Books like 'Absolution'
Readers who enjoyed Absolution by Alice McDermott also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical fantasy military, war & conflict historical-fiction literary-fiction war
-
Shield-Maiden: Under the Blood Moon by Melanie Karsak
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAs the blood moon rises, the shadow of Ragnarok falls on Uppsala.With the dark days in Dalr behind them, Hervor and Hofund journey to Grund. Hervor’s focus turns to tracking down the sea kings and taking vengeance, but she soon finds that life in Grund is convoluted. Family grudges, secret alliances, and shady friendships abound in the capital...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction war action-adventure adult ancient-civilization audiobook book -
The Broken Realm by Wayne Grant
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAn alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here.Roland Inness has been knighted for valor at the siege of Acre and sent home to England with a vital message for Queen Eleanor. But his homecoming proves to be as violent and dangerous as the Crusade he left behind him. He finds his home burned and his master’s family gone—made fugitives by his sworn enemy William de Ferrers...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war action-adventure audiobook book children-books coming-of-age fiction -
The Ransomed Crown by Wayne Grant
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsKing Richard has made peace with Saladin, but must run a gauntlet of enemies to get home from the Crusade. While England waits for her King, Prince John spares neither lives nor fortune to usurp his brother’s crown. Roland Inness, Declan O’Duinne and Millicent de Laval once more find themselves at the centre of a growing civil war... -
The Ring of Fire by Chris Bradford
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsJack Fletcher faces his toughest challenge yet. After a snowstorm forces him to take shelter, Jack comes across a village in need of protection from raiding mountain bandits. Torn between moving on or helping, Jack is persuaded to stay and fight the villagers' cause. But Jack is the first and only samurai to do so...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war action-adventure book coming-of-age fiction historical law-enforcement -
-
Killer of Men by Christian Cameron
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsArimnestos is a farm boy when war breaks out between the citizens of his native Plataea and and their overbearing neighbours, Thebes. Standing in the battle line - the wall of bronze - for the first time, alongside his father and brother, he shares in a famous and unlikely victory. But after being knocked unconscious in the melee, he awakes not a hero, but a slave...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war action-adventure adult ancient-civilization audiobook book fiction -
A Prince of Wales by Wayne Grant
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWith King Richard’s return from captivity and Prince John’s exile, a weary peace settles on England after years of civil war. But across the border in Wales, the vicious struggle to decide who shall rule Gwynedd still rages. To tip the balance, the rebel Prince, Llywelyn, calls in an old debt from the Earl of Chester. The Prince saved the Earl’s life and helped him take back his city... -
The Robber Knight's Secret by Robert Thier
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe final battle for love, life and liberty has begun!Ayla has had to defend her people in the past, but this time, it is no mercenary rabble outside the gates of her castle: it is the army of the Margrave von Falkenstein himself. Her people are outnumbered and have nowhere to run... -
The Grail Quest Trilogy (The Archers Tale, Vagabond, Heretic) by Bernard Cornwell
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsCornwell's Thomas of Hookton Three-Book For a limited time get three of Bernard Cornwell's works of historical fiction in one easy-to-order package, including Cornwell's latest, Heretic... -
The Ring of Sky by Chris Bradford
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsAS JACK EMBARKS ON HIS FINAL ADVENTURE, WILL HE MAKE IT BACK TO ENGLAND AND HOME?The Shogun has deemed that any Christian or foreigner now discovered outside the bounds of an official trading port will be instantly put to death. For Jack, Nagasaki is within reach, but the Shogun's samurai are closing in with the help of Jack's old school rival, Kazuki, who has a score to settle... -
The Armor of Light by Ken Follett
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe long-awaited sequel to A Column of Fire, The Armor of Light, heralds a new dawn for Kingsbridge, England, where progress clashes with tradition, class struggles push into every part of society, and war in Europe engulfs the entire continent and beyond.The Spinning Jenny was invented in 1770, and with that, a new era of manufacturing and industry changed lives everywhere within a generation... -
The Gods of War by Conn Iggulden
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsThe year is 53 B.C. Fresh from victory in Gaul, Julius Caesar leads battle-hardened legions across the Rubicon river–threatening Rome herself. Even the master strategist Pompey is caught unprepared by the strike, and forced to abandon his city. The armies of Rome will face each other at last in civil war, led by the two greatest generals ever to walk the seven hills...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war action-adventure adult ancient-civilization audiobook book fiction -
The Gates of Athens by Conn Iggulden
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsEvoking two of the most famous battles of the Ancient World—the Battle of Marathon and the Last Stand at Thermopylae—The Gates of Athens is a bravura piece of storytelling by a well acclaimed master of the historical adventure novel.In the new epic historical novel by New York Times bestselling author Conn Iggulden, in ancient Greece an army of slaves gathers on the plains of Marathon . .Categorized as:
historical-fiction war action-adventure adult ancient-civilization audiobook book fiction -
The Blood Crows by Simon Scarrow
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFor nearly ten years, the Roman Empire has fought ceaselessly to strengthen its hold over Britannia. But opposition from native tribes led by the ruthless warrior Caratacus threatens to destroy everything. Prefect Cato and Centurion Macro are summoned by Governor Ostorius to Londinium...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war action-adventure adult ancient-civilization anthologies audiobook fiction -
The Ring of Water by Chris Bradford
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsYoung Samurai: The Ring of Water is the fifth book in this blockbuster series by Chris Bradford. Jack Fletcher has been left for dead. Bruised and battered, Jack wakes up in a roadside inn wrapped only in a dirty kimono. He has lost everything, including his memory of what happened...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war action-adventure book fiction historical medieval middle-grade -
-
Tom Swan and the Last Spartans: Part Two by Christian Cameron
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsFifteenth-century Europe. Tom Swan is not a professional soldier. He's really a merchant and a scholar looking for remnants of Ancient Greece and Rome - temples, graves, pottery, fabulous animals, unicorn horns. But he also has a real talent for ending up in the midst of violence when he didn't mean to...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war medieval military historical fantasy fiction violent-conflict -
Tom Swan and the Siege of Belgrade: Part Eight by Christian Cameron
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsFifteenth-century Europe. Tom Swan is not a professional soldier. He's really a merchant and a scholar looking for remnants of Ancient Greece and Rome - temples, graves, pottery, fabulous animals, unicorn horns. But he also has a real talent for ending up in the midst of violence when he didn't mean to... -
A Question of Honour by Wayne Grant
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn this rousing conclusion to The Saga of Roland Inness, King Richard has called up Roland and the legendary Invalid Company to serve in his grinding war against King Philip of France. It's a conflict where brutal mercenaries ravage the land and take no prisoners and where a king's favour is for sale... -
In the Land of Armadillos: Stories by Helen Maryles Shankman
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA debut collection of linked stories from a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, set in a German-occupied town in Poland, where tales of myth and folklore meet the real-life monsters of the Nazi invasion.1942. With the Nazi Party at the height of its power, the occupying army empties Poland’s towns and cities of their Jewish populations...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century 21st-century adult anthologies audiobook -
Tyrant: Funeral Games by Christian Cameron
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsSatyrus and Melitta, twin heirs to a rich kingdom on the Black Sea, were hounded into exile in FUNERAL GAMES after their mother was brutally murdered by one of their father's former comrades, Heron. Heron now rules the land that is theirs by right, but the twins are older now and battle-hardened in the wars of Alexander's Successors...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction war action-adventure adult ancient-civilization audiobook book -
Blood and Blade by Matthew Harffy, Barnaby Edwards
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratings635AD. Anglo-Saxon Britain. A gripping, action-packed historical thriller and third instalment in The Bernicia Chronicles. Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell.Oswald is now King of Northumbria. However, his plans for further alliances and conquests are quickly thrown into disarray when his wedding to a princess of Wessex is interrupted by news of a Pictish uprising... -
Rome's Lost Son by Robert Fabbri
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe sixth installment in Robert Fabbri's epic Vespasian seriesRome, AD 51: Vespasian brings Rome's greatest enemy before the Emperor. After eight years of resistance, the British warrior Caratacus has been caught. But even Vespasian's victory cannot remove the newly-made consul from Roman politics: Agrippina, Emperor Claudius's wife, pardons Caratacus... -
Warbow by Wayne Grant
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAn alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here.Having found his place as a squire to a Norman knight, Roland Inness sets off with his master, Sir Roger de Laval, and fellow squire on a perilous mission to the Holy Land. King Richard has sworn to take Jerusalem from Saladin and orders Sir Roger to assess the military situation...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war action-adventure audiobook book children-books coming-of-age fiction -
Defiant Unto Death by David Gilman, Martin Zhouf
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFRANCE: 1356. Ten years ago, the greatest army in Christendom was slaughtered at Crécy when Thomas Blackstone and his fellow archers stood their ground and rained death on the steel-clad might of French chivalry. Blackstone left that squalid field a knight. Now, Blackstone commands a war band and has carved out a small fiefdom in northern France...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction war action-adventure adult ancient-civilization audiobook book -
When the Eagle Hunts by Simon Scarrow
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSimon Scarrow's brilliant adventure novels about the Roman army appear with stunning new covers.After a series of bloody battles, Camulodunum (modern-day Colchester) has fallen to the invading Roman army. The Emperor has returned to Rome, leaving the fearless Centurion Macro and his young Optio, Cato, to rest and regroup, along with the rest of the Second Legion...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war action-adventure adult ancient-civilization audiobook book fiction -
-
The Legion by Simon Scarrow
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Legion is the action-packed tenth novel in Simon Scarrow's bestselling Eagles of the Empire series. Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell.When the actions of a rebel gladiator in Egypt threaten the stability of the Roman Empire, Prefect Cato and Centurion Macro know he must be stopped...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war action-adventure adult ancient-civilization audiobook book fiction -
The Eagle and the Wolves by Simon Scarrow
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe most dangerous mission of their military careers awaits two heroes of the Roman army in Britain. In The Eagle and the Wolves, the epic fourth novel of Simon Scarrow's series, it's A.D. 44 and Vespasian and the Roman Army's Second Legion are forging ahead in their campaign to seize the southwest...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war action-adventure adult ancient-civilization audiobook book fiction -
The Lily and the Lion by Maurice Druon
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratings“This is the original Game of Thrones.” George R.R. Martin.The royal house of France has fallen. Charles IV is dead, fulfilling the curse of the Templars once and for all. This leaves the path to the throne open for Robert of Artois to place his cousin, Philippe of Valois, upon it... -
The Blooding by David Gilman
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEngland, 1346: For Thomas Blackstone the choice is easy - dance on the end of a rope for a murder he did not commit, or take up his war bow and join the king's invasion of France.As he fights his way across northern France, Blackstone will learn the brutal lessons of war - from the terror and confusion of his first taste of combat, to the savage realities of siege warfare... -
Sevenfold Sword: Guardian by Jonathan Moeller
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe quest of the Seven Swords nears its end, and dark powers rise to seize the world. Ridmark Arban has learned the terrible secret at the heart of the Seven Swords. Now he need only escape Urd Maelwyn, the grim city ruled by the dark elven tyrant known as the Confessor. But few who enter Urd Maelwyn ever leave alive... -
Tom Swan and the Head of St. George Part Six: Chios by Christian Cameron
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsA young Englishman, Tom Swan, finds himself in the midst of the Turkish siege of one of the riches islands in the Genoese Empire. Swan's biggest problem is that he hates the Genoese a good deal more than he hates the Turks. Despite which, he has to catch the spy, steal the ring, kill the traitor, and if possible rescue the princess. Or maybe just bed her.All duty, of course... -
Odin's Wolves by Giles Kristian, Джайлc Кристиан
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThey came from the North and fought their way through France and Spain. Now this fearless band of brothers sets sail for the greatest city in the world... -
War God: Return of the Plumed Serpent by Graham Hancock
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe conquistador Hernán Cortés is hell-bent on conquering Mexico for the Aztecs’ gold. Having destroyed the Maya at Potonchan, Cortés now marches on Tenochtitlan, the Golden City of the Aztecs, wrapped in the aura of a returning, vengeful god.His small force of just five hundred men will have to defeat the psychotic emperor Moctezuma and the armies of hundreds of thousands he commands... -
The Eagle's Prey by Simon Scarrow
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsThe mighty Roman army faces Britain's defiant tribes in the series's powerful fifth book It is late summer AD 44, and the battle-weary Roman legions are in their second year of campaigning against the British tribes. The troop'' commander, General Plautius, is under considerable pressure from the emperor to crush the natives once and for all...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war action-adventure adult ancient-civilization audiobook book fiction -
God of War: The Epic Story of Alexander the Great by Christian Cameron
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsThe ultimate historical adventure novel: the life of Alexander the Great in a single, epic...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction war action-adventure adult ancient-civilization audiobook book -
-
King's Man by Angus Donald
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsTHE THIRD CRUSADE IS OVER Richard the Lionheart is bound for England. But with all the princes of Europe united against him ...can the greatest warrior in Christendom make it safely home? THE LION IS CHAINED Captured. Bound. Imprisoned... -
Warlord: A Novel of Robin Hood by Angus Donald
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMay 1194. Finally released from captivity, Richard the Lionheart is in Normandy engaged in a bloody war to drive the French out of his continental patrimony. Using the brutal tactics of medieval warfare – siege, savagery and scorched earth – the Lionheart is gradually pushing back the forces of King Philip of France... -
The Most Precious of Cargoes by Jean-Claude Grumberg
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSet during the height of World War II, a powerful and unsettling tale about a woodcutter and his wife, who finds a mysterious parcel thrown from a passing train.Once upon a time in an enormous forest lived a woodcutter and his wife. The woodcutter is very poor and a war rages around them, making it difficult for them to put food on the table. Yet every night, his wife prays for a child... -
Red Branch by Morgan Llywelyn
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn a land ruled by war and love and strange enchantments, Cuchulain -- torn between gentleness and violence, haunted by the croakings of a sinister raven -- fights for his honor and his homeland and discovers too late the trap that the gods have set for him in the fatal beauty of Deirdre and the brutal jealousy of King Conor...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction war action-adventure adult ancient-civilization book epic -
False God of Rome by Robert Fabbri
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSickened by Tiberius’s insane debauchery, Vespasian places his faith in the new Emperor, Caligula. Instead, he watches Rome’s shining star deteriorate into a blood-crazed, incestuous, all-powerful madman...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war action-adventure adult ancient-civilization audiobook book fiction -
Romance of Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, Lo Kuan-Chung (Luo Guanzhong)
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsCompiled during the Ming dynasty the Romance of the Three Kingdoms has for centuries been one of China's greatest classical novels. The story takes place after the collapse of the Han Dynasty and portrays a vast canvas of stories about peasants, soldiers, kings and scholars...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction war action-adventure adult book classics early-modern -
The Eagle in the Sand by Simon Scarrow
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsTrouble is brewing in Syria, on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire. With the troops in a deplorable state, centurions Macro and Cato are despatched to restore the competence of the cohort. But another challenge faces them as Bannus, a local tribesman, is brewing up trouble and preaching violent opposition to Rome...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war action-adventure adult ancient-civilization audiobook book fiction -
The Cross and the Curse by Matthew Harffy
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 24 ratings634AD. Anglo-Saxon Britain. A gripping, action-packed historical thriller and second instalment in the Bernicia Chronicles. Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell.Warlords battle across Britain to become the first king of the English.After a stunning victory against the native Waelisc, Beobrand returns a hero. His valour is rewarded with wealth and land by the king of Northumbria... -
The Deer and the Cauldron: The First Book by Jin Yong
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOn the Dragon Throne of China sits the young Manchu Emperor Kang Xi. Back in 1644, his great-uncle Dorgon broke through the Great Wall from Manchuria in the north-east and took the Imperial capital, Peking. Now twenty years later, the Manchus are quelling the last sparks of Chinese resistance, hounding down members of the underground movement known as the Triad Secret Society... -
Battle For Empire by Sam Barone
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBattle For Empire is the latest novel in Sam Barone’s six part series, a bronze age historical saga in the tradition of Conn Iggulden, Bernard Cornwell, and Jean Auel.In Dawn of Empire, Eskkar the warrior and Trella the slave girl come together in a mighty struggle to survive a barbarian invasion and build mankind’s first walled city...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war action-adventure adult ancient-civilization book epic fiction -
-
The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen a woman discovers a rare book that has connections to her past, long-held secrets about her missing sister and their childhood spent in the English countryside during World War II are revealed.In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War... -
The Three Kingdoms, Volume 2: The Sleeping Dragon by Luo Guanzhong
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThis exciting new translation will appeal to modern readers who find the twists and turns of Game of Thrones so compelling.The Three Kingdoms is an epic Chinese novel written over six centuries ago... -
Time of the Dragons by Robert Shea
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsShike is a novel about two characters: Jebu, a fighting monk of the Order of Zinja, and Taniko, the minor noblewoman with whom he falls in love on his first mission - escorting her to an arranged marriage with a far older and extremely influential nobleman... -
The Armour of Achilles by Glyn Iliffe
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe siege of Troy is in its 10th year, in the third book continuing from King of Ithaca and The Gates of Troy The Greeks, with Achilles at their head, have inflicted numerous defeats on the Trojans, but Troy itself still stands. Dispirited, bitter, and frustrated by the war, Odysseus and his men think lovingly of home... -
Hereward: End of Days by James Wilde
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsEngland, 1071. Five years have passed since the crushing Norman victory at the Battle of Hastings. The country reels under the savage rule of the new king, the one they call 'the Bastard.' The North has been left a wasteland villages razed, innocents put to the sword, land stolen. It seems no atrocity is too great to ensure William's grip upon the crown... -
Conflict of Empires by Sam Barone
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsConflict of Empires is a sweeping historical saga in the tradition of Conn Iggulden, Bernard Cornwell and Jean Auel.The beginning of civilization is fraught with war, invasion, plunder, and rapine...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.