Books like 'Gordo'
Readers who enjoyed Gordo by Jaime Cortez also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical california north-america usa lgbtq coming-of-age realistic poc-mc historical-fiction poverty
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Watercress by Andrea Wang
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsGathering watercress by the side of the road brings a girl closer to her family's Chinese Heritage.Driving through Ohio in an old Pontiac, a young girl's parents stop suddenly when they spot watercress growing wild in a ditch by the side of the road... -
![The Essay by Robin Yocum]()
The Essay by Robin Yocum
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 16 ratings“Yocum writes like the reporter he used to be. He’s observant and still has his eye for detail and nuance.”—Richmond Times-DispatchJimmy Lee Hickam grew up along Red Dog Road, a dead-end strip of gravel and mud buried deep in the bowels of Appalachian Ohio. It is the poorest road, in the poorest county, in the poorest region of the state...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc poverty realistic black-mc book -
![Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez]()
Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsInspired by true events that rocked the nation, a profoundly moving novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible wrong done to her patients, from the New York Times bestselling author of Wench.Montgomery, Alabama 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend has big plans to make a difference, especially in her African American community...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america poc-mc poverty realistic usa -
![In Search of Satisfaction by J. California Cooper]()
In Search of Satisfaction by J. California Cooper
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe folk flavor of her storytelling has earned her constant comparison to Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, but through four collections of short stories and two novels, J. California Cooper has proven that hers is a wholly original talent --one that embraces readers in an ever-widening circle from one book to the next... -
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![Boy Like Me by Simon James Green]()
Boy Like Me by Simon James Green
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn the margins of a book's pages, sparks fly as a teenage romance begins. But in this time and place, sparks like these can only ignite trouble. It's 1994 and thanks to Section 28, there can be no mention of gay relationships in UK schools... -
![Don't Cry for Me by Daniel Black]()
Don't Cry for Me by Daniel Black
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA Black father makes amends with his gay son through letters written on his deathbed in this wise and penetrating novel of empathy and forgiveness, for fans of Ta-Nehisi Coates, Robert Jones Jr. and Alice Walker As Jacob lies dying, he begins to write a letter to his only son, Isaac. They have not met or spoken in many years, and there are things that Isaac must know...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction poc-mc realistic adult -
![The Letter by Michelle Vernal]()
The Letter by Michelle Vernal
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWORDS HAVE THE POWER TO HEAL, REUNITE AND TO HURT... Isabel opened her bag and pulled the letter out, glancing at the address one last time before she slid it through the slot, hearing it land with a plunk. It was gone. She’d done it, and now she’d have to wait to see what happened next... -
![Goin' Someplace Special by Jerry Pinkney, Patricia C. McKissack]()
Goin' Someplace Special by Jerry Pinkney, Patricia C. McKissack
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratings1950s Nashville, Tennessee is segregated, and black people are persecuted, but young Tricia Ann is determined to venture on her own across town to someplace special. A must read book about persecution of minorities, but also about hope and light... -
![Perfect Peace by Daniel Black, Ron Butler]()
Perfect Peace by Daniel Black, Ron Butler
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe heartbreaking portrait of a large, rural southern family’s attempt to grapple with their mother’s desperate decision to make her newborn son into the daughter she will never have When the seventh child of the Peace family, named Perfect, turns eight, her mother Emma Jean tells her bewildered daughter, “You was born a boy. I made you a girl. But that ain’t what you was supposed to be... -
![All the Forgivenesses by Elizabeth Hardinger]()
All the Forgivenesses by Elizabeth Hardinger
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSet in Appalachia and the Midwest at the turn of the twentieth century, this exquisite debut novel paints an intimately rendered portrait of one resilient farm family's challenges and hard-won triumphs--helmed by an unforgettable heroine. Growing up on their hardscrabble farm in rural Kentucky, fifteen-year-old Albertina "Bertie" Winslow has learned a lot from her mama, Polly...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america usa 20th-century audiobook -
![If You Want to Make God Laugh by Bianca Marais]()
If You Want to Make God Laugh by Bianca Marais
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA rich, unforgettable story of three unique women in post-Apartheid South Africa who are brought together in their darkest time and discover the ways that love can transcend the strictest of boundaries.In a squatter camp on the outskirts of Johannesburg, seventeen-year-old Zodwa lives in desperate poverty, under the shadowy threat of a civil war and a growing AIDS epidemic...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction poc-mc realistic 21st-century -
![The Granny by Brendan O'Carroll]()
The Granny by Brendan O'Carroll
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe New York Times Book Review praised Brendan O'Carroll's first novel, The Mammy, as "Cheerful...as unpretentious and satisfying as a home-cooked meal...with a delicious dessert of an ending... -
![The Chisellers by Brendan O'Carroll]()
The Chisellers by Brendan O'Carroll
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Mrs. Browne trilogy became an instant bestselling success in author Brendan O'Carroll's native Ireland. Similarly, when Plume introduced The Mammy (the first book in the series, May 1999) in the United States, it was greeted with overwhelming enthusiasm from American readers. Fans of Agnes Browne craving further hilarious and heartwarming adventures will be delighted with The Chisellers... -
![Fifth Born by Zelda Lockhart]()
Fifth Born by Zelda Lockhart
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen Odessa Blackburn is three years old her beloved grandmother dies, and so begins her story, set in St. Louis, Missouri, and rural Mississippi. As the fifth born of eight children, Odessa loses her innocence at first when her drunken father sexually abuses her, and then again when she alone witnesses her father taking the life of his own brother...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc realistic abuse adult -
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![Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes]()
Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn a poor town in Kansas, an African American family struggles. At its centre sits Sandy Rodgers - a young boy attempting to find purpose amid the chaos, meagreness and music of his surroundings...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction north-america poc-mc poverty -
![The Distant Land of My Father by Bo Caldwell]()
The Distant Land of My Father by Bo Caldwell
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratings'My father was a millionaire in Shanghai in the 1930s.'Anna Schoene was a golden child. Her parents, Joseph and Genevieve, were rich American expats in Shanghai before the Japanese invaded, before the war intervened. Joseph Schoene had made his fortune living on his wits. He was in love with Shanghai, with China, with the idea of taking risks...Categorized as:
california family historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america usa 20th-century adult -
![All the Children Are Home by Patry Francis]()
All the Children Are Home by Patry Francis
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA sweeping saga in the vein of Ask Again, Yes following a foster family through almost a decade of dazzling triumph and wrenching heartbreak—from the author of The Orphans at Race Point...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc realistic abuse audiobook -
![Outbound Train by Renea Winchester]()
Outbound Train by Renea Winchester
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn 1976, memories from a night near the railroad tracks sixteen years earlier haunt Barbara Parker. She wrestles with past demons every night, then wakes to the train’s five-thirty whistle. Exhausted and dreading the day, she keeps her hands busy working in Bryson City’s textile plant, known as the “blue jean plant,” all the while worrying about her teenage daughter, Carole Anne... -
![The Secret Years: An emotional drama of love and survival by Judith Lennox]()
The Secret Years: An emotional drama of love and survival by Judith Lennox
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA moving story about life in the East Anglian Fens after the First World War, evoking the emotions of the men who came through their ordeals and the women who survived the trauma of separation.During the golden summer of 1914, four young people played in the gardens of Drakesden Abbey... -
![When I First Held You by Anstey Harris]()
When I First Held You by Anstey Harris
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSilence tore them apart. Can the truth bring them back together?In 1960s Glasgow, anti-nuclear activists Judith and Jimmy fall in love. But their future hopes are dashed when their protestors’ squat is raided and many, including Jimmy, are sent to prison. Pregnant and with no word from Jimmy, Judith is forced to enter an unmarried mothers’ home, give up their baby and learn to live with her grief...Categorized as:
historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction family coming-of-age romance fiction historical -
![The Kudzu Queen by Mimi Herman]()
The Kudzu Queen by Mimi Herman
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 7 ratings“Funny, sad, and tender… Mimi Herman has written a novel that possesses a true and hard won understanding of the South.” —David Sedaris, author of Happy-Go-Lucky Fifteen-year-old Mattie Lee Watson dreams of men, not boys. So when James T...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic family coming-of-age fiction historical audiobook -
![Savage Obsession by Cassie Edwards]()
Savage Obsession by Cassie Edwards
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWhile her beloved family struggle to put down stakes in the harsh Minnesota territory, Lorinda Odell is in St. Paul to get a proper education. But the bustling city is not without its own hazards, especially for a young woman as lovely as Lorinda... -
![Like Vanessa by Tami Charles]()
Like Vanessa by Tami Charles
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn this semi-autobiographical debut novel set in 1983, Vanessa Martin's real-life reality of living with family in public housing in Newark, New Jersey is a far cry from the glamorous Miss America stage. She struggles with an incarcerated mother she barely remembers, a grandfather dealing with addiction and her own battle with self-confidence... -
![Gold Mountain by Karen J. Hasley]()
Gold Mountain by Karen J. Hasley
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA Remarkable Woman. An Unforgettable Love Story. When Dinah Hudson leaves China in 1901, she hopes to leave behind dark memories of violence and sudden death, as well. Spending time with her sister in San Francisco will be just what she needs to help her forget China’s murderous Boxer Uprising... -
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![Clover Blue by Eldonna Edwards]()
Clover Blue by Eldonna Edwards
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsSet against the backdrop of a 1970s commune in Northern California, Clover Blue is a compelling, beautifully written story of a young boy's search for identity. There are many things twelve-year-old Clover Blue isn't sure of: his exact date of birth, his name before he was adopted into the Saffron Freedom Community, or who his first parents were...Categorized as:
california coming-of-age family historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america realistic usa -
![A World for Julius by Alfredo Bryce Echenique]()
A World for Julius by Alfredo Bryce Echenique
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsJulius was born in a mansion on Salaverry Avenue, directly across from the old San Felipe Hippodrome. Life-size Disney characters and cowboy movie heroes romp across the walls of his nursery. Out in the carriage house, his great-grandfather’s ornate, moldering carriage takes him on imaginary adventures...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction latinx-mc literary-fiction poc-mc 20th-century adult book -
![Isaac's Song by Daniel Black]()
Isaac's Song by Daniel Black
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe beloved author of Don’t Cry for Me and Perfect Peace returns with a poignant, emotionally exuberant novel about a young queer Black man finding his voice in 1980s Chicago—a novel of family, forgiveness and perseverance, for fans of The Great Believers and On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous.Isaac is at a crossroads in his young life...Categorized as:
north-america usa historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction coming-of-age poc-mc family -
![Where The Winds Dwell by Böðvar Guðmundsson, Bovar Gumundsson]()
Where The Winds Dwell by Böðvar Guðmundsson, Bovar Gumundsson
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWritten as a letter from a father to a daughter, Where the Winds Dwell is compassionate and real. Guðmundsson brings together past and present in this tragic story of the historic journey to Nýja Ísland, the world's largest Icelandic community outside of Iceland... -
![The Last Carolina Girl by Meagan Church]()
The Last Carolina Girl by Meagan Church
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA searing book club novel for fans of Where the Crawdad's Sing and The Girls in the Stilt House following one girl fighting for her family, her body, and her right to create a future all her ownSome folks will do anything to control the wild spirit of a Carolina girl...For fourteen-year-old Leah Payne, life in her beloved coastal Carolina town is as simple as it is free...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction literary-fiction adult audiobook book female-mc -
![The Consequences: Stories by Manuel Muñoz]()
The Consequences: Stories by Manuel Muñoz
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsShimmering stories set in California’s Central Valley, the first book in a decade from a virtuoso story writer.“Her immediate concern was money.” So begins the first story in Manuel Muñoz’s dazzling new collection...Categorized as:
lgbtq historical-fiction latinx-mc literary-fiction family poc-mc fiction historical -
![Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange]()
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe eagerly awaited follow-up to Pulitzer Prize-finalist Tommy Orange’s breakout best seller There There —winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award, the John Leonard Prize, the American Book Award, and one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of 2018— Wandering Stars traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through to the shattering aftermath of...Categorized as:
north-america usa historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc family colorado fiction -
![In Revere, In Those Days by Roland Merullo]()
In Revere, In Those Days by Roland Merullo
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn this richly evocative novel--the moving story of one boy's coming of age--acclaimed author Roland Merullo will make you nostalgic for a small Massachusetts city called Revere even if you've never been there. Providing a window into an unspoiled America of forty years ago, In Revere welcomes you to the fiercely loyal and devoted Italian-American family of the Benedettos...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction humor literary-fiction realistic adult boarding-school book -
![Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst]()
Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom the internationally acclaimed winner of the Booker Prize, a piercing novel that envisions modern England through the lens of one man’s acutely observed and often unnerving experience, as he struggles with class and race, art and sexuality, love and violence...Categorized as:
historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction coming-of-age family fiction audiobook historical -
![Frankie & Bug by Gayle Forman]()
Frankie & Bug by Gayle Forman
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratings“Joyful, occasionally heartbreaking, deeply moving.” —R. J. Palacio, bestselling author of Wonder In the debut middle grade novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Gayle Forman comes a poignant and powerful coming-of-age story that follows a young girl and her new friend as they learn about family, friendship, allyship, and finding your way in a complicated world...Categorized as:
north-america usa california lgbtq historical-fiction realistic family coming-of-age -
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![Everything My Mother Taught Me by Alice Hoffman]()
Everything My Mother Taught Me by Alice Hoffman
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIn this haunting short story of loyalty and betrayal, a young woman in early 1900s Massachusetts discovers that in navigating her treacherous coming-of-age, she must find her voice first.For fatefully observant Adeline, growing up carries an ominous warning from her adulterous mother: don’t say a word. Adeline vows to never speak again. But that’s not her only secret...Categorized as:
north-america usa historical-fiction coming-of-age literary-fiction family massachusetts fiction -
![1933 Was a Bad Year by John Fante]()
1933 Was a Bad Year by John Fante
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTrapped in a small, poverty-ridden town in 1933, under pressure from his father to go into the family business, seventeen-year-old Dominic Molise yearns to fulfill his own dreams...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america usa 20th-century book -
![Take Nothing With You by Patrick Gale]()
Take Nothing With You by Patrick Gale
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of A PLACE CALLED WINTER comes a new novel of boyhood, coming of age, and the confusions of desire and reality. For all readers of Ian McEwan's ATONEMENT or L P Hartley's THE GO-BETWEEN.1970s Western-Super-Mare and ten-year-old oddball Eustace, an only child, has life transformed by his mother's quixotic decision to sign him up for cello lessons...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction audiobook bildungsroman book -
![The Hungry Road by Marita Conlon-McKenna]()
The Hungry Road by Marita Conlon-McKenna
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn its brilliant recreation of the Great Irish Famine, the children's historical novel Under the Hawthorn Tree is beloved by millions and is considered a classic. Now, the Number One Irish bestseller and award-winning author is turning her hand to the definitive adult novel of those hard times, with The Hungry Road...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction literary-fiction adult audiobook book female-author -
![Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah]()
Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA vivid love letter to the 1980s and one woman’s struggle to overcome the challenges of immigrationIt’s 1986, and Muna Heddad is in a bind. She and her son have fled Lebanon and moved to Montreal, leaving behind a civil war filled with bad memories.. She had plans to find work as a French teacher, but no one in Quebec trusts her to teach the language. She needs to start making money, and fast...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc family fiction audiobook historical 20th-century -
![Random Passage by Bernice Morgan, Marie McCarthy]()
Random Passage by Bernice Morgan, Marie McCarthy
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe chill Atlantic lies between Lavinia Andrews and the home she loves after a shattering incident topples her family fortunes. Shocked, she can barely comprehend that Cape Random is home from now on - this tiny Newfoundland settlement perched on rock between dense forest and the ocean... -
![Stars of Alabama: A Novel by Sean of the South by Sean Dietrich]()
Stars of Alabama: A Novel by Sean of the South by Sean Dietrich
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsUnlikely heroes form unlikely bonds in this poignant and redemptive new novel from Sean Dietrich. When two Depression-era migrant workers, Paul and Vern, find an abandoned baby in the woods, they take it upon themselves to care for the mysterious child.When fifteen-year-old Marigold, reviled by her family after an unwanted pregnancy, loses her baby in the forest, her whole world is painted black... -
![Whistling Woman by C.C. Tillery]()
Whistling Woman by C.C. Tillery
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn the waning years of the 19th century, Bessie Daniels grows up in the small town of Hot Springs in western North Carolina. Secure in the love of her father, yet troubled with her mother's desire that she be a proper Southern belle, Bessie is determined to forge her own way in life. Or, as her Cherokee great- grandmother, Elisi, puts it, to be a whistling woman...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction literary-fiction adult book fiction historical rural -
![Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye]()
Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsSet against the powerful lakeshore landscape of northern Minnesota, Safe from the Sea is a heartfelt novel in which a son returns home to reconnect with his estranged and dying father thirty-five years after the tragic wreck of a Great Lakes ore boat that the father only partially survived and that has divided them emotionally ever since... -
![Gentle's Holler by Kerry Madden]()
Gentle's Holler by Kerry Madden
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsThe sixties may have come to other parts of North Carolina, but with Mama pregnant again, Daddy struggling to find work, and nine siblings underfoot, nobody in the holler has much time for modern-day notions. Especially not twelve-year-old Livy Two, aspiring songwriter and self-appointed guardian of little sister Gentle, whose eyes "don't work so good yet...Categorized as:
north-america usa historical-fiction realistic family poverty north-carolina middle-grade -
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![The Gimmicks by Chris McCormick]()
The Gimmicks by Chris McCormick
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratings“ The Gimmicks is a gorgeous epic that astounds with its scope and beauty. With empathy and humor, McCormick unravels the ties between brotherhood and betrayal, love and abandonment, and the fictions we create to live with the pain of the past. This novel will blow you away...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction coming-of-age lgbtq family fiction historical audiobook -
![Waiting for Time by Bernice Morgan]()
Waiting for Time by Bernice Morgan
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWaiting for Time continues the chronicle begun in Random Passage. Readers of Bernice Morgans critically acclaimed first novel will recognize Thomas Hutchings, Mary Bundle, the members of the Andrews family and the rest of life in Cape Random, where people struggle to find their way in a life that offers chance as an only companion...Categorized as:
north-america historical-fiction family literary-fiction canada fiction historical rural -
![These Heathens by Mia McKenzie]()
These Heathens by Mia McKenzie
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom the “razor-sharp and outrageously funny” (Taylor Jenkins Reid) mind of Mia McKenzie comes a vibrant novel exploring how one weekend can change your whole life.Dear Lord, please forgive me for the sins I’ve committed. And for the one I’m still planning to commit tomorrow. Amen...Categorized as:
north-america usa historical-fiction lgbtq coming-of-age poc-mc literary-fiction humor -
![A Matter of Time by Alex Capus]()
A Matter of Time by Alex Capus
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratings"Beautifully rendered in John Brownjohn's translation . . . [a] magnificent novel."—Giles Foden, author of The Last King of Scotland"A war-torn farce worth waiting for."—The IndependentNovember 1913 and three German shipbuilders, led by master shipwright Anton Rüter, are ordered by Kaiser Wilhelm to dismantle a steam ship, send the parts to German East Africa, and reassemble it on Lake Tanganyika... -
![The Wild Birds by Emily Strelow]()
The Wild Birds by Emily Strelow
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCast adrift in 1870s San Francisco after the death of her mother, a girl named Olive disguises herself as a boy and works as a lighthouse keeper’s assistant on the Farallon Islands to escape the dangers of a world unkind to young women. In 1941, nomad Victor scours the Sierras searching for refuge from a home to which he never belonged...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction north-america usa adult -
![The Master of Jalna by Mazo de la Roche]()
The Master of Jalna by Mazo de la Roche
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFirst published in 1933, The Master of Jalna is Renny Whiteoak, who owns the old house and property. After the death of Grandmother Adeline, Renny attempts to carry on the family tradition. He and his wife Alayne have a daughter named Adeline, who has inherited her namesake's red hair, strong will, and fierce temper...
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