Books like 'The Sleeping Dictionary'
Readers who enjoyed The Sleeping Dictionary by Sujata Massey also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical mystery 20th century historical-fiction literary-fiction coming-of-age female-mc ww2 poc-mc
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The Keeper of Happy Endings by Barbara Davis
Rated: 4.55 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsAn enchanting novel about fate, second chances, and hope, lost and found, by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Last of the Moon Girls.Soline Roussel is well schooled in the business of happy endings. For generations her family has kept an exclusive bridal salon in Paris, where magic is worked with needle and thread... -
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... -
The Letter by Ruth Saberton
Rated: 4.61 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Letter is a beautiful novel set in England between the First World War and the present day. Perfect for fans of Downton Abbey, it is the story of an aristocratic family, a forbidden love affair and the darkest of secrets kept for over one hundred years. On the eve of the First World War aspiring poet Kit Rivers looks forward to a bright future... -
An Ordinary Life by Amanda Prowse
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of The Girl in the Corner comes a tale of love, loss—and one last extraordinary dance.Christmas Eve, 2019. Ninety-four-year-old Molly lies in her hospital bed. A stroke and a fall may have broken her body—but her mind is alive with memories.London, 1940s. Molly is a bright young woman, determined to help the war effort and keep her head up despite it all... -
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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...Categorized as:
coming-of-age female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book british-isles -
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...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook book drama -
When We Were Innocent by Kate Hewitt
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratings“Dad, you have to tell me the truth. Are you who they say you are? Because I know you can’t be. I know you can’t possibly have done what they’re saying…”Libby Trent has worked hard to make a good life for herself. She has a happy, messy home in Virginia, full of family and laughter... -
The Dressmaker's Gift by Fiona Valpy
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsA Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestseller. From the bestselling author of The Beekeeper’s Promise comes a gripping story of three young women faced with impossible choices. How will history – and their families – judge them? Paris, 1940. With the city occupied by the Nazis, three young seamstresses go about their normal lives as best they can. But all three are hiding secrets...Categorized as:
coming-of-age female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction ww2 20th-century adult audiobook -
The Riviera House by Natasha Lester
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Secret weaves a lush and engrossing novel of World War II inspired by a true story and perfect for fans of Kate Quinn and Pam Jenoff. Paris, 1939: The Nazis think Éliane can't understand German. They’re wrong. They think she’s merely cataloging art in a Louvre museum and unaware they’re stealing national treasures for their private collections...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Secretary by Catherine Hokin
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsThe Tower House. Down a secluded path, hidden by overgrown vines, the crumbling villa echoes with memories. Of the family who laughed and sang there, until the Nazis tore them from their home. And of the next woman to walk its empty rooms, whose courage in the face of evil could alter the course of history…Germany 1940... -
The Promise by Michelle Vernal
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA wonderfully heartwarming, touching and romantic story - Tammy Robinson Author of Differently Normal Two women from different generations brought together by another’s wrongdoing. When British backpacker, Isabel Stark happens across a car accident on a lonely stretch of road in the South Island of New Zealand her life changes forever...Categorized as:
ww2 female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction romance historical 20th-century fiction -
The Last Restaurant in Paris by Lily Graham
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsParis 1944. To save her people, she served the enemy.In enemy-occupied Paris, as the locals go to bed starving and defeated by the war, music and laughter spills through the door of a little restaurant, crowded with German soldiers. The owner Marianne moves on weary feet between its packed tables, carrying plates of steaming, wholesome food for the enemy officers...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction ww2 20th-century action-adventure book fiction -
The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Johns
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsOceans and decades apart, two women are inextricably bound by the secrets between them.Japan, 1957...Categorized as:
coming-of-age female-mc historical-fiction ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsThe author of A Bridge Across the Ocean and The Last Year of the War journeys from the present day to World War II England, as two sisters are separated by the chaos of wartime...Current day, Oxford, England...Categorized as:
coming-of-age female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction ww2 20th-century audiobook book -
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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:
historical-fiction literary-fiction ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult book family -
Along the Broken Bay by Flora J. Solomon
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of A Pledge of Silence comes a story of resistance, intrigue, and risking it all in the WWII Philippines. December 1941. War has erupted in the Pacific, spelling danger for Gina Capelli Thorpe, an American expat living in Manila. When the Japanese invade and her husband goes missing, Gina flees with her daughter to the Zambales Mountains to avoid capture—or worse...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult asia -
The Dressmaker’s Secret by Lorna Cook
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsParis, 1941: As Coco Chanel’s assistant, Adèle lives side by side with German officers in the splendor of The Ritz hotel. But Adèle has a secret. She is working for the resistance, right under the German’s noses...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
The Orphan Daughter by Sheila Riley
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWinter, Liverpool 1947. Evie Kilgaren is a fighter. Abandoned by her mother and with her father long gone, she is left to raise her siblings in dockside Liverpool, as they battle against the coldest winter on record. But she is determined to make a life for herself and create a happy home for what's left of her family... -
The Lies We Leave Behind by Noelle Salazar
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFor fans of Kate Quinn and Beatriz Williams, this sweeping story follows a fearless nurse who must leave love behind when duty calls her back to the front.Somewhere in the Pacific, 1943. Kate Campbell is a nurse who bravely flies back and forth from the front to rescue wounded soldiers, amid long days, harsh conditions and often dangerous weather... -
Beyond This Broken Sky by Siobhan Curham
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratings1940, London: An unforgettable novel about the strength of the human spirit in the face of war and the remarkable women who put themselves in danger on the front lines during the Battle of Britain.As a volunteer for the ambulance service, Ruby has the dangerous task of driving along pitch-dark roads during the blackout...Categorized as:
historical-fiction ww2 literary-fiction female-mc historical mystery fiction friendship -
Into the Darkest Day by Kate Hewitt
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsShe had to step outside and hold the paper up to the moonlight to read it, but when she was able to make out the words, her heart felt as if it would drop right out of her chest. Because the message was in German.1944, London:When Lily meets enigmatic GI Matthew in war-torn London, she doesn’t expect to fall in love... -
I Saw Her That Night by Drago Jančar
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsI Saw Her That Night, a love story in time of war, is a novel about a few years in the life and mysterious disappearance of Veronika Zarnik, a young bourgeois woman from Ljubljana, sucked into the whirlwind of a turbulent period in history... -
The Paris Secret by Lily Graham
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsOn the brink of the second world war, a beautiful Parisian bookshop hides a heartbreaking secret that will tear one family apart forever … The last time Valerie was in Paris, she was three-years-old, running from the Nazis, away from the only home she had ever known... -
The Winemaker's Wife by Kristin Harmel
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsThe author of the engrossing international bestseller The Room on Rue Amélie returns with a moving story set amid the champagne vineyards of northern France during the darkest days of World War II, perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale.Champagne, 1940: Inès has just married Michel, the owner of storied champagne house Maison Chauveau, when the Germans invade...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
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Conspiracy of Lies by Kathryn Gauci
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom the author of The Embroiderer comes a powerful account of one woman's struggle to balance her duty to her country and a love she knows will ultimately end in tragedy. 1940. With the Germans about to enter Paris, Claire Bouchard flees France for England. Two years later she is recruited by the Special Operations Executive and sent back into occupied France to work alongside the Resistance... -
Margot's Secret by Roberta Kagan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAmid the chaos of Hitler's conquest of Europe, a family teeters on the edge of utter destruction.Trudy is still obsessed with her sister's husband, Max. But Max is torn between his loyalty to his wife, Margot, and giving in to Trudy, who might turn him in for the murder of her husband, the SS officer Rudolph...Categorized as:
historical-fiction ww2 literary-fiction mystery family historical fiction 20th-century -
On the Wings of Hope by Ella Zeiss, Helen MacCormac
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAs World War II draws to a close, can two young people find love, hope—and freedom?February 1942: Terrifying reports of the Wehrmacht’s advance across the Soviet Union spread like wildfire, striking new fear into the already oppressed German families living there.Harri Pfeiffer, now sixteen, is summoned to the forced labour camp in Chelyabinsk...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
Across the Winding River by Aimie K. Runyan
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA woman unlocks the mystery of her father’s wartime past in a moving novel about secrets, sacrifice, and the power of love by the bestselling author of Daughters of the Night Sky.Beth Cohen wants to make the most of the months she has left with her elderly father, Max...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction ww2 20th-century abuse action-adventure adult -
The Fourth Daughter by Lyn Liao Butler
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn Taiwan, the bond between grandmother and granddaughter opens up a healing world for them both in an inspiring family saga about the comfort of food, untold histories, and indomitable mother love.Chef Liv Kuo’s star is on the rise…until a traumatic incident leaves her emotionally unable to venture outside her Manhattan apartment...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction female-mc romance fiction mystery historical family -
The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Young Lions is a vivid and classic novel that portrays the experiences of ordinary soldiers fighting World War II. Told from the points of view of a perceptive young Nazi, a jaded American film producer, and a shy Jewish boy just married to the love of his life, Shaw conveys, as no other novelist has since, the scope, confusion, and complexity of war...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult black-mc -
The Girl from Vichy by Andie Newton
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsShe's done running. Now she fights. 1942, occupied France.With the war raging in Europe, Adèle Ambeh dreams of a France that is free from the clutches of the Nazis. As the date of her marriage to a ruthless man draws closer, she only has one choice: she must run.Adèle flees to Lyon and seeks refuge at the Sisters of Notre Dame de la Compassion... -
Beyond the Shadow of Night by Ray Kingfisher
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn this epic tale of friendship and loss from the author of The Sugar Men, fate pushes childhood friends to opposite sides of a terrible war—but is forgiveness always possible? Ukraine, 1923. On a small farm, two boys are born within days of each other, both Ukrainian, one Jewish... -
The Berlin Girl by Mandy Robotham
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of The German Midwife comes the heart-wrenching story of a country on the brink of war, a woman who puts herself in the line of fire, and a world about to be forever changed.Berlin, 1938: It’s the height of summer, and Germany is on the brink of war...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Midnight House by Amanda Geard
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPeople disappear. Secrets remain... My Dearest T, Whatever you hear, do not believe it for a moment...1940: In south-west Ireland, the young and beautiful Lady Charlotte Rathmore is pronounced dead after she mysteriously disappears by the lake of Blackwater Hall... -
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The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff, Sanna Majuri
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratings1942. Sadie Gault is eighteen and living with her parents amid the horrors of the Kraków Ghetto during World War II. When the Nazis liquidate the ghetto, Sadie and her pregnant mother are forced to seek refuge in the perilous sewers beneath the city. One day Sadie looks up through a grate and sees a girl about her own age buying flowers... -
The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen a woman discovers a rare book that has connections to her past, long-held secrets about her missing sister and their childhood spent in the English countryside during World War II are revealed.In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War... -
Love Released by Geri Foster
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBest if books are read in order. RIVETING AND REVEALING! The past stands between them, but a strong abiding love bridges the gap. Violence and crime intrude on the quiet town of Gibbs City, Missouri when a citizen does the unthinkable, but Sheriff Virgil Carter is determined to uphold the law at all cost... -
The Secret Letter by Kerry Barrett
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLondon, 1910. Twenty-one-year-old Esther Watkins would do anything for the Suffragette cause. Imprisoned, force-fed and beaten, she is determined to fight for what she believes is right – no matter what it costs her. With new love Joseph by her side, will she get the better future she dreams of? Kent, 2019... -
The Christmas Key by Phillipa Nefri Clark
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA hot summer Christmas Day is just around the corner in the Australian seaside town of River’s End. Beachside BBQs and sumptuous dinners are on the menu. But Martha Blake is like a dog with a bone, determined to solve the last of the cottage mysteries. She and great-niece Christie begin a secret investigation. Meanwhile, Thomas is busy with his own clues and enlists a reluctant Martin...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction christian suspense mystery fiction holidays -
Shanghai Story: A WWII Drama Trilogy Book One by Alexa Kang
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA WWII saga in the heart of the world's most decadent city in 1936. Enter the Paris of the East, where one man and one woman strive to hold on to their dreams as the Communists rise and the shadow of Japan closes in. His country stood on the verge of a new beginning and the gate of hell...Categorized as:
poc-mc historical-fiction ww2 literary-fiction romance military historical 20th-century -
The Cannonball Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsHas Su Lin summoned a tree demon who is now killing on her behalf?The overpoweringly fragrant flowers, snakelike vines and deadly fruit of the cannonball tree are enough to keep most people away. But when a piece of expensive photographic equipment is found nearby, on closer inspection Su Lin discovers the body of Mimi, her horrible relative who has been trying to blackmail her... -
Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 35 ratings#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In her most powerful novel yet, acclaimed author Lisa See returns to the story of sisters Pearl and May from Shanghai Girls, and Pearl’s strong-willed nineteen-year-old daughter, Joy. Reeling from newly uncovered family secrets, Joy runs away to Shanghai in early 1957 to find her birth father—the artist Z. G. Li, with whom both May and Pearl were once in love...Categorized as:
coming-of-age female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc ww2 20th-century 21st-century -
Deadly Caress by Brenda Joyce
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBrenda Joyce's New York Times best-selling novels have thrilled millions of readers. Now, in her latest Francesca Cahill novel, return to the lush mansions and teeming streets of New York City's Gilded Age, where intrigue and seduction lie on every corner... The year is 1902. The place is New York City... -
Thief of Glory: A Novel by Sigmund Brouwer
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“Brouwer makes you live it....sharing each moment of an exotic and terrifying time and place in a gripping, personal way.” —Bodie and Brock Thoene, authors of Take this Cup A boy coming of age in a time of war… the love that inspires him to survive...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction literary-fiction ww2 20th-century book christian drama -
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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... -
The Hidden Palace by Dinah Jefferies
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe second book in the sweeping new historical series from the number one Sunday Times best-selling author.An island of secrets. A runaway. And a promise....A rebellious daughter1923. Among the ancient honey-coloured walls of the tiny island of Malta, strangers slip into the shadows and anyone can buy a new name...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
The Commandant's Daughter by Catherine Hokin
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratings1933, Berlin. Ten-year-old Hanni Foss stands by her father’s side watching the torchlit procession to celebrate Adolf Hitler as Germany’s new leader. As the lights fade, she knows her safe and happy childhood is about to change forever. Practically overnight, the father she adores becomes unrecognisable, lost to his ruthless ambition to oversee an infamous concentration camp…Twelve years later...Categorized as:
coming-of-age female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction ww2 20th-century adult book -
The Secret of the Château by Kathleen McGurl
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsEverything is about to change…1789.Pierre and Catherine Aubert, the Comte and Comtesse de Verais, have fled the palace of Versailles for their château, deep in the French Alps. But as revolution spreads through the country, even hidden away the Auberts will not be safe forever. Soon they must make a terrible decision in order to protect themselves, and their children, from harm.Present day... -
Sapphire Skies by Belinda Alexandra
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA love bigger than a war. A beautiful woman lost. A mystery unsolved … until now. 2000: The wreckage of a downed WWII fighter plane is discovered in the forests near Russia’s Ukrainian border. The aircraft belonged to Natalya Azarova, ace pilot and pin-up girl for Soviet propaganda, but the question of her fate remains unanswered... -
My Real Name Is Hanna by Tara Lynn Masih
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHanna Slivka is on the cusp of fourteen when Hitler's army crosses the border into Soviet-occupied Ukraine. Soon, the Gestapo closes in, determined to make the shtetele she lives in “free of Jews.” Until the German occupation, Hanna spent her time exploring Kwasova with her younger siblings, admiring the drawings of the handsome Leon Stadnick, and helping her neighbor dye decorative pysanky eggs...Categorized as:
historical-fiction ww2 coming-of-age literary-fiction female-mc europe east-europe ukraine
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