Books like 'What We Keep'
Readers who enjoyed What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery psychological north-america usa historical-fiction family coming-of-age drama literary-fiction
-
The Light Through the Leaves by Glendy Vanderah
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsOne unbearable mistake at the edge of the forest.In a moment of crisis, Ellis Abbey leaves her daughter, Viola, unattended—for just a few minutes. But when she returns, Viola is gone. A breaking point in an already fractured marriage, Viola’s abduction causes Ellis to disappear as well—into grief, guilt, and addiction...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family literary-fiction north-america realistic usa action-adventure -
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsPAT CONROY has created a huge, brash thunderstorm of a novel, stinging with honesty and resounding with drama. Spanning forty years, this is the story of turbulent Tom Wingo, his gifted and troubled twin sister Savannah, and their struggle to triumph over the dark and tragic legacy of the extraordinary family into which they were born...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama epic family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 20th-century -
I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsThis powerful, heartwrenching drama draws on the deepest human emotions - the need to know oneself, the responsibility to the family, and the influence of hidden history. The result is a highly acclaimed novel of survival and great sensitivity...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama epic family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 20th-century -
Night Road by Kristin Hannah
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsJude Farraday is a happily married, stay-at-home mom who puts everyone’s needs above her own. Her twins, Mia and Zach, are bright and happy teenagers. When Lexi Baill enters their lives, no one is more supportive than Jude. A former foster child with a dark past, Lexi quickly becomes Mia’s best friend. Then Zach falls in love with Lexi and the three become inseparable...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic audiobook book -
-
The Shadow Girl by Misty Mount
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsShy, thirteen-year-old Zylia has always known she was different. Most teenagers feel unnoticed and unseen, but for Zylia, it's something much worse. She's disappearing from this world and doesn't know how to stop it. At times, she's not sure she wants to. Until she stumbles across a family mystery surrounding the disappearance of her great-aunt Angelica years earlier... -
Where Women Are Kings by Christie Watson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsElijah, seven years old, has a history of disruptive behaviour. His adoptive mother Nikki believes that she and her husband Obi are strong enough to accept his difficulties – and that her being white will not affect her ability to raise a black son... -
Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsDr. Julia Cates was one of the country's preeminent child psychiatrists until a shocking tragedy ruined her career. Retreating to her small western Washington hometown, Julia meets an extraordinary six-year-old girl who has inexplicably emerged from the deep woods nearby—a child locked in a world of unimaginable fear and isolation... -
Breaking the Silence by Diane Chamberlain
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsLaura Brandon had promised her dying father she would visit Sarah Tolley, but her own agony is drowning out the old woman's ramblings. Her husband killed himself, and the only witness--her daughter, Emma--now refuses to speak. Desperate, Laura turns to a man she met once five years ago: Emma's real father... -
The Day She Came Back by Amanda Prowse
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen her loving, free-spirited grandmother Primrose passes away, Victoria is bereft, yet resilient—she has survived tragedy before. But even her strength is tested when a mysterious woman attends Prim’s funeral and claims to be the mother Victoria thought was dead...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family literary-fiction audiobook book contemporary domestic-drama -
A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsMaurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for fame. The one thing he doesn’t have is talent—but he’s not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don’t need to be his own...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 21st-century adult -
We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsThere are two kinds of families: the ones we are born into and the ones we create.Walk has never left the coastal California town where he grew up. He may have become the chief of police, but he’s still trying to heal the old wound of having given the testimony that sent his best friend, Vincent King, to prison decades before. Now, thirty years later, Vincent is being released...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america realistic usa -
The Secret Child by Kerry Fisher
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsJust for a moment, I was young and invincible again, back before I made the decision that changed the rest of my life… Susie did something that she knows she will always regret: giving her baby son up for adoption, to keep her infidelity secret from her family... -
What I Remember Most by Cathy Lamb
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn a new novel rich in grace, warmth, and courage, acclaimed author Cathy Lamb tells of one woman's journey of reinvention in the wake of deep betrayal.Grenadine Scotch Wild has only vague memories of the parents she last saw when she was six years old. But she's never forgotten their final, panicked words to her, urging Grenadine to run... -
The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsIn 1977, pregnant Genevieve Russell disappeared. Twenty years later, her remains are discovered and Timothy Gleason is charged with murder. But there is no sign of the unborn child. CeeCee Wilkes knows how Genevieve Russell died, because she was there. And she also knows what happened to the missing infant, because two decades ago she made the devastating choice to raise the baby as her own...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic adult audiobook -
-
What's Left Unsaid by Emily Bleeker
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAn enthralling novel of secrets, second chances, and confronting the past by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of When I’m Gone.After a series of devastating losses, Chicago journalist Hannah Williamson has landed in Senatobia, Mississippi, to care for her bedridden grandmother and endure grunt work at a small newspaper... -
The Night of Many Endings by Melissa Payne
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom Melissa Payne, bestselling author of Memories in the Drift, comes an emotionally rich, feel-good novel about hope, second chances, and seeing the world through someone else’s eyes.Orphaned at a young age and witness to her brother’s decline into addiction, Nora Martinez has every excuse to question the fairness of life... -
Where The Story Starts by Imogen Clark
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA strange encounter. An unlikely friendship. But will it survive when they both know the truth?As single mother Leah struggles to get her children ready one morning, the doorbell rings. Standing on the doorstep of their terraced house in Whitley Bay is a well-dressed stranger, Clio, who feels an emotional tie to the house that she can’t explain... -
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsIf you knew your future, would you try to fight fate? Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed. Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die... -
The Marriage Mender by Linda Green
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe only relationship she can't save is her own . . .Alison is a marriage counsellor. Her job is to help couples who fear they have reached the end of the line. But the trouble with spending your time sorting out other people's problems is that you tend to take your eye off your own. Even when her husband's ex Lydia arrives on the doorstep demanding to see her son, Alison thinks she can handle it... -
Father and Son by Larry Brown
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThis classic story of good and evil takes place in the rural American South of 1968. After being released from prison, Glen Davis returns to his hometown only to commit double homicide within forty-eight hours of his return... -
The Passing Storm by Christine Nolfi
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA gripping, openhearted novel about family, reconciliation, and bringing closure to the secrets of the past.Early into the tempestuous decade of her thirties, Rae Langdon struggles to work through a grief she never anticipated. With her father, Connor, she tends to their Ohio farm, a forty-acre spread that itself has enjoyed better days... -
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 84 ratingsNew York Times best-selling author Jodi Picoult is widely acclaimed for her keen insights into the hearts and minds of real people. Now she tells the emotionally riveting story of a family torn apart by conflicting needs and a passionate love that triumphs over human weakness. Anna is not sick, but she might as well be...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family literary-fiction north-america realistic usa 21st-century -
The Art of Hiding by Amanda Prowse
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhat would you do if you learned that the life you lived was a lie? Nina McCarrick lives the perfect life, until her husband, Finn, is killed in a car accident and everything Nina thought she could rely on unravels.Alone, bereft and faced with a mountain of debt, Nina quickly loses her life of luxury and she begins to question whether she ever really knew the man she married... -
The Rise by Shari King, Shari Low
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen we bury our secrets, they always come back to haunt us...Their rise was meteoric.Only a few years before, they had been three friends from Glasgow, just trying to survive tough lives of danger and dysfunction.But on one Hollywood evening in 1993, they were on the world’s biggest stage, accepting their Oscar in front of the watching world.That night was the beginning of their careers... -
-
Watching Glass Shatter by James J. Cudney
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAfter 40 years of marriage, Olivia's husband unexpectedly passes away. But when Ben’s will reveals a life-altering secret, she suffers a blow no widow should ever experience. As Olivia visits each of her sons to share a final connection before facing a truth that will change their family, she discovers that each has been harboring a painful secret, just like his father... -
Dear Mother by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA story about three sisters brought together by the death of their cruel and abusive mother. Alex, the youngest, is a bitter, unforgiving woman who refuses to face the events of her childhood. She hides in a bottle and destroys any chance of happiness that comes her way. Her life is spiralling dangerously out of control but she doesn't have the strength to stop it... -
The Halo Effect by Anne D. LeClaire
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn this tour de force, a father, shaken by tragedy, tries to avenge his daughter’s murder—and restore his family’s shattered life. It was supposed to be a typical October evening for renowned portrait artist Will Light... -
What I Lost by Alexandra Ballard
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsA searing yet ultimately uplifting young adult novel about a teenage girl's recovery from anorexia.Sixteen-year-old Elizabeth has honed a dangerous skill: starving herself. Even when her parents send her to a treatment center, she can't stop. Then she begins receiving packages from someone she doesn't know... -
The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsBestselling romance author and ardent knitter Debbie Macomber combines both her skills in this novel about a newly opened Seattle yarn shop and the knitting class that brings four women together to make baby blankets. The owner of the shop and her three students produce more than blankets, knitting together bonds of solidarity, friendship, love, hope, and renewal... -
Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsThe small town of Paradise, Pennsylvania, is a jewel in Lancaster County - known for its picture-postcard landscapes and bucolic lifestyle. But that peace is shattered by the discovery of a dead infant in the barn of an Amish farmer. A police investigation quickly leads to two startling disclosures: the newborn's mother is an unmarried Amish woman, eighteen-year-old Katie Fisher...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama epic family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic audiobook -
The Ones We Choose by Julie Clark
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsLisa Genova meets 23andMe in this exploration of the genetic and emotional ties that bind, as debut author Julie Clark delivers a compelling read about a young boy desperate to find his place in this world, a mother coming to terms with her own past, and the healing power of forgiveness... -
pretending to dance by Diane Chamberlain
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsMolly Arnette is very good at keeping secrets. She lives in San Diego with a husband she adores, and they are trying to adopt a baby because they can't have a child on their own. But the process of adoption brings to light many questions about Molly's past and her family—the family she left behind in North Carolina twenty years before. The mother she says is dead but who is very much alive...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic audiobook book -
The Night the Lights Went Out by Karen White, Carolyn Cook
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratings15 hours, 19 minutesFrom the New York Times bestselling author of the Tradd Street series comes a stunning new novel about a young single mother who discovers that the nature of friendship is never what it seems....Recently divorced, Merilee Talbot Dunlap moves with her two children to the Atlanta suburb of Sweet Apple, Georgia...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 21st-century adult audiobook -
Secrets She Left Behind by Diane Chamberlain
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsOne afternoon, single mother Sara Weston says she's going to the store--and never returns. In her absence, she leaves her teenage son alone with his damaged past and a legacy of secrets... -
-
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsCollege student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe's life is ever the same...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america realistic usa -
The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOn an evening in late summer, the great financier Harry Wainwright, nearing the end of his life, arrives at a rustic fishing camp in a remote area of Maine. He comes bearing two things: his wish for a day of fishing in a place that has brought him solace for thirty years, and an astonishing bequest that will forever change the lives of those around him...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama epic family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 20th-century -
Split by Swati Avasthi
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSixteen-Year-Old Jace Witherspoon arrives at the doorstep of his estranged brother Christian with a re-landscaped face (courtesy of his father’s fist), $3.84, and a secret... -
With Love from the Inside by Angela Pisel
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAngela Pisel’s poignant debut explores the complex relationship between a mother and a daughter, and their quest to discover the truth and whether or not love can prevail—even from behind bars.Grace Bradshaw knows the exact minute she will die. On death row for murdering her infant son, her last breath will be taken on February 15 at 12:01 a.m... -
Faultlines by Barbara Taylor Sissel
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIt’s the phone call every parent dreads: in the middle of the night, Sandy Cline learns that her twenty-year-old son, Jordan, has been in a car accident. Her nephew, Travis, was also in the car, along with Travis’s girlfriend. All three are alive—but barely. The car was smashed against a tree along a remote and winding road, beautiful but deadly, in their rural Texas Hill Country town... -
Tall Oaks by Chris Whitaker
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFor fans of Twin Peaks and The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair, this brilliant debut is dark yet hilarious, suspenseful and sad.Everyone has a secret in Tall Oaks . . .When three-year-old Harry goes missing, the whole of America turns its attention to one small town. Everyone is eager to help. Everyone is a suspect.Desperate mother Jess, whose grief is driving her to extreme measures...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america usa adult audiobook book contemporary -
Working Fire by Emily Bleeker
Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFrom the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of When I’m Gone comes a compelling novel of a bond between sisters, tested by tragedy…Ellie Brown thought she’d finally escaped her stifling hometown of Broadlands, Illinois; med school was supposed to be her ticket out... -
Loyalties by Delphine de Vigan
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the bestselling French novelist. Adults are as lost as the children they should be protecting, in this compelling exploration of the destructive secrets and loyalties that are kept behind closed doors Thirteen-year-old Théo and his friend Mathis secretly drink on an almost daily basis... -
The Secrets Mothers Keep by Jacquie Underdown
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn the enchanting landscapes of Tasmania, "The Secrets Mothers Keep" unravels a captivating tale of three generations bound by a shared purpose—to restore the family manor into a charming bed and breakfast. But beneath the surface lies a lifetime of concealed truths that threaten to tear them apart... -
The Distant Dead by Heather Young
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA BookPage Best Book of 2020 * A People Magazine Best Book of Summer * A Parade Best Book of Summer * A Crime Reads Most Anticipated Book of Summer “[A] second stunning piece of redemptive fiction… An ideal recommendation for fans of Kate Atkinson and Jodi Picoult.” – Booklist, Starred Review A body burns in the high desert hills...Categorized as:
coming-of-age epic family literary-fiction north-america realistic usa amateur-sleuth -
-
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf, 希瑟·古登考夫
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsIt happens quietly one August morning. As dawn's shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night.Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler... -
On Little Wings by Regina Sirois
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThis is a story of the countless ways we get love wrong. And why, despite every disappointment, we keep fighting to get it right. Jennifer must do the impossible – bring her mother home. When a family is torn apart by death, two sisters take violently divergent paths and the story of their family appears to end terribly and abruptly... -
Beach Plum Island by Holly Robinson
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“Your brother should know the truth.” These are the last cryptic words that Ava Barrett’s father says before he dies. But Ava doesn’t have a brother, as far as she knows, so how can she tell him the truth? She dismisses the conversation and dedicates herself to bringing her family together for her father’s funeral... -
Quentins by Maeve Binchy
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIs it possible to tell the story of a generation and a city through the history of a restaurant? Ella Brady thinks so. She wants to film a documentary about Quentins that will capture the spirit of Dublin from the 1970s to the present day...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic adult anthologies audiobook -
Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA GRIPPING NEW NOVEL FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF INHERITANCEOne Night. One Fateful Choice. A Constellation of Lives Changed Forever.SIGNAL FIRES opens on a summer night in 1985. Three teenagers have been drinking. One of them gets behind the wheel of a car, and, in an instant, everything on Division Street changes...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction family coming-of-age drama fiction audiobook contemporary -
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsWith Empire Falls Richard Russo cements his reputation as one of America's most compelling and compassionate storytellers. Miles Roby has been slinging burgers at the Empire Grill for 20 years, a job that cost him his college education and much of his self-respect. What keeps him there? It could be his bright, sensitive daughter Tick, who needs all his help surviving the local high school...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.