Books like 'Dandy'
Readers who enjoyed Dandy by Jan Guillou also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical military, war & conflict historical-fiction lgbtq war drama family
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Hana by Alena Mornštajnová
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIt's 1954 and nine-year-old Mira's life is about to change forever. After a typhoid outbreak rages through her town, robbing her of her parents and siblings, the orphaned child is forced to live with her mysterious, depressive Aunt Hana, a figure both frightening and fragile... -
Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner by Harold Bloom
Rated: 4.69 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn "The Kite Runner," history and personal responsibility come together in the story of Amir, an Afghan boy who is haunted by the guilt of betraying his childhood friend Hassan, the son of his father's servant. In the background loom the many tumultuous changes that have gripped Afghanistan in the years since Amir's carefree kite-flying childhood... -
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 World Starts Anew by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBallycreggan, Northern Ireland, 1955Erich Bannon is happy in the small Irish village he has thought of as home since he arrived as a terrified, traumatized seven year old, one of the last Jewish children to escape Berlin in 1939. Now, at 23, it feels like all of his friends are drawn to The Promised Land, and he can understand why, but Israel is not for him... -
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Broken Angels by Gemma Liviero
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA Nazi doctor. A Jewish rebel. A little girl. Each one will fight for freedom—or die trying. Imprisoned in the Lodz Ghetto, Elsi discovers her mother’s desperate attempt to end her pregnancy and comes face-to-face with the impossibility of their situation. Risking her own life, Elsi joins a resistance group to sabotage the regime... -
Perfectly Ordinary People by Nick Alexander
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn occupied France, two people sacrificed everything. Now their granddaughter has come looking for the truth…Ruth’s childhood was a happy one, and her family—on her mother’s side—large and loving. But her father’s French origins have always remained a mystery. Now, with aged relatives beginning to die, Ruth decides to research her father’s family before it’s too late... -
Three Sisters by Heather Morris
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA promise to stay together.An unbreakable bond.A fierce will to survive.From international bestselling author Heather Morris comes the breathtaking conclusion to The Tattooist of Auschwitz trilogy.When they are girls, Cibi, Magda and Livia make a promise to their father - that they will stay together, no matter what.Years later, at just 15 years old, Livia is ordered to Auschwitz by the Nazis... -
Šikmý kostel: románová kronika ztraceného města by Karin Lednická
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsRománová kronika ztraceného města. Podtitul knihy lapidárně shrnuje příběh o někdejší pastevecké vesnici, která vystavěla svůj rozkvět na těžbě uhlí, aby o století později zašla na úbytě – také kvůli těžbě uhlí. Dnes už z výstavních budov a vznosné katedrály nezbylo nic. Jen šikmý kostel, který strmě a varovně ční do pusté krajiny... -
A Ration Book Wedding by Jean Fullerton
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt's February 1942 and the American's have finally joined Britain and its allies. Meanwhile, twenty-three-year-old Francesca Fabrino, like thousands of other women, is doing her bit for the war effort in a factory in East London... -
The Woman from Tantoura: A Palestinian Novel by Radwa Ashour
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsPalestine. For most of us, the word brings to mind a series of confused images and disjointed associations-massacres, refugee camps, UN resolutions, settlements, terrorist attacks, war, occupation, checkered kouffiyehs and suicide bombers, a seemingly endless cycle of death and destruction... -
For All Their Lives by Fern Michaels
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom the wildly beloved bestselling author Fern Michaels, a haunting portrait of love and war—and the passionate woman swept into an epic of desire, heartbreak, and destiny. Casey Adams, a dedicated nurse, loses her heart overseas to idealistic officer Mac Carlin, the rebellious scion of a wealthy family. Then tragedy strikes... -
A Ration Book Christmas by Jean Fullerton
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt's 1940 and the German Luftwaffe have started their nightly reign of death and destruction over London's East End. The Brogan family is braced and ready to take on Hitler single-handed, if need be, but with rationing, air-raids and the threat of Nazi invasion hanging over this doughty family, their spirits are taking a bit of a battering.. -
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A Ration Book Daughter by Jean Fullerton
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsCathy was a happy, blushing bride when Britain went to war with Germany three years ago. But her youthful dreams were crushed by her violent husband Stanley's involvement with the fascist black-shirts, and even when he's conscripted to fight she knows it's only a brief respite - divorce is not an option. Cathy's only solace is her little son Peter... -
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On a Wing and a Prayer by Helen Carey
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratings‘This dramatic and poignant novel depicts the resilience of ordinary people caught up in an extraordinary war.Unputdownable!’ Western Telegraph Life is hard in London in 1941, and yet Helen de Burrel finds herself volunteering to join the SOE. Nobody knows that her cool exterior conceals such courage ... and such fear. It also means that love, when it strikes unexpectedly, is doubly dangerous... -
The Waiting Hours by Ellie Dean
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSlapton Sands, Devon1943Carol Porter has had a difficult war. Less than a year ago she lost both her husband and baby, and with them her heart. Only recently has she’s found peace, working as a land girl at Coombe Farm. But Carol’s sanctuary, the whole local area in fact, is about to be disrupted.When Pauline Reilly learns of Carol’s situation she’s worried for her little sister... -
The Lost Valley by Jennifer Scoullar
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTasmania, 1929: Ten-year-old-twins, Tom and Harry Abbott, are orphaned by a tragedy that shocks Hobart society... -
The Shipyard Girls by Nancy Revell
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratings' A real insight into how it was for these women in a Sunderland major ship building yard ... The foundation book of a series. Which I shall be reading as each one is written. Loved it. ' - 5 star real reader review Sunderland, 1940, and the women go to the shipyards to do their bit for the war effort... -
The Lord John Series by Diana Gabaldon
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsDiana Gabaldon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Outlander series, delivers captivating tales of history, intrigue, and suspense that feature one of her most popular characters: Lord John Grey. This thrilling eBook collection—featuring three novels and one collection of novellas—follows Lord John as he defends his country, ferrets out spies, and unravels a haunting family mystery... -
Γκιακ by Δημοσθένης Παπαμάρκος
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsΟι ήρωες των διηγημάτων του Γκιακ, στρατιώτες που πολέμησαν στη Μικρασιατική Εκστρατεία, έρχονται αντιμέτωποι με τους ρόλους που τους επιβάλλουν οι παραδοσιακοί κανόνες και το βίωμα του πολέμου. Συγκρούονται, υποτάσσονται, ζουν εν κρυπτώ ή φεύγουν. Το γκιακ είναι το αίμα, ο συγγενικός δεσμός και ο νόμος του αίματος που σκιάζει τις ζωές τους...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war drama fiction 21st-century historical literary-fiction violent-conflict -
Twice Born by Margaret Mazzantini, Ann S. Gagliardi
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThis international bestseller is a sweeping portrait of motherhood, loss, and redemption in war-torn Sarajevo. Filled with memories of the four-year siege of Sarajevo, Gemma reluctantly boards a flight from her native Rome to that war-scarred city with her sixteen-year-old son, Pietro. She hopes to teach her son about the city of his birth and about Diego, the father he never knew... -
The Secret Letter by Debbie Rix
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFor readers of Orphan Train, The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Book Thief comes an unforgettable novel inspired by a true story about the power of human kindness and bravery in a time of unimaginable heartbreak... -
The Oceans Between Us by Gill Thompson
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsInspired by heartrending real events, a mother fights to find her son and a child battles for survival in this riveting debut novel.For readers of Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate, Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly, The Letter by Kathryn Hughes, and Remember Me by Lesley Pearse.A woman is found wandering injured in London after an air raid.She remembers nothing of who she is... -
The Arsonists' City by Hala Alyan
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"Feels revolutionary in its freshness." --Entertainment Weekly"The Arsonists' City delivers all the pleasures of a good old-fashioned saga, but in Alyan's hands, one family's tale becomes the story of a nation--Lebanon and Syria, yes, but also the United States. It's the kind of book we are lucky to have... -
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Αιολική γη by Ilias Venezis
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratings"Η Αιολική γη γράφεται μέσα στα δύσκολα χρόνια της Κατοχής, σε μια περίοδο δηλαδή ανάπηρης ελευθερίας, ανυπέρβλητων δυσκολιών και ευτελισμού της ανθρώπινης ζωής... -
Edelweiss by Madge Swindells
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsGermany, September, 1937. Bill Roth, Reuters' US correspondent based in Germany hears a rumour that handicapped children destined for euthanasia under Nazi ideology, are being rescued by an underground group of German and Austrian students. He investigates and meets Marietta von Burgheim, a woman of beauty and morality and an heiress to great wealth... -
The Scarlet Nightingale by Alan Titchmarsh
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAs war rages across Europe, one young woman is torn between love and loyalty.Set in wartime London and occupied France, this is a thrilling story of love, danger and sacrifice from bestselling novelist Alan Titchmarsh.It is the late 1930s when seventeen-year-old Rosamund Hanbury leaves behind the endless summers of her coastal Devonshire home for the fast pace of high society London... -
A Time to Remember by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratings1945 - the war in Europe is over. Most women can't wait for their men to return, but in the small town of Rivenshaw in Lancashire, Judith Crossley fears having her husband back in the house. He'd grown into a bully and a drunkard, and on the occasions he'd come home from leave, he'd hit her... -
Dreams of Silver by Mina Baites, Alison Layland
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA single treasured keepsake links one unforgettable family across continents in this enthralling saga by Mina Baites, the author of The Silver Music Box. London, 1963. I dream about my sister almost every night. Lilian Morrison has one memento of her beloved sister, Emma: a battered silver music box... -
Inés y la alegría by Almudena Grandes
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsToulouse, verano de 1939. Carmen de Pedro, responsable en Francia de los diezmados comunistas españoles, se cruza con Jesús Monzón, un cargo menor del partido que, sin ella intuirlo, alberga un ambicioso plan... -
Slepá mapa by Alena Mornštajnová
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratings„Lidé přicházejí na svět z různých důvodů – z lásky, náhodou, nebo omylem. Já jsem se narodila kvůli bytu,“ předesílá hlavní hrdinka Anežka na začátku ságy o trojici žen, která se začala psát už před první světovou válkou.Do Anežčina osudu se promítají nejen životní příběhy jejích rodičů a prarodičů, ale i krutý dopad dějinných událostí... -
A Sparrow Falls by Wilbur Smith
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA Sparrow Falls, another gripping installment in Wilbur Smith's Courtney Family Adventure seriesMark Anders grew up on eight thousand acres of African land that bore his family name. Then he fought in Europe's Great War and, upon returning to his ancestral home, he saw savagery unlike any other….In Africa, Mark's family estate has been despoiled... -
Four Fires by Bryce Courtenay
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn a small town like any other small town around Australia live the Maloneys. They are a fifth-generation Australian family of Irish Catholic descent who are struggling to reach the first rung of the social ladder. The Maloneys are a family you won't forget: a strong mother, a father broken by war, three boys and two girls, one of whom has an illegitimate daughter... -
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The Sugar Men by Ray Kingfisher
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Sugar Men - A Story of Holocaust Echoes. Susannah Morgan has been settled in sleepy North Carolina for almost sixty-five years, but is still haunted by memories of her escape from the holocaust as a child. For most of her life the flashbacks have been a lonely obsession - one she has managed to hide from her children... -
Put Out the Fires by Maureen Lee
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe second novel in bestseller Maureen Lee's outstanding Liverpool sequence about family life during the Second World WarSeptember 1940 - the cruellest year of war for Britain's civilians as the Luftwaffe mercilessly blitz their cities. In Pearl Street, near Liverpool's docks, families struggle to cope the best they can... -
Darkest Before Dawn by Katie Flynn
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe Todd family are strangers to city life when they move into a flat on the Scotland Road; their previous home was a canal barge. Harry gets a job as warehouse manager and his wife, Martha, works in a grocer's shop, whilst Seraphina trains as a teacher, Angela works in Bunney's Department Store and young Evie starts at regular school... -
Territory by Judy Nunn
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA priceless 16th century locket threads two riveting stories together in this saga set in and around Darwin, Australia’s ultimate frontier town... -
The French Promise by Fiona McIntosh
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLuc and Lisette Ravens – a former French resistance fighter and a one-time British spy – have somehow survived the war, but recovering from the horrors of those years is a challenge they're yet to overcome. Casting their fate to the winds, they sail to Tasmania, hoping to rebuild their lives and plant new lavender fields in a land that's full of promise... -
The Bogside Boys by Eoin Dempsey
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom the Amazon Top Ten Overall Bestselling author of Finding RebeccaThe war will force him to choose between his community, his family, or the woman he loves. The city of Derry, Northern Ireland, 1972The Bogside is an area in open revolt, cordoned off from the rest of the city of Derry, patrolled by masked IRA men atop burnt out barricades... -
The Angels Weep by Wilbur Smith
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn The Angels Weep by Wilbur Smith, on a continent of breathtaking beauty and bitter suffering, two vastly different cultures clashed, mingled, and recoiled. Here, amidst mist-shrouded mountains and gold-studded plateaus, ancient tribesmen lived close to the earth, as white men dug fortunes out from beneath them and laid plans for a new civilization... -
When I Was Yours by Lizzie Page
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWe stand in the back of the hall as the children troop in. Big ones, little ones. Straggly hair, cropped hair, curls… the adults surge forward to choose and soon there is just one child left, a little girl sitting on the floor. She is thin as a string bean and her sleeve is ragged and damp – like she’s been chewing it. 1939... -
The Americans by John Jakes
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA NATION ADRIFT -- AND THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO GAVE IT HOPEIt was the whip-end of an era -- when innocence died and money lust was enthroned... -
The Award by Danielle Steel
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCapturing historical events, terrifying moments of danger, tragedy, the price of war, and the invincible spirit of a woman of honor, The Award is a monumental tale from one of our most gifted storytellers—Danielle Steel’s finest, most emotionally resonant novel yet. Gaëlle de Barbet is sixteen years old in 1940 when the German army occupies France and frightening changes begin to occur... -
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The Sound Of Thunder by Wilbur Smith
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsTHE SOUND OF THUNDER continues the Courtney saga where WHEN THE LIONS FEEDS left off. Sean Courtney is off to fight the burghers in the Boer War -- first in harrowing missions on the front lines for the British Guides, then as the leader of commandos designed to fight the Boers on their own terms -- guerilla combat in the field... -
The Girl With No Name by Diney Costeloe
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA heart-wrenching story from the bestselling author of The Throwaway Children. Thirteen-year-old Lisa has escaped from Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport. She arrives in London unable to speak a word of English, her few belongings crammed into a small suitcase. Among them is one precious photograph of the family she has left behind. Lonely and homesick, Lisa is adopted by a childless couple... -
When the World Fell Silent: A Novel of the 1917 Halifax Explosion by Donna Jones Alward
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA story of loss, hope and redemption against the most impossible odds. 1917. Halifax, Nova Scotia.Nora Crowell wants more than her sister’s life as a wife and mother. As WWI rages across the Atlantic, she becomes a lieutenant in the Canadian Army Nursing Corp. But trouble is looming and it won’t be long before the truth comes to light... -
The Best Christmas Present in the World by Michael Morpurgo
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEchoes of Christmas 1914 in the trenches call to the present day when a letter found by chance in an antique desk brings one soldier's experience hauntingly to life. Heart-warming and spine-tingling, this is a perfect story to curl up with on a winter's night... -
My Son, My Son by Howard Spring
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe story of William Essex, who rose from humble beginnings to become a successful dramatist and novelist, and his friend Dermot O'Riordon, a fervent Irish patriot and founder of a great London furnishing house; and their sons, Oliver Essex and Rory O'Riordon. Plus some other assorted characters, from old Mr Moscrop and his daughter Nellie, and Maeve O'Riordon... -
Danny Boy by Anne Bennett
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA deeply moving saga of a young couple with high hopes for a bright future in rural Ireland, only to find themselves embroiled in the uprising of 1916 and having to make a new life for themselves in Birmingham. Rosie's family doesn't have much money, but she's rich in other ways: she loves her life on the farm, her sisters, her friends, and even her spoilt baby brother...
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