Books like 'The Bartender's Tale'
Readers who enjoyed The Bartender's Tale by Ivan Doig also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
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Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsIt's first the story of two women in the 1980s, of gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode telling her life story to Evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 20th-century adult -
Something Like Love by Beverly Jenkins
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBlackboard bestselling author Beverly Jenkins delivers another lush historical novel featuring brothers that were first introduced in her award-winning novel Always and Forever . This is the story that readers have been waiting for. He was a wanted man. But no one wanted him more than she did. Desperate to escape an arranged marriage, Olivia Sterling flees Chicago and heads west...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era western 20th-century adult arranged-marriage audiobook book -
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsFrom the author of Me Before You, set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond.Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 20th-century abuse action-adventure -
Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 24 ratings"This is a book about Heaven," says Jayber Crow, "but I must say too that . . . I have wondered sometimes if it would not finally turn out to be a book about Hell." It is 1932 and he has returned to his native Port William to become the town's barber...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 20th-century adult audiobook book -
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Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 41 ratings“That was it. That was all of it. A grace so ordinary there was no reason at all to remember it. Yet I have never across the forty years since it was spoken forgotten a single word.” New Bremen, Minnesota, 1961...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic secrets 20th-century -
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsAn alternate cover edition for ISBN 978-1492671527 can be found here.In 1936, tucked deep into the woods of Troublesome Creek, KY, lives blue-skinned 19-year-old Cussy Carter, the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america realistic usa -
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 81 ratingsFrom The New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white.The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 20th-century 21st-century -
Carry the World by Susan Fanetti
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsEastern Kentucky, 1937. After the death of her husband, Ada Donovan returned home to live again with her aging parents. She does all she can to help them keep the small family farm going. But times are hard, and there’s never enough... -
Bleak Landing by Terrie Todd
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn the dead-end Canadian town of Bleak Landing, twelve-year-old Irish immigrant Bridget O’Sullivan lives in a ramshackle house and dreams of another life, even as the Great Depression rages. Routinely beaten by her father and bullied by schoolmate Victor Harrison, the waifish yet fiery redhead vows to run away and never return... -
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 87 ratingsA remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German Occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name.“Treat yourself to this book, please - I can’t recommend it highly enough.” (Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love)“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers... -
Heaven to Betsy by Maud Hart Lovelace
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHigh School is Heaven! It's Betsy Ray's freshman year at Deep Valley High School, and she and her best childhood chum, Tacy Kelly, are loving every minute...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction realistic 20th-century book children classics -
The Missing Page by Cat Sebastian
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsEngland, 1948: Semi-retired spy Leo Page and country doctor James Sommers team up to solve a decades-old mystery.When James learns that an uncle he hasn’t heard from in ages has left him something in his will, he figures that the least he can do is head down to Cornwall for a weekend to honor the old man’s parting wishes... -
Under the Midnight Sun by Tracie Peterson, Kimberley Woodhouse
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTayler Hale is ahead of her time as one of the first women naturalists. She has always loved adventure and the great outdoors, and her remote job location also helps keep her away from the clutches of the man to whom she once made a foolish promise. It seems she must keep running, however, and in secret, her boss from Yellowstone arranges for a new job . . . in Alaska...Categorized as:
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Pushin' Up Daisies by Carolyn Brown
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsCatherine O'Shea is the oldest and most responsible of the three O'Shea sisters. She has just buried her mother, one of the last victims of the flu epidemic of 1918. Her father had been one of the first to succumb to the flu and her fiance was killed in the war. And now there is a detective living at her hotel, the Black Swan, looking into the disappearance of her abusive brother-in-law... -
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Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsLOVE IN A STRANGER'S EYES...ELLYIn town, they called her "Crazy Widow Dinsmore." But Elly was no stranger to their ridicule--she had been an outsider all her life, growing up in a boarded-up old house under the strict eye of her eccentric grandparents. Now she was all alone, with two little boys to raise, and a third child on the way...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction industrial-era realistic western 20th-century action-adventure -
Spring House by Mary Ellen Taylor
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe lives of two women, generations apart, converge in this enthralling novel of love, mystery, memories, and secrets. Pregnant and still grieving the death of her fiancé, historian Megan Buchanan is forging ahead on a dream project: to restore to its original glory the landmark hunting lodge her own great-great-grandfather built on Virginia’s Eastern Shore... -
Winter Cottage by Mary Ellen Taylor
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsA gripping novel about family secrets…and coming home for the first time. Still grieving the loss of her wandering, free-spirited mother, Lucy Kincaid leaves Nashville for the faded town of Cape Hudson, Virginia. She goes to see the house she’s inherited—one she never knew existed, bequeathed to her by a woman she’s never even met... -
The Lady Has a Past by Amanda Quick
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBeauty and glamour meet deception and revenge in this electrifying novel by New York Times bestselling author Amanda Quick.Investigative apprentice Lyra Brazier, the newest resident of Burning Cove, is unsettled when her boss suddenly goes on a health retreat at an exclusive spa and disappears without another word... -
Years by LaVyrle Spencer
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsLINNEAEager to begin her first teaching position, lovely Linnea Brandonberg stepped off the train looking as grown up as her eighteen years would allow. The golden fields and fragrant wheat of Alamo, North Dakota, were as new and different as the Westgaard family with whom she would live... -
Betsy in Spite of Herself by Maud Hart Lovelace
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBetsy Ray is now a sophomore, and she and her Crowd are in the thick of things at Deep Valley High. Whether she's carrying out her duties as class secretary, trying to charm the exasperating Joe Willard, or juggling the demands of rhetoricals, football games, parties, and exams, Betsy's got her hands full. She should be happy... but she is dissatisfied...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction realistic 20th-century book children christian -
A Picture of Murder by T.E. Kinsey
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsLate October 1909, and the season of ghouls and things that go bump in the night has descended on the village of Littleton Cotterell.Lady Hardcastle and her trusted lady’s maid, Florence, find themselves hosting a colourful cast of actors whose spooky moving picture, The Witch’s Downfall, is being shown to mark Halloween... -
A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsWhen a devilish lord and a bluestocking set off on the road to ruin... time is not on their side. Minerva Highwood, one of Spindle Cove's confirmed spinsters, needs to be in Scotland. Colin Sandhurst, Lord Payne, a rake of the first order, needs to be... anywhere but Spindle Cove...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction industrial-era 20th-century action-adventure adult alpha-mc audiobook -
Keep the Home Fires Burning - Part Three: Title to be revealed by S. Block
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe drama intensifies for the women of Great Paxford! PART THREE in a brand new FOUR-PART serial from the creator of ITV's smash hit series, Home Fires . Enjoy one ebook episode a month or own the complete novel in ebook or paperback in October 2017. Don't miss a minute of this enthralling new series. Keep the Home Fires Burning - Part One: Spitfire Down! is available for pre-order now... -
Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsFrom award-winning author Alan Bradley comes the next cozy British mystery starring intrepid young sleuth Flavia de Luce, hailed by USA Today as “one of the most remarkable creations in recent literature... -
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When She Dreams by Amanda Quick
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsReturn to 1930s Burning Cove, California, the glamorous seaside playground for Hollywood stars, mobsters, spies, and a host of others who find more than they bargain for in this mysterious town... -
Morning Glory by Carolyn Brown
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsClara Anderson has her routine, and she likes it that way. But oil has brought change to Healdton, Oklahoma, and she doesn't like it one bit. She might not have the means to stop history in the making, but that doesn't mean she has to rent rooms in her boarding house to oil well riff-raff... -
This Is Happiness by Niall Williams, Shashi Martynova
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAbout This Is HappinessThe most enchanting novel you'll read this year, from the acclaimed author of Man Booker-longlisted History of the RainChange is coming to Faha, a small Irish parish that hasn't changed in a thousand years.For one thing, the rain is stopping. Nobody remembers when it started; rain on the western seaboard is a condition of living... -
The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe narrator of The Bottoms is Harry Collins, an old man obsessively reflecting on certain key experiences of his childhood. In 1933, the year that forms the centerpiece of the narrative, Harry is 11 years old and living with his mother, father, and younger sister on a farm outside of Marvel Creek, Texas, near the Sabine River bottoms...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama historical-fiction 20th-century audiobook bildungsroman black-mc book -
A Divided Loyalty by Charles Todd
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsScotland Yard detective Ian Rutledge is assigned one of the most baffling investigations of his career—a cold murder case with an unidentified victim and a cold trail with few clues to follow.Chief Inspector Brian Leslie, a respected colleague of Ian Rutledge’s, is sent to Avebury, a village set inside a great prehistoric stone circle not far from Stonehenge...Categorized as:
historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult animals audiobook betrayal book -
...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... -
Poison at the Village Show: The start of a BRAND NEW cozy murder mystery series from Catherine Coles for 2022 by Catherine Coles
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWestleham Village 1947. It’s the Westleham village show and with the war finally over, everyone is looking forward to a pleasant day.But newcomer, Martha Miller doesn’t share the excitement. Because since her husband Stan left for work one day and never returned, Martha has been treated as somewhat of an outsider in Westleham. The village gossip is that Martha must be to blame…... -
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... -
The Mountain: An emotional saga of fierce passions you won’t want to put down… by Elvi Rhodes
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsJack Tempest spent the first twelve years of his life on the canals. Then, when his grandfather died, everything changed. His mam and he moved to Skipton, Mam worked in the mills, and they lived as best they could. It was there that she bought the picture of the mountain, and when she died it was one of the few things he took with him.But the mountain was more than just a picture... -
Mail Order Bride's Baby And Her One-Arm Indian by Florence Linnington
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA mail order bride with an unwanted baby in tow meeting a one-arm Indian husband-in-waiting is nothing short of a disaster… Rachael Jeffers has spent her entire life living, and then working, in an orphanage. Until circumstances give her no option but to flee – with a baby in tow. Her only hope now is a man named Motega, whom she had corresponded via letters...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era literary-fiction western 20th-century adult book fiction -
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Seven Summer Nights by Harper Fox
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIt’s 1946, and the dust of World War Two has just begun to settle. When famous archaeologist Rufus Denby returns to London, his life and reputation are as devastated as the city around him.He’s used to the most glamorous of excavations, but can’t turn down the offer of a job in rural Sussex. It’s a refuge, and the only means left to him of scraping a living...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult amnesia angst archaeology -
Keep the Home Fires Burning - Part Two: A Woman's Work . . . by S. Block
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe story continues . . . PART TWO in a brand new FOUR-PART ebook serial from the creator of ITV's smash hit series, Home Fires . Enjoy one ebook episode a month or own the complete novel in ebook or paperback in October 2017. Don't miss a minute of this enthralling new series. Keep the Home Fires Burning - Part One: Spitfire Down! is available for pre-order now. Search 9781785763564... -
Breathless by Beverly Jenkins
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA strong-willed beauty finds herself in the arms of the handsome drifter from her past, in this second book in the sizzling series set in the Old West, from USA Today Bestselling Author Beverly JenkinsAs manager of one of the finest hotels in Arizona Territory, Portia Carmichael has respect and stability—qualities sorely missing from her harsh childhood...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction industrial-era western 20th-century adult audiobook black-mc -
It Happened One Midnight by Julie Anne Long
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMore than one beautiful woman’s hopes have been dashed on the rocky shoals of Jonathan Redmond’s heart. With his riveting good looks and Redmond wealth and power, the world is his oyster—until an ultimatum from his father and a chilling gypsy prophesy send him hurtling headlong toward a fate he’ll do anything to avoid: matrimony... -
She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn the Appalachian community of Dark Hollow, Tennessee, some believe that the ghost of Katie Wyler, kidnapped by the Shawnee two hundred years ago, is once again roaming the hills. Only an old woman gifted with "the Sight" and policewoman Martha Ayers can put the superstitions to rest—and stop a flesh-and-blood predator as elusive as the whistling wind.. -
Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe storyline of Miss Buncle's Book (1934) is a simple one: Barbara Buncle, who is unmarried and perhaps in her late 30s, lives in a small village and writes a novel about it in order to try and supplement her meagre income. D.E. Stevenson had an enormously successful writing career: between 1923 and 1970, four million copies of her books were sold in Britain and three million in the States...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 20th-century adult audiobook -
The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsMiss Marple encounters a compelling murder mystery in St. Mary Mead, where under the seemingly peaceful exterior of an English country village lurks intrigue, guilt, deception, and death.Colonel Protheroe, local magistrate and overbearing landowner is the most detested man in the village. Everyone wishes he were dead and very soon he is shot in the head in the vicar’s study...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 20th-century amateur-sleuth audiobook book -
The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop by Fannie Flagg
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBud Threadgoode grew up in the bustling little railroad town of Whistle Stop with his mother, Ruth, church-going and proper, and his Aunt Idgie, the fun-loving hell-raiser. Together they ran the town's popular Whistle Stop Cafe, known far and wide for its fun and famous fried green tomatoes...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic 20th-century 21st-century adult -
In the Market for Murder by T.E. Kinsey
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsRevised edition: Previously published as The Spirit is Willing, this edition of In The Market For Murder includes editorial revisions.Spring, 1909, and Lady Hardcastle, amateur sleuth and all-round eccentric, is enjoying a well-deserved rest. But a week after a trip to the cattle market, Spencer Caradine, a local farmer, turns up dead in the pub, face-down in his beef and mushroom pie... -
Emily's Quest by L.M. Montgomery, P.K. Page
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsThe third and final volume of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s celebrated Emily trilogy, Emily’s Quest is a vigorously drawn study of a woman coming to terms with love and her own ambition. In no other novel did Montgomery explore more fully the beauty, complexity, and wonder of love... -
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Anyplace But Here by Callie Hutton, Erin Dameron-Hill
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratings1907 Guthrie, Oklahoma. What or who is Emily Cabot hiding from? Hunter Henderson is home from a ten year stint with the Texas Rangers and wants to know. The Harvey House waitress has caught his eye and possibly his heart. But he knows she’s hiding something and he won’t stop until he uncovers her secrets . . . And then she disappears... -
Alice & Jean by Lily Hammond
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEvery lover has her story, and every town has its secrets. It’s 1946 in New Zealand, and Alice Holden has fallen for the woman delivering her milk every morning... -
Room for Hope by Kim Vogel Sawyer
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn a desperate time, can Neva find forgiveness for a grievous wrong—and make room for hope? Neva Shilling has a heavy load of responsibility while her husband travels to neighboring communities and sells items from his wagon. In his absence, she faithfully runs the Shilling Mercantile, working to keep their business strong as the Depression takes its toll, and caring for their twins... -
Wings of a Dream by Anne Mateer
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsDebut Author Delivers Sweet Heartwarming Historical Fiction Rebekah Hendricks dreams of a life far beyond her family's farm in Oklahoma, and when dashing aviator Arthur Samson promised adventure in the big city, she is quick to believe he's the man she's meant to marry...Categorized as:
historical-fiction 20th-century adult book christian fiction historical love-triangle -
Semper Fi by Keira Andrews
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe war is over. The battle for love has just begun.As Marines, Cal and Jim depended on each other to survive bloodshed and despair in the Pacific. Relieved to put the horrors of war behind him, Jim went home to his apple orchard and a quiet life with his wife and children... -
Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA jaded spy and a shell shocked country doctor team up to solve a murder in postwar England. James Sommers returned from the war with his nerves in tatters. All he wants is to retreat to the quiet village of his childhood and enjoy the boring, predictable life of a country doctor...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era 20th-century 21st-century action-adventure adult angst audiobook
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