Books like 'Promise'
Readers who enjoyed Promise by Rachel Eliza Griffiths also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical military, war & conflict historical-fiction literary-fiction coming-of-age family civil-war war poc-mc dark
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The Postcard by Anne Berest
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAnne Berest’s luminous, moving, and unforgettable new novel The Postcard is the most acclaimed and beloved French book in recent years... -
![The Girls in Blue by Fenella J. Miller]()
The Girls in Blue by Fenella J. Miller
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsJane Hadley has nothing to lose when she runs away to join the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. Whatever faces her in war-torn London can't be any worse than staying at home with her abusive father...The city is nothing like she could have imagined, but she's soon on the move, travelling from base to base for her top-secret training...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war coming-of-age literary-fiction romance historical fiction ww2 -
![Retrospective by Juan Gabriel Vásquez]()
Retrospective by Juan Gabriel Vásquez
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAn epic yet intimate novel about a Colombian man caught up in the sweep of global historical and ideological revolutions. The Colombian film director, Sergio Cabrera, is in Barcelona for a retrospective of his work...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction war poc-mc fiction historical communism politics -
![The Frozen Heart by Almudena Grandes]()
The Frozen Heart by Almudena Grandes
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn a small town on the outskirts of Madrid, a funeral is taking place. Julio Carrion Gonzalez, a man of tremendous wealth and influence in Madrid, has come home to be buried. But as the family stand by the graveside, his son Alvaro notices the arrival of an attractive stranger—no one appears to know who she is, or why she is there... -
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![On a Wing and a Prayer by Helen Carey]()
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 Wood's Edge by Lori Benton]()
The Wood's Edge by Lori Benton
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAt the wood's edge cultures collide. Can two families survive the impact?The 1757 New York frontier is home to the Oneida tribe and to British colonists, yet their feet rarely walk the same paths.On the day Fort William Henry falls, Major Reginald Aubrey is beside himself with grief. His son, born that day, has died in the arms of his sleeping wife... -
![The Bookbinder by Pip Williams]()
The Bookbinder by Pip Williams
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA young British woman working in a book bindery gets a chance to pursue knowledge and love when World War I upends her life--an exquisite novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese's Book Club pick The Dictionary of Lost Words It is 1914, and as the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, women must keep the nation running... -
![Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan]()
Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn this searing novel, a courageous young woman tries to protect her dream of becoming a doctor as civil war devastates Sri Lanka.Jaffna, 1981. Sixteen-year-old Sashi wants to become a doctor. But over the next decade, a vicious civil war tears through her home, and her dream spins off course as she sees her four beloved brothers and their friend K swept up in the mounting violence... -
![Surviving the Fatherland by Annette Oppenlander]()
Surviving the Fatherland by Annette Oppenlander
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSpanning thirteen years from 1940 to 1953 and set against the epic panorama of WWII, SURVIVING THE FATHERLAND is a sweeping saga of family, love, and betrayal that illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the children's war...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century audiobook book -
![The Bomb Girl Brides by Daisy Styles]()
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... -
![Wild, Beautiful, and Free by Sophfronia Scott]()
Wild, Beautiful, and Free by Sophfronia Scott
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom award-winning author Sophfronia Scott comes the story of one young woman’s bold journey to reclaim her birthright and carve out her own place in a world that tells her she doesn’t belong. Born the daughter of an enslaved woman and a Louisiana plantation owner, Jeannette Bébinn is raised alongside her white half sister―until her father suddenly dies... -
![The Woodcutter's Wife by David Johnson]()
The Woodcutter's Wife by David Johnson
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSet against the backdrop of the Civil War comes a tale of love lost and found. Mary Thomson is no ordinary woman. She works alongside her husband William cutting firewood to sell in the city, earning the nickname “The Woodcutter’s Wife.” She kills a bear with her bare hands. And she prefers plowing a field to cooking a meal... -
![The Lifeline by Deborah Swift]()
The Lifeline by Deborah Swift
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom the heart of Norway to Shetland in Scotland, one couple fight to overthrow the Nazis…1942, Nazi-occupied NorwaySchoolteacher Astrid Dahl has always kept out of trouble. But when she is told to teach the fascist Nazi curriculum, she refuses and starts a teacher’s rebellion, persuading eight thousand teachers to go on strike... -
![The Maid's Secret by Shari J. Ryan]()
The Maid's Secret by Shari J. Ryan
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCzechoslovakia, 1942: “Please don’t take him,” I plead to the Nazis.“I love you, Mila,” Ben says, hoarsely. “So much. Forever.”“Ben!” I shout as the soldiers pull him away, my heart thudding. “I love you. Please, come back.” I’m screaming at the top of my lungs as the world turns black around me.In the mountains of Bohemia, Mila, a Romani, works as a maid for an aristocratic Jewish family...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war coming-of-age literary-fiction europe western-central-europe historical ww2 -
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![The Length of a String by Elissa Brent Weissman]()
The Length of a String by Elissa Brent Weissman
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsImani is adopted, and she's ready to search for her birthparents. But when she discovers the diary her Jewish great-grandmother wrote chronicling her escape from Holocaust-era Europe, Imani begins to see family in a new way.Imani knows exactly what she wants as her big bat mitzvah gift: to meet her birthparents...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family poc-mc war literary-fiction black-mc middle-grade realistic -
![Freeman by Leonard Pitts Jr.]()
Freeman by Leonard Pitts Jr.
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFreeman, the new novel by Leonard Pitts, Jr., takes place in the first few months following the Confederate surrender and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Upon learning of Lee's surrender, Sam--a runaway slave who once worked for the Union Army--decides to leave his safe haven in Philadelphia and set out on foot to return to the war-torn South...Categorized as:
black-mc civil-war historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc war adult american-civil-war -
![The Lost Children by Shirley Dickson]()
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... -
![The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris]()
The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsA profound debut about the unlikely bond between two freedmen who are brothers and the Georgia farmer whose alliance will alter their lives, and his, forever.In the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Prentiss and Landry—freed by the Emancipation Proclamation—seek refuge on the homestead of George Walker and his wife, Isabelle... -
![The Fire Dream by Franklin Allen Leib]()
The Fire Dream by Franklin Allen Leib
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAn epic military novel of soldier's combat in Vietnam This is a sweeping, gut-wrenching portrait of soldiers at war from a man who fought, and saw friends die, in Vietnam. It is a saga of men from all walks of life, thrown together by the arbitrary nature of unrelenting combat of Vietnam, each man in the team is put to the ultimate test-combat... -
![Valley of the Purple Hearts by Rick DeStefanis]()
Valley of the Purple Hearts by Rick DeStefanis
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe Vietnam experience, up close and personal. When eighteen-year-old Buck Marino first meets Rolley Zwyrkowski, he little realizes how much the young sergeant and their next year together in Vietnam will change his life forever...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction literary-fiction war action-adventure adult book fiction -
![HIDDEN by Linda Gillard]()
HIDDEN by Linda Gillard
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA birth. A death. Hidden for a hundred years. The new novel from the author of Kindle bestseller THE MEMORY TREE “Lady, fiancé killed, will gladly marry officer totally blinded or otherwise incapacitated by the war...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war family literary-fiction historical 20th-century suspense fiction -
![The Wake of the Wind by J. California Cooper]()
The Wake of the Wind by J. California Cooper
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA dramatic and thought-provoking novel of one family's triumph in the face of the hardships and challenges of the post-Civil War South.The Wake of the Wind , J. California Cooper's third novel, is her most penetrating look yet at the challenges that generations of African Americans have had to overcome in order to carve out a home for themselves and their families... -
![Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin]()
Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA luminous, boldly imagined debut novel about three Vietnamese siblings who seek refuge in the UK, expanding into a sweeping meditation on love, ancestry, and the power of storytelling.There are the goodbyes and then the fishing out of the bodies—everything in between is speculation... -
![At the Going Down of the Sun by Elizabeth Darrell]()
At the Going Down of the Sun by Elizabeth Darrell
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis family epic, set during World War I, follows the fortunes of three brothers and the women who loved and waited for them. One, heir to the exquisite family home of Tarant Hall in Dorset, will be driven to the Front by accusations of cowardice... -
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![Dawn's Early Light by Elswyth Thane]()
Dawn's Early Light by Elswyth Thane
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsColonial Williamsburg lives again in this rich story which is Elswyth Thane's first novel of American history in her bestselling series... -
![Josephine by Beverly Jenkins]()
Josephine by Beverly Jenkins
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsJosephine Best has it all figured out. Just seventeen, she's been to college, she has her own hairdressing shop and she refuses to be distracted from her goals. At least until handsome George Brooks begins to pursue her. Jojo isn't looking for romance, but she permits George to call on her.Adam Morgan has always been a Casanova, and no girl is immune to his charm... -
![You Will Be Safe Here by Damian Barr]()
You Will Be Safe Here by Damian Barr
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAn extraordinary debut that explores legacies of abuse, redemption, and the strength of the human spirit--from the Boer Wars in South Africa to brutal wilderness camps for teenage boys. South Africa, 1901. It is the height of the second Boer War. Sarah van der Watt and her six-year-old son Fred are forced from their home on Mulberry Farm...Categorized as:
civil-war coming-of-age family historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc war action-adventure -
![The Bogside Boys by Eoin Dempsey]()
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... -
![Our Last Goodbye by Shirley Dickson, Joan Walker]()
Our Last Goodbye by Shirley Dickson, Joan Walker
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA heart-wrenching, poignant and totally unforgettable tale of a young woman who must finally face up to the secret she has hidden for a lifetime. A beautiful World War Two novel for fans of Wives of War, Lisa Wingate and Diney Costeloe, that will have you reaching for the Kleenex... -
![Properties of Thirst by Marianne Wiggins]()
Properties of Thirst by Marianne Wiggins
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA National BestsellerA New Yorker Best Book of 2022Fifteen years after the publication of Evidence of Things Unseen , National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist Marianne Wiggins returns with a “big, bold book” ( USA TODAY ) destined to be an American classic: a sweeping masterwork set during World War II about the meaning of family and the limitations of the American Dream... -
![My Son, My Son by Howard Spring]()
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... -
![Words Composed of Sea and Sky by Erica George]()
Words Composed of Sea and Sky by Erica George
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMichaela Dunn dreams of getting into an art school, but when her stepfather refuses to fund a trip there for a poetry workshop, Michaela enters a local contest searching for a poet to write the dedication plaque for a statue honoring Captain Benjamin Churchill, a whaler who died at sea over one hundred years ago... -
![A Daughter's Secret by Anne Bennett]()
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![Into the Burning Dawn: Heartbreaking and gripping World War 2 historical fiction set in Italy by Natalie Meg Evans]()
Into the Burning Dawn: Heartbreaking and gripping World War 2 historical fiction set in Italy by Natalie Meg Evans
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn the terrace courtyard of the palazzo overlooking a sparkling bay, the scent of ripening lemons filled the air. His deep brown eyes gazed into hers with determination and longing. ‘Will you do it? Risk everything and join us?’Twenty-one-year-old Imogen Fitzgerald was raised in an English orphanage and never knew her parents... -
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![The Cake Tree in the Ruins by Akiyuki Nosaka]()
The Cake Tree in the Ruins by Akiyuki Nosaka
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIntensely moving stories that tell of the absurd violence of war, and tenderly depict the animals and children caught in its vortex.In 1945, Akiyuki Nosaka watched the Allied firebombing of Kobe kill his adoptive parents, and then witnessed his sister starving to death...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc war 20th-century adult anthologies asian-mc -
![Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash]()
Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratings“Spence-Ash has written the novel in eight points of view, but each character is utterly three-dimensional and distinct. This debut novel captivated me from start to finish...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century adult audiobook -
![Ever My Love by Gretchen Craig]()
Ever My Love by Gretchen Craig
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsOn the eve of Civil War, the daughter of Southern planters finds her loyalties tested in a magnificent saga of family pride and forbidden love...Brought up amid the luxury of plantation life, Marianne Johnston never questions her sheltered life until, driven by her conscience, she joins the Underground Railroad... -
![Keep Smiling Through by Ellie Dean]()
Keep Smiling Through by Ellie Dean
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsJune 1940. Rita Smith swore she would never lose heart . . .Despite losing her mother at a young age and her father away on important war work, seventeen-year-old Rita Smith has plenty of people to turn to in the close-knit community of Cliffhaven. Until Italy sides with Germany and Rita's closest friends and neighbours are interned as enemies of the state... -
![The President's Gardens by Muohsin Ramlai, Luke Leafgren]()
The President's Gardens by Muohsin Ramlai, Luke Leafgren
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn this extraordinary novel by heralded Iraqi author Muhsin Al-Ramli, One Hundred Years of Solitude meets The Kite Runner against the backdrop of Saddam Hussein's Iraq. "A profoundly moving investigation of love, death, and injustice." --The Guardian"A standard in contemporary Middle Eastern literature." --Booklist "A stunning achievement...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc war 21st-century action-adventure adult -
![Golden Earrings by Belinda Alexandra]()
Golden Earrings by Belinda Alexandra
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA powerful saga of family, love, honour and betrayal You who judge me: come! Let me tell you a story … Paloma Batton is the granddaughter of Spanish refugees who fled Barcelona after the Civil War...Categorized as:
civil-war family historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century adult audiobook -
![We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies by Tsering Yangzom Lama]()
We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies by Tsering Yangzom Lama
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsIn the wake of China's invasion of Tibet throughout the 1950s, Lhamo and her younger sister, Tenkyi, arrive at a refugee camp in Nepal. They survived the dangerous journey across the Himalayas, but their parents did not...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction family poc-mc war coming-of-age fiction historical -
![Independence by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni]()
Independence by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIndia, 1947. In a rural village in Bengal live three sisters, daughters of a well-respected doctor.Priya: intelligent and idealistic, resolved to follow in her father's footsteps and become a doctor, though society frowns on it.Deepa: the beauty, determined to make a marriage that will bring her family joy and status... -
![Homeseeking by Karissa Chen]()
Homeseeking by Karissa Chen
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAlternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593712993.An epic and intimate tale of one couple across sixty years as world events pull them together and apart, illuminating the Chinese diaspora and exploring what it means to find home far from your homeland.A single choice can define an entire life...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction family war coming-of-age romance fiction historical -
![El abuelo by Александр Чудаков]()
El abuelo by Александр Чудаков
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsGalardonada en 2011 con el Premio Booker Ruso a la mejor novela de la década, El abuelo es una monumental obra que hunde sus raíces en la tradición narrativa de los grandes clásicos rusos... -
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![My Lvov: Holocaust Memoir of a twelve-year-old Girl by Janina Hescheles, Yaroslav Hrytsak]()
My Lvov: Holocaust Memoir of a twelve-year-old Girl by Janina Hescheles, Yaroslav Hrytsak
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhile still twelve years old, Janina Hescheles wrote this harrowing report from her hiding place in Cracow. The notebook, filled with clear childlike writing, was fortunately preserved. She tells about the German occupation of Lvov, the loss of her parents, about the Ghetto and mass murder in the notorious forced-labor camp Janowska in Lvov...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century adult book fiction -
![Isabel by Javier Olivares Zurilla]()
Isabel by Javier Olivares Zurilla
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIsabel, una mujer que decidió ser la dueña de su propio destino.Hija menor de Juan II de Castilla e Isabel de Portugal, la pequeña Isabel contaba con escasas posibilidades de llegar al trono, destinado a sus hermanos varones... -
![The Chains of Fate by Pamela Belle]()
The Chains of Fate by Pamela Belle
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe blood red tide of civil war ran deep over the land, and Thomazine became the man of a wife she would learn to hate for his perfidy. She married Dominic whom she could never love, believing her Francis to be dead. When she learned the truth ... that Francis lived, Thomazine rode north on a mission hung with the chains of fate... -
![Palace of Tears by Anna King]()
Palace of Tears by Anna King
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen Emily Ford’s kindly employers decide to escape the Zeppelin raids that bedevil Hackney in 1916, the pretty housemaid is delighted to return to her parents for an unexpected break.But the holiday proves anything but peaceful...Categorized as:
war literary-fiction historical-fiction family fiction historical drama romantic-love -
![Until the Sun Falls by Cecelia Holland]()
Until the Sun Falls by Cecelia Holland
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsIn the thirteenth century the Mongol hordes swept out of Mongolia to over-run half the world. This novel follows Psin, a Mongol general, through the military campaigns in Russia and Europe, among his own family and in his own heart... -
![Au Revoir Liverpool by Maureen Lee]()
Au Revoir Liverpool by Maureen Lee
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLiverpool, 1937. Jessica is married to Bertie, a mean, patronising man who she has stayed with purely for the sake of her two young children. To make up for the love and passion that is missing from her life, she spends the occasional afternoon at the local cinema, lost in romantic films...
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