Books like 'A Place on Earth'
Readers who enjoyed A Place on Earth by Wendell Berry also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
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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... -
Shipyard Girls in Love by Nancy Revell
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 12 ratings'the author is one to watch' Sun'A riveting read is just what this is in more ways than one.' The Northern Echo'I enjoyed The Shipyard Girls very much indeed . . -
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London Calling by Helen Carey
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA poignant, warm-hearted and engaging saga of south London's women during the Second World War. It will take more than Hitler's Luftwaffe to break the spirit of the residents of Lavender Road. If courage, resilience and a shared sense of humour could win wars, the conflict would already be over. It's not all harmony, though... -
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The Lost Song of Paris by Sarah Steele
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratings'For a moment she closed her eyes and imagined she was perched on the diving board at the Piscine Molitor, the sun beating down on her bare shoulders and the sound of Parisians at play beneath her. All she had to do was jump.'1941. Darkness descends over London as the sirens begin to howl and the bombs rain down. Devastation seeps from every crack of the city... -
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:
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Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWe have a marvelous, almost legendary image of the circumstances in which the composition of this great poem began. Rainer Maria Rilke was staying at Duino Castle, on a rocky headland of the Adriatic Sea near Trieste. One morning he walked out onto the battlements and climbed down to where the cliffs dropped sharply to the sea... -
The Orphan's Mother by Marion Kummerow
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratings1945, the German-Polish border: With Nazis on one side and Soviet forces approaching on the other, a mother and her little boy are torn apart, and so begins an unforgettable tale of courage, heartbreak and motherhood in wartime.“If you ever get lost, Jacob, you need to stay where you are and wait, because I’ll come looking for you. And I’ll always find you... -
Shipyard Girls at War by Nancy Revell
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratings1941: It takes strength to work on the docks, but the war demands all hands on deck and the women are doing their best to fill the gap. Rosie is flourishing in her role as head-welder while still keeping her double life a secret. But a dashing detective is forcing Rosie to choose between love and her duty... -
I'll Be Seeing You: A spellbinding and emotional wartime novel of love and secrets by Margaret Mayhew
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen Juliet Porter's mother dies, she leaves Juliet some old letters and a photograph which shatter all her previously-held beliefs. They show that her real father was an American bomber pilot in the second world war, some forty years before, and that he had met her mother while serving in England... -
Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratings"Ignorant boys, killing each other," is just about all Nathan Coulter would tell his wife, friends, and family about the Battle of Okinawa in the spring of 1945. Life carried on for the community of Port William, Kentucky, as some boys returned from the war and the lives of others were mourned. In her seventies, Nathan's wife, Hannah, has time now to tell of the years since the war...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction literary-fiction outdoors religion rural spirituality -
The Complete Poems and Plays, 1909-1950 by T.S. Eliot
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThis omnibus collection includes all of the author’s early poetry as well as the Four Quartets, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, and the plays Murder in the Cathedral, The Family Reunion, and The Cocktail Party...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction religion spirituality university 20th-century adult anthologies -
Pastel Orphans by Gemma Liviero
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn 1930s Berlin, young Henrik, the son of a Jewish father and Aryan mother, watches the world around him crumbling: people are rioting in the streets, a strange yellow star begins appearing in shop windows, and friends are forced to move—or they simply disappear.After his father becomes gravely ill, Henrik and his little sister, Greta, are taken by their mother to Poland for safety...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction religion spirituality ww2 20th-century audiobook -
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... -
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The Darkest Canyon: Book Two in A Holocaust Story Series by Roberta Kagan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsNazi Germany. Gretchen Schmidt has a secret life. She is in love with a married Jewish man. She is hiding him while his wife is posing as an Aryan woman. Her best friend Hilde, who unbeknownst to Gretchen is a sociopath, is working as a guard at Ravensbruck concentration camp... -
Island of the World by Michael D. O'Brien
Rated: 4.71 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIsland of the World is the story of a child born in 1933 into the turbulent world of the Balkans and tracing his life into the third millennium. The central character is Josip Lasta, the son of an impoverished school teacher in a remote village high in the mountains of the Bosnian interior... -
The Collected Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe forty-seven stories in this collection, selected by Singer himself out of nearly one hundred and fifty, range from the publication of his now-classic first collection, Gimpel the Fool, in 1957, until 1981...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction religion spirituality 20th-century adult anthologies -
The Orphan's Island by Katharine Swartz, Kate Hewitt
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratings1904: Ellen Copley is still a child when she leaves behind the sooty rail yards of Glasgow, and crosses the Atlantic Ocean with a heart full of dreams. Yet within weeks of their arrival in America, her father has disappeared—leaving Ellen with resentful relatives, feeling alone and scared for her future...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family ww2 literary-fiction spirituality historical high-school christian -
Kinfolk by Pearl S. Buck
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsKinfolk is the story of a Chinese family. Dr. Liang moves to America in search of a better life, but his children long to return to China. Each responds to their new life in China differently, providing rich insight into the struggles between Eastern and Western culture, and the differences between generations...Categorized as:
historical-fiction classics family literary-fiction fiction historical 20th-century politics -
The Lost Letter by Jillian Cantor
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA heart-breaking, heart-warming historical novel of love and survival inspired by real resistance workers during World War II Austria, and the mysterious love letter that connects generations of Jewish families. For readers of The Nightingale, Lilac Girls, and Sarah's Key.Austria, 1938.Kristoff is a young apprentice to a master Jewish stamp engraver...Categorized as:
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Hawaii by James A. Michener
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsAn alternate cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.Pulitzer Prize–winning author James A. Michener brings Hawaii’s epic history vividly to life in a classic saga that has captivated readers since its initial publication in 1959...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction literary-fiction religion spirituality ww2 20th-century -
The Bomb Girl Brides by Daisy Styles
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt's 1944 and Britain is a country at war. The young women of the Phoenix munitions factory are giving their all to the cause, but romance is beckoning . . . The life of a Bomb Girl isn't usually glamourous. But Maggie is getting married, so she is going to make sure her wedding day is - even if she does have to spend every other day slaving on the factory floor... -
When Stars Fall at Midnight by Tess Thompson
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratings1921EstelleCast out and alone, I lost everything weeks before my wedding—my betrothed, my family, my future. With nowhere to turn, I accept the help of a compassionate stranger, not knowing it may lead me towards a path I swore never to tread.PercivalAfter my wife succumbed to a psychotic break, I placed her in an asylum, a decision that haunts me as I raise our daughter alone...Categorized as:
historical-fiction religion spirituality romance fiction 20th-century historical book -
Report to Greco by Nikos Kazantzakis
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsKazantzakis's autobiographical novel 'Report to Greco' was one of the last things he wrote before he died. It paints a vivid picture of his childhood in Crete, still occupied by the Turks, and then steadily grows into a spiritual quest that takes him to Italy, Jerusalem, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Russia and the Caucasus, and finally back to Crete again... -
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The Settlers by Vilhelm Moberg
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsConsidered one of Sweden's greatest 20th-century writers, Vilhelm Moberg created Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson to portray the joys and tragedies of daily life for early Swedish pioneers in America. His consistently faithful depiction of these humble people's lives is a major strength of the Emigrant Novels...Categorized as:
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Robert Frost's Poems by Robert Frost, Louis Untermeyer
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA proven bestseller time and time again, Robert Frost's Poems contains all of Robert Frost's best-known poems-and dozens more-in a portable anthology. Here are "Birches," "Mending Wall," "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," "Two Tramps at Mudtime," "Choose Something Like a Star," and "The Gift Outright," which Frost read at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction outdoors university 20th-century adult anthologies fiction -
Heavy Sand by Anatoli Rybakov
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsTwo main parts of Anatoly Rybakov are titled after the writer’s major novels, Children of the Arbat and Heavy Sand, and explore the continuing relevance of these works for contemporary Russia...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction literary-fiction ww2 20th-century adult audiobook -
Snowflakes in the Wind by Rita Bradshaw
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSnowflakes in the Wind is a heartwarming story of triumph over adversity by Rita Bradshaw, author of the number one bestselling Dancing in the Moonlight. It's Christmas Eve 1920 when nine-year-old Abby Kirby's family is ripped apart by a terrible tragedy. Leaving everything she's ever known, Abby takes her younger brother and runs away to the tough existence of the Border farming community... -
The Dressmaker’s Secret by Lorna Cook
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsParis, 1941: As Coco Chanel’s assistant, Adèle lives side by side with German officers in the splendor of The Ritz hotel. But Adèle has a secret. She is working for the resistance, right under the German’s noses...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction religion spirituality ww2 20th-century action-adventure -
We'll Meet Again by Rosie Archer
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsGosport, 1941. The Bluebird Girls - Rainey Bird, Bea Herron and Ivy Sparrow - are on their way to stardom. From working mens' clubs to the glamour of the Savoy Hotel, fame and fortune beckon as the south coast's favourite singing trio work to charm their way into the hearts of the nation.But the war rages on, and reaching the top of their game will not be easy... -
Tütün by Dimitar Dimov, Димитър Димов
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsToplumcu gerçekçi akımın büyük ustalarından Dimitr Dimov`un yazdığı Tütün adlı bu dev romanda anlatılanlar, tütün dünyasının, Sarı Dünya`nın kişileri arasında geçer. Tütün yapraklarının işlediği atölyelerin tozlu, acı havasında çalışan, benizleri solmuş, ciğerleri çürümüş kalabalık bir insan topluluğu ve onların karşısında sömürgen bir avuç işbirlikçi... -
Seasons of the Heart/Four Complete Novels in One Book by Janette Oke
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJanette Oke, with over 11 million copies of her books in print, writes with a special feeling about her characters and their time. This heartwarming collection of four novels is a wonderful series of stories about an American family on the prairies of yesterday...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction religion spirituality 20th-century audiobook book christian -
Return To Jarrow by Janet MacLeod Trotter
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCatherine (Kitty) McMullen, is seventeen, restless and rebellious. Resentful of her mother Kate's new husband, she yearns for stories of the father she never knew and when her gossipy aunt divulges that he was a wealthy gentleman, Catherine's discontent with grimy, impoverished Jarrow grows... -
Orphans of the Storm by Katie Flynn
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJess and Nancy are nurses in France during the Great War. They have much in common for both have lost their lovers in the trenches, so when the war is over and they return to Liverpool, their future seems bleak. Very soon, however, their paths diverge. Nancy marries an Australian stockman and goes to live in the Outback, while Jess marries a Liverpudlian... -
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Collected Short Stories: Volume 2 by W. Somerset Maugham
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThis final classic collection reveals Somerset Maugham's unique talent for exposing and exploring the bitter realities of human relationships in tales of love, infidelity, passion and prejudice. The stories range from "The Lotus Eater" where a man envisions a life of bliss in the Mediterranean, to the astringent tales of "The Outstation" and "The Back of Beyond" in Malaya and South East Asia...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies fiction historical -
Every Mother's Son by Lyn Andrews
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMolly and Bernie have been friends forever. As young girls they left Ireland seeking new beginnings in Liverpool. Now they are marrying their sweethearts and looking forward to enjoying the lives they've worked so hard to build. But as the Liverpool Blitz begins, it seems as if their dreams are about to be destroyed. Night after night, horrific bombing tears the city apart...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction literary-fiction ww2 20th-century adult audiobook -
The Promised Land by Roberta Kagan
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe Holocaust robbed Zofia Weiss of all she holds dear. The Secret State Police have confiscated her home, killed her friends, and imprisoned the man she loves. After searching through displaced persons camps and finding nothing, Zofia is sure that her lover is dead. With only her life, a dream, and a terrifying secret, Zofia illegally boards The Exodus, bound for Palestine...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction spirituality ww2 20th-century adult book christian -
The Secret Diary by Anna Stuart
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsTwo women. One house. And a secret that spans decades…The past merges with the present in an unforgettable, poignant story of love, loss and courage in this beautifully written story set between World War Two and the present day.She steps into the room and it’s like going back in time.Catapulting her right into the heart of the 1940s.The spindle of the record player frozen and ready to play... -
They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratings'They Were Sisters is a compulsively readable but often harrowing novel by one of Persephone's best writers, who always manages to make the ordinary extraordinary,' writes Celia Brayfield. This, the second Dorothy Whipple novel we have republished as a Classic, is, like the others, apparently gentle but it has a very strong theme, in this case domestic violence...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction family fiction historical female-author marriage -
The Green Gauntlet by R.F. Delderfield
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsPaul and Claire Craddock have grown older in years - but not in spirit. World War II is over. But for Craddock and his family there are new battles to be fought and won. The new property laws enable speculators to reap huge profits from agricultural lands, and Paul's livelihood is threatened... -
The Wall by John Hersey
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsRiveting & compelling, The Wall tells the inspiring story of forty men & women who escape the dehumanizing horror of the Warsaw ghetto. John Hersey's novel documents the Warsaw ghetto both as an emblem of Nazi persecution & as a personal confrontation with torture, starvation, humiliation & cruelty--a gripping, visceral story, impossible to put down...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction spirituality ww2 20th-century adult book -
The Brothers Ashkenazi by Israel J. Singer
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWith a large cast of characters, this is a social novel, a family saga set against the rise of capitalism and of a Jewish bourgeoisie in Lodz. It tells the story, through an interwoven plot, of the clash between old traditions and growing desires... -
The Lost Children by Shirley Dickson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAs they walked towards the railway station, their mother took an envelope from her handbag. ‘I want you to keep this somewhere safe.’‘What’s in the letter?’‘Listen carefully. You’re never to open it unless you or your sister are in real trouble. Promise me.’England, 1943: Home is no longer safe for eight-year-old twins Molly and Jacob... -
Freedom or Death by Nikos Kazantzakis
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFreedom or Death by Nikos Kazantzakis is a novel on the heroic or epic scale about the rebellion of the Greek Christians against the Turks on the island of Crete, where Kazantzakis was from...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction religion spirituality 20th-century adult book -
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The City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre, Elina Klersy Imberciadori
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsMade into a movie starring Patrick Swayze, this is the inspiring story of an American doctor who experienced a spiritual rebirth in an impoverished section of Calcutta... -
King Of Camberwell by Mary Jane Staples
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSammy was the sharp one of the Adams family.Since he was nine-years-old - when he'd charged his mother interest on a loan to make up the rent money - he'd been busy setting up deals and expanding the family business - a china stall in East Street market. But as his mighty empire grew - two shops and a factory in Shoreditch - so did the determination of his assistant, Susie Brown... -
Rose's Choice by Chrissie Bradshaw
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRationing, bombing, disease and pit disasters are part of Rose Kelly’s World War 2 childhood. When the spirited coalminer’s daughter discovers a family secret, she makes a choice that overshadows her teenage years. Rose tries to make the most of post-war opportunities but family tragedy pulls her back to a life in the colliery rows... -
Blackpool's Daughter by Maggie Mason
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratings***Previously published as BLACKPOOL EVACUEE in hardback only***England, 1940Clara is forced to flee her home as the Nazis invade the beautiful island of Guernsey, leaving her mother Julia behind. She's scared and alone, but her spirits lift a little when she learns she's headed for Blackpool... -
Birthright by Patricia Dixon
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA woman's quest to save her family's chateau in France brings danger, rivalry, and romance--and reveals a secret buried since World War II . . .1931, Chateau de Chevalier: Ophélie, La Duchesse de Bombelle, receives a love letter from her admirer Picasso along with a gift: a priceless painting. Nine years later, the Nazis invade France and steal countless works of art, including Ophélie's gift . -
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 ww2 family literary-fiction mystery historical fiction 20th-century
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