Books like 'Hourglass: Time, Memory, Marriage'
Readers who enjoyed Hourglass: Time, Memory, Marriage by Dani Shapiro also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary psychological season-summer family aging
-
Lato, gdy mama miała zielone oczy by Tatiana Țîbuleac
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAleksy, kipiący gniewem nastolatek, po ukończeniu szkoły zamierza pojechać z kolegami do Amsterdamu, zamiast tego jednak udaje się z matką na wieś do Francji. Mają spędzić razem lato. Ich trudna relacja powoli się odmienia, aż w końcu – na krótko – przechodzi w autentyczną bliskość... -
![Seabreeze Sunset by Jan Moran]()
Seabreeze Sunset by Jan Moran
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsUntangling secrets at a historic beach inn has unimagined surprises. With the high summer season underway at the Seabreeze Inn, Ivy faces a fresh round of new challenges and reasons to celebrate. She has just one season to make the inn successful enough to pay the tax bill her late husband burdened her with. And her neighbor’s lawsuit could mean an end to the Seabreeze Inn... -
![Jabari salta by Gaia Cornwall]()
Jabari salta by Gaia Cornwall
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsJabari is definitely ready to jump off the diving board. He's finished his swimming lessons and passed his swim test, and he's a great jumper, so he's not scared at all. "Looks easy," says Jabari, watching the other kids take their turns. But when his dad squeezes his hand, Jabari squeezes back...Categorized as:
family season-summer action-adventure black-mc book children children-books coming-of-age -
![Next to Normal by Brian Yorkey, Tom Kitt]()
Next to Normal by Brian Yorkey, Tom Kitt
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratings"A brave and breathtaking musical... -
-
![An Unusual Boy by Fiona Higgins]()
An Unusual Boy by Fiona Higgins
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsMeet Jackson - a very unusual boy in a world that prefers 'normal'...Julia Curtis is a busy mother of three, with a husband often away for work, an ever-present mother-in-law, a career, and a house that needs doing up. Her fourteen-year-old daughter, Milla, has fallen in love for the first time, and her youngest, Ruby, is a nine-year-old fashionista who can out-negotiate anyone... -
![The Girl at the Last House Before the Sea by Liz Eeles]()
-
![Sunshine Avenue by Jan Moran]()
Sunshine Avenue by Jan Moran
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsJunie Raines is ready for a second chance at life on a sunny island off the coast of Southern California. She’s managing the gift shop at the Majestic Hotel, a Victorian-era beach resort, but her sister Maileah is driving her bonkers. And now she wants to live with her... -
![Seabreeze Shores by Jan Moran]()
Seabreeze Shores by Jan Moran
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAs Ivy is adjusting to a new marriage, she must also welcome spa guests and deal with more secrets her old beach house reveals—this time, from the Roaring Twenties.Plus, her sister Shelly is nervous about having her first baby... -
![Uncovering Love by J.J. Sorel]()
Uncovering Love by J.J. Sorel
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTo escape an abusive ex, Scarlet Black takes on a new identity and accepts a role masquerading as an admin assistant. She moves to a secluded mansion in a small English coastal village working for the reclusive billionaire, Daniel Love, whose wife has disappeared under mysterious circumstances... -
![Gulf Coast Cottage by Maggie Miller]()
Gulf Coast Cottage by Maggie Miller
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEscape to the Gulf Coast of Florida with Georgia Carpenter as she gets a second chance at life, love, and happiness. In the middle of an awful divorce, fifty-three-year-old Georgia Carpenter finds herself out of luck, time, and money. Then her phone rings with the news that her great aunt has died and left her a cottage in the Gulf Coast town of Blackbird Beach... -
![A Girl's Best Friend: A feel-good countryside escape to warm your heart by Jules Wake]()
A Girl's Best Friend: A feel-good countryside escape to warm your heart by Jules Wake
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWelcome to your new cottage in the country - complete with grumpy vet, village gossip and a giant, lolloping, and very muddy dog... City girl Ella wants to take refuge in the country, lick her wounds and work out what she's going to do with the rest of her life. She certainly doesn't want a four-legged house guest or have anything to do with village life... -
![Iza's Ballad by Magda Szabó]()
Iza's Ballad by Magda Szabó
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen Ettie's husband dies, her daughter Iza insists that her mother give up the family house in the countryside and move to Budapest. Displaced from her community and her home, Ettie tries to find her place in this new life, but can't seem to get it right... -
![Wish You Were Here by Cressida McLaughlin]()
Wish You Were Here by Cressida McLaughlin
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA warm welcome awaits…the charming new arrival from the No.1 bestselling author of The Canal Boat Cafe.Robin decides that a grand gesture is what’s needed to prove her feelings to Will and, with the help of her guests, hatches a plan that he won’t be able to ignore. But when two of her guests go missing, the only thing that matters is their safe return... -
![The Last Goodbye by Kay Lyons]()
The Last Goodbye by Kay Lyons
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSOMETIMES THE PAIN OF LIFE BRINGS A NEW BEGINNING...Widower Dominic Dunn isn’t sure what to think of his wife’s pre-planned trip for him a year after her death. It’s her effort to force him from his work desk to the coast and the peacefulness she’d found at the Carolina Cove Inn...Categorized as:
season-summer family contemporary fiction psychological grief female-author female-mc -
-
![Cardwell Ranch Trespasser by B.J. Daniels]()
Cardwell Ranch Trespasser by B.J. Daniels
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsCARDWELL BEWARE The Cardwell clan has a new, mysterious member. Dana Cardwell warmly welcomed her Justice cousin into the family fold and to the ranch for a reunion. But this cunning kin has other plans for Dana...and designs on her husband, Hud. Hilde Jacobson has known Dana too long to let her best friend get conned-or worse, killed... -
![The Night Away by Jess Ryder]()
The Night Away by Jess Ryder
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTheir baby was supposed to be mine…No relationship is perfect. But since the birth of baby Mabel, seven months ago, Amber and George have been in desperate need of a night away. Mabel is all that Amber has ever wanted but she can’t deny that sometimes she struggles to cope. George has booked them into a luxury hotel and Amber’s sister is babysitting... -
![Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes]()
Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsMaguire is bad luck.No matter how many charms she buys off the internet or good luck rituals she performs each morning, horrible things happen when Maguire is around. Like that time the roller coaster jumped off its tracks. Or the time the house next door caught on fire. Or that time her brother, father, and uncle were all killed in a car crash—and Maguire walked away with barely a scratch... -
![Og så drukner jeg ... by Ditte Wiese, Mathilde Eusebius]()
Og så drukner jeg ... by Ditte Wiese, Mathilde Eusebius
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHvis ikke du præsterer perfekt, er du en taber! Sådan tænker den 18-årige Josephine, der forsøger at være ligeså perfekt og dygtig som sine venner.Hun har lagt en plan for sit liv. Hun har valgt en fornuftig uddannelse, den rigtige kæreste og den korrekte diæt. Det er godt, og det er perfekt. Men der er noget, der sitrer i hende. Små bølger af noget forkert, der presser på og holder hende vågen...Categorized as:
family audiobook contemporary female-author fiction friendship psychological young-adult -
![Nonfiction by Julie Myerson]()
Nonfiction by Julie Myerson
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThis is definitely not a ghost story. But for a while after you’re gone, I see you everywhere. Every ragged young person sitting huddled on a pavement, every stretched-out body under cardboard in a shop doorway.Two parents stand by powerlessly as their only child seems intent on destroying herself...Categorized as:
family fiction contemporary literary-fiction mental-illness substance-abuse psychological book -
![One Summer Night at the Ritz by Jenny Oliver]()
One Summer Night at the Ritz by Jenny Oliver
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsGorgeously glamorous and unforgettably romantic, One Summer Night at the Ritz is the fairy-tale perfect forth story in Jenny Oliver’s ‘Cherry Pie Island’ series... -
![Just South of Paradise by Grace Palmer]()
Just South of Paradise by Grace Palmer
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsGeorgia Baldwin is just south of paradise, and just shy of a happy ending. Can she find the love she’s looking for?Georgia had the perfect life—until her husband of nearly forty years leaves her for their inn’s much younger housekeeper.Starting over at fifty-eight is a terrifying prospect. And that’s not all... -
![The Force of Such Beauty: A Novel by Barbara Bourland]()
The Force of Such Beauty: A Novel by Barbara Bourland
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAfter a failed escape attempt, the princess of a tiny kingdom begins to reevaluate her life. Caroline, a former marathon runner who dropped out of school at fourteen to pursue an Olympic medal, was the perfect candidate for a tiara: shapely, disciplined, accustomed to public attention, and utterly uneducated. When she meets Finn, the handsome prince of a small European kingdom, her fate is sealed...Categorized as:
family season-summer romance fiction contemporary fantasy literary-fiction historical-fiction -
![My Not So Perfect Summer by Phoebe MacLeod]()
My Not So Perfect Summer by Phoebe MacLeod
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAutumn’s summer is off to a smashing start… sort of.Earlier this year, Autumn’s life looked she had a great relationship with her brilliant teenage daughter Chloe and from September she was all set to be Deputy Head at the London school where she works. And with a pay rise on the cards, she was excited for her and her long-term boyfriend Marc to buy their first home... -
![Where the Watermelons Grow by Cindy Baldwin]()
Where the Watermelons Grow by Cindy Baldwin
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA debut middle grade about a girl coming to terms with her mother’s mental illness.When twelve-year-old Della Kelly finds her mother furiously digging black seeds from a watermelon in the middle of the night and talking to people who aren't there, Della worries that it’s happening again—that the sickness that put her mama in the hospital four years ago is back...Categorized as:
family season-summer audiobook children children-books coming-of-age contemporary disability -
-
![The Index of Self-Destructive Acts by Christopher R. Beha]()
The Index of Self-Destructive Acts by Christopher R. Beha
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratings“Beha tackles finance, faith, war, entitlement, and no end of self-destructive acts. I greatly admired both the writing and the ambition... -
![The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin]()
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... -
![The Mother-in-Law by Kiersten Modglin]()
The Mother-in-Law by Kiersten Modglin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThere’s something strange about Loren’s new mother-in-law…When Loren meets Jack, she’s sure he’s the man she’s been waiting for—a perfect husband and a father for her young daughter. Shortly after their wedding, their plans to start a life together are put on hold when the couple receives word that Jack’s father has died... -
![Where the River Runs by Patti Callahan Henry]()
Where the River Runs by Patti Callahan Henry
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMeridy Dresden was once a free-spirited, fun-loving girl.All that changed when the boy she loved was killed in a tragic fire. Now, years later, Meridy must return to the South Carolina Low Country and summon the courage to make a decision that may destroy everything she's worked so hard to protect-including her heart... -
![Being Billy by Phil Earle]()
Being Billy by Phil Earle
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFaces flashed before my eyes. And for every face there was a time that they had let me down. Each punch that landed was revenge, my chance to tell them I hadn't forgotten what they did. Eight years in a care home makes Billy Finn a professional lifer. And Billy's angry - with the system, the social workers, and the mother that gave him away. As far as Billy's concerned, he's on his own... -
![War Against the Animals by Paul Russell]()
War Against the Animals by Paul Russell
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCameron Barnes, formerly of New York City, lives in a small town in upstate New York. After having nearly succumbed to AIDS, he's recently regained a measure of his health but his long-term lover has moved away, and Cameron faces the daunting prospect of learning how to live with the idea of a future in mind again... -
![My Mother's Daughter by Ann O'Loughlin]()
My Mother's Daughter by Ann O'Loughlin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCounty Wicklow, Ireland. Margo has just lost her husband Conor and is grieving his passing, unsure how she and her daughter Elsa will survive without him. Then she receives a letter that turns everything she thought she knew on its head. Not only has she lost her husband, but now Margo fears she could lose her daughter as well. Ohio, United States... -
![The Ninth Session by Deborah Serani]()
The Ninth Session by Deborah Serani
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAn edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller that brings a unique mix of Psychotherapy, American Sign Language and Coda Culture. Just when you think you have it figured out, think again! Dr. Alicia Reese takes on a new patient. Lucas Ferro suffers with crippling anxiety, and as sessions progress, he begins to share the reasons why he's struggling... -
![Bad Tourists by Caro Carver]()
Bad Tourists by Caro Carver
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThree tight-knit friends embark on an extravagant divorce trip to the Maldives where they can unwind and celebrate a new chapter in midlife—until they realize the resort of their dreams is harboring a killer.Best friends Darcy, Camilla, and Kate escape for a post-divorce retreat in the Maldives, the perfect place to relax, reset, and embrace a fresh start in life... -
![The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland by Rebekah Crane]()
The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland by Rebekah Crane
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAccording to sixteen-year-old Zander Osborne, nowhere is an actual place—and she’s just fine there. But her parents insist that she get out of her head—and her home state—and attend Camp Padua, a summer camp for at-risk teens.Zander does not fit in—or so she thinks. She has only one word for her fellow campers: crazy... -
-
![Light Years by James Salter]()
Light Years by James Salter
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThis exquisite, resonant novel by PEN/Faulkner winner James Salter is a brilliant portrait of a marriage by a contemporary American master. It is the story of Nedra and Viri, whose favored life is centered around dinners, ingenious games with their children, enviable friends, and near-perfect days passed skating on a frozen river or sunning on the beach... -
![Under Her Care by Lucinda Berry]()
Under Her Care by Lucinda Berry
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of The Perfect Child comes a shocking thriller about the disturbing complexities of a mother’s love and the deadly consequences of unravelling family secrets.On a humid summer day in Alabama, a mayor’s wife turns up brutally murdered under a railroad bridge. Standing next to her body is fourteen-year-old Mason Hill, the autistic son of former Miss USA Genevieve Hill... -
![Love You Gone by Rona Halsall]()
Love You Gone by Rona Halsall
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratings‘Hello? Police? My husband and our children… they’re gone.’ When Mel arrives at the holiday cottage in the Lake District, she expects to find the heating on and her husband Luke and the two children waiting for her. Maybe a bottle of wine open… Instead, there is just a note on the side, saying they’ve gone out for a walk... -
![Il mio cuore cattivo by Wulf Dorn]()
Il mio cuore cattivo by Wulf Dorn
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsC’è un vuoto nella memoria di Dorothea. Quella sera voleva uscire a tutti i costi ma i suoi l’avevano costretta a fare la babysitter al fratello minore mentre loro erano a teatro. Ricorda che lui non ne voleva sapere di dormire e urlava come un pazzo. Ricorda una telefonata che l’aveva sconvolta, ricorda di aver perso la testa, e poi più niente... -
![Always and Forever by Soraya M. Lane]()
Always and Forever by Soraya M. Lane
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLisa and Matt can’t believe their luck. They have a dream house and a dream marriage, and very soon they’ll have a dream family too. But life is rarely that simple. When their beautiful life is rocked by tragedy, they are forced to make an unbearable choice. Suddenly the future they’ve built together looks fragile and exposed... -
![Behind the Lie by Amanda James]()
Behind the Lie by Amanda James
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWho can you trust, when you can’t trust yourself?Holly West has turned her life around. She’s found a successful and loving husband in Simon and is expecting twins. She is definitely a woman who has taken back control of her future.Until she gives birth, only for one twin to survive. Holly can’t let it go.Holly’s world is in a tailspin and suddenly she can’t trust herself or anyone else... -
![Ties by Domenico Starnone]()
Ties by Domenico Starnone
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAbsolutely gripping from start to finish… a really stunning book.—Victoria HislopTies is the story of a marriage. Like many marriages, this one has been subject to strain, to attrition, to the burden of routine. Yet it has survived intact. Or so things appear. The rupture in Vanda and Aldo's marriage lies years in the past, but if one looks closely enough, the fissures and fault lines are evident...Categorized as:
family season-summer 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook book contemporary -
![The Sister-in-Law by Sue Watson]()
The Sister-in-Law by Sue Watson
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 24 ratings‘You don’t think Jamie and I have secrets, do you? No, we tell each other everything.’ She smiled. ‘Including your dirty little secret. So, thinking about it, maybe it’s time to start being nice to me?’ THE WIFE: Clare is ready for a break. It’s been a tough year and now she wants to put her feet up... -
![Saltwater by Katy Hays]()
Saltwater by Katy Hays
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn 1992 Sarah Lingate is found dead below the cliffs of Capri, leaving behind her three-year-old daughter, Helen. Despite suspicions that the old-money Lingates are involved, Sarah’s death is ruled an accident, and every year the family returns to prove it’s true... -
![Bear by Julia Phillips]()
Bear by Julia Phillips
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA mesmerising novel of two sisters on a Pacific Northwest island whose lives are upended by an unexpected visitor — a tale of family, obsession, and a mysterious creature in the woods, by the celebrated, bestselling author of Disappearing Earth.They were sisters and they would last past the end of time.Sam and her sister, Elena, dream of another life...Categorized as:
family season-summer north-america usa washington-dc washington fiction literary-fiction -
-
![Folly Beach by Dorothea Benton Frank]()
Folly Beach by Dorothea Benton Frank
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFolly Beach Home is the place that knows us best. . . . A woman returns to the past to find her future in this enchanting new tale of loss, acceptance, family, and love. With its sandy beaches and bohemian charms, surfers and suits alike consider Folly Beach to be one of South Carolina's most historic and romantic spots... -
![The Octopus Man by Jasper Gibson]()
The Octopus Man by Jasper Gibson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsOnce an outstanding law student Tom is now lost in the machinery of the British mental health system, talking to a voice no one else can the voice of Malamock, the Octopus God - sometimes cruel, sometimes loving, but always there to guide him.After a florid psychotic break, the pressure builds for Tom to take part in an experimental drugs trial that promises to silence the voice forever...Categorized as:
family fiction mental-illness contemporary literary-fiction psychological fantasy book -
![The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata]()
The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsLibrarian's note: An alternate cover of this ISBN can be found here.Ogata Shingo is growing old, and his memory is failing him. At night he hears only the sound of death in the distant rumble from the mountain. The relationships which have previously defined his life - with his son, his wife, and his attractive daughter-in-law - are dissolving, and Shingo is caught between love and destruction... -
![The Summer I Dared by Barbara Delinsky]()
The Summer I Dared by Barbara Delinsky
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWHAT COMES AFTER THE MOMENT THAT FOREVER CHANGES YOUR LIFE? This is the question that haunts Julia Bechtel, Noah Prine, and Kim Colella, the only survivors of a terrible boating accident off the coast of Maine that claimed the lives of nine other people. Julia, a forty-year-old wife and mother, has always taken the path of least resistance... -
![Concerto to the Memory of an Angel by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt]()
Concerto to the Memory of an Angel by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe title story is the tale of two friends with very different personalities—one competitive and aggressive, the other kind and disinterested. They are confronted with circumstances that lead to a catharsis in which both men will move beyond their predetermined roles. Another story, “The Return,” introduces a father whose work takes him far from home for months at a time...Categorized as:
family 21st-century adult anthologies contemporary fiction literary-fiction psychological -
![Life Without Summer: A Novel by Lynne Griffin, Tanya Eby]()
Life Without Summer: A Novel by Lynne Griffin, Tanya Eby
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTessa Gray’s life changes forever when she loses her four-year-old daughter, Abby, in a hit-and-run accident outside her preschool. Once a vivacious, joyful mother and wife, Tessa now spends her days holed up in Abby’s room, sleeping in her bed, clutching Abby’s Tootsie Rabbit stuffed animal—anything to keep her memories close...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.
