Books like 'Cinnamon Gardens'
Readers who enjoyed Cinnamon Gardens by Shyam Selvadurai also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
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The Count of Monte Cristo, Part 1 by Alexandre Dumas, John Lee
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe Count of Monte Cristo is the tense and exciting story of Edmond Dantes, a man on the threshold of a bright career and a happy marriage, who is imprisoned in the island fortress of the Chateau d'If on a false political charge...Categorized as:
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Time of White Horses by Ibrahim Nasrallah
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSpanning the collapse of Ottoman rule and the British Mandate in Palestine, this is the story of three generations of a defiant family from the Palestinian village of Hadiya before 1948. Through the lives of Mahmud, chief elder of Hadiya, his son Khaled, and Khaled’s grandson Naji, we enter the life of a tribe whose fate is decided by one colonizer after another...Categorized as:
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Time of Parting by Anton Donchev
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn the 17th century, a Bulgarian Christian region is selected by the Ottoman rulers to serve as an example of conversion to Islam. A Janissary who was taken from the village as a boy is sent to force the reluctant inhabitants to convert. The local Turkish governor seeks a peaceful solution, but ultimately torture, violence, and rebellion break out... -
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A Kingdom by the Sea by Anna Green
Rated: 4.70 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe final volume of The Heart Rate of a Mouse trilogy.In November 1978, over a year has passed since music icon Ryan Ross announced his retirement from the public eye. He is far from being forgotten, however, as his musical influence can be heard whenever Brendon Roscoe starts singing on the radio. As the frontman of the upcoming band His Side, Brendon was famously discovered by Ross... -
They Burn Thistles by Yaşar Kemal
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThis is the story of a bitter war between the poor Turkish peasants of the Taurus Mountains and the Aghas who covet their land. Ali Safa is determined to take possession of the village of Vayvay but its inhabitants will not sell. Then one villager weakens, prepared to part with his land in return for the Agha's best stallion...Categorized as:
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One Child in Berlin by A.W. Hartoin
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIt’s been a year since Stella Bled Lawrence and her husband, Nicky, escaped Italy by the skin of their teeth and a lot has changed. Nicky joined the Royal Air Force and Stella spent the year training as a spy for His Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service. She has the languages and the tradecraft down pat, but she still has a way to go when the Earl of Bickford pulls her from her training early... -
Les Misérables: Fantine by Victor Hugo
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsOne terrible winter, Jean Valjean steals a loaf of bread to feed his young nieces and nephews. He is caught and put in jail -- for 19 years When he finally gets out, Jean changes his name and tries to start a new life. But evil Inspector Javert wants him back in jail. As Jean hides from the law, he cares for the sick, the injured, and the poor -- those known as . . .Les Miserables...Categorized as:
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Red Skies by Kay Bratt
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn the fourth book of the Tales of the Scavenger’s Daughters series, the fates of three people who’ve never met converge in profound and unexpected ways.Mari, the daughter of the town scavenger, grew up knowing hardship, but she never could have anticipated the struggles that now face her as an adult. Feeling alone and isolated, she dreams of a better life...Categorized as:
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The Harafish by Naguib Mahfouz
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 36 ratings"The Harafish begins with the tale of Ashur al-Nagi, a man who grows from humble beginnings to become a great leader, a legend among his people. Generation after generation, however, Ashur's descendants grow further from his legendary example...Categorized as:
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Le Comte de Monte-Cristo - tome 1 by Alexandre Dumas
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Count of Monte Cristo is an adventure novel by French author Alexandre Dumas completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with The Three Musketeers. Like many of his novels, it was expanded from plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet...Categorized as:
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Gaban by Munshi Premchand
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsGaban, first published in 1931, five years before Premchard's death, is the story of Ramanath, a morally weak but physically charming youth brought to near-disaster by his beautiful wife Jalpa's inordinate craving for jewelry. This is a felicitous translation by Christopher R King and will enable many readers to appreciate Premchand's important novel, available for the first time in English... -
The Arsonists' City by Hala Alyan
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"Feels revolutionary in its freshness." --Entertainment Weekly"The Arsonists' City delivers all the pleasures of a good old-fashioned saga, but in Alyan's hands, one family's tale becomes the story of a nation--Lebanon and Syria, yes, but also the United States. It's the kind of book we are lucky to have...Categorized as:
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Palace of Desire by Naguib Mahfouz
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe sensual and provocative second volume in the Cairo Trilogy, Palace Of Desire follows the Al Jawad family into the awakening world of the 1920's and the sometimes violent clash between Islamic ideals, personal dreams and modern realities...Categorized as:
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Extinction by Thomas Bernhard
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe last work of fiction by one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Extinction is widely considered Thomas Bernhard’s magnum opus. Franz-Josef Murau—the intellectual black sheep of a powerful Austrian land-owning family—lives in Rome in self-imposed exile, surrounded by a coterie of artistic and intellectual friends...Categorized as:
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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:
drama historical-fiction literary-fiction action-adventure book coming-of-age fiction historical -
Green City in the Sun by Barbara Wood
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA magnificent saga of two proud and powerful families—one British, one African—and their battle over Kenya’s destiny in the twentieth century.In 1917, Dr. Grace Treverton arrives in Kenya, determined to bring modern medicine to the African natives. Her brother, Sir Valentine Treverton, has his own dream for the British protectorate: to establish an agricultural empire to rival any in England...Categorized as:
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Tuareg by Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Tuaregs are the true sons of the desert. They can survive in the harshest of conditions like nobody else. The noble inmouchar Gacel Sayah, is the master of a large extension of the desert. One day, two fugitives arrive from the north and Gacel, following his ancient and sacred hospitality laws, gives them shelter...Categorized as:
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Selected Stories by O. Henry
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratings"Selected Stories of O. Henry," by O. Henry, is part of the "Barnes & Noble Classics"" "series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras...Categorized as:
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Σκηνές από τον βίο του Ματίας Αλμοσίνο by Ισίδωρος Ζουργός
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsΤο μυθιστόρημα Σκηνές από τον βίο του Ματίας Αλμοσίνο είναι η ανοιχτή παλάμη ενός χεριού που ακουμπάει στον χάρτη της Ευρώπης του 17ου αιώνα ενώ κάθε δάχτυλο της αφήγησης δείχνει και σε διαφορετικό σημείο του ορίζοντα.Η Αγγλία του Νεύτωνα και της Βασιλικής Εταιρείας, το ανεξίθρησκο Άμστερνταμ των εμπόρων, η παγωμένη Πετρούπολη του τσάρου μεταρρυθμιστή, η Βενετία της μάσκας... -
The Tale of Kiều by Nguyễn Du, Alexander Barton Woodside
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsSince its publication in the early nineteenth century, this long narrative poem has stood unchallenged as the supreme masterpiece of Vietnamese literature...Categorized as:
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The Third Wedding by Costas Taktsis, Κώστας Ταχτσής
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe German Occupation, the Civil War and life itself seen through the eyes of two Athenian women... -
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:
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The Only Way Home by Jeanette Minniti
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWinner of the 2022 Colorado Authors League 1st Place Award in Historical Fiction!Desperate times. Danger on the rails. A journey to save a family.It is 1933 inside a sweltering courtroom in Macon, Georgia. Fifteen-year-old Robert sits on a bench awaiting sentencing after being picked up for vagrancy and spending a night in jail...Categorized as:
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The Living Reed: A Novel of Korea by Pearl S. Buck
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsThe Living Reed follows four generations of one family, the Kims, beginning with Il-han and his father, both advisors to the royal family in Korea. When Japan invades and the queen is killed, Il-han takes his family into hiding. In the ensuing years, he and his family take part in the secret war against the Japanese occupation. Pearl S... -
The Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsConsidered one of Sweden's greatest 20th-century writers, Vilhelm Moberg created Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson to portray the joys and tragedies of daily life for early Swedish pioneers in America. His consistently faithful depiction of these humble people's lives is a major strength of the Emigrant Novels...Categorized as:
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The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFrom the bestselling, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Garden of Evening Mists, a spellbinding novel about love and betrayal, colonialism and revolution, storytelling and redemption.The year is 1921. Lesley Hamlyn and her husband, Robert, a lawyer and war veteran, are living at Cassowary House on the Straits Settlement of Penang...Categorized as:
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Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsOn her fortieth birthday, Madame Wu carries out a decision she has been planning for a long time: she tells her husband that after twenty-four years their physical life together is now over and she wishes him to take a second wife...Categorized as:
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A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA Strangeness In My Mind is a novel Orhan Pamuk has worked on for six years. It is the story of boza seller Mevlut, the woman to whom he wrote three years' worth of love letters, and their life in Istanbul.In the four decades between 1969 and 2012, Mevlut works a number of different jobs on the streets of Istanbul, from selling yoghurt and cooked rice, to guarding a car park... -
The Devil Behind Us by S.C. Wilson, Elizabeth Saydah
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe Devil Behind Us is the much-anticipated sequel to The Devil Between Us.After enduring unimaginable tragedy and heartbreaking loss, Jessica “Jesse” Pratt has actually found happiness in her life again. A relationship she once thought lost forever has been restored. She has managed to win the heart of Abby, the woman she loves. And, she is no longer forced to hide her true identity... -
Selected Stories by O. Henry
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsO. Henry originated the humorous, energetic tale that ends with an ironic, even shocking twist. In "After Twenty Years," for example, two boys agree to meet at a particular spot exactly twenty years later. Both are faithful, but in the intervening years one boy has turned into a criminal, the other into a policeman...Categorized as:
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Four Reigns by Kukrit Pramoj, คึกฤทธิ์ ปราโมช
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis English version of the Thai novel Si Phaendin tells the rich and entertaining story of one woman's life both inside and outside the royal palace in Bangkok...Categorized as:
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A Distant Hope by Ellin Carsta, Gerald Chapple
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn this breathtaking and emotional saga, a family must travel far from home to save what they hold dear. Hamburg 1888: After thirty prosperous years, coffee importer Peter Hansen & Sons faces hard times—and certain bankruptcy—unless three brothers can make savvy moves to save the faltering business after their father’s untimely death... -
The Blue Mountain by Meir Shalev
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe absorbing first novel by one of Israel's most important and acclaimed contemporary writers focuses on four idealistic early settlers of the modern state of Israel...Categorized as:
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Dusk by F. Sionil José
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWith Dusk (originally published in the Philippines as Po-on), F. Sionil Jose begins his five-novel Rosales Saga, which the poet and critic Ricaredo Demetillo called "the first great Filipino novels written in English." Set in the 1880s, Dusk records the exile of a tenant family from its village and the new life it attempts to make in the small town of Rosales...Categorized as:
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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:
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Leaving Ireland by Ann Moore
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAfter crossing an ocean from her beloved Ireland and traversing thousands of miles of frontier and canyon, Gracelin O'Malley finds a new home for her family, halfway around the world from her old one. She's haunted by echoes of the past, even when a man she misjudged proves himself worthy and her children soon acclimate. All this-and a wish Grace thought would never come true...Categorized as:
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Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsUganda’s history reimagined through the cursed bloodline of the Kintu clan in an award-winning debut.In 1750, Kintu Kidda unleashes a curse that will plague his family for generations...Categorized as:
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Homeland by John Jakes
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAt the dawn of a new century, from the uncontrolled chaos of Chicago's infamous Pullman Strike, to the birth of the moving picture, and the bloody carnage of the Spanish-American War, the immigrant Crown family raced with the currents of a changing world and their own desires, to claim America as their own... -
The White Ship by Chingiz Aitmatov
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDeserted by his parents, a young boy finds himself alone in the often grotesque world or relatives who do not want to raise him. As daily events become more and more intolerable, the boy clings to the legends and religious traditions of the area for relief...Categorized as:
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Springtime in a Broken Mirror by Mario Benedetti
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn the tradition of Roberto Bolaño’s Savage Detectives, a celebrated classic and heart-wrenching story of a family torn apart by the forces of history, by one of Latin America’s most celebrated writersSpringtime in a Broken Mirror revolves around Santiago, a political prisoner in Uruguay, who was jailed after a brutal military coup that saw many of his comrades flee elsewhere...Categorized as:
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The Girl from the Coast by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPramoedya's The Girl from the Coast tells the story of a beautiful young woman from a fishing village who finds herself in an arranged marriage with a wealthy aristocrat. Forced to leave her parents and home behind, she moves to the city to become the 'lady' of her husband's house...Categorized as:
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The Scavenger's Daughters by Kay Bratt
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsHaving survived torture and imprisonment during China’s Cultural Revolution, Benfu escaped to find love with his compassionate and beautiful Calla Lily. Together they build a fulfilling life around the most menial of jobs—Benfu’s work collecting trash. As he sorts through the discards of others, he regularly discovers abandoned children...Categorized as:
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Caravans by James A. Michener
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn this romantic adventure of wild Afghanistan, master storyteller James Michener mixes the allure of the past with the dangers of today. After an impetuous American girl, Ellen Jasper, marries a young Afghan engineer, her parents hear no word from her. Although she wants freedom to do as she wishes, not even she is sure what that means... -
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Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury by Kinley Bryan
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThree sisters. Two Great Lakes. One furious storm.It's 1913 and Great Lakes galley cook Sunny Colvin has her hands full feeding a freighter crew seven days a week, nine months a year. She also has a dream—to open a restaurant back home—but knows she'd never convince her husband, the steward, to leave the seafaring life he loves...Categorized as:
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Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTwo extraordinary Indigenous stories set five generations apart. When Mulanyin meets the beautiful Nita in Edenglassie, their saltwater people still outnumber the British. As colonial unrest peaks, Mulanyin dreams of taking his bride home to Yugambeh Country, but his plans for independence collide with white justice. Two centuries later, fiery activist Winona meets Dr Johnny...Categorized as:
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A Book of Memories by Péter Nádas, Imre Goldstein
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThis extraordinary magnum opus seems at first to be a confessional autobiographical novel in the grand manner, claiming and extending the legacy of Proust and Mann. But it is more: Peter Nadas has given us a superb contemporary psychological novel that comes to terms with the ghosts, corpses, and repressed nightmares of Europe's recent past...Categorized as:
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The Shiralee by D'Arcy Niland
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA shiralee is a swag, a burden, a bloody millstone - and that's what four-year-old Buster is to her father, Macauley. He takes the child on the road with him to spite his wife, but months pass and still no word comes to ask for the little girl back...Categorized as:
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The Journey Begins by Dennis Adair, Janet Rosenstock
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThreatened with financial ruin, young Sara's father sends her to Canada's Prince Edward Island, the birthplace of her late mother, to live with a family she doesn't know...Categorized as:
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Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThis remarkable novel by adventure writer H. Rider Haggard can be enjoyed on many levels. As a tale of adventure, it takes the reader through 16th-century England, Spain, and Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest. But on a deeper level, the author's hopes for humanity shine through the darkness of this time to illuminate the reader with his spiritual philosophy...Categorized as:
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