Books like 'Boston Adventure'
Readers who enjoyed Boston Adventure by Jean Stafford also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical 20th century north-america usa massachusetts urban literary-fiction bildungsroman coming-of-age magical-realism
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Don’t Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino
Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn 1960, a young woman discovers a freedom she never knew existed in this exhilarating, funny, and emotional novel by the bestselling author of She’s Up to No Good . When Marilyn Kleinman is caught making out with the rabbi’s son in front of the whole congregation, her parents ship her off to her great-aunt Ada for the summer... -
![Pather Panchali: Song of the Road by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay]()
Pather Panchali: Song of the Road by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPather Panchali deals with the life of the Roy family, consisting of Harihar, Sarbajaya, Apu and Durga, both in their ancestral village Nishchindipur in rural Bengal and later when they move to Varanasi in search of a better life, as well as the anguish and loss they face during their travels...Categorized as:
bildungsroman coming-of-age family literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
![The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles]()
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:
bildungsroman coming-of-age family literary-fiction north-america urban usa 20th-century -
![Surviving the Fatherland by Annette Oppenlander]()
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:
coming-of-age family literary-fiction 20th-century audiobook book fiction historical -
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![Run with the Horsemen by Ferrol Sams]()
Run with the Horsemen by Ferrol Sams
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsPorter Osborne Jr. is a precocious, sensitive, and rambunctious boy trying to make it through adolescence during the depression years. On a red-clay farm in Georgia he learns all there is to know about cotton chopping, hog killing, watermelon thumping, and mule handling. School provides a quick course in practical joking, schoolboy crushes, athletic glory, and clandestine sex...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family literary-fiction 20th-century animals anthologies classics comedy -
![The Financier by Theodore Dreiser]()
The Financier by Theodore Dreiser
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrank Cowperwood, a fiercely ambitious businessman, emerges as the very embodiment of greed as he relentlessly seeks satisfaction in wealth, women, and power. As Cowperwood deals and double-deals, betrays and is in turn betrayed, his rise and fall come to represent the American success story stripped down to brutal realities-a struggle for spoils without conscience or pity... -
![All the Forgivenesses by Elizabeth Hardinger]()
All the Forgivenesses by Elizabeth Hardinger
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSet in Appalachia and the Midwest at the turn of the twentieth century, this exquisite debut novel paints an intimately rendered portrait of one resilient farm family's challenges and hard-won triumphs--helmed by an unforgettable heroine. Growing up on their hardscrabble farm in rural Kentucky, fifteen-year-old Albertina "Bertie" Winslow has learned a lot from her mama, Polly... -
![Unto a Good Land by Vilhelm Moberg]()
Unto a Good Land by Vilhelm Moberg
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsConsidered one of Sweden's greatest 20th-century writers, Vilhelm Moberg created the characters Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson to portray the joys and tragedies of daily life for early Swedish immigrants in America. His consistently faithful depiction of these humble people's lives is a major strength of the Emigrant Novels... -
![By Her Own Design: The Story of Ann Lowe, Society's Best-Kept Secret by Piper Huguley]()
By Her Own Design: The Story of Ann Lowe, Society's Best-Kept Secret by Piper Huguley
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe incredible untold story of Ann Lowe, Jackie Kennedy's wedding dress designer, a Black woman who made some of the most famous dresses of all time, only to be forgotten by history.1953, New York CityLess than a week before the society wedding of the year where Jacqueline Bouvier will marry John F...Categorized as:
north-america usa urban family literary-fiction florida new-york-state historical-fiction -
![Sista brevet till Sverige by Vilhelm Moberg]()
Sista brevet till Sverige by Vilhelm Moberg
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBook Four portrays the Nilsson family during the turmoil of living through the era of the Civil War and Dakota Conflict and their prospering in the midst of Minnesota's growing Swedish community of the 1860s-90s... -
![Between Earth and Sky by Amanda Skenandore]()
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... -
![The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman]()
The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIt's never too late for new beginnings.On the cusp of turning eighty, newly retired pharmacist Augusta Stern is adrift. When she relocates to Rallentando Springs—an active senior community in southern Florida—she unexpectedly crosses paths with Irving Rivkin, the delivery boy from her father’s old pharmacy—and the man who broke her heart sixty years earlier...Categorized as:
north-america usa urban magical-realism literary-fiction family florida new-york-state -
![Taking Care by Joy Williams]()
Taking Care by Joy Williams
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsStories deal with a young divorcee, a shared summer home, a troubled family, a wedding, childhood fears, the death of a pet, a lying child, and enlightenment...Categorized as:
family literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies female-author fiction historical -
![The Doorstep Girls by Valerie Wood]()
The Doorstep Girls by Valerie Wood
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCan two friends find hope in hard times?Ruby and Grace have grown up in the poorest slums of Hull. Friends since early childhood, they have supported each other in bad times and good. But their families are bound together by more than friendship, and secrets from the past threaten to make their lives even more difficult... -
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![The Traveller's Daughter by Michelle Vernal]()
The Traveller's Daughter by Michelle Vernal
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsROSA’S PAST IS HER PANDORA’S BOX, AND THE LID IS ABOUT TO BE LIFTED … ‘If you lie down with dogs you’ll rise with fleas’ – Irish Proverb Rosa Sorenson’s conversation was often peppered with sayings from her homeland. It was these conversational clangers that gave her daughter Kitty the only clue as to a childhood her mother refused to speak of... -
![The Distant Land of My Father by Bo Caldwell]()
The Distant Land of My Father by Bo Caldwell
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratings'My father was a millionaire in Shanghai in the 1930s.'Anna Schoene was a golden child. Her parents, Joseph and Genevieve, were rich American expats in Shanghai before the Japanese invaded, before the war intervened. Joseph Schoene had made his fortune living on his wits. He was in love with Shanghai, with China, with the idea of taking risks... -
![The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner]()
The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsBo Mason, his wife, Elsa, and their two boys live a transient life of poverty and despair. Drifting from town to town and from state to state, the violent, ruthless Bo seeks out his fortune—in the hotel business, in new farmland, and, eventually, in illegal rum-running through the treacherous back roads of the American Northwest...Categorized as:
bildungsroman coming-of-age family literary-fiction north-america usa 20th-century adult -
![A Splendid Ruin by Megan Chance]()
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... -
![The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton]()
The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Exiles conjures her best novel yet, a pre-World War II-era story with the emotional resonance of Orphan Train and All the Light We Cannot See, centering on the Kindertransports that carried thousands of children out of Nazi-occupied Europe—and one brave woman who helped them escape to safety... -
![Battles in the Desert by José Emilio Pacheco]()
Battles in the Desert by José Emilio Pacheco
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThis landmark novella—one of the central texts of Mexican literature, is eerily relevant to our current dark times—offers a child’s-eye view of a society beset by dictators, disease, and natural disasters, set in “the year of polio, foot-and-mouth disease, floods...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction urban romance fiction classics historical-fiction 20th-century -
![Indian Paintbrush by John A. Heldt]()
Indian Paintbrush by John A. Heldt
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsArizona, December 1943. After surviving perilous six-month journeys to 1889 and 1918, the Carsons, five siblings from the present day, seek a respite in their home state. While Adam and Greg settle down with their Progressive Era brides, Natalie and Caitlin start romances with wartime aviators and Cody befriends a Japanese family in an internment camp...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family literary-fiction north-america urban usa 20th-century action-adventure -
![High Tide at Noon by Elisabeth Ogilvie]()
High Tide at Noon by Elisabeth Ogilvie
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe struggles, hardship, and joy of one woman's life on a Maine island are brought to life in this haunting and enduringly popular trilogy, the first three books of the Bennett's Island series... -
![As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories by Alistair MacLeod]()
As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories by Alistair MacLeod
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe superbly crafted stories collected in Alistair MacLeod’s As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories depict men and women acting out their “own peculiar mortality” against the haunting landscape of Cape Breton Island... -
![The People: No Different Flesh by Zenna Henderson]()
The People: No Different Flesh by Zenna Henderson
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsA novel expanded from a short story (different from book 1 Pilgrimage which was a push of short stories connected by new material) of the alien PEOPLE and earthlings with gifts similar to those of the People -- who might be lost PEOPLE!The "People" stories inclulded in this book:No Different Flesh (1965)Deluge (1963)Angels Unawares (1966)Troubling of the Waters (1966)Return (1961)Shadow on the... -
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![The Kudzu Queen by Mimi Herman]()
The Kudzu Queen by Mimi Herman
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 7 ratings“Funny, sad, and tender… Mimi Herman has written a novel that possesses a true and hard won understanding of the South.” —David Sedaris, author of Happy-Go-Lucky Fifteen-year-old Mattie Lee Watson dreams of men, not boys. So when James T...Categorized as:
literary-fiction family coming-of-age fiction historical-fiction historical audiobook 21st-century -
![Palinuro of Mexico by Fernando del Paso]()
Palinuro of Mexico by Fernando del Paso
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLike those writers to whom he has been compared--Fuentes, Garcia Marquez, James Joyce, and Rabelais--del Paso draws upon myth, science, and world literature to expand his particular story to universal proportions... -
![Outcast Child: A heart-breaking and gritty family saga from the Sunday Times bestseller by Kitty Neale]()
Outcast Child: A heart-breaking and gritty family saga from the Sunday Times bestseller by Kitty Neale
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn this powerful evocation of working-class South London in the 1950s, drama and heartbreak wreak havoc in the life of young Daisy Bacon, guardian of her Cousin Lizzie. When her mother Judith is run over and killed outside their house, Daisy retreats into a world of silence. Blaming herself for the accident, the girl is unable to utter a word... -
![The Lost Sister of Fifth Avenue by Ella Carey]()
The Lost Sister of Fifth Avenue by Ella Carey
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsNew York, 1938: Martha pulled the door of her Fifth Avenue apartment closed, her heart thumping, re-reading the telegram she’d been dreading. Her beloved sister Charlotte needed her help. She was alone in Paris, and the threat of Nazi invasion grew ever stronger. The time had come for Martha to make the bravest decision of her life. She needed to bring Charlotte home...Categorized as:
urban family literary-fiction historical-fiction ww2 female-mc friendship historical -
![The Blue Mountain by Meir Shalev]()
The Blue Mountain by Meir Shalev
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe absorbing first novel by one of Israel's most important and acclaimed contemporary writers focuses on four idealistic early settlers of the modern state of Israel...Categorized as:
family literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century action-adventure adult book fiction -
![Daddy Was a Number Runner by Louise Meriwether, Nellie Y. McKay]()
Daddy Was a Number Runner by Louise Meriwether, Nellie Y. McKay
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThis modern classic is “a tough, tender, bitter novel of a black girl struggling towards womanhood” in 1930s Harlem—with a foreword by James Baldwin ( Publishers Weekly ). Depression-era Harlem is home for twelve-year-old Francie Coffin and her family, and it’s both a place of refuge and the source of untold dangers for her and her poor, working class family...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction family bildungsroman urban fiction historical-fiction classics -
![Ancient Tillage by Raduan Nassar]()
Ancient Tillage by Raduan Nassar
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFor André, a young man growing up on a farm in Brazil, life consists of “the earth, the wheat, the bread, our table, and our family.” He loves the land, fears his austere, pious father, who preaches from the head of the table as if from a pulpit, and loathes himself as he begins to harbor shameful feelings for his sister Ana... -
![Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks]()
Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSeptember 2003 marked the 50th anniversary of Maud Martha, the only novel published by esteemed poet Gwendolyn Brooks. Initially entitled "American Family Brown" the work would eventually come to symbolize some of Brooks' most provocative writing. In a novel that captures the essence of Black life, Brooks recognizes the beauty and strength that lies within each of us... -
![Explosion in a Cathedral by Alejo Carpentier]()
Explosion in a Cathedral by Alejo Carpentier
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThis fine, somber novel, by the author of the widely acclaimed The Lost Steps, deals with the French Revolution, chiefly in the Caribbean...Categorized as:
bildungsroman literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult book classics fiction -
![Violet’s Children by Maureen Lee]()
Violet’s Children by Maureen Lee
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBeginning in 1950s Liverpool, VIOLET'S CHILDREN is a warm and nostalgicstory of a young woman who must adopt her sister's children after tragedy strikes... -
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![The Less You Know The Sounder You Sleep by Juliet Butler]()
The Less You Know The Sounder You Sleep by Juliet Butler
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBased on a true story, The Less You Know the Sounder You Sleep is a tale of survival and self-determination, innocence and lies.‘We’re waiting. I squeeze my eyes shut and dig my fingers into Masha’s neck where I’m holding her. She digs hers into mine. The curtains slowly open. I can’t see anything because the spotlight is on us, bright as anything and blinding me, but I can hear the gasp go up... -
![Four Meals by Meir Shalev]()
Four Meals by Meir Shalev
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom the author of the critically acclaimed A Pigeon and a Boy, the extraordinary story of Zayde, his enigmatic mother Judith, and her three loversWhen Judith arrives in a small, rural village in Palestine in the early 1930s, three men compete for her attention: Globerman, the cunning, coarse cattle-dealer who loves women, money, and flesh; Jacob, owner of hundreds of canaries and host to the... -
![Green Days by the River by Michael Anthony]()
Green Days by the River by Michael Anthony
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA novel about a boy on the edge of adult responsibilities, this is the story of Shell - a Trinidadian boy wtho moves to a new village and meets two girls...Categorized as:
literary-fiction coming-of-age bildungsroman fiction young-adult high-school classics poc-author -
![Winter Wheat by Mildred Walker]()
Winter Wheat by Mildred Walker
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFor this Bison Books edition, James Welch, the acclaimed author of Winter in the Blood (1986) and other novels, introduces Mildred Walker's vivid heroine, Ellen Webb, who lives in the dryland wheat country of central Montana during the early 1940s. He writes, "It is a story about growing up, becoming a woman, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, within the space of a year and a half...Categorized as:
bildungsroman coming-of-age family literary-fiction 20th-century book classics female-author -
![Ella of All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor]()
Ella of All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWorld War I has ended, and Ella, the oldest of the five sisters, who dreams of singing and dancing in the theater, is discovered by a Broadway talent scout. It seems that she will have her chance at a theatrical career after all, starting in vaudeville. But her thoughts are also on Jules, just returned from the War, and marriage... -
![Eli the Good by Silas House]()
Eli the Good by Silas House
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsBicentennial fireworks burn the sky. Bob Seger growls from a transistor radio. And down by the river, girls line up on lawn chairs in pursuit of the perfect tan. Yet for ten-year-old Eli Book, the summer of 1976 is the one that threatened to tear his family apart... -
![A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power, Susan Power]()
A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power, Susan Power
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe long-awaited, profoundly moving, and unforgettable new novel from PEN Award–winning Native American author Mona Susan Power, spanning three generations of Yanktonai Dakota women from the 19th century to the present day...Categorized as:
north-america usa urban literary-fiction family magical-realism coming-of-age illinois -
![The Jealous Kind by James Lee Burke]()
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 literary-fiction north-america urban usa 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
![Setting Free the Kites by Alex George]()
Setting Free the Kites by Alex George
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFor Robert Carter, life in his coastal Maine hometown is comfortably predictable. But in 1976, on his first day of eighth grade, he meets Nathan Tilly, who changes everything. Nathan is confident, fearless, impetuous--and fascinated by kites and flying...Categorized as:
bildungsroman coming-of-age family literary-fiction north-america usa 20th-century audiobook -
![The Bartender's Tale by Ivan Doig]()
The Bartender's Tale by Ivan Doig
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFrom a great American storyteller, a one-of-a-kind father and his precocious son, rocked by a time of change. Tom Harry has a streak of frost in his black pompadour and a venerable bar called The Medicine Lodge, the chief watering hole and last refuge of the town of Gros Ventre, in northern Montana... -
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![Roses by Leila Meacham]()
Roses by Leila Meacham
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSpanning the 20th century, the story of Roses takes place in a small East Texas town against the backdrop of the powerful timber and cotton industries, industries controlled by the scions of the town's founding families... -
![The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz, Mikolaj Dutsch]()
The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz, Mikolaj Dutsch
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsThe Street of Crocodiles in the Polish city of Drogobych is a street of memories and dreams where recollections of Bruno Schulz's uncommon boyhood and of the eerie side of his merchant family's life are evoked in a startling blend of the real and the fantastic... -
![The Roaring Days of Zora Lily by Noelle Salazar]()
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... -
![Call Me Athena: Girl from Detroit by Colby Cedar Smith]()
Call Me Athena: Girl from Detroit by Colby Cedar Smith
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThis book won the 2023 Michigan Notable Books Award!This enchanting novel in verse captures one young woman’s struggle for independence, equality, and identity as the daughter of Greek and French immigrants in tumultuous 1930s Detroit.Call Me Athena: Girl from Detroit is a beautifully written novel in verse loosely based on author Colby Cedar Smith’s paternal grandmother... -
![Sombrero Fallout by Richard Brautigan]()
Sombrero Fallout by Richard Brautigan
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsConcerns a writer trying to cope with the break-up of a relationship. Trying to escape his misery, he begins a story about a sombrero that falls out of the sky and lands in a small town. Unable to concentrate he throws the pages in the bin, and that's when it starts to take on a life of its own... -
![Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides]()
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 86 ratingsMiddlesex tells the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides, and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family, who travel from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus in Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit, witnessing its glory days as the Motor City and the race riots of 1967 before moving out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan...Categorized as:
bildungsroman coming-of-age family literary-fiction north-america urban usa 20th-century
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