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family female-mc grief historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction -
The Girls We Sent Away by Meagan Church
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA searing book club read for fans of Ellen Marie Wiseman and The Girls with No Names set in the Baby Scoop Era of 1960s and the women of a certain condition swept up in a dark history.It's the 1960s and Lorraine Delford has it all – an upstanding family, a perfect boyfriend, and a white picket fence home in North Carolina...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family female-mc literary-fiction historical fiction audiobook mystery -
Queen of Clubs by Beezy Marsh
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLondon, 1957: After rising up against gangland’s queen, Alice Diamond, formerly downtrodden Nell is living the perfect life of crime. Far from the East End slums where she was raised, she’s now an accomplished professional thief by day—lifting luxury goods from high-end department stores—and a glamorous nightclub owner after dark...Categorized as:
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The Sleeping Dictionary by Sujata Massey
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom an award-winning novelist, a stunning portrait of late Raj India—a sweeping saga and a love story set against a background of huge political and cultural upheaval.YOU ASK FOR MY NAME, THE REAL ONE, AND I CANNOT TELL. IT IS NOT FOR LACK OF EFFORT. In 1930, a great ocean wave blots out a Bengali village, leaving only one survivor, a young girl...Categorized as:
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Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn award-winning author makes her fiction debut with the coming-of-age story of three young black children during the Atlanta child murders of 1979.Its summer in Atlanta and black children are disappearing. By the time the heinous killing spree is over, 29 will be dead...Categorized as:
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The Good Dream by Donna VanLiere
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn this full-length novel from the New York Times Bestselling author of The Christmas Hope series Donna VanLiere has written a beautifully rendered and poignant story about one woman's unlikely path to motherhood and the healing power of love.Tennessee, 1950: Still single and in her early thirties, Ivorie Walker is considered an old maid; a label she takes with good humor and a grain of salt...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family female-mc grief historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic -
The Quilter's Legacy by Jennifer Chiaverini
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsResolving to locate her mother's heirloom quilts after so many years, Sylvia Compson embarks on a cross-country investigation of antique shops, quilt museums, and other, more unexpected places, where offers of assistance are not always what they seem...Categorized as:
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The Jealous Kind by James Lee Burke
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom New York Times bestselling author James Lee Burke—an atmospheric, coming-of-age story set in 1952 Texas, as the Korea War rages.On its surface, life in Houston is as you would expect: drive-in restaurants, souped-up cars, jukeboxes, teenagers discovering their sexuality...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america urban usa 20th-century -
Whisper of the Moon Moth by Lindsay Jayne Ashford
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the author of The Color of Secrets and The Woman on the Orient Express comes a poignant novel inspired by the Hollywood legend—and the secrets of—actress Merle Oberon, famous for playing Cathy to Laurence Olivier’s Heathcliff in the film Wuthering Heights. For nineteen-year-old Estelle Thompson, going to the cinema is more than a way to pass the time…it’s a way out...Categorized as:
historical-fiction coming-of-age female-mc poc-mc realistic literary-fiction romance historical -
The Secret of Elephants by Vasundra Tailor
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNavsari, India. Penniless and trapped in a loveless marriage, Nirmala spends her days anxiously caring for her sick young son, Varun. Looming over Nirmala’s impoverished home is an imposing mansion built by her grandfather, and from its balcony her cruel aunt scorns them, refusing to help in any way...Categorized as:
historical-fiction poc-mc family literary-fiction coming-of-age female-mc fiction historical -
Truths I Never Told You by Kelly Rimmer
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of The Things We Cannot Say comes a poignant novel about the fault in memories and the lies that can bond a family together—or tear it apart.With her father recently moved to a care facility for his worsening dementia, Beth Walsh volunteers to clear out the family home and is surprised to discover the door to her childhood playroom padlocked... -
The Girl Who Wrote in Silk by Kelli Estes
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe smallest items can hold centuries of secrets...Inara Erickson is exploring her deceased aunt's island estate when she finds an elaborately stitched piece of fabric hidden in the house. As she peels back layer upon layer of the secrets it holds, Inara's life becomes interwoven with that of Mei Lein, a young Chinese girl mysteriously driven from her home a century before... -
Everything My Mother Taught Me by Alice Hoffman
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIn this haunting short story of loyalty and betrayal, a young woman in early 1900s Massachusetts discovers that in navigating her treacherous coming-of-age, she must find her voice first.For fatefully observant Adeline, growing up carries an ominous warning from her adulterous mother: don’t say a word. Adeline vows to never speak again. But that’s not her only secret...Categorized as:
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The Roaring Days of Zora Lily by Noelle Salazar
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe discovery of a hidden label on a famous gown unearths the story of a talented young seamstress in this glittering novel of family, love, ambition, and self discovery by the USA Today bestselling author of The Flight Girls.2023, The Smithsonian's National Museum of American A costume conservator is preparing an exhibition featuring movie costumes from the 1920s to present day...Categorized as:
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What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA teenage girl breaks free from her father's world of isolation in this exhilarating novel of family, identity, and the power we have to shape our own destinies—from the New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Things and Watch Me DisappearThe first thing you have to understand is that my father was my entire world...Categorized as:
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Wish You Well by David Baldacci
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsPrecocious twelve-year-old Louisa Mae Cardinal lives in the hectic New York City of 1940 with her family. Then tragedy strikes -- and Lou and her younger brother, Oz, must go with their invalid mother to live on their great-grandmother's farm in the Virginia mountains...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family grief historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic thriller -
The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSpanning India in the 70s to New Mexico in the 80s to Seattle in the 90s, The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing is a winning, irreverent debut novel about a family wrestling with its future and its past...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family grief historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc realistic -
Dreams of Falling by Karen White
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the New York Times bestselling author of The Night the Lights Went Out comes an exquisite new novel about best friends, family ties and the love that can both strengthen and break those bonds.It's been nine years since Larkin fled Georgetown, South Carolina, vowing never to go back...Categorized as:
drama family female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america realistic secrets -
The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsInspired by a true literary mystery, New York Times bestselling author of the mesmerizing The Secret Book of Flora Lea returns with the sweeping story of a legendary book, a lost mother, and a daughter’s search for them both.In 1927, eight-year-old Clara Harrington’s magical childhood shatters when her mother, renowned author, Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham, disappears off the coast of South Carolina...Categorized as:
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Round Robin by Jennifer Chiaverini
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsRound Robin reunites readers with the Elm Creek Quilters in this poignant and heartwarming follow-up to The Quilter's Apprentice , Jennifer Chiaverini 's acclaimed debut novel. "She chose green and blue for the colors of Elm Creek Manor. She chose blue for truth and green for new beginnings . . ." The Elm Creek Quilters have begun a round robin..Categorized as:
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All Involved by Ryan Gattis
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA propulsive and ambitious novel as electrifying as The Wire, from a writer hailed as the West Coast's Richard Price—a mesmerizing epic of crime and opportunity, race, revenge, and loyalty, set in the chaotic streets of South Central L.A. in the wake of one of the most notorious and incendiary trials of the 1990s.At 3:15 p.m...Categorized as:
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