Books like 'The Great Death'
Readers who enjoyed The Great Death by John E. Smelcer also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical action / adventure 20th century historical-fiction survival family indigenous-mc children poc-mc
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The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron
Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe extraordinary story of Stefania Podgorska, a Polish teenager who chose bravery and humanity by hiding thirteen Jews in her attic during WWII -- from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sharon Cameron.One knock at the door, and Stefania has a choice to make..Categorized as:
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Broken Angels by Gemma Liviero
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA Nazi doctor. A Jewish rebel. A little girl. Each one will fight for freedom—or die trying. Imprisoned in the Lodz Ghetto, Elsi discovers her mother’s desperate attempt to end her pregnancy and comes face-to-face with the impossibility of their situation. Risking her own life, Elsi joins a resistance group to sabotage the regime...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction survival 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
Home in the Woods by Eliza Wheeler
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThis stunningly beautiful picture book from New York Times bestselling author-illustrator Eliza Wheeler is based on her grandmother's childhood and pays homage to a family's fortitude as they discover the meaning of home...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family survival children north-america usa wisconsin children-books -
One Child in Berlin by A.W. Hartoin
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIt’s been a year since Stella Bled Lawrence and her husband, Nicky, escaped Italy by the skin of their teeth and a lot has changed. Nicky joined the Royal Air Force and Stella spent the year training as a spy for His Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service. She has the languages and the tradecraft down pat, but she still has a way to go when the Earl of Bickford pulls her from her training early... -
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The Teashop Girls by Elaine Everest
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Teashop Girls is a warm and moving tale of friendship and love in wartime, by the bestselling author of the Woolworths series, Elaine Everest.It is early 1940 and World War Two has already taken a hold on the country...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family military historical 20th-century fiction ww2 action-adventure -
Soon by Morris Gleitzman
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAfter the Nazis took my parents I was scared. After they killed my best friend I was angry. After I joined the partisans and helped defeat the Nazis I was hopeful. Soon, I said, we'll be safe. I was wrong.Soon continues the incredibly moving story of Felix, a Jewish boy still struggling to survive in the wake of the liberation of Poland after the end of World War Two...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction survival 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book -
Centennial by James A. Michener
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 31 ratings"Michener is America's best writer, and he proves it once again in CENTENNIAL."THE PITTSBURGH PRESSA stunning panorama of the West, CENTENNIAL is an enthralling celebration of our country, brimming with the glory and the greatness of the American past that only bestselling author James Michener could bring to stunning life...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction indigenous-mc poc-mc 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Footsteps by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAs the world moves into the twentieth century, Minke, one of the few European-educated Javanese, optimistically starts a new life in a new town: Betawi. With his enrollment in medical school and the opportunity to meet new people, there is every reason to believe that he can leave behind the tragedies of the past...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction indigenous-mc poc-mc 20th-century action-adventure adult black-mc -
A Pennyworth of Sunshine by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsKeara Michaels doesn't want to leave her family in Ireland, but fate sends her first to Lancashire, then across the sea to Australia, pregnant and penniless. But danger threatens Keara as she starts the search for her lost sisters...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction poc-mc survival 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Resistance by Jennifer A. Nielsen, Jesse Vilinsky
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsChaya Lindner is a teenager living in Nazi-occupied Poland. Simply being Jewish places her in danger of being killed or sent to the camps. After her little sister is taken away, her younger brother disappears, and her parents all but give up hope, Chaya is determined to make a difference...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction poc-mc survival 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 73 ratingsSet in the 1870's, these American classics present an authentic description of life in the uncharted West, and offer an intimate perspective on growing up during those trying times...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction indigenous-mc poc-mc survival 20th-century action-adventure -
The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSince the Tall Boots--the Nazis--have marched into Monique's small French village, terrorizing it, nothing surprises her. Until the night Monique encounters "the little ghost" sitting at the end of her bed...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction poc-mc survival 20th-century action-adventure animals -
I Survived the Battle of D-Day, 1944 by Lauren Tarshis
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThis installment in the New York Times bestselling I Survived series from Lauren Tarshis shines a spotlight on the Normandy landings, just in time for the 75th anniversary of D-Day!A battle that would change the course of World War II...Eleven-year-old Paul's French village has been under Nazi control for years. His Jewish best friend has disappeared. Food is scarce...Categorized as:
historical-fiction children survival family europe western-central-europe france fiction -
Madeline and the Bad Hat by Ludwig Bemelmans
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Spanish Ambassador has moved next door, and Madeline knows right away that his son, Pepito, is bad news...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction poc-mc 20th-century action-adventure animals boarding-school -
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I Survived: The Bombing of Pearl Harbor, 1941 by Lauren Tarshis
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPlease Read Notes: Brand New, International Softcover Edition, Printed in black and white pages, minor self wear on the cover or pages, Sale restriction may be printed on the book, but Book name, contents, and author are exactly same as Hardcover Edition. Fast delivery through DHL/FedEx express...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction survival 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book -
Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsSet in Hawai'i more than a century ago, this is the story of Rachel Kalama, a spirited seven-year-old Hawaiian girl, who dreams of visiting far-off lands like her father, a merchant seaman. Then one day a rose-colored mark appears on her skin, and those dreams are stolen from her...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction indigenous-mc poc-mc survival 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
Last of the Breed by Louis L'Amour
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsHere is the kind of authentically detailed epic novel that has become Louis L’Amour’s hallmark. It is the compelling story of U.S. Air Force Major Joe Mack, a man born out of time. When his experimental aircraft is forced down in Russia and he escapes a Soviet prison camp, he must call upon the ancient skills of his Indian forebears to survive the vast Siberian wilderness...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction indigenous-mc poc-mc survival 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Land Breakers (NYRB Classics) by John Ehle, Linda Spalding
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsSet deep in the Appalachian wilderness between the years of 1779 and 1784, The Land Breakers is a saga like the Norse sagas or the book of Genesis, a story of first and last things, of the violence of birth and death, of inescapable sacrifice and the faltering emergence of community...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction indigenous-mc poc-mc survival 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Sacajawea by Anna Lee Waldo
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsClad ln a doeskin, alone and unafraid, she stood straight and proud before the onrushlng Forces of America’s destiny: Sacajawea. child of a Shoshoni chief, lone woman on Lewis and Clark‘s historic trek-beautiful spear of a dying nation.She knew many men, walked many miles...Categorized as:
children historical-fiction indigenous-mc poc-mc 20th-century action-adventure book classics -
The Enchanted Barn by Grace Livingston Hill
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Hollisters, a bright, spirited, wholesome family, are compelled to move into the country. After many efforts to secure a home, Shirley, eldest of the Hollisters, contrives a way out by renting a magnificent old stone barn at a ridiculously low price, transforming it into a house...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book christian -
Maybe by Morris Gleitzman
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratings1946. Europe is in ruins. Millions dream of finding happiness somewhere else, and 14 year-old Felix is one of them. When he's offered a journey to somewhere far away, he seizes the opportunity. So does someone very dear to him, even though she wasn't actually invited. They have high hopes for their new land... -
Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielsen, آرزو قلیزاده
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDanger is never far from Audra's family farm in Lithuania. She always avoids the occupying Russian Cossack soldiers, who insist that everyone must become Russian -- they have banned Lithuanian books, religion, culture, and even the language. But Audra knows her parents are involved in something secret and perilous...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction poc-mc survival 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
Be Still the Water by Karen Emilson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFinalist 2019 Canadian Book Club AwardsShortlisted for the 2017 Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction2017 IPPY Silver Medal WinnerSet in 1906 along the unspoiled shores of Lake Manitoba, Be Still the Water brings us into the fold of the Gudmundsson Family—immigrants determined to begin life anew in the Icelandic farming and fishing community of Siglunes...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family survival fiction historical literary-fiction outdoors romance -
The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsPing was an adventurous duck who lived on a beautiful wise-eyed boat on the Yangtze River. He liked his life on the riverboat just and liked his large family and his kind master. He didn't like to be the last in line to board the boat at night, for that unlucky duck got a loud spank...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction poc-mc 20th-century action-adventure animals anthropomorphism -
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Sackett's Land by Louis L'Amour, John Curless
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAfter discovering six gold Roman coins buried in the mud of the Devil’s Dyke, Barnabas Sackett enthusiastically invests in goods that he will offer for trade in America. But Sackett has a powerful enemy: Rupert Genester, nephew of an earl, wants him dead. A battlefield promise made to Sackett’s father threatens Genester’s inheritance...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction indigenous-mc poc-mc survival 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
My Mother's Secret by J.L. Witterick
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA novel based on a true story, a mother and daughter risk their lives to provide shelter to two families and a German soldier--all unbeknownst to each other--in a tiny two-room house in Sokal, Poland, during the Nazi invasion...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction survival 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book drama -
The Story That Cannot Be Told by J. Kasper Kramer
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA powerful middle grade debut that weaves together folklore and history to tell the story of a girl finding her voice and the strength to use it during the final months of the Communist regime in Romania in 1989.Ileana has always collected stories...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction poc-mc 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book -
Jubal Sackett: The Sacketts by Louis L'Amour
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn Jubal Sackett, the second generation of Louis L’Amour’s great American family pursues a destiny in the wilderness of a sprawling new land. Jubal Sackett’s urge to explore drove him westward, and when a Natchez priest asks him to undertake a nearly impossible quest, Sackett ventures into the endless grassy plains the Indians call the Far Seeing Lands...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction indigenous-mc poc-mc 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Third Daughter by Talia Carner
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the author of Jerusalem Maiden comes a remarkable story, inspired by little-known true events, about the thousands of young Jewish women who were trafficked into prostitution at the turn of the 20th century, and whose subjugation helped build Buenos Aires.The turn of the 20th century finds fourteen-year-old Batya in the Russian countryside, fleeing with her family endless pogroms...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction survival 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Ian Miller
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn this "briskly entertaining" (New York Times Book Review), "transporting and wholly original" (People Magazine) novel, one man banishes himself to a solitary life in the Arctic Circle, and is saved by good friends, a loyal dog, and a surprise visit that changes everything...Categorized as:
historical-fiction survival family fiction historical audiobook action-adventure outdoors -
Mrs. Mike by Benedict Freedman, Nancy Freedman
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA moving love story set in the Canadian wilderness, Mrs. Mike is a classic tale that has enchanted millions of readers worldwide. It brings the fierce, stunning landscape of the Great North to life—and tenderly evokes the love that blossoms between Sergeant Mike Flannigan and beautiful young Katherine Mary O'Fallon...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction indigenous-mc poc-mc survival 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Education of Little Tree tells of a boy orphaned very young, who is adopted by his Cherokee grandmother and half-Cherokee grandfather in the Appalachian mountains of Tennessee during the Great Depression...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction indigenous-mc poc-mc 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
The Ark by Margot Benary-Isbert
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBack in print from Purple House Press!Two rooms all to themselves—it was almost too good to be true! For this was postwar Germany, filled with starving, homeless people trying to stay alive amidst the rubble, and to the Lechows the two freezing attic rooms in Mrs. Verduz’ house on Parsley Street were an unbelievable stroke of luck...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure animals book children-books -
Escape to the Hiding Place by Marianne Hering
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsPatrick and Beth arrive in World War II Holland in the farm country. They must smuggle a baby (by bicycle) into the capable hands of Corrie ten Boom at her home in Haarlem. Along the way they hide from Nazi soliders, meet a Russian surgeon forced into service by the Germans, and encourage two Jewish children who haven't been outside in over three years...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure book children-books christian -
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The Lost Pearl by Emily Madden
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA sweeping family saga of long lost love, for readers of Fiona McIntosh and Mary-Anne O'Connor. From Pearl Harbor to the shores of Sydney, a family secret that spans generations could unite a family – or destroy it... -
Heroes: A Novel of Pearl Harbor by Alan Gratz
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Alan Gratz ( Refugee ; Ground Zero ; Two Degrees ) is a major publishing moment. A new World War II novel from Alan Gratz? That's even bigger! Get ready for an action-packed, inventive, and powerful take on the attack on Pearl Harbor, as only Alan Gratz can tell it. December 6, 1941: Best friends Frank and Stanley have it good...Categorized as:
historical-fiction survival children family middle-grade young-adult historical fiction -
4 Years Trapped in My Mind Palace by Johan Twiss
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDiagnosed with a rare form of meningitis, a teenage boy is paralyzed from head to toe--trapped in his own mind. To cope with his imprisonment, he retreats to an imaginary world called his Mind Palace, but the lines between reality and time blur into wild adventures after he gets a new roommate--an old, outspoken, Jewish jazz musician with dementia...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book coming-of-age -
Of Marriageable Age by Sharon Maas
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA spellbinding story of forbidden love, spanning three continents and three decades. Set against the Independence struggles of two British colonies, Of Marriageable Age is ultimately a story of personal triumph against a brutal fate, brought to life by a multicultural cast of characters:Savitri, intuitive and charismatic, grows up among the servants of a pre-war English household in the Raj...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction poc-mc 20th-century 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook by Joyce Lankester Brisley
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe stories of Milly-Molly-Mandy and her family and friends have charmed generations of children since they first appeared in 1925. This collection of twenty-one classic tales about this resourceful and thoughtful little girl reflect with accuracy the dilemmas and challenges of a child's world... -
The Queen of Water by María Virginia Farinango, Laura Resau
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBorn in an Andean village in Ecuador, Virginia lives with her large family in a small, earthen-walled dwelling. In her village of indigenas, it is not uncommon to work in the fields all day, even as a child, or to be called a longa tonta- stupid Indian- by members of the ruling class of mestizos, or Spanish descendants...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction indigenous-mc poc-mc survival 20th-century 21st-century -
The Boxcar Children Beginning: The Aldens of Fair Meadow Farm by Patricia MacLachlan
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBefore they were the Boxcar Children, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden lived with their parents at Fair Meadow Farm. Although times are hard, the Aldens are happy--"the best family of all," Mama likes to say. One day, a blizzard hits the countryside, and a car is stranded on the road near their farm...Categorized as:
historical-fiction children family children-books fiction middle-grade realistic audiobook -
Elephant Run by Roland Smith
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn 1941, bombs drop from the night skies of London, demolishing the apartment Nick Freestone lives in with his mother. Deciding the situation in England is too unstable, Nick's mother sends him to live with his father in Burma, hoping he will be safer living on the family's teak plantation. But as soon as Nick arrives, trouble erupts in this remote Burmese elephant village...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction poc-mc survival 20th-century action-adventure animals -
When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsLinda Sue Park seamlessly interweaves parallel stories, narrated by two unique adolescent voices, into a taut, compelling novel that illuminates a significant but little-know part of history--the Korean Resistance...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction poc-mc survival 20th-century action-adventure asian-mc -
People of the Sea by W. Michael Gear, Kathleen O'Neal Gear
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA spellbinding tale of life and love, death and adventure, in North America eleven thousand years ago, when mammoths roamed the continent. Award-winning archaeologists Michael and Kathleen Gear, using the best archaeological information, have created a stunning vision of our pre-history, and of the men and women who lived in this rapidly changing world... -
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Winter Cottage by Carol Ryrie Brink
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA family that is down on its luck during the Depression appropriates a summer cottage in the Wisconsin woods, where they spend the winter and welcome all visitors, including a runaway youth and two strangers. How Pops and his two daughters cope with their misfortunes without losing heart is a very entertaining story...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction survival 20th-century action-adventure book children-books -
Island of Shattered Dreams by Chantal T. Spitz
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFinally in English, Island of Shattered Dreams is the first ever novel by an indigenous Tahitian writer. In a lyrical and immensely moving style, this book combines a family saga and a doomed love story, set against the background of French Polynesia in the period leading up to the first nuclear tests...Categorized as:
historical-fiction indigenous-mc poc-mc family fiction 20th-century journey colonization -
The Rigel Affair by L.M. Hedrick
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAbandoned by his part-Cherokee Ma, Charlie Kincaid escapes servitude with his uncle. He jumps a boxcar, accompanied by his schoolmate Roxy, who is escaping troubles of her own. Charlie becomes a US Navy Diver.Mattie Blanc is from a genteel New Zealand family. But when her brother’s friend persuades her to take a ride, it all goes horribly wrong... -
A Farewell To France by Noel Barber
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSonia Riccardi, impetuous and sensual, was a woman no man could resist. And Larry Astell, heir to a champagne fortune, knew their passion was the most important part of his life. Until war placed in jeopardy all they held dear - love, family and country... -
The Enemy Above: A Novel of World War II by Michael P. Spradlin
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsNazi gun fire can only mean one thing...The Germans are closing in. And twelve-year-old Anton knows his family can't outrun them. A web of underground caves seems like the perfect place to hide. But danger lurks above the surface. Ruthless Major Karl Von Duesen of the Gestapo has made it his mission to round up every Jew in the Ukrainian countryside...Categorized as:
children historical-fiction survival 20th-century action-adventure book children-books fiction -
Within These Lines by Stephanie Morrill
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsEvalina Cassano’s life in an Italian-American family in 1941 is everything it “should be” until she falls in love with Taichi Hamasaki, the son of Japanese immigrants. Despite the scandal it would cause and that inter-racial marriage is illegal in California, Evalina and Taichi vow they will find a way to be together...
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