Books like 'Machine Dreams'
Readers who enjoyed Machine Dreams by Jayne Anne Phillips also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical 20th century military, war & conflict war historical-fiction literary-fiction classics family
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Hana by Alena Mornštajnová
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIt's 1954 and nine-year-old Mira's life is about to change forever. After a typhoid outbreak rages through her town, robbing her of her parents and siblings, the orphaned child is forced to live with her mysterious, depressive Aunt Hana, a figure both frightening and fragile...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century 21st-century adult audiobook -
All the Broken Places by John Boyne
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe sequel to the phenomenal bestseller, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, this is John Boyne's latest novel for adults.1946. Three years after a cataclysmic event which tore their lives apart, a mother and daughter flee Poland for Paris, shame, and fear at their heels, not knowing how hard it is to escape your past... -
Three Sisters by Heather Morris
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA promise to stay together.An unbreakable bond.A fierce will to survive.From international bestselling author Heather Morris comes the breathtaking conclusion to The Tattooist of Auschwitz trilogy.When they are girls, Cibi, Magda and Livia make a promise to their father - that they will stay together, no matter what.Years later, at just 15 years old, Livia is ordered to Auschwitz by the Nazis... -
Gone with the Wind Volume 1 by Margaret Mitchell
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsGone With The Wind Volume 1: Special Edition By Margaret Mitchell Tomorrow is another day ... Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Civil War, Margaret Mitchell's magnificent historical epic is an unforgettable tale of love and loss, of a nation mortally divided and a people forever changed... -
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The Postcard by Anne Berest
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAnne Berest’s luminous, moving, and unforgettable new novel The Postcard is the most acclaimed and beloved French book in recent years... -
Always in my Heart by Ellie Dean
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAs the Japanese begin their assault on Singapore, Sarah Fuller is forced to leave her parents and fianc�, Philip, behind. The long journey to England is fraught with danger, and Sarah and her sister Jane don't even know if their great-aunt is alive, let alone waiting for them. They arrive in Cliffehaven, on the south coast of England, and here Sarah must find work to support them both...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
Το νούμερο 31328 by Ilias Venezis, Ηλίας Βενέζης
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTο Nούμερο 31328 είναι η ίδια η ταυτότητα του συγγραφέα, τότε που παιδί δεκαοκτώ χρόνων οδηγήθηκε από τους Tούρκους στα κάτεργα της Aνατολής. Tο βιβλίο είναι ένα συγκλονιστικό χρονικό «γραμμένο με αίμα», όπως επεσήμανε ο Bενέζης, προσθέτοντας: «Λέω για την καυτή ύλη, για τη σάρκα που στάζει το αίμα της και πλημμυρίζει τις σελίδες του»... -
A Ration Book Daughter by Jean Fullerton
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsCathy was a happy, blushing bride when Britain went to war with Germany three years ago. But her youthful dreams were crushed by her violent husband Stanley's involvement with the fascist black-shirts, and even when he's conscripted to fight she knows it's only a brief respite - divorce is not an option. Cathy's only solace is her little son Peter... -
Farewell Anatolia by Dido Sotiriou
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFarewell Anatolia is a tale of paradise lost and of shattered innocence; a tragic fresco of the fall of Hellenism in Asia Minor; a stinging indictment of Great Power politics, oil-lust and corruption. Dido Soteriou's novel - a perennial best-seller in Greece since it first appeared in 1962 - tells the story of Manolis Axiotis, a poor but resourceful villager born near the ancient ruins of Ephesus... -
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... -
Life in the Tomb by Stratis Myrivilis, Στρατής Μυριβήλης
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratings"Life in the Tomb" a war novel written in journal form by a sergeant in the trenches, has been the single most successful and widely read serious work of fiction in Greece since its publication in serial form in 1923-1924, having sold more than 80,000 copies in book form despite its inclusion on the list of censored novels under both the Metaxas regime and the German occupation... -
The Bookbinder by Pip Williams
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA young British woman working in a book bindery gets a chance to pursue knowledge and love when World War I upends her life--an exquisite novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese's Book Club pick The Dictionary of Lost Words It is 1914, and as the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, women must keep the nation running... -
Surviving the Fatherland by Annette Oppenlander
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSpanning thirteen years from 1940 to 1953 and set against the epic panorama of WWII, SURVIVING THE FATHERLAND is a sweeping saga of family, love, and betrayal that illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the children's war...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century audiobook book coming-of-age -
The Bomb Girl Brides by Daisy Styles
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt's 1944 and Britain is a country at war. The young women of the Phoenix munitions factory are giving their all to the cause, but romance is beckoning . . . The life of a Bomb Girl isn't usually glamourous. But Maggie is getting married, so she is going to make sure her wedding day is - even if she does have to spend every other day slaving on the factory floor... -
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Rosa's Gold - A Story of Holocaust Echoes by Ray Kingfisher
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNicole Sutton is a young girl with problems. A tragic car accident has taken away her brother, and ripped her parents' marriage apart. Together with her mother she moves to a new house, a new town, and a life she never wanted. In the dusty cellar of the house she stumbles upon a well-worn notebook – the scribbled war memoirs of Mac, an old soldier...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
The Secret Letter by Debbie Rix
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFor readers of Orphan Train, The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Book Thief comes an unforgettable novel inspired by a true story about the power of human kindness and bravery in a time of unimaginable heartbreak... -
The Loving Cup by Winston Graham
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSet in the closing years of the Napoleonic Wars, this novel is part of the Poldark saga. At the heart of the novel stand Demelza and Ross Poldark, their son, Jeremy, their daughter, Clowance, and the rival family, the Warleggans...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Richard Harris
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThis collection brings together music played by Captain Corelli himself and original pieces evoking the sounds and events of the book and of 3 earlier novels, the Latin Trilogy', by Louis de Bernieres... -
Heavy Sand by Anatoli Rybakov
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsTwo main parts of Anatoly Rybakov are titled after the writer’s major novels, Children of the Arbat and Heavy Sand, and explore the continuing relevance of these works for contemporary Russia...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century adult audiobook -
The Lifeline by Deborah Swift
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom the heart of Norway to Shetland in Scotland, one couple fight to overthrow the Nazis…1942, Nazi-occupied NorwaySchoolteacher Astrid Dahl has always kept out of trouble. But when she is told to teach the fascist Nazi curriculum, she refuses and starts a teacher’s rebellion, persuading eight thousand teachers to go on strike... -
The Scarlet Nightingale by Alan Titchmarsh
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAs war rages across Europe, one young woman is torn between love and loyalty.Set in wartime London and occupied France, this is a thrilling story of love, danger and sacrifice from bestselling novelist Alan Titchmarsh.It is the late 1930s when seventeen-year-old Rosamund Hanbury leaves behind the endless summers of her coastal Devonshire home for the fast pace of high society London... -
The Green Gauntlet by R.F. Delderfield
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsPaul and Claire Craddock have grown older in years - but not in spirit. World War II is over. But for Craddock and his family there are new battles to be fought and won. The new property laws enable speculators to reap huge profits from agricultural lands, and Paul's livelihood is threatened... -
The Lost Children by Shirley Dickson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAs they walked towards the railway station, their mother took an envelope from her handbag. ‘I want you to keep this somewhere safe.’‘What’s in the letter?’‘Listen carefully. You’re never to open it unless you or your sister are in real trouble. Promise me.’England, 1943: Home is no longer safe for eight-year-old twins Molly and Jacob... -
Slepá mapa by Alena Mornštajnová
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratings„Lidé přicházejí na svět z různých důvodů – z lásky, náhodou, nebo omylem. Já jsem se narodila kvůli bytu,“ předesílá hlavní hrdinka Anežka na začátku ságy o trojici žen, která se začala psát už před první světovou válkou.Do Anežčina osudu se promítají nejen životní příběhy jejích rodičů a prarodičů, ale i krutý dopad dějinných událostí... -
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The Sugar Men by Ray Kingfisher
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Sugar Men - A Story of Holocaust Echoes. Susannah Morgan has been settled in sleepy North Carolina for almost sixty-five years, but is still haunted by memories of her escape from the holocaust as a child. For most of her life the flashbacks have been a lonely obsession - one she has managed to hide from her children... -
Stolen from Her Mother: An utterly heartbreaking World War Two page-turner set between Ireland and America by Rachel Wesson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWith a broken heart, she sinks to the ground. Tears run down her face as the truth hits her. “You can’t do this. She’s my daughter, my flesh and blood. I’ll never stop looking for her. Never. No matter what you say or do, I’ll find her.” Ireland, 1941: While war rages across the world, Kate struggles on her family farm by the wild Atlantic Ocean... -
HIDDEN by Linda Gillard
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA birth. A death. Hidden for a hundred years. The new novel from the author of Kindle bestseller THE MEMORY TREE “Lady, fiancé killed, will gladly marry officer totally blinded or otherwise incapacitated by the war...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war family literary-fiction historical 20th-century suspense fiction -
Beyond the Horizon by Ella Carey
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFROM THE AUTHOR OF 'THE HOUSE BY THE LAKE' COMES A POWERFUL NOVEL OF FRIENDSHIP DURING WORLD WAR II, FIGHTING FOR THE TRUTH, AND MAKING PEACE WITH THE PAST.At the height of World War II, Eva Scott's dream comes true... -
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... -
Our Last Goodbye by Shirley Dickson, Joan Walker
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA heart-wrenching, poignant and totally unforgettable tale of a young woman who must finally face up to the secret she has hidden for a lifetime. A beautiful World War Two novel for fans of Wives of War, Lisa Wingate and Diney Costeloe, that will have you reaching for the Kleenex... -
The Collected Stories of Isaac Babel by Isaac Babel
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFollowing the historic publication of Norton's The Complete Works of Isaac Babel in the fall of 2001, The Collected Stories of Isaac Babel appears as the most authoritative and complete edition of his fiction ever published in paperback...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century adult anthologies fiction -
Children Of The Arbat by Anatoli Rybakov
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSet in 1934, Children of the Arbat presents a masterful and chilling psychological portrait of Stalin and details the beginning of his reign of terror and its impact on a generation - represented by a circle of young friends living in Moscow's intellectual and artistic center, the Arbat...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century audiobook book communism -
The Tuscan Secret: An absolutely gripping, emotional, World War 2 historical novel by Angela Petch
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe tragic consequences of war echo through the generations in this stunning tale, inspired by true events, about how family secrets can haunt us; and how love can guide us through the darkest times. Fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and The Letter by Kathryn Hughes will be captivated. ‘Anna, I kept a diary during the war... -
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 Girl With No Name by Diney Costeloe
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA heart-wrenching story from the bestselling author of The Throwaway Children. Thirteen-year-old Lisa has escaped from Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport. She arrives in London unable to speak a word of English, her few belongings crammed into a small suitcase. Among them is one precious photograph of the family she has left behind. Lonely and homesick, Lisa is adopted by a childless couple... -
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... -
Αριάγνη by Στρατής Τσίρκας, Stratis Tsirkas
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsΟι "Ακυβέρνητες Πολιτείες" απαρτίζονται από τρεις τόμους: "Η λέσχη" (1961), "Αριάγνη" (1962), "Η νυχτερίδα" (1965). Η δράση τοποθετείται αντίστοιχα στην Ιερουσαλήμ, στο Κάιρο, στην Αλεξάνδρεια... -
Sarah Morris Remembers (Sarah) by D.E. Stevenson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWith the help of her diary, Sarah Morris tries to make a pattern of the lives of her family and her friends... The result is a brightly woven tapestry of which the main thread, Sarah’s own story, is the love which grows naturally from the innocent affection of a child into the all-absorbing passion of a woman. Sarah tells of her happy childhood at the Vicarage...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century adult audiobook -
The Soldier's Art by Anthony Powell
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAnthony Powell’s universally acclaimed epic A Dance to the Music of Time offers a matchless panorama of twentieth-century London. Now, for the first time in decades, readers in the United States can read the books of Dance as they were originally published—as twelve individual novels—but with a twenty-first-century twist: they’re available only as e-books... -
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... -
Midnight Clear by William Wharton
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsChristmas Eve 1944, and six young US soldiers are sent close to the German lines to establish an observation post in an abandoned chateau in the Ardennes Forest. Hearing strange noises, they gradually realise that they are surrounded. But perhaps the Germans are as reluctant to fight as themselves... -
Burning Island by Suzanne Goldring
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThey were not her children. But she would protect them with her life… Corfu 1943. Though they don’t know it, five-year-old Matilde and three-year-old Anna have kissed their mother for the last time... -
Clea by Lawrence Durrell
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe magnificent final volume of one of the most widely acclaimed fictional masterpieces of the postwar era.Few books have been awaited as eagerly as Clea, the sensuous and electrically suspenseful novel that resolves the enigmas of the Alexandria Quartet...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century adult audiobook -
Naomi's Gift by Martha Hall Kelly
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA woman’s life-altering discovery after her mother’s death sheds light on the best and worst of humanity in this haunting short story by New York Times bestselling author Martha Hall Kelly.After her mother’s passing, Aldona finds a tin filled with old letters from a prisoner at Ravensbrück, a women’s concentration camp in northern Germany... -
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Ports of Call by Amin Maalouf, Alberto Manguel
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA graceful story of love across an insuperable gulf and a powerful allegory for the conflict that has beset the Middle East for the last half century. To call your son Ossyane is like calling him Rebellion. For Ossyane’s father it is a gesture of protest by an excited Ottoman prince, for Ossyane himself it is a burdensome responsibility... -
Those Who Are Loved by Victoria Hislop
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe gripping new novel by Sunday Times Number One bestseller Victoria Hislop is set against the backdrop of the German occupation of Greece, the subsequent civil war and a military dictatorship, all of which left deep scars.Athens 1941. After decades of political uncertainty, Greece is polarised between Right- and Left-wing views when the Germans invade...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century 21st-century adult audiobook -
Loving Liberty Levine by Colin Falconer
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom the author of The Unkillable Kitty O’Kane comes a gripping novel about finding the American Dream—and what it costs.In 1913, Sarah Levine leaves her small village and sails to New York to start a promising new life with her husband, Micha. But all Sarah really wants is what has come so easily to her sisters—a family of her own... -
El abuelo by Александр Чудаков
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsGalardonada en 2011 con el Premio Booker Ruso a la mejor novela de la década, El abuelo es una monumental obra que hunde sus raíces en la tradición narrativa de los grandes clásicos rusos... -
A Sister's Promise by Anne Bennett
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBook by Bennett,...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century adult audiobook -
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:
war literary-fiction historical-fiction family fiction historical drama romantic-love
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