Books like 'Picnic'
Readers who enjoyed Picnic by William Inge also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical romance 20th century drama classics university family literary-fiction
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The Devil to Pay in the Backlands by João Guimarães Rosa
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsLively reminiscences of bandit warfare in the sertao, the still primitive Brazilian back country, told by a wise, retired outlaw chief. ~Worldcat.orgGrande Sertão: Veredas (Portuguese for "Great Backlands: Tracks"; English translation: The Devil to Pay in the Backlands) is a novel published in 1956 by the Brazilian writer João Guimarães Rosa...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction 20th-century adult book fiction historical historical-fiction -
The Secrets of the Tea Garden by Janet MacLeod Trotter
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsShe’s gone in search of happy memories. But was her idyllic childhood in India an illusion? After the Second World War, Libby Robson leaves chilly England for India, and the childhood home where she left her heart—and her beloved father, James—fourteen years ago. At first Libby is intoxicated by India’s vibrant beauty: the bustle of Calcutta, the lush tea gardens of Assam... -
O Continente - Volume I by Erico Verissimo
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA vast sprawling period novel of the minor wars that wracked Brazil from the days when its European masters gambled with their colonists' affairs to the Civil Wars which turned family against family and set Republicans and Federalists at each others throats. Backgrounded by these wars, the story follows the history of the Terra-Cambaras, during 150 years, in the southern part of Brazil. The men . -
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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This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsMinke is a young Javanese student of great intelligence and ambition. Living equally among the colonists and colonized of 19th-century Java, he battles against the confines of colonial strictures. It is his love for Annelies that enables him to find the strength to embrace his world...Categorized as:
classics drama family literary-fiction university 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Shadow Sister by Lucinda Riley
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsFollowing on from the bestselling The Seven Sisters and The Storm Sister, The Shadow Sister is the third book in Lucinda Riley's spellbinding series, loosely based on the mythology of the Seven Sisters star cluster... -
Child of All Nations by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn Child of All Nations, the reader is immediately swept up by a story that is profoundly feminist, devastatingly anticolonialist—and full of heartbreak, suspense, love, and fury. Pramoedya immerses the reader in a world that is astonishing in its vividness: the cultural whirlpool that was the Dutch East Indies of the 1890s... -
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... -
The Angry Tide by Winston Graham
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Angry Tide is the seventh novel in Winston Graham's classic Poldark saga, the major TV series from Masterpiece on PBS.Cornwall, towards the end of the 18th century. Ross Poldark sits for the borough of Truro as Member of Parliament - his time divided between London and Cornwall, his heart divided about his wife, Demelza...Categorized as:
classics drama family literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
My Voice Because of You, by Pedro Salinas, Jorge Guillén
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsEnglish, Spanish... -
Pygmalion / My Fair Lady by George Bernard Shaw, Alan Jay Lerner
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe ancient Greeks tell the legend of the sculptor Pygmalion, who created a statue of a woman of such surpassing beauty that he fell in love with his own creation. Then, Aphrodite, taking pity on this man whose love could not reach beyond the barrier of stone, brought the statue to life and gave her to Pygmalion as his bride... -
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 Four Swans by Winston Graham
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe sixth book in the legendary Poldark saga. Cornwall, 1795: Although Ross Poldark - now something of a war hero - seems secure in his hard-won prosperity, a new dilemma faces him in the sudden infatuation of a young naval officer for his wife Demelza. All four women - the four swans - whose lives touch Ross' face a crisis in these years...Categorized as:
classics drama family literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Every Mother's Son by Lyn Andrews
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMolly and Bernie have been friends forever. As young girls they left Ireland seeking new beginnings in Liverpool. Now they are marrying their sweethearts and looking forward to enjoying the lives they've worked so hard to build. But as the Liverpool Blitz begins, it seems as if their dreams are about to be destroyed. Night after night, horrific bombing tears the city apart... -
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Jeremy Poldark by Winston Graham
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsCornwall, 1790. Ross Poldark faces the darkest hour of his life. He is to stand trial for the wrecking of two ships. Despite their stormy married life, Demelza has tried to rally support for her husband. But Ross Poldark has many powerful enemies...Categorized as:
classics drama family literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Demelza by Winston Graham
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsDemelza, the miner's daughter that Poldark rescued from a fairground rabble, is now his wife. Demelza's efforts to adapt to the ways of the gentry bring her confusion and heartache, despite the joy in the birth of their first child. Additionally the seeds of dispute with Warleggan are sown...Categorized as:
classics drama family literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe six D’Aplièse sisters have each been on their own incredible journey to discover their heritage, but they still have one question left unanswered: who and where is the seventh sister? They only have one clue – an image of a star-shaped emerald ring... -
Dreams of Silver by Mina Baites, Alison Layland
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA single treasured keepsake links one unforgettable family across continents in this enthralling saga by Mina Baites, the author of The Silver Music Box. London, 1963. I dream about my sister almost every night. Lilian Morrison has one memento of her beloved sister, Emma: a battered silver music box... -
Gora by Rabindranath Tagore, Marguerite Glotz
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsVast in its scope and rich in thought Gora has been acclaimed as a monumental work in the history of Bengali fiction. The story reflects the social, political and religious scene in Bengal at the turn of the century. The forces that were operating in Bengal at that time were one of the intense nationalism and revival of ancient spiritual values and also that of liberal western thought... -
Farewell Song by Rabindranath Tagore
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsRabindranath Tagore reinvented the Bengali novel with Farewell Song; blurring the lines between prose and poetry and creating an effervescent blend of romance and satire... -
The Lost Daughter by Gill Paul
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIf you loved I AM ANASTASIA you won't want to miss this novel about her sister, Grand Duchess Maria. What really happened to this lost Romanov daughter? A new novel perfect for anyone curious about Anastasia, Maria, and the other lost Romanov daughters, by the author of THE SECRET WIFE... -
An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures by Clarice Lispector, Sheila Heti
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhat to make of a writer who follows the metaphysical heights of her great Passion According to GH with a book that looks suspiciously like a romance novel? In The Apprenticeship, or The Book of Pleasures, Clarice Lispector tries to discover how to bridge the gap between people, or how to even begin to try... -
Nuntă în cer by Mircea Eliade
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsNeîndoielnic, scriind această carte, autorul ei evadează: în trecut, în imaginaţie, în mit. Nuntă în Cer nu este, desigur, un roman fantastic, deşi misterul nu lipseşte, dar este, cu siguranţă, un roman realist-simbolic, axat pe un mit al iubirii. Un roman de idei, mai puţin livresc decât celelalte, şi un roman liric... -
The Rose Stone by Teresa Crane
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA dazzling jewel holds the key to a prosperous new life… or total ruin The Rose Stone. A diamond, gained through betrayal and blood, upon which the Rosenberg family's fortunes were founded and whose price is yet to be paid. Kiev, 1875: Josef Rosenberg narrowly escapes death from a Cossack raid, rescuing Tanya, the youngest daughter of his old friend Boris Anatov...Categorized as:
literary-fiction family romance historical 20th-century historical-fiction fiction epic -
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Symphony of the Dead by Abbas Maroufi, عباس معروفی
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThis novel traces the fate of the Urkhani family in the Iranian town of Ardabil before & after the Second World War through the trials & ghostly recollections of its very individual members, who include: Ideen, the frustrated poet; Urhan, his greedy & talentless younger brother; & Yousef, whose childhood antics left him paralysed... -
The First Emma by Camille Di Maio
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCamille Di Maio's fifth novel THE FIRST EMMA is the true story of Emma Koehler, whose tycoon husband Otto was killed in a crime-of-the-century murder by one of his two mistresses—both also named Emma—and her unlikely rise as CEO of a brewing empire during Prohibition. When a chance to tell her story to a young teetotaler arises, a tale unfolds of love, war, beer, and the power of women... -
Rich Man, Poor Man by Irwin Shaw
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsRich Man, Poor Man is the story of two brothers whose contrasting natures reflect the turmoil of post-war America. Rudy is the rich man - a romantic who would let no one stand between him and success. Tom is the poor man - the black sheep of the family on the run from his violent past... -
Women & Children First by Gill Paul
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsShe was the most magnificent ship ever built, yet on the eve of 14th April the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic, leaving the lucky ones floating in wooden rowing boats, and the rest struggling for their lives in the icy water... -
When I Was Yours by Lizzie Page
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWe stand in the back of the hall as the children troop in. Big ones, little ones. Straggly hair, cropped hair, curls… the adults surge forward to choose and soon there is just one child left, a little girl sitting on the floor. She is thin as a string bean and her sleeve is ragged and damp – like she’s been chewing it. 1939... -
The Open Door by Latifa Zayyat, لطيفة الزيات
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Open Door is a landmark of women's writing in Arabic. Published in 1960, it was very bold for its time in exploring a middle-class Egyptian girl's coming of sexual and political age, in the context of the Egyptian nationalist movement preceding the 1952 revolution... -
Testimony of Two Men by Taylor Caldwell
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSomeday the town of Hambledon might forget the lies they told about their brilliant young doctor. But they could never forgive the truths he told about them... -
Adam și Eva by Liviu Rebreanu
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratings„Adevaratul, pretiosul modernism inseamna ravna de-a produce valori estetice imbracate in spiritul timpului, dar cu un nivel mai inalt decat al epocii precedente.” Liviu Rebreanu (1885 - 1944) Cu „Adam si Eva”, aparut in 1925, Liviu Rebreanu se afla la al treilea roman, dupa „Ion” (1920) si „Padurea spanzuratilor” (1922)... -
The Immigrants by Howard Fast
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn a passionate, multigenerational novel set against the backdrop of San Francisco, the son of an Italian fisherman struggles from the rubble of the great earthquake to build a shipping empire. Reprint... -
...And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA #1 New York Times bestseller--and an American classic--now in trade paperback...A groundbreaking bestseller with two and a half million copies in print, "...And Ladies of the Club" centers on the members of a book club and their struggles to understand themselves, each other, and the tumultuous world they live in... -
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Absent in the Spring by Mary Westmacott, Agatha Christie
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsReturning from a visit to her daughter in Iraq, Joan Scudamore finds herself unexpectedly alone and stranded in an isolated rest house by flooding of the railway tracks. This sudden solitude compels Joan to assess her life for the first time ever and face up to many of the truths about herself... -
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:
classics drama literary-fiction romance fiction historical-fiction 20th-century coming-of-age -
The Valley Of Decision by Marcia Davenport
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOn the eve of World War II writer Marcia Davenport, best known for her biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, spent several years in Pittsburgh, her imagination caught by the drama of American industry. In 1942, Charles Scribner’s sons published her Pittsburgh novel, The Valley of Decision... -
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... -
Love is Just a Word by Johannes Mario Simmel, Йоханес Марио Зимел
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis is the story of Oliver and Verena, who fall in love and risk everything to keep each other.He is the son of a notorious German industrialist. She is the voluptuous, indiscreet wife of a wealthy and ruthless businessman.Apart they have been two lonely people. Half alive. Together, they are radiant... -
The Carnivorous Lamb by Agustín Gómez Arcos, William Rodarmor
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe latest in the Little Sister’s Classics series resurrecting gay and lesbian literary gems: a viciously funny, shocking yet ultimately moving 1975 novel, an allegory of Franco’s Spain, about a young gay man (the self-described “carnivorous lamb”) coming of age with a mother who despises him, a father who ignores him, and a brother who loves him... -
The Heart of the Family by Elizabeth Goudge
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDespite the "crinkled pink petals strewn in the path of those who would have preferred red," four generations of Eliots have survived the War and are moving forward. The family's remarkable matriarch Lucilla is still with them, though she's facing the dark night of the soul. All is turned on its head with the arrival of Sebastian, another survivor of WWII... -
Long Summer Day by R.F. Delderfield
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsPaul Craddock is still young when he is invalided out of the army after the Boer War and he discovers the neglected estate of Shallowford in a secluded corner of Devon. It seems remote from the march of progress. But as storm clouds gather over Europe, Paul learns that no part of England, however remote, can escape the challenge of the times... -
The Gamekeeper's Wife by Clare Flynn
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMartha Walters is the widow of an abusive man. Christopher Shipley is the reluctant heir to a substantial family fortune. He has more money than he needs or wants – but responsibilities he can’t shirk. She has nothing, and now stands to lose even her home. They were never meant to fall in love …but sometimes you know the wrong person is the right one... -
Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA haunting love story set in the Channel Islands and New Zealand in the 19th century.William Ozanne, whose hypnotic, masculine presence made two sisters adore him with all their heart... The two beautiful daughters of a wealthy merchant of the Channel Islands fall in love with the same man, are very diferent... -
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Golden Earrings by Belinda Alexandra
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA powerful saga of family, love, honour and betrayal You who judge me: come! Let me tell you a story … Paloma Batton is the granddaughter of Spanish refugees who fled Barcelona after the Civil War... -
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... -
Love in a Cold Climate and Other Novels by Nancy Mitford
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsContains: The Pursuit of Love (1945)Love in a Cold Climate (1949)The Blessing (1951)Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate and Other Novels casts a finely gauged net to capture perfectly the foibles and fancies of the English upper class, and includes an introduction by Philip Hensher in Penguin Modern Classics... -
The Wheel of Fortune by Susan Howatch
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsOxmoon, the rambling old mansion on a sprawling estate in Wales, has been for generations, the dream, the downfall, and the destiny of the wealthy Godwin family... -
Homeland by John Jakes
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAt the dawn of a new century, from the uncontrolled chaos of Chicago's infamous Pullman Strike, to the birth of the moving picture, and the bloody carnage of the Spanish-American War, the immigrant Crown family raced with the currents of a changing world and their own desires, to claim America as their own... -
Sunday In The Park With George: A Musical by Stephen Sondheim, James Lapine
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsInspired by Georges Seurat's pointillist masterpiece Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte Sondheim and Lapine's musical celebrates the art of creation and the creation of art...
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