Book picks similar to
Beneath a Glass Bridge by Tali Asnin-Barel


historical-fiction
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historical
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While You Were Mine


Ann Howard Creel - 2016
    But on V-J Day, her worst fear is realized. As celebrating crowds gather in Times Square, a soldier appears on her doorstep to claim Mary, the baby abandoned to Gwen one year earlier. Suddenly Gwen is on the verge of losing the child she has nurtured and loves dearly.With no legal claim to Mary, Gwen begins to teach Lieutenant John McKee how to care for his child, knowing that he will ultimately take Mary away. What starts as a contentious relationship, however, turns into something more, and Gwen must open her heart to learn that love means taking chances.While You Were Mine paints a vivid portrait of 1940s New York and tells an enchanting tale of the nature of love and trust.

An American in Paris


Siobhan Curham - 2021
    The roads were deserted. We carried on, arm in arm, and then finally, we saw them. Columns and columns of soldiers, spreading through the streets like a toxic grey vapour. ‘You must write about this,’ he whispered to me. ‘You must write about the day freedom left Paris.’1937: Florence has dreamed her whole life of coming to Paris. She arrives on a sweltering summer day and, lost on the steep streets of Montmartre, asks for directions from Otto, a young artist with paint-spattered clothes and the most beautiful smile she has ever seen.Otto becomes her guide to Paris, taking her to visit paintings in the Louvre and bookshops by the Seine. And when Otto returns home to finish his studies, they vow to reunite on the same spot they met, one year to the day.Still dreaming of their parting kiss, Florence starts writing for an American newspaper and throws herself into becoming truly Parisian. All too soon, heady days of parties and champagne are replaced by rumours of war. When Otto finally returns to her, it is as an exile, fleeing Nazi persecution.Soon, not even Paris is safe. Florence’s articles now document life under occupation and hide coded messages from the Resistance. But with the man she loves in terrible danger, her words feel hollow and powerless. If Florence risks everything by accepting a dangerous mission, can she rescue their dreams from that sunny day before the war?A sweeping wartime story that will capture

Fires of Alexandria


Thomas K. Carpenter - 2011
    One hundred years later, Heron of Alexandria--the city's most renowned inventor and creator of Temple miracles--receives coin from a mysterious patron to investigate the crime. Desperate to be free of the debts incurred by her twin brother, she accepts and sets in motion a chain of events that will shake the Roman Empire and change the course of history forever.

Winter Men


Jesper Bugge Kold - 2014
    Karl, a former soldier and successful businessman, dutifully answers the call to defend his country, while contemplative academic Gerhard is coerced into informing for the Gestapo. Soon the brothers are serving in the SS, and as Hitler’s hateful agenda brings about unspeakable atrocities, they find themselves with innocent blood on their hands.Following Germany’s eventual defeat, Karl and Gerhard are haunted by their insurmountable guilt, and each seeks a way to escape from wounds that will never heal. They survived the war and its revelation of systematic horrors, but can they survive the unshakable knowledge of their own culpability?

Her Last Memory


C.A. Wittman - 2020
    Her last memory is leaving her house in 1996 as a suspect in a murder investigation.Diagnosed with a dissociative fugue state, Serene learns that she is now Dora Jones. Dora has a loving wife, three children, and a thriving business. But, the part of herself who became Dora has now vanished, leaving Serene to manage the life, challenges, and relationships Dora has forged along the way.As Serene struggles to put together the pieces of her troubled past, one night repeatedly comes into question—the night of the dinner party. The night Taylor Davis was murdered. Anyone of Serene's friends had reason to hate Taylor. Anyone of them had reason to hurt her.Maybe Dora knows the truth. Dora, who is diametrically different in every way from Serene, or is she?"Her Last Memory is a haunting tale of identity loss, loyalty, fierce love, and regret. If you like Lisa Jewell, Liane Moriarty, and Ruth Ware, then you'll love this gripping psychological thriller."

Beloved Mother


Laura Hunter - 2019
    Two religions contrast with each other—the Cherokee spirits of the native people and the Old Testament God of the white settlers—as each woman struggles to find her place. Love and hate, marriage and adultery, childbirth and abortion, all have their parts to play. Beloved Mother accurately portrays the evilness in humanity, in which the wicked corrupt the innocent to create a vicious cycle of abuse, until one person—with a heart of understanding and forgiveness—has the courage to end it.

The Glassblower


Petra Durst-Benning - 2000
    The men blow the glass, and the women decorate and pack it. But when Joost Steinmann passes away unexpectedly one September night, his three daughters must learn to fend for themselves. While feisty Johanna takes a practical approach to looking for work, Ruth follows her heart, aiming to catch the eye of a handsome young villager. But it is dreamy, quiet Marie who has always been the most captivated by the magic—and sparkling possibilities—of the craft of glassblowing. As the spirited sisters work together to forge a brighter future for themselves on their own terms, they learn not only how to thrive in a man’s world, but how to remain true to themselves—and their hearts—in the process.

The Grace Kelly Dress


Brenda Janowitz - 2020
    Three generations of women. A lifetime of love. In Paris, 1958, Grace Kelly’s royal wedding dress is still all the rage in fashion circles. Rose, a seamstress at a famous atelier, has just been entrusted with sewing another gown in its image. An orphan, she needs her job to survive. But when Rose finds herself in love with the bride’s handsome brother, she must decide what matters most: love or security.Sixty years later, Rocky is thrilled to be marrying the love of her life. He truly is her perfect fit. But there’s just one problem: her family’s heirloom wedding dress isn’t. Rocky knows this admission will break her mother’s heart. What she doesn’t know is why her mother is so set on the dress—or about the shocking secret that changed her mother’s life decades before, as she prepared to wear the dress herself. As the wedding day approaches, the mother-daughter pair will finally confront long-buried heartaches, and it might just be the dress that brings them closer than ever.Life-affirming, heartwarming and timeless, Brenda Janowitz’s The Grace Kelly Dress is about the importance of tradition, new and old, and the power of a dress to fulfill even the most impossible of dreams.

The Silver Music Box


Mina Baites - 2017
    For Paul, with love. Jewish silversmith Johann Blumenthal engraved those words on his most exquisite creation, a singing filigree bird inside a tiny ornamented box. He crafted this treasure for his young son before leaving to fight in a terrible war to honor his beloved country—a country that would soon turn against his own family.A half century later, Londoner Lilian Morrison inherits the box after the death of her parents. Though the silver is tarnished and dented, this much-loved treasure is also a link to an astonishing past. With the keepsake is a letter from Lilian’s mother, telling her daughter for the first time that she was adopted. Too young to remember, Lilian was rescued from a Germany in the grips of the Holocaust. Now only she can trace what happened to a family who scattered to the reaches of the world, a family forced to choose between their heritage and their dreams for the future.

Forsaken Dreams


MaryLu Tyndall - 2013
    After witnessing the death and destruction caused by the Civil War, Colonel Blake Wallace is eager to leave his once precious Southern homeland for the pristine shores of Brazil and the prospect of a new utopian community. Widow Eliza Crawford seeks passage on Wallace’s ship harboring a dirty secret—and a blossoming hope for a fresh start. But once the voyage begins, troubles abound. Dangers at sea and enemies from within threaten to keep Blake and Eliza from the new life—and love—they long for.

1929


M.L. Gardner - 2009
    With the help of their former, outspoken, Irish maid, Maura, and a new, equally Irish friend, Shannon, the wives become even closer than before.The couples' rocky path leads to more turmoil, however, when a business rival, Victor Drayton, creates one disaster after another. From petty tricks to outright violence, Victor's nefarious mind will stop at nothing to beat down Jonathan's last glimmer of hope.Despite everything, Jonathan and his friends are fixated on surviving.Emotional and financial destruction nip at their heels, until finally, with a lucky twist of fate, they escape city life and begin anew in their hometown of Rockport, Massachusetts.A story set in the past, 1929 is full of romance, drama, and humor. Vivid, expertly crafted characters make this novel more than memorable–1929 is unforgettable.

As Good as True


Cheryl Reid - 2018
    After a night of rage and terror, Anna Nassad wakes to find her abusive husband dead and instinctively hides her bruises and her relief. As the daughter of Syrian immigrants living in segregated Alabama, Anna has never belonged, and now her world is about to erupt.Days before, Anna set in motion an explosive chain of events by allowing the first black postman to deliver the mail to her house. But it’s her impulsive act of inviting him inside for a glass of water that raises doubts about Anna’s role in her husband’s death.As threats and suspicions arise in the angry community, Anna must confront her secrets in the face of devastating turmoil and reconcile her anguished relationship with her daughter. Will she discover the strength to fight for those she loves most, even if it means losing all she’s ever known?

The Good Knight


Sarah Woodbury - 2011
    But when the groom is murdered on the way to his wedding, the bride’s brother tasks his two best detectives—Gareth, a knight, and Gwen, the daughter of the court bard—with bringing the killer to justice. And once blame for the murder falls on Gareth himself, Gwen must continue her search for the truth alone, finding unlikely allies in foreign lands, and ultimately uncovering a conspiracy that will shake the political foundations of Wales.

The Revolution of Marina M.


Janet Fitch - 2017
    Petersburg, New Year's Eve, 1916. Marina Makarova is a young woman of privilege who aches to break free of the constraints of her genteel life, a life about to be violently upended by the vast forces of history. Swept up on these tides, Marina will join the marches for workers' rights, fall in love with a radical young poet, and betray everything she holds dear, before being betrayed in turn.As her country goes through almost unimaginable upheaval, Marina's own coming-of-age unfolds, marked by deep passion and devastating loss, and the private heroism of an ordinary woman living through extraordinary times. This is the epic, mesmerizing story of one indomitable woman's journey through some of the most dramatic events of the last century.

The Beach Bar


Kate McCabe - 2006
    For years it has been run by local woman Maria who rarely sees the Irish owner from one summer to the next. But things are about to change. Now Maria has an assistant, Kevin Joyce from Galway. He is escaping the ‘trap’ of his family’s business in favour of working in the sun, and he’s not the only one. Maria had better get ready because more Irish are about to touch down in this seaside paradise. Emma Dunne, a successful businesswoman from Dublin, spent her twenties running her father’s printing company with plenty of hard work but little fun. Now she has a reason to celebrate as she takes over the ownership of Pedro’s Bar, but has she been given a poisoned chalice? Mark Chambers, a successful advertising executive, has come to Spain to overcome a personal tragedy and find a reason to enjoy life again. And Claire Greene who, much to the chagrin of her mother, passed over a legal career to sell Spanish property, has some unfinished business to deal with. Each hopes Fuengirola will give them a new lease of life, but they soon get more than they bargained for.