Books like 'The River Knows Your Name'
Readers who enjoyed The River Knows Your Name by Kelly Mustian also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
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The Pearl Sister by Lucinda Riley
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsFrom the breathtaking beaches of Thailand to the barely tamed wilds of colonial Australia, The Pearl Sister is the next captivating story in New York Times bestselling author Lucinda Riley’s epic series about two women searching for a place to call home.CeCe D’Aplièse has always felt like an outcast... -
Hope Between the Pages by Pepper Basham
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsUncover the Story Behind a One-Hundred-Year-Old Love LetterWalk through Doors to the Past via a new series of historical stories of romance and adventure... -
Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsBestselling author Diane Chamberlain delivers a breakout book about a small southern town fifty years ago, and the darkest—and most hopeful—places in the human heartAfter losing her parents, fifteen-year-old Ivy Hart is left to care for her grandmother, older sister and nephew as tenants on a small tobacco farm...Categorized as:
family female-mc historical-fiction north-america north-carolina realistic usa 20th-century -
The Paper Bracelet by Rachael English
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEvery baby's bracelet held a mother's secret... Inspired by heartrending real events, the gripping new novel from No. 1 bestselling author Rachael English. Readers of Diane Chamberlain and Kathryn Hughes will love this book. 'A true storyteller who keeps you turning the pages' Cathy Kelly For almost fifty years, Katie Carroll has kept a box tucked away inside her wardrobe... -
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The Moonflowers by Abigail Rose-Marie
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn a powerful and poignant novel, an artist unravels her mysterious family history and its generations of women who depended on each other to survive.Tig Costello has arrived in Darren, Kentucky, commissioned to paint a portrait honoring her grandfather Benjamin. His contributions to the rural Appalachian town and his unimpeachable war service have made him a local hero... -
The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsSteeped in history and filled with heart-wrenching twists, The Stolen Marriage is an emotionally captivating novel of secrets, betrayals, prejudice, and forgiveness. It showcases Diane Chamberlain at the top of her talent.One mistake, one fateful night, and Tess DeMello’s life is changed forever. It is 1944...Categorized as:
family female-mc historical-fiction north-america north-carolina realistic usa 20th-century -
A Baby on the Doorstep (Volume 2) by Rachel Wesson
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn this heartbreaking and beautiful tale, a woman running an orphanage during the Great Depression does everything she can to help the children in her care—perfect for fans of Before We Were Yours and The Orphan Train .Distant rumblings of conflict in Europe have reached even the secluded, snow-dusted mountains of Virginia, where Lauren Greenwood faces a battle of her own...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family female-mc historical fiction womens-fiction suspense romantic-love -
The Memory Tree by Linda Gillard
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsCan the power of love overcome life’s darkest memories and deepest losses? When her favourite beech tree is felled in a storm, Ann feels as if someone has died. But when long-hidden seed packets are found inside the trunk, Ann realises there are more memories than her own lurking within the ancient tree . . -
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 104 ratingsTo Kill A Mockingbird The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic...Categorized as:
family gothic historical-fiction north-america realistic southern-gothic usa 20th-century -
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThe new novel from the bestselling, National Book Award-winning, Oprah Book Club-picked, Barack Obama favourite James McBride.In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well...Categorized as:
north-america usa historical-fiction family pennsylvania fiction literary-fiction mystery -
An Echo in Time by Boo Walker
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA woman delves into a centuries-old murder to find the truth behind her self-destructive behavior in a powerful novel about love, loss, and healing by the bestselling author of An Unfinished Story and The Stars Don’t Lie.Unable to catch a break in life or love as she approaches thirty, Charli Thurman sees red lights at every crossroads... -
Smiling at Heaven by Karen J. Hasley
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn the fall of 1919, Thea Hansen’s world seems to spiral out of control. First, her dearly loved father dies suddenly from the influenza epidemic sweeping across the globe. Then her brother, Lloyd, returns from The Great War transformed into a brooding stranger. Could it get any worse? Yes, indeed... -
The Secrets She Carried by Barbara Davis
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen a young woman returns to North Carolina after a thirty-year absence, she finds that the once grand tobacco plantation she called home holds more secrets than she ever imagined... -
Cat-O'nine Tails by Julia Golding
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsCat O'Nine Tails Cat, feisty heroine of "Cat Royal"... becomes an unlikely recruit for the British Navy, takes passage to America and navigates her way through a fiendish plot to do away with Lord Francis, heir to a dukedom. From the grand Assembly Rooms of Bath to the wilds of a new frontier, Cat finds she is for once quite out of her depth...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction realistic action-adventure alpha-mc book fiction historical -
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Her Last Promise by Kathryn Hughes
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA mysterious letter from Spain. A surprising new beginning... Fall in love this summer with Her Last Promise, a gripping, heartwrenching story of how hope can blossom in the ruins of tragedy and of the redeeming power of love. From No. 1 bestselling author Kathryn Hughes. Tara Richards was just a girl when she lost her mother... -
The Moonshiner's Daughter by Donna Everhart
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPublisher's Weekly STARRED REVIEWBooklist STARRED REVIEWSouthern Literary Review January 2020 Book of the MonthGoodreads Most Popular Releases for December 2019MaryJane'sFarm Book Club PickSheReads Most Anticipated Women's Fiction 2020Southern Lady Book Club Pick for FebruarySet in North Carolina in 1960 and brimming with authenticity and grit, The Moonshiner's Daughter evokes the singular life...Categorized as:
family female-mc historical-fiction north-america north-carolina usa action-adventure audiobook -
The Prodigal: A Ragamuffin Story by Brennan Manning, Greg Garrett
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJack Chisholm is on top of his game: lead pastor of a big church in a big city, thousands of members, a huge physical plant. His books sell millions of copies, and he is a public figure, sharing his life's philosophy: 'We have got to do better.' He is also living a lie---nobody could be as holy as his congregants think he is, and like all of us, he has his share of faults, flaws, sins... -
The Fourth Daughter by Lyn Liao Butler
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn Taiwan, the bond between grandmother and granddaughter opens up a healing world for them both in an inspiring family saga about the comfort of food, untold histories, and indomitable mother love.Chef Liv Kuo’s star is on the rise…until a traumatic incident leaves her emotionally unable to venture outside her Manhattan apartment... -
Faith by Lesley Pearse
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHow far can you trust a friend? 1995, Scotland. The prison of Cornton Vale. Laura Brannigan is in jail for murder. For two years she's been battling for justic - insisting that she didn't kill her best friend, Jackie. Yet with her spirits at their lowest ebb, she receives a letter that takes her back to a different time and memory of an old love .. -
Sweet Expectations by Mary Ellen Taylor
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDaisy McCrae knows that change can be sudden—and devastating. And while it doesn’t have to be a bad thing, change has the power to turn your whole world upside down.... Running the family bakery and living in the store’s attic might not be Daisy’s dream life, but she’s beginning to understand what being content feels like. And then she gets some unexpected news... -
The Wedding Shop by Rachel Hauck
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding Dress comes The Wedding Shop. Two women separated by decades. Both set out to help others find their dreams when their own have crumbled...Categorized as:
family female-mc historical-fiction north-america realistic usa action-adventure audiobook -
The Lost Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsMaster Quilter Sylvia Bergstrom Compson treasures an antique quilt called by three names -- Birds in the Air, after its pattern; the Runaway Quilt, after the woman who sewed it; and the Elm Creek Quilt, after the place to which its maker longed to return. That quilter was Joanna, a fugitive slave who traveled by the Underground Railroad to reach safe haven in 1859 at Elm Creek Farm... -
Before the Rain Falls by Camille Di Maio
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAfter serving seventy years in prison for the murder of her sister, Eula, Della Lee has finally returned home to the Texas town of Puerto Pesar. She’s free from confinement—and ready to tell her secrets before it’s too late... -
The Midnight House by Amanda Geard
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPeople disappear. Secrets remain... My Dearest T, Whatever you hear, do not believe it for a moment...1940: In south-west Ireland, the young and beautiful Lady Charlotte Rathmore is pronounced dead after she mysteriously disappears by the lake of Blackwater Hall... -
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A Splendid Ruin by Megan Chance
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA spellbinding novel of dark family secrets and a young woman’s rise and revenge set against the backdrop of the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake.The eve of destruction. After her mother’s death, penniless May Kimble lives a lonely life until an aunt she didn’t know existed summons her to San Francisco. There she’s welcomed into the wealthy Sullivan family and their social circle... -
The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsSet in 1920s Mississippi, this debut Southern novel weaves a beautiful and harrowing story of two teenage girls cast in an unlikely partnership through murder—perfect for readers of Where the Crawdads Sing and If the Creek Don't Rise.Ada promised herself she would never go back to the Trace, to her hard life on the swamp and her harsh father... -
The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA haunting, epic novel about betrayal, revenge, and redemption that follows three generations of Russian women, from the 1917 revolution to the last days of the Soviet Union, and the enduring love story at the center.In a faraway kingdom, in a long-ago land... .. -
The Cherry Robbers by Sarai Walker
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsSarai Walker has done it again. With The Cherry Robbers she upends the Gothic ghost story with a fiery feminist zeal. --Maria SempleThe highly anticipated second novel from Sarai Walker, following her "slyly subversive" (EW) cult-hit Dietland--a feminist gothic about the lone survivor of a cursed family of sisters, whose time may finally be up... -
The Spinster's Fortune by Mary Kendall
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsMoonlit alleys, shadowy tunnels, and buried secrets…Summer of 1929.Of supposed unsound mind without a penny to her name, Blanche Magruder lies alone in a home for the aged and infirm.Meanwhile, her house, a crumbled ruin in the heart of Georgetown, Washington, D.C., is pillaged nightly by thieves looking for treasure rumored to be hidden there... -
The Missing Pieces of Nancy Moon by Sarah Steele
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFlorence Connelly is broken hearted. Her marriage has collapsed under the weight of the loss she shares with her husband, and her beloved grandmother has just died. Even the joy she found in dressmaking is gone.But things change when Flo opens a box of vintage 1960s dress patterns found inside her grandmother's wardrobe... -
The Curse of Morton Abbey by Clarissa Harwood
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJane Eyre meets The Secret Garden in this gothic tale set in 1897 Yorkshire.Solicitor Vaughan Springthorpe knows perfectly well that Sir Peter Spencer’s offer of employment seems too good to be true: he hires her sight unseen and offers a suspiciously large salary to prepare the sale of his crumbling Yorkshire estate... -
The Promise of Rain by Vasundra Tailor
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA treasured necklace that could unlock a family mystery. But why has it been hidden away for sixty years?With her thirtieth birthday on the horizon, Anna Kotze has accepted that there are some family secrets she’ll never know. While her mother’s Zimbabwean roots are woven into her life, all her father will say is that he was adopted... -
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... -
The Wheel of Fortune by Susan Howatch
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsOxmoon, the rambling old mansion on a sprawling estate in Wales, has been for generations, the dream, the downfall, and the destiny of the wealthy Godwin family... -
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A Season in Purgatory by Dominick Dunne
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThey were the family with everything. Money. Influence. Glamour. Power. The power to halt a police investigation in its tracks. The power to spin a story, concoct a lie, and believe it was the truth. The power to murder without guilt, without shame, and without ever paying the price. America's royalty, they called the Bradleys. But an outsider refuses to play his part... -
Sins of the Fathers by Susan Howatch
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFull of fascinating dialogue, surprising twists of plot, and well-developed, memorable characters, a stunningly successful work of fiction. NASHVILLE BANNERThis is the tumultuous novel of men and women pitted against a world of wealth, power, and privilege.. -
Nell and Lady by Ashley Farley
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA heart-stirring novel of family and forgiveness from bestselling author Ashley Farley. In her grand home in Charleston, Willa Bellemore raised two girls during the tumultuous 1970s. One was her daughter, Lady. The other was Lady’s best friend, Nell—adopted after the sudden, heartbreaking death of her mother, the Bellemores’ beloved maid... -
One Foot in Eden by Ron Rash
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWill Alexander is the sheriff in a small town in southern Appalachia, and he knows that the local thug Holland Winchester has been murdered. The only thing is the sheriff can find neither the body nor someone to attest to the killing... -
The Crooked Branch by Jeanine Cummins
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the national bestselling and highly acclaimed author of The Outside Boy comes the deeply moving story of two mothers—witty, self-deprecating Majella, who is shocked by her entry into motherhood in modern-day New York, and her ancestor, tough and terrified Ginny Doyle, whose battles are more fundamental: she must keep her young family alive during Ireland’s Great Famine... -
The Pecan Man by Cassie Dandridge Selleck
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe Pecan Man is a work of Southern fiction whose first chapter was the First Place winner of the 2006 CNW/FFWA Florida State Writing Competition in the Unpublished Novel category.In the summer of 1976, recently widowed and childless, Ora Lee Beckworth hires a homeless old black man to mow her lawn... -
The Marriage Portrait: A novel by Maggie O'Farrell
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsREESE’S BOOK CLUB DECEMBER PICK • NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • The author of award-winning Hamnet brings the world of Renaissance Italy to jewel-bright life in this unforgettable fictional portrait of the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de' Medici as she makes her way in a troubled court.“I could not stop reading this incredible true story...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family female-mc fiction historical audiobook literary-fiction early-modern -
Don't Forget Me, Little Bessie by James Lee Burke
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBestselling author James Lee Burke tells his most thrilling and insightful story yet through the eyes of fourteen-year-old Bessie HollandAt the beginning of the twentieth century, as America grapples with forces of human and natural violence more powerful than humanity has ever seen, Bessie Holland yearns for the love that she has never known... -
The Girl Made of Stars by K.E. Le Veque
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLola Grayson had it all. In 1934, Lola was on top of the world. Dubbed "The Siren" by MGM, she was a protégé of Louis B. Mayer, the original talkie sex symbol before the rise of stars like Carole Lombard and Jean Harlow. But like Harlow, Lola Grayson had a dominant stage mother and bad health that struggled to meet the demand of the Golden Age of Hollywood... -
Lightning in a Mason Jar by Catherine Mann
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIn South Carolina, a woman discovers her aunt’s profound secrets in an emotional novel spanning decades about trauma, survival, and the bonds of female friendship.Since Bailey Rae Rigby’s adoptive aunt Winnie passed, Bent Oak, South Carolina, doesn’t have much of a hold on her anymore. So it seems...Categorized as:
north-america usa historical-fiction family female-mc south-carolina romance fiction -
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My Brother's Keeper by Marcia Davenport
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBased on the true story of the Collyer brothers.Inspired by the 1947 New York Times articles detailing items taken from the Collyer's brownstone after their deaths, Davenport constructs a tale of the Holt brothers, one a failing concert pianist and the other a naval architect, and the events that prompted them to become recluses in later life... -
Surgeons’ Hall by E.S. Thomson
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhat secret grips Corvus Hall?Visiting the Great Exhibition to view the wax anatomical models of the famous but reclusive Dr Silas Strangeway, Jem Flockhart and Will Quartermain find a severed hand, perfectly dissected and laid out amongst the exhibits... -
Homecoming by Kate Morton
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAdelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959: At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek on the grounds of the grand and mysterious mansion, a local delivery man makes a terrible discovery. A police investigation is called and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most shocking and perplexing murder cases in the history of South Australia... -
Mine to Tell by Colleen L. Donnelly
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAnnabelle Crouse is determined to reopen her great-grandmother's boarded-up house--and her shunned life. Many years earlier, after an unexplained absence, Julianne was relegated to a separate home by a rigidly unforgiving husband, and the Crouse women have suffered the disgrace of her assumed guilt ever since... -
Hold on to your Dreams by Beryl Matthews
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLondon 1899. Gertrude Melrose is preparing for a New Year party when her brother enters her room. She knows he wants money from her and refuses at once. She loves her brother but he is in with a disreputable crowd and losing heavily at the gaming tables. He has already gambled away his inheritance and she cannot allow him to do that with hers... -
With Hope by Dorothy Garlock
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOklahoma, 1932: Trouble seems to be rolling up like the dust on the dry yellow horizon beyond Henry Ann's farm. Her father is dead and her two rebellious half-siblings are now her responsibility. Then Tom Dolan, a new neighbor, comes into her life bringing both a ray of hope and burdens of his own. Before they can fully love each other, tragedy strikes. Tom is suspected of murder..
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