Book picks similar to
Tamar by Deborah Challinor


historical-fiction
new-zealand
historical
nz-authors

Baby, It's Cold Outside


Susan May Warren - 2011
    One raging blizzard. Brrr, baby, it’s cold outside! But a warm fire and a string of Christmas lights just might provide the perfect remedy. It's been years since Edith Miller hosted the annual Snowflake, MN, Christmas Extravaganza. After her son was killed in the war, some five years ago, her Christmas spirit died along with him. So she is more than happy to loan all her Christmas decorations to Stella Hanson, the new teacher in town. After all, what does she have to celebrate? But when the blizzard of the decade traps Stella— and four other wanderers—in Edith’s home, Edith finds that by opening her door, she just might open her heart to a new reason celebrate Christmas.

Wulf


Hamish Clayton - 2011
    Off the coast of Kapiti, English trader John Stewart seeks to trade with Te Rauparaha, setting off a train of events that forever change the course of New Zealand history.Narrated by two English sailors on board Stewart's ship, these events are also eerily resonant of a more distant memory, stretching back into mythology, of the charismatic leader Wulf and an ancient lament. History, it seems, may be repeating itself.Wulf, Hamish Clayton's inventive, brilliant first novel, explores a subject little covered in New Zealand fiction, and marks the emergence of a startlingly assured, exciting new voice.

Love Me Always


Marie Higgins - 2012
    Either she wed an elderly man and commit to a marriage without love, or continue living with the father who believes her guilty of murder and one foot outside the asylum. Catherine picks marriage to the Duke of Ashton, Grant Fielding. However, when she stays with the Fielding family before the wedding, she doesn’t plan on falling in love…with Grant’s nephew, Nicholas.Destined for a lonely life – Nicholas Fielding loves his uncle’s soon-to-be bride, and has loved her since they were children. Now Nick must choose between his dying uncle's last wish to marry, and the woman who will make Nick happy for the rest of his life. No matter how hard Nick tries, he cannot stop his love for Catherine.A flurry of accidents begins to happen around the Fielding estate and soon all accusing eyes turn to Catherine. When accidents escalate to murder, suspicions expound and even Catherine’s father believes she’s gone mad. Does Nick love her enough to discover the truth?

Finding Home


Jackie Weger - 1987
    On the road with two siblings, twelve-year-old Maydean and five-year-old Willie-Boy, Phoebe is out of money, out of gas, and out of patience. The only things she owns in abundance are backbone and pride--neither of which she can trade for food or gas.A collision with Gage Morgan puts Phoebe's mission in even worse jeopardy--until Phoebe discovers Gage owns the perfect place for her clan. However, she soon discovers that Gage is the unlikeliest man in the universe to offer a helping hand.Phoebe wields all the country smarts she owns to worm her way into Gage's heart, but nothing works. With time running against her family, she plies one last inducement--her scarce feminine wiles.

The Stranger I Married


Sylvia Day - 2007
    . .The Marquess of Grayson never felt a twinge of guilt when he stole the beautiful Lady Pelham right out from under his best friend's nose. After all, they were well matched in all things--their sensual appetites, wicked wits, provocative reputations, and their absolute refusal to ruin their marriage of convenience by falling in love. But then a shocking turn of events sent her roguish husband from her side. Four years later, he has returned a powerful, irresistible man who is determined to seduce his way into her affections. No, this is not at all the man she married. But he is the man who might finally steal her heart. . ."Day plays on sensual themes with a lush grace." --RT Book Reviews

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.

Gentle Warrior


Julie Garwood - 1985
    Bent on revenge, she rode again through the fortress gates, disguised as a peasant...to seek aid from Geoffrey Berkley, the powerful baron who had routed the murderers. He heard her pleas, resisted her demands, and vowed to seduce his beautiful subject. Yet as Elizabeth fought the warrior's caresses, love flamed for this gallant man who must soon champion her cause...and capture her spirited heart!

McKenna


Clara Kincaid - 2015
    Still reeling after the death of her parents, her uncle shows up with ownership paperwork, confiscating the store right out from under her. McKenna didn’t know what would become of them. She had four sisters at home and only enough money to last a year. She vows that she’d never marry, but then a handsome stranger, Cole Winters, stops by, proposing they go into business together in faraway Silver, Nevada. McKenna gives it serious thought, since opening a mercantile store in a gold rush town would be a very profitable venture. The only problem is that in 1875, it’s not proper for a woman to travel alone with a man. When Cole proposes they marry in name only, can she truly trust him? And is it worth the risk of losing her heart?

Maids of Misfortune


M. Louisa Locke - 2009
    Annie’s husband squandered her fortune before committing suicide five years earlier, and one of his creditors is now threatening to take the boardinghouse she owns to pay off a debt. Annie Fuller also has a secret. She supplements her income by giving domestic and business advice as Madam Sibyl, one of San Francisco’s most exclusive clairvoyants, and one of Madam Sibyl’s clients, Matthew Voss, has died. The police believe his death was suicide brought upon by bankruptcy, but Annie believes Voss has been murdered and that his assets have been stolen. Nate Dawson has a problem. As the Voss family lawyer, he would love to believe that Matthew Voss didn't leave his grieving family destitute. But that would mean working with Annie Fuller, a woman who alternatively attracts and infuriates him as she shatters every notion he ever had of proper ladylike behavior. Sparks fly as Anne and Nate pursue the truth about the murder of Matthew Voss in this light-hearted, cozy historical mystery set in the foggy gas-lit world of Victorian San Francisco. Maids of Misfortune is the first book in M. Louisa Locke’s historical mystery series, see also, Uneasy Spirits, and Bloody Lessons, as well as the two short stories based on the characters from the novels, Dandy Detects, and The Misses Moffet Mend a Marriage.

Long Road to Baghdad


Catrin Collier - 2011
    Mesopotamia, 1914: in the Middle East tension is escalating between the British and the Arabs. Misfit Lieutenant Harry Downe is sent to negotiate a treaty with a renegade Bedouin Sheikh, Ibn Shalan, whose tribe is attacking enemy patrols in Iraq and cutting their oil pipelines. Greedy for arms, Shalan accepts British weapons but, in return, Harry must take his daughter Furja to be his bride. The secret marriage leads to a deep love, to the anger of Shalan and the disgust of Harry's fellow officers. But war is looming, and the horrors of the battlefield threaten to destroy Harry's newfound happiness, and change his life and that of his closest friends for ever. Long Road to Baghdad is a vivid, moving, historically accurate account of a conflict between East and Western Empires, based on the wartime exploits of war hero Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Leachman.

Scarlett


Alexandra Ripley - 1991
    The most popular and beloved American historical novel ever written, Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind is unparalleled in its portrayal of men and women at once larger than life but as real as ourselves. Now bestselling writer Alexandra Ripley brings us back to Tara and reintroduces us to the characters we remember so well: Rhett, Ashley, Mammy, Suellen, Aunt Pittypat, and, of course, Scarlett. As the classic story, first told over half a century ago, moves forward, the greatest love affair in all fiction is reignited; amidst heartbreak and joy, the endless, consuming passion between Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler reaches its startling culmination. Rich with surprises at every turn and new emotional, breathtaking adventures, Scarlett satisfies our longing to reenter the world of Gone With the Wind, and like its predecessor, Scarlett will find an eternal place in our hearts.

Fled


Meg Keneally - 2019
    Faced with destitution after the death of her father, she becomes a highwaywoman to support her impoverished family. One fatal mistake leads to her arrest, and the king’s justice demands her death. But rather than beg for mercy, Jenny condemns the system that would make her choose between obeying the law and dying, and breaking it for the chance to survive. Her ferocity convinces the judge to spare her life, and he sentences her and dozens of other convicts to transport across the seas to England's penal colony in Australia.   After a grueling passage on a filthy ship where she must sell her body for protection, Jenny learns that her struggles have only just begun. The landscape of Sydney Cove is harsh and unwelcoming to the new settlers, with its arid climate and precious little fresh water. Despite the lack of shackles or bars, she and the others are still prisoners under the strict watch of Governor Edward Lockharty, and no amount of cunning can earn his favor. Jenny refuses to submit to the governor or to the barren land unable to support the growing population. Determined to find a better life for herself and her children, she braves the sea, and a journey of over three thousand miles in a small rowboat, for a chance at a future worth fighting for.   Based on the true story of Mary Bryant, an iconic figure in the foundation lore of Australia, Fled is a sweeping, heart-wrenching account of one woman's life-long search for freedom.

Philippa Gregory 9 - Books Collection (Virgin Earth, Earthly Joys, Wideacre, The Favoured Child, The Queens Fool, The Boleyn Inheritance,The Other Boleyn Girl,Zelda's Cut, The Constant Princess)


Philippa Gregory
    

The Librarian of Saint-Malo


Mario Escobar - 2020
    France is torn apart by war. A French librarian is determined to resist. Told through smuggled letters to an author, an ordinary librarian describes the brutal Nazi occupation of her small coastal village and the extraordinary measures she takes to fight back.Saint-Malo, France: August 1939. Jocelyn and Antoine are childhood sweethearts, but just after they marry, Antoine is drafted to fight against Germany. As World War II rages, Jocelyn uses her position as a librarian in her town of Saint-Malo to comfort and encourage her community with books. Jocelyn begins to write secret letters smuggled to a famous Parisian author, telling her story in the hope that it will someday reach the outside world.France falls and the Nazis occupy Jocelyn's town, turning it into a fortress. The townspeople try passive resistance, but the German commander ruthlessly begins to destroy part of the city's libraries. Books deemed unsuitable by the Nazis are burnt or stolen, and priceless knowledge is lost.Risking arrest and even her life, Jocelyn manages to hide some of the books while desperately waiting to receive news from her husband Antoine, now a prisoner in a German camp.Jocelyn's mission unfolds in her letters: to protect the people of Saint-Malo and the books they hold so dear. Mario Escobar brings to life the occupied city in sweeping and romantic prose, re-creating the history of those who sacrificed all to care for the people they loved.World War II historical fiction inspired by true eventsIncludes discussion questions for book clubs, a historical timeline, and notes from the authorBook length: 368 pages

The Eighth Wonder


Tania Farrelly - 2021
    The richest city in the world.Beautiful, young and privileged, Rose Kingsbury Smith is expected to play by the strict rules of social etiquette, to forfeit all career aspirations and to marry a man of good means. But she has a quietly rebellious streak and is determined to make her own mark on Manhattan’s growing skyline. When the theft of a precious heirloom plunges the Kingsbury Smiths into financial ruin, Rose becomes her family’s most tradeable asset. She finds herself fighting for her independence and championing the ideal of equality for women everywhere.Enigmatic Ethan Salt’s inglorious circus days are behind him. He lives a quiet life on Coney Island with his beloved elephant Daisy and is devoted to saving animals who’ve been brutalised by show business. As he struggles to raise funds for his menagerie, he fears he will never build the sanctuary of his dreams … until a chance encounter with a promising young architect changes his life forever.Just when Rose is on the verge of seeing her persistence pay off, the ghosts of her past threaten to destroy everything she holds dear. In the face of heartbreaking prejudice and betrayal, she must learn to harness her greatest wonder within.From Fifth Avenue mansions to Lower East Side tenements and the carnivals of Coney Island, The Eighth Wonder explores the brilliance and brutality of one of the world’s most progressive eras and celebrates the visionaries who dare to rebel.