Books like 'The River Widow'
Readers who enjoyed The River Widow by Ann Howard Creel also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical mystery historical-fiction drama suspense literary-fiction family female-mc
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The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsA gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death...Categorized as:
historical-fiction suspense literary-fiction family female-mc mystery fiction audiobook -
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 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:
drama family female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook -
The Pearl Sister by Lucinda Riley
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsFrom the breathtaking beaches of Thailand to the barely tamed wilds of colonial Australia, The Pearl Sister is the next captivating story in New York Times bestselling author Lucinda Riley’s epic series about two women searching for a place to call home.CeCe D’Aplièse has always felt like an outcast...Categorized as:
drama family female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction action-adventure adult audiobook -
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Safe and Sound by Fern Michaels
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Sisterhood: a group of women from all walks of life bound by friendship and a quest for justice. Armed with vast resources, top-notch expertise, and a loyal network of allies around the globe, the Sisterhood will not rest until every wrong is made right. Now in their 29th adventure, the Sisterhood team up to find a gifted but neglected child the home he deserves... -
The Paper Bracelet by Rachael English
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEvery baby's bracelet held a mother's secret... Inspired by heartrending real events, the gripping new novel from No. 1 bestselling author Rachael English. Readers of Diane Chamberlain and Kathryn Hughes will love this book. 'A true storyteller who keeps you turning the pages' Cathy Kelly For almost fifty years, Katie Carroll has kept a box tucked away inside her wardrobe... -
Once Upon a Temptingly Ruinous Kiss (The Whickertons in Love) by Bree Wolf
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn this Regency romance by USA Today bestselling and HOLT Medallion winning author Bree Wolf, a brooding marquess and a bookish lady realize that love can conquer all...particularly when one least expects it.A marquess hell-bent on revenge.A lady haunted by her past.And an encounter that just might save them both.England 1802: Lady Leonora, daughter to the Earl of Whickerton, longs to understand. -
The Whisper Sister by Jennifer S. Brown
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe author of Modern Girls delivers an atmospheric coming-of-age story set in Prohibition-era New York, tracing one immigrant family’s fortunes and a young girl’s journey from the schoolyard to the speakeasy.The streets of New York in 1920 are most certainly not paved with gold, as Minnie Soffer learns when she arrives at Ellis Island... -
A Baby on the Doorstep (Volume 2) by Rachel Wesson
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn this heartbreaking and beautiful tale, a woman running an orphanage during the Great Depression does everything she can to help the children in her care—perfect for fans of Before We Were Yours and The Orphan Train .Distant rumblings of conflict in Europe have reached even the secluded, snow-dusted mountains of Virginia, where Lauren Greenwood faces a battle of her own...Categorized as:
historical-fiction suspense family female-mc historical fiction womens-fiction romantic-love -
The Story Keeper by Lisa Wingate
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen successful New York editor Jen Gibbs discovers a decaying slush-pile manuscript on her desk, she has no idea that the story of Sarra, a young mixed-race woman trapped in Appalachia at the turn of the twentieth century, will both take her on a journey and change her forever...Categorized as:
drama family female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction suspense action-adventure adult -
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... -
Into Temptation by Penny Vincenzi
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsInto Temptation, the third book of the Lytton family trilogy, shifts the focus to New York City and Barty Miller. Rescued from the slums as a baby by Celia Lytton and now living in New York, Barty heads more than half of the Lytton publishing house. Falling on bad times, the family is worried that Barty will make a business decision that would be devastating to them... -
The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratings‘My father had spelt it out to me. Choice was a luxury I couldn’t afford. This is your story, Red. You must tell it well . . .’A girl known only as Red, the daughter of a Cornish fortune-teller, travels with her father making a living predicting fortunes using the ancient method: the Square of Sevens. When her father suddenly dies, Red becomes the ward of a gentleman scholar... -
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The Secrets She Carried by Barbara Davis
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen a young woman returns to North Carolina after a thirty-year absence, she finds that the once grand tobacco plantation she called home holds more secrets than she ever imagined... -
Dovetail by Karen McQuestion
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of Hello Love comes a spellbinding new novel of enduring love, family secrets, and mysterious death.Joe Arneson’s ordinary life is upended by troubling dreams of himself as a different man in another place and time. It isn’t until he visits his estranged grandmother, Pearl, in her Wisconsin hometown that a startling connection emerges... -
The Lost Girls of Devon by Barbara O'Neal
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIt’s been years since Zoe Fairchild has been to the small Devon village of her birth, but the wounds she suffered there still ache. When she learns that her old friend and grandmother’s caretaker has gone missing, Zoe and her fifteen-year-old daughter return to England to help.Zoe dreads seeing her estranged mother, who left when Zoe was seven to travel the world... -
The Lost Sister by Kathleen McGurl
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThree sisters. Three ships. One heartbreaking story.1911. As Emma packs her trunk to join the ocean liner Olympic as a stewardess, she dreams of earning enough to provide a better life for both her sisters. With their photograph tucked away in her luggage, she promises to be back soon – hoping that sickly Lily will keep healthy, and wild Ruby will behave... -
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 family literary-fiction ww2 mystery historical fiction 20th-century -
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom the New York Times bestselling author of Long Bright River, an immersive, propulsive novel about a missing child whose disappearance sends equal shockwaves through three very different worlds—an opulent Adirondack summer estate, the rustic teen summer camp that operates in its shadow, and the blue-collar community that serves them both...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction suspense family mystery fiction historical thriller -
Venom by Colin Falconer
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom Saigon to Paris, from Bangkok to the Ganges, this thriller is the story of Michel Christian. Abandoned on the streets of Saigon when he is only a child, he grows up with a fatal attraction for women and an insatiable desire for revenge...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction literary-fiction suspense action-adventure adult book crime -
The Butterfly Room by Lucinda Riley
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsPosy Montague is approaching her seventieth birthday. Still living in her beautiful family home, Admiral House, set in the glorious Suffolk countryside where she spent her own idyllic childhood catching butterflies with her beloved father, and raised her own children, Posy knows she must make an agonising decision... -
The Confession by Jessie Burton
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe sensational new novel from the million-copy bestselling author of The Miniaturist and The Muse. One winter's afternoon on Hampstead Heath in 1980, Elise Morceau meets Constance Holden and quickly falls under her spell. Connie is bold and alluring, a successful writer whose novel is being turned into a major Hollywood film...Categorized as:
drama family female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction suspense 21st-century adult -
The Lightkeeper's Daughters by Jean E. Pendziwol
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsThough her mind is still sharp, Elizabeth's eyes have failed. No longer able to linger over her beloved books or gaze at the paintings that move her spirit, she fills the void with music and memories of her family—a past that suddenly becomes all too present when her late father's journals are found amid the ruins of an old shipwreck...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction suspense 20th-century audiobook book -
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Dauntless by Adele Clee
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsNoah Ashwood has suffered his fair share of injustices. It’s why he joined the Gentlemen of the Order, why he solves crimes committed against the vulnerable and needy. To his friends he’s known as Dauntless—a fearless fighter, a man with steely determination. And yet his strength is tested when he forms an infatuation for his new client... -
Truly Beloved by Grace Burrowes
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFabianus Haviland, Viscount Penweather, did not journey to the wilds of Dorsetshire in the dead of winter to engage in yet another dalliance with yet another lonely widow. Being a trifle lonely himself—only a trifle—he's looking for a fresh start in fresh surrounds.Fabianus has always enjoyed the company of sensible women, though, and Lady Daisy is very sensible... -
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 family literary-fiction female-mc romance fiction mystery historical -
A Thread Unbroken by Kay Bratt, Nancy Wu
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMany believe that those who are destined to be together are connected by an invisible red thread. If that is so, the fates of Chai and Josi are weaved together and tied with a knot that cannot be broken.Chai has been the self-appointed protector of her best friend, Josi, since their toddler days...Categorized as:
drama family female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction suspense action-adventure adult -
The Secret by the Lake by Louise Douglas
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAmy's always felt like something’s been missing in her life, but as a nanny for the Laurent family - Julia, Alain, Viviane - she feels complete.So Amy wouldn’t think of leaving them when a sudden tragedy forces them to move from France to the small lakeside cottage in the isolated Somerset village where Julia grew up.But there’s something strange about the cottage by the lake... -
The Angel Tree by Lucinda Riley
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThirty years have passed since Greta Marchmont left the mansion in which she had once found a home. Now she returns to Marchmont Hall in the snowy mountains of Wales - but she has no memory of her past because, since a tragic accident, she suffers from amnesia... -
The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsSet in 1920s Mississippi, this debut Southern novel weaves a beautiful and harrowing story of two teenage girls cast in an unlikely partnership through murder—perfect for readers of Where the Crawdads Sing and If the Creek Don't Rise.Ada promised herself she would never go back to the Trace, to her hard life on the swamp and her harsh father...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction family drama suspense female-mc north-america usa -
The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA haunting, epic novel about betrayal, revenge, and redemption that follows three generations of Russian women, from the 1917 revolution to the last days of the Soviet Union, and the enduring love story at the center.In a faraway kingdom, in a long-ago land... .. -
The Bridled Tongue by Catherine Meyrick
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDeath and life are in the power of the tongue. England 1586 Alyce Bradley has few choices when her father decides it is time she marry as many refuse to see her as other than the girl she once was—unruly, outspoken and close to her grandmother, a woman suspected of witchcraft...Categorized as:
family female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction adult audiobook book early-modern -
The Cherry Robbers by Sarai Walker
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsSarai Walker has done it again. With The Cherry Robbers she upends the Gothic ghost story with a fiery feminist zeal. --Maria SempleThe highly anticipated second novel from Sarai Walker, following her "slyly subversive" (EW) cult-hit Dietland--a feminist gothic about the lone survivor of a cursed family of sisters, whose time may finally be up... -
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The Crown Jewel Mystery by Anna Elliott, Charles Veley
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA young American actress arrives in London hoping to learn her identity, just as Sherlock Holmes is closing in on a master criminal. Their worlds collide, and not even Holmes could have foreseen the impact! This novella is the prequel to The Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James Mystery series. It takes place three days before the opening of The Last Moriarty...Categorized as:
female-mc suspense historical-fiction literary-fiction romance historical mystery christian -
The Madness of a Seduced Woman by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAgnes is on her way to Montpelier, when she sees a young man rescue a girl from a burning building. Agnes falls in love with this man, a local stonecutter, but the hero is also a betrayer, the apex of a triangle that eventually leads Agnes to commit murder... -
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... -
The Spinster's Fortune by Mary Kendall
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsMoonlit alleys, shadowy tunnels, and buried secrets…Summer of 1929.Of supposed unsound mind without a penny to her name, Blanche Magruder lies alone in a home for the aged and infirm.Meanwhile, her house, a crumbled ruin in the heart of Georgetown, Washington, D.C., is pillaged nightly by thieves looking for treasure rumored to be hidden there...Categorized as:
family female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction suspense 20th-century adult book -
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 Promise of Rain by Vasundra Tailor
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA treasured necklace that could unlock a family mystery. But why has it been hidden away for sixty years?With her thirtieth birthday on the horizon, Anna Kotze has accepted that there are some family secrets she’ll never know. While her mother’s Zimbabwean roots are woven into her life, all her father will say is that he was adopted...Categorized as:
family female-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction fiction audiobook mystery coming-of-age -
Crimes Of The Brothers by D. L. Carter
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBrothers are supposed to be kind... caring... supportive... protective. Catherine Walman's brother, however, is not. He has maligned her reputation until no honorable man will seek her company, wasted her dowry and endangered her home with his gambling and now his new wife has made it clear Catherine is no longer welcome... -
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... -
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... -
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...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction literary-fiction suspense 20th-century adult audiobook -
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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... -
The Last Dress from Paris by Jade Beer
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe secret is hidden within a collection of Dior dresses.... London, 2017. There’s no one Lucille adores more than her grandmother (not even her mother, she’s ashamed to say). So when her beloved Granny Sylvie asks Lucille to help secure the return of something precious to her, she’s happy to help... -
The Crooked Branch by Jeanine Cummins
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the national bestselling and highly acclaimed author of The Outside Boy comes the deeply moving story of two mothers—witty, self-deprecating Majella, who is shocked by her entry into motherhood in modern-day New York, and her ancestor, tough and terrified Ginny Doyle, whose battles are more fundamental: she must keep her young family alive during Ireland’s Great Famine... -
The Italian Girl by Lucinda Riley
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsRosanna Menici is just eleven years old when she meets Roberto Rossini, the man who will change her life forever. In the years to come, their destinies are bound together by their extraordinary talents as opera singers and by their enduring but obsessive love for each other - a love that will ultimately affect the lives of all those closest to them... -
A Tangled Mercy by Joy Jordan-Lake
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTold in alternating tales at once haunting and redemptive, A Tangled Mercy is a quintessentially American epic rooted in heartbreaking true events examining the harrowing depths of human brutality and betrayal, and our enduring hope for freedom and forgiveness... -
The Marriage Portrait: A novel by Maggie O'Farrell
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsREESE’S BOOK CLUB DECEMBER PICK • NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • The author of award-winning Hamnet brings the world of Renaissance Italy to jewel-bright life in this unforgettable fictional portrait of the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de' Medici as she makes her way in a troubled court.“I could not stop reading this incredible true story...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction family female-mc fiction historical audiobook early-modern
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