Books like 'Sparrow'
Readers who enjoyed Sparrow by James Hynes also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical historical-fiction literary-fiction lgbtq dark ancient-civilization coming-of-age
-
I Am Rome by Santiago Posteguillo
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe runaway international bestseller--part sweeping historical epic, part legal thriller--following the trial that shaped the life of the young Julius Caesar and gave root to an immortal legacy.Every legend has a beginning.Rome, 77 B.C... -
La legión perdida by Santiago Posteguillo
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsEn el año 53 a. C. el cónsul Craso emprendió una campaña para conquistar Oriente, pero su ejército fue destrozado en Carrhae por los partos. Una legión entera cayó prisionera y desapareció de la historia. Nadie sabe qué sucedió con aquellos hombres.Ciento cincuenta años después, las tropas romanas están a punto de volver a cruzar el Éufrates... -
Silva Rerum II by Kristina Sabaliauskaitė
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsRomāna darbība notiek no 1707. līdz 1710.gadam. Karš, mēris, bads, nesamērīga greznība un nāvīgs izsalkums, zviedru un krievu karavīri, jūdu ārsti, holandiešu kāršu spēlmaņi, turku konkubīnes, franču dāmas, spītīgi žemaiši un ironiski viļņieši, bezvārda mūks, kurš apglabājis vairāk nekā divdesmit tūkstošus mēra upuru, un, protams, vēl viena bajāru Norvaišu dzimtas paaudze... -
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... -
-
Sarah and Solomon: Only A Stone Should Be Alone by Roberta Kagan
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“…Fathers and Give me your children!” – Chaim RumkowskiIt is September 1942, and the already battered occupants of the Lodz Ghetto have just been dealt another horrendous blow from Hitler’s iron fist. They must surrender their sick, elderly, and children for ‘deportation... -
The Dark One: Dark Knight by Kathryn Le Veque
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratings1486 A.D. Fresh from his treacherous turning of the tides against Richard III in the Battle of Bosworth, Sir Gaston de Russe’s reputation is dark and dirty. Those loyal to Richard hate him and those loyal to Henry Tudor fear him. He is, after all, The Dark One...Categorized as:
ancient-civilization dark historical-fiction literary-fiction adult anti-hero audiobook book -
The Scot's Deception by Keira Montclair
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThey must trust each other—or bear the consequences.Chrissa Grant isn’t the sort of lass who enjoys sitting at home. With a pivotal battle looming between Robert the Bruce and the English, she knows exactly where she wishes to be: fighting with her older cousins, the group known as the Highland Swords...Categorized as:
ancient-civilization historical-fiction literary-fiction adult book epic fiction historical -
The Witch of Black Isle by Keira Montclair
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTwo misfits both feel the sting of loneliness.But are their differences too great to overcome? Jennet Ramsey has lost her dearest friend. Not to death, but to marriage. The inseparable girls grew up traveling with Jennet’s mother, the most renowned healer in Scotland. Now alone, Jennet feels adrift with no compass...Categorized as:
ancient-civilization historical-fiction literary-fiction adult audiobook book epic fiction -
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn & Maggie-Now by Betty Smith
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratings...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction literary-fiction book classics fiction historical literary -
Northern Borders: A Novel by Howard Frank Mosher
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA New York Times Notable A novel about growing up in a remote corner of Vermont, from the author Richard Russo calls “one of our very best writers... -
Erin's Child by Sheelagh Kelly
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFamily ties have united the Feeneys through famine and poverty, but can they withstand success? It is 1875 and the Feeneys have left the squalor of York’s slums behind them. Yet all is not well. Patrick remains a man of simple tastes, increasingly out of touch with Thomasin’s ambition to expand her business empire still further across Yorkshire... -
The Chief's Maiden by Cecelia Mecca
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA Scottish chief. An English maiden. Their forbidden love threatens to destroy them both. The Chief The Scottish king gives Toren Kerr a dangerous but important mission—kill the English Warden. The man’s rumored corruption threatens to destroy the fragile peace along the border, and Toren reluctantly agrees to do his duty... -
The Island We Left Behind by Kate Hewitt
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“I love you. Of course I do. But we haven’t any choice in the matter, do we? If our little boy’s health, even his survival, is at stake, we have to do whatever it takes.”1928, New York City: Ellen and Lucas Lyman have made a heart-wrenching decision to leave their beloved Amherst Island behind in search of a new life... -
The Sorrow of Angels by Jón Kalman Stefánsson
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Sorrow of Angels is the second novel in an epic and elemental trilogy by the winner of the Icelandic Prize for Literature Jón Kalman Stefánsson, and the follow up to Heaven and Hell (publishing in paperback 3/11/15...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction literary-fiction action-adventure book drama fiction historical -
-
The Return by Dulce Maria Cardoso
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsLuanda, 1975. The Angolan War of Independence has been raging for at least a decade, but with the collapse of the Salazar dictatorship, defeat for the Portuguese is now in sight. Thousands of settlers are fleeing back to Portugal to escape the brutality of the Angolan rebels.Rui is fifteen years old...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction literary-fiction 21st-century adult book female-author fiction -
His Lass to Protect by Emma Prince
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTo prove herself, she’ll brave anything. To protect her, he’ll risk everything. As the only woman in King Robert the Bruce’s Bodyguard Corps, Mairin Mackenzie is eager to prove herself. When the King proposes a mission to sow the seeds of civil war in England, Mairin jumps at the chance, even though returning there means confronting the nightmarish trauma of her past... -
The Girl in the Photo by Catherine Hokin
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsTheresienstadt Concentration Camp, 1944. ‘I have to go away, my darling. Please, be brave, stay alive, for me.’ Mama’s voice breaks. The little girl tries to stop the forbidden tears from falling, as the train takes her mother, and she is left alone…Berlin, six years later. Hanni Winter glows with pride as she shows her new husband around her first solo photography exhibition...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book female-mc fiction -
The Fragrant Concubine by Melissa Addey
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsChina, 1760. The Emperor conquers Altishahr, a Muslim country to the west of his empire and summons a local woman from his new dominion to come to the Forbidden City as his concubine. Meanwhile in the market of Kashgar a girl named Hidligh is kidnapped by Iparhan, a woman scarred by the Emperor’s conquest of her homeland and bent on vengeance... -
Fortune's Child by James Conroyd Martin
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsKIRKUS REVIEWS: "A meticulously researched historical account presented in the form of a thrilling political drama."Theodora: actress, prostitute, mistress, feminist. And Byzantine Empress of the civilized world. Stephen: handsome Syrian boy, wizard's apprentice, palace eunuch. And Secretary to the Empress... -
The Cure for Drowning by Loghan Paylor
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsEvocative, magical and luminously written, The Cure for Drowning is not only a brilliant, boundary-pushing love story but a Canadian historical novel that boldly centres queer and non-binary characters in unprecedented ways...Categorized as:
lgbtq historical-fiction coming-of-age literary-fiction fiction historical audiobook non-binary-mc -
The Garden of the Departed Cats by Bilge Karasu
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn an ancient Mediterranean city, a tradition is maintained: every ten years an archaic game of human chess is staged, the players (visitors versus locals) bearing weapons. This archaic game, the central event of The Garden of the Departed Cats, may prove as fatal as the deadly attraction our narrator feels for the local man who is the Vizier, or Captain, of the home team...Categorized as:
historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction 20th-century adult book fiction historical -
Spring Awakening by Steven Sater, Duncan Sheik
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratings“This brave new musical, haunting and electrifying by turns, restores the mystery, the thrill to that shattering transformation that stirs in all our souls... -
Earl, Honey by D.S. Getson, Denise Getson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsEARL HAHN is slow, the last one to catch on to things. Since the day his father hit him in the head with a two-by-four of loblolly pine, he’s struggled with a “thickness in his brain.” It takes him longer to make the connections others arrive at easily. When his father is prosecuted for the crime of incest, it feels like deliverance for Earl, his mother Lizzie Belle and the entire Hahn family... -
The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA stunning collection of interconnected stories set in New England, exploring how the past is often misunderstood and how history, family, heartache, and desire can echo over centuriesIn twelve luminous stories set across three centuries, The History of Sound examines the unexpected ways the past returns to us and how love and loss are entwined and transformed over generations...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction lgbtq fiction audiobook historical romantic-love anthologies -
-
Cave of the Wind by Avery Kloss
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTorn between two men, Peta fears Greggor’s wrath, begging Ronan to flee to a safe place. With Peta pregnant again, they seek shelter with a clan over the mountain, until tragedy strikes. Alone and terrified, Peta encounters a group of people who claim to know her, the women there similar in appearance...Categorized as:
ancient-civilization coming-of-age historical-fiction adult book fiction historical prehistoric -
Chamber of Bears by Avery Kloss
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsUnited with Ronan and Enwan, Peta is surrounded by the beauty that is the green valley, the trio happily preparing for the arrival of a baby. While she forages, three hunters kidnap Peta, intending on handing her over to their leader, a man by the name of Greggor. Upset by this prospect—Greggor being responsible for so much heartache—Peta secures her freedom, intending on returning to Ronan...Categorized as:
ancient-civilization coming-of-age historical-fiction adult book fiction historical prehistoric -
Born in a Treacherous time by Jacqui Murray
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBorn in the harsh world of East Africa 1.8 million years ago, where hunger, death, and predation are a normal part of daily life, Lucy and her band of early humans struggle to survive. It is a time in history when they are relentlessly annihilated by predators, nature, their own people, and the next iteration of man. To make it worse, Lucy’s band hates her... -
Heart of Disaster: A Titanic Novel of love and loss by Rachel Wesson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThursday, April 11, 1912 Inspired by true events, Heart of Disaster is the fictionalized story of the Irish steerage passengers who joined RMS Titanic. The legend says "Thursday's child has far to go" but nobody knew just how troublesome this journey would prove. Four single friends, a newly married couple and a stoker who works in the belly of the gigantic ship meet that fateful night... -
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 coming-of-age romance fiction historical womens-fiction -
Signed, A Paddy by Lisa Boyle
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe gruesome truth hung in the air, and none of us wanted to go near it. Not yet.Ireland, 1848. Fourteen-year-old Rosaleen watches her mother die. Her country is reeling from the great potato famine, which will ultimately kill more than one million people. Driven by a promise and her will to survive, Rosaleen flees her small coastal town...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction coming-of-age fiction drama historical female-mc friendship -
When the Yellow Mocker Calls by Lila M Beckham
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn the South Carolina Hills, along the Savannah River Watershed, in the fall of 1829, 14-year-old, three-quarter Cherokee, Sahani, whose Christian name is Charity, sets out on a journey with her 83-year-old maternal, white grandfather to Fort Charlotte, for what she thinks is a trip to trade the pelts he has accumulated in order to replenish their supplies... -
Love and Fury by Samantha Silva
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom Samantha Silva, the author of Mr...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction lgbtq fiction historical feminism audiobook female-author -
Theodoros by Mircea Cărtărescu, Marian Ochoa de Eribe
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsUn ejercicio de pura libertad literaria, una obra torrencial, libérrima, exuberante, inclasificable. Una novela épica que va desde lo realista hasta lo fantasmagórico.Tudor es el hijo menor de dos sirvientes de la corte de un gran boyardo de la atrasada Valaquia... -
An Apartment Called Freedom by Ghazi A. Algosaibi
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFirst published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company... -
-
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... -
El Rey de Les Halles by Juliette Benzoni, Francisco Rodriguez de Lecea
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWearing a dress that is splattered with blood and clasping a doll to her chest, Sylvie de Valaines, a four-year-old girl, wanders the streets of the small village of Anet. The year is 1626 and her entire family has just been murdered, likely on the orders of Cardinal Richelieu. When a young boy of 10--Francois de Borbon-Vendome, the prince of Martigues--finds her, he brings her to his castle... -
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 historical-fiction literary-fiction adult audiobook book family female-mc -
The Kingdom of Nefertiti by M.L. Bullock
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWho Will Be Egypt's Next Great Queen? Can Nefertiti Defeat a Dangerous Rival? When Nefret, the mekhma of the Meshwesh, leads her people back to their homeland of Zerzura, everything changes. Forced to make a deal with the determined Queen Tiye, Nefret abandons her tribe and the man she loves to obey the queen’s command...Categorized as:
ancient-civilization historical-fiction action-adventure adult book fiction historical -
Becoming by Jeanne Reames
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTwo boys, one heroic bond, and the molding of Greece’s greatest son. Before he became known as Alexander the Great, he was Alexandros, the teenage son of the king of Makedon. Rather than living a life of luxury, as prince he has to be better and learn faster than his peers, tackling problems without any help...Categorized as:
historical-fiction lgbtq ancient-civilization coming-of-age romance historical mlm fiction -
Goldene Zwanziger, dreckige Wahrheiten by Anna Basener
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDas neue Audible Original Hörspiel entführt in die Halbwelt der 1920er Jahre in Berlin: Die berühmte deutschstämmige Hollywoodschauspielerin Hedi (Jeanette Hain) sitzt in einem Frauengefängnis in Hollywood. Sie hat einen Mann erschossen... -
Beside the Ocean of Time by George Mackay Brown
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn this novel set on the fictitious island of Norday in the Orkneys, George Mackay Brown beckons us into the imaginary world of the young Thorfinn Ragnarson, the son of a crofter... -
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 literary-fiction adult boarding-school book fiction historical -
Now & Then by William Corlett
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsNow: Christopher Metcalfe returns to his family home in Kent after the death of his standoffish father. Sorting through a box of memorabilia from his days at boarding school, Chris finds himself confronted by a photograph and a face that has haunted him for thirty years...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction book dark-academia fiction historical -
A House in the Country by José Donoso
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsGames turn to nightmares during the summer holidays at the magnificent Chilean country estate of the Ventura family when the children - 33 cousins ranging in age from 6 to 16 - are left to themselves while their parents pursue their own pastimes... -
-
Tales of Protection by Erik Fosnes Hansen
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAn eccentric scientist lies dead in his coffin reflecting on the past and his last experiment--collecting random incidents from human history and finding the underlying pattern that connects them... -
The Consorts by Melissa Addey
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsChina, 1700s. Lady Qing has spent the past seven years languishing inside the high red walls of the Forbidden City. Classed as an Honoured Lady, a lowly-ranked concubine, Qing is neglected by the Emperor, passed over for more ambitious women. But when a new concubine, Lady Ying, arrives, Qing’s world is turned upside down...Categorized as:
historical-fiction lgbtq ancient-civilization literary-fiction wlw historical fiction female-author -
How Long Has This Been Going On? by Ethan Mordden
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsHow Long Has This Been Going On? brings together a rich and varied cast of characters to tell the tale of modern gay America in this remarkable epic novel. Beginning in 1949 and moving to the present day, Mordden puts a unique and innovating spin on modern history. An adventurous, adroit, and fascinating novel by one of the finest gay writers of our time... -
A Song of Sixpence: The Story of Elizabeth of York and Perkin Warbeck by Judith Arnopp
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn the years after Bosworth, a small boy is ripped from his rightful place as future king of England. Years later when he reappears to take back his throne, his sister Elizabeth, now Queen to the invading King, Henry Tudor, is torn between family loyalty and duty... -
The Flames by Sophie Haydock
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsVienna at the dawn of the 20th century. An opulent, extravagant city teeming with art, music and radical ideas. A place where the social elite attend glamorous balls in the city's palaces whilst young intellectuals decry the empire across the tables of crowded cafes. It is a city where anything seems possible - if you are a man... -
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.