Books like 'A Regular Guy'
Readers who enjoyed A Regular Guy by Mona Simpson also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical literary-fiction technology female-mc family epic
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The Memory of an Elephant by Alex Lasker
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 16 ratings"The Memory of an Elephant" is an epic saga told by an aging African elephant as he makes a last, perilous journey to find the humans who rescued him as an orphan some fifty years ago...Categorized as:
literary-fiction epic family fiction animals historical-fiction action-adventure anthropomorphism -
Roaring Liberty by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNew York City, 1922Harp Devereaux is torn. Part of her desperately wants to return to Ireland to finish what she and her family and friends started, and to witness the departure of the British forces from Ireland after eight hundred long years. But the other part finds life in America during the Roaring Twenties too exciting to trade for the sleepy streets of County Cork... -
The Trouble With Secrets: The Kilteegan Bridge Story by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsKilteegan Bridge, County Cork 1958For eighteen year old Lena Mullery, life is predictable and dull. A future of hard work, marriage to a local boy, and a family of her own one day is all she has to look forward to. People from her background know not to expect too much, but Lena yearns for something different.Malachy Berger was different, for him, the world is at his feet... -
Moonlight and Ashes by Rosie Goodwin
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDespite being trapped in an abusive marriage, Maggie still feels blessed with her eight-year-old twins, Danny and Lizzie, and baby girl, Lucy. But when the Second World War begins it seems that her blessings may have run out.Although the war lets her escape her husband when he's sent to the front, she must also lose the twins, as they're evacuated to North Wales... -
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The Ribbon Weaver by Rosie Goodwin
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOne winter’s night, Molly Ernshaw rescues a baby from the snow and changes two families for ever.The tiny girl grows into a gifted young woman. Although devoted to Molly, Amy has far-reaching ambitions – encouraged by her neighbour’s son, Toby, she longs to move beyond ribbon-weaving to designing the hats and clothes the ribbons adorn... -
With a Kiss and a Prayer by Ellie Dean
Rated: 4.70 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCliffehaven, May 1944 Peggy Reilly is enjoying a rare moment alone in the garden of her Beach View Boarding House. Against the now familiar backdrop of squadrons roaring overhead and the wireless humming, it seems both impossible that war continues, and yet inconceivable that it will ever come to an end... -
The Woman from Beaumont Farm by AnneMarie Brear
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom the author of the bestselling The Slum AngelSequel to The Market Stall Girl 1914, West Yorkshire, England.Newly married to Noah Jackson, Beth is happily content working on her family’s market stall while Noah fulfills his dreams of being a teacher... -
Last Port of Call by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsQueenstown, County Cork, IrelandApril 1912Twelve-year-old Harp Delaney is an unusual child, quiet and intelligent far beyond her years. She would rather spend her days in the library of the grand Georgian house that she sees as her home than playing on the streets with other children.Her mother, Rose, is the reserved and ladylike housekeeper at the Cliff House... -
The Girl with the Diary by Shari J. Ryan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratings“What if you never come back?” I asked.“I will find you, Amelia. I promise I will find you.”“What if you die trying?”Nazi-occupied Prague, 1942: Amelia is hiding in her closet when flashlights blind her and she’s captured by the SS. Out on the cobblestone street, she is shoved onto a freight train with hundreds of others. Hours pass as they travel in darkness... -
The Berlin Sisters by Soraya M. Lane
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of The Secret Midwife comes a story of bravery, sacrifice and resilience in war-torn Berlin―and two sisters who will risk it all to make a difference. Berlin, 1943: Ava Müller is a proud supporter of the German war effort, working for Joseph Goebbels alongside her father, a high-ranking official in the Reich... -
The Ballymara Road by Nadine Dorries
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe final gripping instalment of the great trilogy, which began with THE FOUR STREETS and continued in HIDE HER NAME. On Christmas morning, in the unforgiving harshness of a convent in Galway, Kitty Doherty gives birth to her baby - who is immediately taken away for adoption in America... -
Sealed With a Loving Kiss by Ellie Dean
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe gripping new Second World War novel from Sunday Times Top Ten bestselling author of While We're Apart.After the death of her parents in a bombing raid, Mary Jones discovers a secret in the pages of father’s diaries. Her search for the truth brings her to Cliffehaven on the south coast... -
Cece by AnneMarie Brear
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsShe's the third sister, often overlooked and the last to know about anything that's happening in the family.Cece is gifted a cottage in the Scottish Highlands. She doesn't want a cottage or to go to Scotland. Her sisters' gifts were much more interesting... -
One Perfect Family by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLancashire, 1934. When Tam Crawford is unexpectedly bequeathed some money, he can finally realise his dream of settling down in the beautiful village of Ellindale. Tam knows he can be impulsive - his nickname isn't Crazy Tam for nothing! - but this time he is determined not to be ruled by his big heart and hot head... -
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Forsaken by Rosie Goodwin
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBorn on a Friday, Sophie Winters has always been a loving and giving child, who'd do anything for her family. Yet her father, Bill, has always seemed to resent her. For her mother's sake, Sophie learns to live with Bill's animosity - until the night he drunkenly forces himself upon her.Left pregnant and ashamed at seventeen, Sophie doesn't know where to turn... -
Dancing Till Midnight by Rosie Goodwin
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsLife has been cruel to Grace Collins. Orphaned as a child, she is raised by her severely religious aunt, Emily. Starved of love, she falls for the first man who shows her affection, Barry Swan. And when Grace falls pregnant, Emily disowns her.Barry and Grace marry and, for a while, she knows happiness. Barry adores her and is a wonderful father, but Grace feels that something is missing... -
The Orphan's Mother by Marion Kummerow
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratings1945, the German-Polish border: With Nazis on one side and Soviet forces approaching on the other, a mother and her little boy are torn apart, and so begins an unforgettable tale of courage, heartbreak and motherhood in wartime.“If you ever get lost, Jacob, you need to stay where you are and wait, because I’ll come looking for you. And I’ll always find you... -
Fires of Change by Sarah Lark, Kate Northrop
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSarah Lark, author of The Fire Blossom, continues her epic family saga as a defiant new generation of women comes of age amid social unrest and precarious love in colonial New Zealand.It’s 1863, nearly twenty years since Ida Lange came to New Zealand to change her life and realize a dream... -
Lancashire Legacy by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAt eighteen Cathie longs for more than life as a settler in the Australian bush. She accepts her uncle's offer to send her to England and runs away from her family, not realising he is using her to get revenge on his sister Liza. Attacked at the docks in Liverpool, Cathie takes refuge with the man who saved her, a man who has his own troubles... -
Break of Dawn by Rita Bradshaw
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsEach day brings a new beginning... Her mother's death in childbirth leaves Sophy Hutton at the mercy of her cruel aunt and uncle, and her childhood is brutal. At sixteen, Sophy learns the shocking truth behind her birth and escapes to London to pursue a career as an actress, determined to put the past behind her... -
Belle of the Back Streets by Glenda Young
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA dramatically powerful and romantic saga of tragedy and triumph, perfect for fans of Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin... -
The Letter by Michelle Vernal
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWORDS HAVE THE POWER TO HEAL, REUNITE AND TO HURT... Isabel opened her bag and pulled the letter out, glancing at the address one last time before she slid it through the slot, hearing it land with a plunk. It was gone. She’d done it, and now she’d have to wait to see what happened next... -
The Tuppenny Child by Glenda Young
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratings'Real sagas with female characters right at the heart' Woman's HourIf you love Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin, you'll LOVE Glenda Young's 'amazing novels!' (ITV's This Morning presenter Sharon Marshall)'In the world of historical saga writers, there's a brand new voice' My WeeklyWhat readers are saying about Glenda's dramatically powerful saga of secrets, friendship, motherhood, love and... -
Jessie's Promise by Rosie Clarke
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of LIZZIE'S SECRET and LIZZIE'S WAR, a story about resilient, strong women surviving adversity post World War 1. DEVON 1918. When Jessie Hale loses her nursing job at the end of the First World War, she leaves London to become the nursemaid to the Kendle family in Devon. On arrival she finds the family in disarray... -
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The Color of a Christmas Miracle: A Standalone Holiday Novel by Julianne MacLean
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom USA Today bestselling author Julianne MacLean comes a special holiday novel in her popular Color of Heaven Series, where people are affected by real life magic and miracles that change everything they once believed about life and love... -
The Wretched Needle Worker by Iris Cole
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsVera has uncovered things she never wanted to know. Her father was a monster.How could Vera have been so blind to what was right before her eyes?After the death of her kind and loving Papa, Vera’s home is claimed by ne’er do well Uncle Merritt, who drives the household with cruelty and deprivation...Categorized as:
family literary-fiction female-mc epic historical-fiction historical fiction industrial-era -
More than Riches by Josephine Cox
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWith her sweetheart Adam away in the army, Rosie feels completely alone. When the letters she eagerly awaits never arrive, Rosie is disillusioned and open to the influence of Doug. Finding herself pregnant, she is forced to marry Doug - but then a letter arrives from Adam, saying he is coming home... -
My Sister's Child by Lyn Andrews
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFor the inhabitants of Liverpool's Milton Street a steady income and a roof over their heads are luxuries. The Ryan family have barely grown accustomed to such things when a fire destroys their father Jack's modest coal haulage business, leaving Jack broken and his family facing ruin... -
Hope for the Railway Girls by Maisie Thomas
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe brand new Spring Railway Girls novel set in Manchester during WWII. Perfect for fans of Nancy Revell, Daisy Styles and Margaret Dickinson.___________________Manchester, 1942A new year brings new hope for the railway girls.Alison's romance with the charming Dr Maitland is blossoming, but then she is posted away from Manchester... -
The Memory Tree by Linda Gillard
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsCan the power of love overcome life’s darkest memories and deepest losses? When her favourite beech tree is felled in a storm, Ann feels as if someone has died. But when long-hidden seed packets are found inside the trunk, Ann realises there are more memories than her own lurking within the ancient tree . . -
This Bitter Earth by Bernice L. McFadden
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn This Bitter Earth, Sugar Lacey is on her way out of Bigelow, Arkansas, where she’d come to break with the past. With her worn leopard-print suitcase and her head held high, she walks past the prying eyes of its small-minded, cruel-hearted townsfolk, praying for the strength to keep going. She doesn’t stop until she arrives at her childhood home in Short Junction... -
Bitter Winds by Kay Bratt
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe third book of the Tales of the Scavenger’s Daughters series, Bitter Winds continues the saga of Chinese couple Benfu and Calli, and the abandoned young women in their care.Since the night her sister was almost burned alive in a fire and they were taken from their mother, Ivy has been the self-appointed guardian and guide to her blind twin, Lily... -
The Fire Blossom by Sarah Lark
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe bestselling author of the Sea of Freedom Trilogy returns with a sweeping family saga of two women in nineteenth-century New Zealand and their epic journey to survive in a world of their own making. It’s 1837, and immigrating to a small New Zealand fishing village is an opportunity for Ida Lange’s family to build a better future... -
With Love From Ma Maguire by Ruth Hamilton
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom the very first meeting of Philly Maguire and Richard Swainbank, a pattern of overpowering love, conflict, hatred, and secrecy was born. For although Philly and Richard were on opposite sides of the mill floor, they recognised - both of them - that they were equally matched in strength of character and the capacity for overwhelming sexual passion... -
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Dream Sellers by Ruth Hamilton
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Shawcross family was a strange and unhappy one. Edward Shawcross absented himself as much as possible and kept a red-haired mistress in Tintern Avenue. Alice, his wife, sought solace in chocolate and continually carped at Connie, her beautiful daughter. And Connie and Gilbert, their children, formed an uneasy alliance in the face of their parents' antipathy... -
A Daughter's Sorrow by Cathy Sharp
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsHeartache and hardship in London’s East End, from the bestselling author of The Orphans of Halfpenny StreetBridget has always been the one to take on the responsibility for looking after her family... -
Liverpool Daughter by Katie Flynn
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA brand new novel from the bestselling author Katie Flynn. This is book one in her brilliant series about a young girl trying to make her way in war-torn Liverpool. Liverpool, August 1940 As the Luftwaffe turns its attention to Liverpool, Shane Quinn decides to move his family back to the safety of Ireland. But his only child, the beautiful Dana, refuses point blank... -
A Daughter's Price by Emma Hornby
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsGritty and page-turning historical saga set in Northern England in the late 1800s, for fans of Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin... -
Pride of Lancashire by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsCarrie, the oldest child of ten, is devastated when her father dies and her family is thrown out of their terraced house in Hedderby. But she finds work as a cleaner in a local pub, while her idle mother falls straight into the arms of the town's stingiest landlord... -
Bright Day Dawning: Music Hall Series, Book 3 by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsGwynna had fallen from grace once, bearing a stillborn child out of wedlock. Determined to have a respectable future, she finds a position for herself as a nursemaid at Hungerton House. But just as she begins to find her feet, the secrets of her past are revealed. She is swiftly dismissed but not before she becomes the target of a lascivious groom... -
The Stolen Child: The most heartwrenching and heartwarming saga you'll read this year by Jennie Felton
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratings'One of the nation's favourite saga writers' Lancashire Post'A real heartbreaker' PeterboroughTelegraph'Brimming with high drama, anguish, love, loss, tragedy, and gripping twists and turns, this is an absorbing and poignant story... Felton, a born storyteller, has a warm and compassionate heart.. -
Return to Sarah's Valley: Sequel to Sarah's Valley by Sharon Mierke
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsReturn to Sarah's Valley is a follow-up story to Sarah's Valley, which was published in 2012 by the same author, Sharon Mierke. In Sarah's Valley, Patrick Smithson meets Frank Lawdry. Frank, who prefers his Abenaki name, Winnipesaukee, spends the night recalling his life story. He and his sister, Sarah, were left orphans when everyone on a wagon train died in a horrific tragedy... -
The Winter Posy: The intriguing, new women's fiction series by Michelle Vernal
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBook 2 in the bestselling, must read historical, timeslip series to transport you from the days of big hair in the eighties to even bigger hair and the Beatles in the sixties, by award winning author, Michelle VernalTucked away on Liverpool’s Bold Street is a bridal shop where there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye…For nearly twenty years Sabrina’s wondered why she was abandoned as a...Categorized as:
female-mc epic literary-fiction historical time-travel paranormal historical-fiction fiction -
The River Maid by Dilly Court
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe first in a stunning new series from Sunday Times bestseller, Dilly Court London, 1854: twenty-year-old Essie Chapman lives with her father in poverty stricken Limehouse, working on the river as a boatman. Her life seems set before her, never to leave this part of London and forever at her father’s beck and call... -
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A Time for Renewal by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn the wake of World War Two, the whole country is desperate for houses, with very little money available to rebuild. In the town of Rivenshaw in Lancashire, Mayne Esher has no choice but to turn Esherwood, the war-damaged stately home which has been in his family for generations, into flats... -
Emma's War by Rosie Clarke
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAll she wanted was her husband to come home… Newly married to the caring RAF pilot Jonathan Reece, Emma thinks that life couldn’t be better. But her happiness is short-lived: within months, Jon’s plane is shot down over France and he is declared missing, presumed dead. Alone and with two children to care for, Emma’s first thought is how to support her family... -
The Island We Left Behind by Kate Hewitt
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“I love you. Of course I do. But we haven’t any choice in the matter, do we? If our little boy’s health, even his survival, is at stake, we have to do whatever it takes.”1928, New York City: Ellen and Lucas Lyman have made a heart-wrenching decision to leave their beloved Amherst Island behind in search of a new life... -
Millie by AnneMarie Brear
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA brand new series from the author of the Kitty McKenzie series and The Slum Angel. The Great War is over, and Millie is ready to leave her loving family home and be a wife to Jeremy who is everything she had hoped for. Until… Not long after their wedding, Millie discovers Jeremy is affected by shell shock and moving into his late father’s cold dark estate escalates the problem... -
Saltwick River Orphan: Historical Victorian Saga by Dolly Price
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsDrugged and supposedly drowned by the mother who should have loved her, 6-year-old Gwendoline is dredged from the Saltwick River. Poverty-stricken but rich in love Mr. and Mrs. Paul love the tiny child as their own until hard times and tragedy drive them to the workhouse... -
The Workhouse Waif by Lynette Rees
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsHeartwarming Historical Fiction by Lynette Rees: perfect for fans of Dilly Court and Nadine Dorries. Eleven-year-old, Megan Hopkins, is an inmate at Merthyr Tydfil Union Workhouse. Megan's family has fallen on hard times...
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