Book picks similar to
Mimi And Her Mirror by Uyen Nicole Duong


vietnam
historical-fiction
gave-up-on
e-books

A Whisper To The Living


Ruth Hamilton - 1989
    When the doctor finally got through the nine-foot drifts of snow, mother and daughter were in a pretty bad way, but both the new-born Annie and her exhausted mother - a spinner in the cotton mill - were fighters, tough and determined not to let the world knock them down.They needed to be tough, for when Annie's father was killed in the war, Nancy married again. And Eddie Higson - once he'd courted and won Nancy Byrne - turned into a nightmare of a man, terrorizing the young girl with one secret evil after another.She had two friends who helped her through these bad years. Martin Cullen, rough, uneducated, loyal, who knew he wasn't good enough for her, and David Pritchard, the doctor who had supported her through the worst times and who had bad problems of his own.Together they watched her grow into a beautiful young woman, desperately fighting the legacy of her childhood.

The Black Mountains


Janet Tanner - 1981
    Charlotte, James and their seven children are independent spirits, united by strong family values.Living in a mining community is never easy, and when the shadow of impending war threatens, they must pull together to face the hardship to come. Can this close-knit family overcome whatever tragedy life throws at them?The Black Mountains, a moving saga of love, happiness and heartbreak, is perfect for fans of Rosie Goodwin and Katie Flynn. ‘Sensitive and exceptionally polished’ Manchester Evening News The Hillsbridge Sagas The Black Mountains The Emerald Valley The Hills and the Valley A Family Affair

London


Edward Rutherfurd - 1997
    He brings this vibrant city's long and noble history alive through the ever-shifting fortunes, fates, and intrigues of half-a-dozen families, from the age of Julius Caesar to the 20th century. Generation after generation, these families embody the passion, struggle, wealth, and verve of the greatest city in the world.

Man of the House


Joan Jonker - 1995
    Eileen Gillmoss, a colourful character with a smile forever lighting up her face was the life and soul of the party. Today was the day she'd prayed for and dreamed about. After five long, lonely years, her prisoner-of-war husband Bill would be coming home, back to the open, loving arms of his wife and children. But the man who comes back from the war is a complete stranger to her. It isn't only that Bill's appearance has changed. It's his remoteness, his flinching from her touch that Eileen can't cope with. Now, Eileen, who is always there to lend a shoulder to cry on, is the one in need. But who can she turn to? No one can give her what she craves most... her old husband back. She wants him back where he belongs, as the man of the house.

Echo of Another Time


Audrey Howard - 1995
    Harper. By the age of 18 she has become a talented cook, but when she falls in love with a Latimer, all their lives change with frightening swiftness.

The Moonflower Vine


Jetta Carleton - 1962
    Jessica will break their hearts. Leonie will fall in love with the wrong man. Mary Jo will escape to New York. And wild child Mathy's fate will be the family's greatest tragedy. Over the decades they will love, deceive, comfort, forgive—and, ultimately, they will come to cherish all the more fiercely the bonds of love that hold the family together.

Alaska


James A. Michener - 1988
    Michener guides us through Alaska’s fierce terrain and history, from the long-forgotten past to the bustling present. As his characters struggle for survival, Michener weaves together the exciting high points of Alaska’s story: its brutal origins; the American acquisition; the gold rush; the tremendous growth and exploitation of the salmon industry; the arduous construction of the Alcan Highway, undertaken to defend the territory during World War II. A spellbinding portrait of a human community fighting to establish its place in the world, Alaska traces a bold and majestic saga of the enduring spirit of a land and its people.  Praise for Alaska   “Few will escape the allure of the land and people [Michener] describes. . . . Alaska takes the reader on a journey through one of the bleakest, richest, most foreboding, and highly inviting territories in our Republic, if not the world. . . . The characters that Michener creates are bigger than life.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review   “Always the master of exhaustive historical research, Michener tracks the settling of Alaska [in] vividly detailed scenes and well-developed characters.”—Boston Herald   “Michener is still, sentence for sentence, writing’s fastest attention grabber.”—The New York Times

Family of Women


Annie Murray - 2006
    Distraught at her side, her mother, Violet, wonders if this is her punishment - for Carol is the love child who should not have been born....""Family of Women" is the story of three generations of women:Bessie: scarred by a childhood of poverty in the slums of Victorian Birmingham and left a young widow with four children, is a hard, bullying woman who will go to disturbing lengths to keep her family under her thumb.Violet: one of Bessie's four children, marries young to escape, into the arms of a man whose life will be broken by war,Linda: grows up on a large housing estate in the 1950s with older sister Joyce and her beloved young sister Carol. Intelligent and energetic, she craves education and something more than the life she sees around her. Torn from her longed for place at the grammar school, she gives up hoping for anything better. It takes a tragic love affair to make her question the limitations of her life and the secrets which haunt her family.Spanning more than half of the last century, "Family of Women" is a story of one family - and of the joys, struggles and changes in women's lives.

A Shilling for a Wife


Emma Hornby - 2016
    Then a single coin changed hands. A dismal cottage in the heart of Bolton, Lancashire, has been Sally’s prison since Joseph Goden 'bought' her from the workhouse as his wife. A drunkard and bully, Joseph rules her with a rod of iron, using fists and threats to keep her in check.When Sally gives birth, however, she knows she must do anything to save her child from her husband's clutches. She manages to escape, and taking her baby, flees for the belching chimneys of Manchester, in search of her only relative. But with the threat of discovery by Joseph, who will stop at nothing to find her, Sally must fight with every ounce of strength she has to protect herself and her son, and finally be with the man who truly loves her. For a fresh start does not come without a price . . . The bestselling debut saga novel of 2017. WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:'I was hooked on this story from the very first page' 'One of the best books I've read in a long while''I did not want the book to end''Loved every word'

A Hint of Strangeness (Kindle Single)


Susan Isaacs - 2015
    Her life may not seem thrilling – living with her widowed mother, majoring in economics, working in an elegant dress store after classes to put away money for graduate school – but she’s determined to make a better life for herself and her mom. One night, she comes home to see the light is out again over the door. That old fuse box? Again? Except when Marianne gets inside, she stumbles over something, and it’s immediately clear what has happened: her mother has been murdered. The NYPD is stumped. Marianne’s father, an army captain, was killed in battle when she was a year old, and whatever other family she has are so distant she’s never met them. Whom can she turn to? Marianne does what strong women always do: She turns to herself. With help from Laurie Fishbein, her BFF since second grade, she becomes her own private detective to solve the case of her lifetime.Susan Isaacs was dubbed “Jane Austen with a shmear” on NPR’s Fresh Air. Among her thirteen novels are Almost Paradise, Shining Through and After All These Years. She has written screenplays for two films, Compromising Positions (adapted from her novel) and Hello Again, as well as a nonfiction work, Brave Dames and Wimpettes: What Women are Really Doing on Page and Screen. Currently, she serves as chairman of the literary organization Poets & Writers. A member of the National Book Critics Circle, she has reviewed for New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, and Newsday. She is a past president of Mystery Writers of America and belongs to the Creative Coalition, PEN, and the International Association of Crime Writers. Susan is a trustee emerita of the Queens College Foundation and on the board of the Jewish Theological Seminary. Among her honors are the John Steinbeck award, the Writers for Writers award, and the Marymount Manhattan Writing Center prize. She has worked gathering support for the National Endowment of the Arts Literature Program and on many anti-censorship campaigns. She lives on Long Island where she’s at work finishing her new novel, Violet Hopkins. Cover design by Kristen Radtke.

Mr Starlight


Laurie Graham - 2005
    We Follow The Ups And Downs Of Mr Starlight's Career As He Heads To The Bright Lights Of America, As Seen Through The Eyes Of Cled, His Brother.

A Christmas Candle


Katie Flynn - 2017
    All over Britain children are being evacuated. Eve Armstrong and her little brother are headed for Devon, where the Armstrong parents will do their bit in nearby Plymouth. Pulling out of London Eve takes a last look at the crowded platform, the shabbily dressed evacuees, and a rude little boy sticking his tongue out. She’s looking forward to a change of scene. And at first, surrounded by countryside, animals and new pals, Eve is happier than ever at Drake’s Farm. Not even her daily chores dampen her spirits. It’s a different world that invites fresh starts, and so when Eve runs into the boy from the station, Johnny Durrell, they call a truce and soon become firm friends. At first the war seems a distant reality, but when new evacuee Connie Hale arrives from Liverpool every day becomes a battle. Connie is lazy, stuck up and spiteful – and Johnny’s new best friend. As the conflict grows and Eve with it, will she fight for Johnny or concede defeat? Praise for Katie Flynn: 'A poignant war-time romance' Daily Express‘A heartwarming story of love and loss’ Woman's Weekly ‘One of the best Liverpool writers’ Liverpool Echo 'If you pick up a Katie Flynn book it's going to be a wrench to put it down again' Holyhead and Anglesey Mail

A Sister's Shame


Carol Rivers - 2012
    Eighteen-year-old twins Marie and Vesta Haskins work at the local shoe factory to bring in a few pennies for the family, but they've never given up on their dream of treading the boards in the West End. When a brand new East End club opens its doors, the girls audition for the show and are over the moon to land two nights a week with their cabaret act. But little do they realise that the villainous Scoresby brothers are using the club as a front for a very different line of business.Seeing what is going on behind the smoke and lights of the stage, sensible Marie vows to leave her job at the club before it is too late, but headstrong Vesta has fallen for the Scoresby's handsome right-hand man, Teddy, and unwittingly leads her whole family into the Scoresby's clutches. Will Marie be able to save her family from disaster? Or will Vesta's determination to become a star tear the Haskins family apart?

The Foot Soldier


Mark Rubinstein - 2013
    The Foot Soldier brings you to the hell of jungle combat. Close your eyes and this novella takes you there. It conveys the terror and brutality of jungle warfare and their effect on the American riflemen--those who bore the greatest burden. It's every bit as compelling as The Things They Carried.

Our Lizzie


Anna Jacobs - 1999
    She makes an ill-advised marriage in order to escape her harsh home life. However, she quickly discovers that she has married a selfish and violent man. His beatings are ceaseless and she finds herself compelled to run away. With the help of some suffragettes, she escapes to Manchester, where she finds work in a munitions factory for a while. Sam manages to find her and drags her home. It is only when his violence causes her to lose their unborn baby that Lizzie really finds the strength to make things change, and to find happiness with a man who loves her.