Books like 'Secret Europe'
Readers who enjoyed Secret Europe by John Howard & Mark Valentine also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical fantasy horror mystery magical-realism myths historical-fiction low-fantasy retellings
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Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun by Guillermo del Toro, Cornelia Funke
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsFans of dark fairy-tales like The Hazel Wood and The Cruel Prince will relish this atmospheric and absorbing book based on Guillermo del Toro’s critically acclaimed movie...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings action-adventure audiobook book -
The Master's Apprentice: A Retelling of the Faust Legend by Oliver Pötzsch
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA young man’s destined quest becomes a dance with the devil in a mesmerizing retelling of the Faust legend by the bestselling author of the Hangman’s Daughter Tales series.It’s the fifteenth century and only heretics are curious about the universe.Germany, 1494. Born under a rare alignment of the stars, Johann Georg Gerlach, “the lucky one” to his mother—is fated for greatness... -
Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom, Бром
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA spirited young Englishwoman, Abitha, arrives at a Puritan colony betrothed to a stranger – only to become quickly widowed when her husband dies under mysterious circumstances. All alone in this pious and patriarchal society, Abitha fights for what little freedom she can grasp onto, while trying to stay true to herself and her past... -
Servant of the Bones and The Feast of All Saints by Anne Rice
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratings...Categorized as:
historical-fiction myths retellings 20th-century adult africa ancient-civilization book -
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I Am Grimalkin by Joseph Delaney
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsFrom the publisher:"I'm coming for you, and nothing living or dead can stop me."One witch is the most feared, the most ruthless, and the most deadly of all the witches in the county. If she hunts for you, she will find you. If you have crossed her, you don't stand a chance. She is the witch assassin, and her name is Grimalkin.Grimalkin's one alliance is with Tom Ward, the Spook's apprentice...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy myths retellings action-adventure alpha-mc audiobook book -
The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud, Simon Jones
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsIt is 950 B.C.E., and King Solomon rules Jerusalem with a steely hand; a hand on which gleams a magic ring of immense and unforgiving power. Solomon has just begun work on his marvelous temple, charging Khaba, a formidable magician in his royal court, to oversee its construction. The workforce is an ill-behaved bunch of demons, a particularly unruly djinni named Bartimaeus among them... -
The Spook's Mistake by Joseph Delaney
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsAs danger increases in the County, Tom is sent far north by his master to be trained by Bill Arkwright, another Spook. Arkwright lives in a haunted mill on the edge of a treacherous marsh and his training methods prove to be harsh and sometimes cruel. But he has toughened up many previous apprentices and now he must do the same for Tom and prepare him for the gravest dangers of his life...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy myths retellings action-adventure audiobook book children -
Three Times Removed by M.K. Jones
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsMaggie Gilbert and her children, Jack and Alice, live a pretty normal life. That is, until Maggie starts looking into her family tree. In doing so, she uncovers a dark mystery that endangers her children. She has to solve a mystery in the past, if she is to save her family in the present...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult book cozy dark-fantasy female-mc -
The Spook's Sacrifice by Joseph Delaney
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsAs the Spook's apprentice Tom's first duty is to protect the County from the dark. But now Mam needs his help in her homeland of Greece. One of the most dangerous of the old gods, the Ordeen, is about to return there, bringing slaughter and devastation. Meanwhile, the Devil himself is still loose and if he and the Ordeen join forces, a new age of darkness will descend...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy myths retellings action-adventure audiobook book children -
Root Magic by Eden Royce
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA historical ghost story set in South Carolina in the 1960s—a tale of courage, friendship, and Black Girl Magic.It’s 1963, and things are changing for Jezebel Turner. Her beloved grandmother has just passed away. The local police deputy won’t stop harassing her family...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings action-adventure audiobook book -
Fear by Ronald Kelly
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt was a legend in Fear County... a hideous, flesh-eating creature - part snake, part earthbound demon - that feasted on the blood of innocent children in the cold black heart of the Tennessee backwoods. But ten-year-old Jeb Sweeny knows the horrible stories are true. His best friend Mandy just up and disappeared...Categorized as:
historical-fiction myths retellings action-adventure audiobook book coming-of-age fiction -
The Girl with No Face by M.H. Boroson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe adventures of Li-lin, a Daoist priestess with the unique ability to see the spirit world, continue in the thrilling follow-up to the critically-acclaimed historical urban fantasy The Girl with Ghost Eyes.It’s the end of the Nineteenth Century. San Francisco’s cobblestone streets are haunted, but Chinatown has an unlikely protector in a young Daoist priestess named Li-lin...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales by Chris Baldick
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBrimming with tales of terror, suspense, and the uncanny, this work offers the first collection devoted to the Gothic genre. Each story contains the common elements of the gothic tale--a warped sense of time, a claustrophobic setting, a link to archaic modes of thought, and the impression of a descent into disintegration... -
Quest for the Secret Keeper by Victoria Laurie
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDelphi Keep is awash in activity, and for Ian, Theo, and Carl, their safe haven might be nearing its end. The Royal Navy has taken the keep to use as a hospital and the tunnels running under the keep and the castle are ideal to set up a central communications outpost for the approaching war...Categorized as:
historical-fiction myths retellings action-adventure book children children-books dark-fantasy -
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The Time of the Fireflies by Kimberley Griffiths Little
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsCritically acclaimed author Kimberley Griffiths Little spins a thrilling story of one girl's race to unravel the curse that has haunted her family for generations. When Larissa Renaud starts receiving eerie phone calls on a disconnected old phone in her family's antique shop, she knows she's in for a strange summer...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure book children children-books family -
Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsBefore Miss Peregrine gave them a home, the story of peculiars was written in the Tales. Wealthy cannibals who dine on the discarded limbs of peculiars. A fork-tongued princess. The origins of the first ymbryne... -
The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsrelates the adventures of Satan, the sinless nephew of the biblical Satan, in Eseldorf, an Austrian village in the year 1702. Twain wrote this version between November 1897 and September 1900. "Eseldorf" is German for "Assville" or "Donkeytown"...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Ghost in the Blood by Jonathan Moeller
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsCaina is a Ghost nightfighter, one of the Emperor’s elite spies and assassins, and few enemies of the Empire ever escape her cunning. Yet all Caina’s wit and skill might not be enough to save her from a terrible fate.Sent to hunt down a cruel slave trader, Caina encounters something far darker. An ancient evil, a thing of legend and terror... -
The Telltale Lilac Bush and Other West Virginia Ghost Tales by Ruth Ann Musick
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratings" West Virginia boasts an unusually rich heritage of ghost tales. Originally West Virginians told these hundred stories not for idle amusement but to report supernatural experiences that defied ordinary human explanation. From jealous rivals and ghostly children to murdered kinsmen and omens of death, these tales reflect the inner lives-the hopes, beliefs, and fears-of a people... -
Haiganu. Fluviul Șoaptelor by Marian Coman, Mihai Ionașcu
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCând, într-o iarnă năpraznică, Zourazi, copilul prin vinele căruia curge sângele sacru al magilor, fuge din temnița căpcăunului Dekibalos pentru a întâlni un zeu aruncat pe pământ, lumea întreagă prinde a se schimba!Cu ”Fluviul șoaptelor”, Marian Coman îți deschide poarta către un univers straniu, în care unele personaje îți vor aminti, ca prin vis, de poveștile copilăriei, iar altele îți vor... -
The Thirteenth Gate by Kat Ross
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWinter 1888. At a private asylum in the English countryside, a man suspected of being Jack the Ripper kills an orderly and flees into the rain-soaked night. His distraught keepers summon the Lady Vivienne Cumberland—who's interviewed their patient and isn't sure he's a man at all... -
The Unicorn’s Tale by R.L. LaFevers, Kelly Murphy
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIs there no rest for the travel worn and weary? Not if you're Nathaniel Fludd, the world's youngest beastologist-in-training! All Nate really wants is to track down his missing parents, but when a unicorn falls mysteriously ill, Nate's Aunt Phil makes it clear where a beastologist's duty lies: to the beasts...Categorized as:
historical-fiction myths retellings action-adventure animals book children children-books -
Fancies and Goodnights by John Collier, Ray Bradbury
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJohn Collier's edgy, sardonic tales are works of rare wit, curious insight, and scary implication. They stand out as one of the pinnacles in the critically neglected but perennially popular tradition of weird writing that includes E.T.A. Hoffmann and Charles Dickens as well as more recent masters like Jorge Luis Borges and Roald Dahl...Categorized as:
low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century adult anthologies classics fiction historical -
The Mummy by Max Allan Collins, Stephen Sommers
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsBased on the Universal Studios major motion picture starring Brendan Fraser!Rick O'Connell, dashing American and legionnaire, is in Egypt looking for a good time. His discovery of the Lost City of the Dead is a fluke—but to British librarian Evelyn Carnahan it's the archaeological find of the century. The city contains all the treasures of Egypt and possibly the secrets of life and death... -
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Jilo by J.D. Horn
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAged Mother Jilo is wise in the ways of magic…but once upon a time, she was just a girl.1950s Georgia: King Cotton has fallen. Savannah is known as the “beautiful woman with a dirty face,” its stately elegance faded by neglect, its soul withering from racial injustice and political corruption...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism audiobook black-mc book dark dark-fantasy -
Small Favors by Erin A. Craig
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTHE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - From the critically-acclaimed author of House of Salt and Sorrows comes a mesmerizing and chilling fairy-talesque novel about Ellerie Downing, a young woman in a small town with monsters lurking in the trees and dark desires hidden in the shadows--in Amity Falls, nothing is more dangerous than a wish come true. Unique, enchanting, and haunting...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magical-realism myths retellings audiobook book coming-of-age dark -
The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsThe Haunting of Tram Car 015 returns to the alternate Cairo of Clark's short fiction, where humans live and work alongside otherworldly beings; the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities handles the issues that can arise between the magical and the mundane...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings 21st-century action-adventure adult -
The Fear Institute by Jonathan L. Howard
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsJohannes Cabal and his rather inexact powers of necromancy are back once more. This time, his talents are purchased by The Fear Institute as they hunt for the Phobic Animus - the embodiment of fear... -
Declare by Tim Powers
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAs a young double agent infiltrating the Soviet spy network in Nazi-occupied Paris, Andrew Hale finds himself caught up in a secret, even more ruthless war. Two decades later, in 1963, he will be forced to confront again the nightmare that has haunted his adult life: a lethal unfinished operation code-named Declare...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Witch’s Lens by Luanne G. Smith
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsAs World War I rages, there are evils—both living and dead—that only a witch can see in a spellbinding novel by the Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestselling author of The Raven Spell.With her husband off fighting at World War I’s eastern front, Petra Kurková embraces her fleeting freedom, roaming the city at night with her camera...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magical-realism myths low-fantasy retellings fantasy paranormal fiction -
A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djèlí Clark
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsEgypt, 1912. In an alternate Cairo infused with the otherworldly, the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities investigate disturbances between the mortal and the (possibly) divine... -
The Ghost Woods by C.J. Cooke
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLook out for C.J. Cooke's atmospheric new novel . . . In the midst of the woods stands a house called Lichen Hall. This place is shrouded in folklore—old stories of ghosts, of witches, of a child who was not quite a child. Now the woods are creeping closer, and something has been unleashed. Pearl Gorham arrives in 1965, one of a string of young women sent to Lichen Hall to give birth... -
Lost Acre by Andrew Caldecott
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWynter is here . . .Geryon Wynter has returned to Rotherweird and has not only taken over the town but is busy destroying the countrysiders' life too. Can our small band of heroes find a way to outwit a genius whose master plan is five centuries in the making? Watch this space . . -
Scroll of Saqqara by Pauline Gedge
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsPrince Khaemwaset is a powerful man. The son of Ramses II and a revered physician, his wisdom is respected throughout Egypt. But Khaemwaset harbours a strong and secret desire—to find the mysterious Scroll of Thoth and receive the power to raise the dead... -
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By Night under the Stone Bridge by Leo Perutz
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSixteenth-century Prague provides the setting for the story of the forbidden love between emperor Rudolf II and Esther, the wife of an influential financier, and of the efforts of the city's Great Rabbi to right a situation angering...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult book classics early-modern fiction -
Angel of the West Window by Gustav Meyrink
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsnovel of Elizabethan magus John Dee, tr M... -
Lungdon: Book Three by Edward Carey
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe delightfully macabre, astonishingly original trilogy reaches its thrilling conclusionThe dirt town of Foulsham has been destroyed, its ashes still smoldering. Darkness lies heavily over the city, the sun has not come up for days, and inside the houses of people throughout the capital, ordinary objects have begun to move. Strange new people run through the darkened streets... -
The Paper Grail by James P. Blaylock
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsCurator Howard Barton goes to Mendocino, California, to get a 19th-century woodcut sketch for his museum back home. But other, rather strange, people want the sketch for their own dubious purposes. Now Howard's caught in the middle of a secret war that somehow involves a piece of paper that is much more than it seems... -
The Dragon Coin by Aiden James
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsASIN B00DPVP5ME moved to the most recent edition with new title Immortal DragonFree of the threat of Viktor Kaslow, William Barrow (aka Judas Iscariot) is tantalizingly close to finally having the life he has dreamed of with Beatrice and Alistair. A life blessed with youthful optimism and renewed companionship—things he once feared were forever lost. But such optimism is short lived...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings action-adventure adult book -
Before the Devil Knows You're Here by Autumn Krause
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA deliciously dark folk horror for fans of Maggie Stiefvater and Erin Craig, blending the tall tales of Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyan with Faustian elements, and centering a fierce Mexican-American poet on a quest to rescue her brother.1836. Wisconsin Territory. All Catalina has left is her little brother—Mama died years ago, and Papa was buried just yesterday...Categorized as:
historical-fiction myths magical-realism retellings horror fantasy young-adult gothic -
Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFor fans of Caraval and The Night Circus, this decadent and darkly enchanting YA fantasy, set against the backdrop of a Belle Époque-inspired hotel, follows seventeen-year-old Jani as she uncovers the deeply disturbing secrets of the legendary Hotel Magnifique. All her life, Jani has dreamed of Elsewhere...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure audiobook book dark family -
Marco’s Pendulum by Thom Madley
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen Marco is dumped in Glastonbury to stay with his weird hippy grandparents for the summer, he's sure he's going to hate it. But he soon starts to recognise the magic of the place. With his mysterious new found talent for dowsing, Marco is quickly drawn into the dangerous struggle to protect the ancient mysticism of Glastonbury...Categorized as:
low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings action-adventure alchemy arthurian book -
The White Jade Fox by Andre Norton
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSaranna had heard rumors about Tiensin, the strange old mansion with its oriental treasures. She had heard it was haunted. Now with her own eyes she had seen it was true. The Macabre circle of small foxes ringing the dancer in the secret garden, the mysterious robed woman with a fox’s face. Had Saranna realy seen them? Or had she dreamed it? Saranna had gone to Tiensin under protest... -
Rory, the Sleeper by A.W. Exley
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWho will awaken the sleeper…? Ella wants the sleeper to stay undisturbed. Especially since it's Millicent deMage, the first Duchess of Leithfield and a supposed witch who died over three hundred years ago. As Ella learns about the history of Serenity House, she begins to realise the long dead duchess could be the key to understanding the pandemic of vermin...Categorized as:
historical-fiction myths retellings action-adventure book coming-of-age fairy-tale fiction -
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The Ghost Road by Charis Cotter
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsGhosts, a family curse, buried secrets -- and two girls who have to figure it all out. A new book from an acclaimed author, for fans of Coraline, Doll Bones and The Night Gardener.For the first time, Ruth is heading to Newfoundland to stay with family she's never met instead of spending the summer traveling with her dad...Categorized as:
historical-fiction myths retellings action-adventure book children children-books death -
Dead to Rites by Ari Marmell
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMick Oberon may look like just another 1930s private detective, but beneath the fedora and the overcoat, he’s got pointy ears and he’s packing a wand. Mick is suffering from bad luck, and when luck is your chief magical weapon, that means things are pretty dire...Categorized as:
magical-realism historical-fiction low-fantasy urban-fantasy fantasy mystery paranormal noir -
All the Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsLong ago Miren O'Malley's family prospered due to a deal struck with the Mer: safety for their ships in return for a child of each generation. But for many years the family have been unable to keep their side of the bargain and have fallen into decline. Miren's grandmother is determined to restore their glory, even at the price of Miren's freedom...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings action-adventure audiobook book -
All the Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsLong ago Miren O'Malley's family prospered due to a deal struck with the Mer: safety for their ships in return for a child of each generation. But for many years the family have been unable to keep their side of the bargain and have fallen into decline. Miren's grandmother is determined to restore their glory, even at the price of Miren's freedom...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings action-adventure audiobook book -
The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke
Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsTwo sisters go missing on a remote Scottish island. Twenty years later, one is found--but she's still the same age as when she disappeared. The secrets of witches have reached across the centuries in this chilling Gothic thriller from the author of the acclaimed The Nesting...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism myths retellings action-adventure audiobook book -
The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H.G. Parry
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe ultimate book-lover's fantasy, featuring a young scholar with the power to bring literary characters into the world, for fans of The Magicians, Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, and The Invisible Library.For his entire life, Charley Sutherland has concealed a magical ability he can't quite control: he can bring characters from books into the real world...
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