Book picks similar to
The Other Side of the Fence by Julie Dewey


historical-fiction
fiction
leprosy
relationships

The Saturday Evening Girls Club


Jane Healey - 2017
     For four young immigrant women living in Boston’s North End in the early 1900s, escaping tradition doesn’t come easy. But at least they have one another and the Saturday Evening Girls Club, a social pottery-making group offering respite from their hectic home lives—and hope for a better future.Ambitious Caprice dreams of opening her own hat shop, which clashes with the expectations of her Sicilian-born parents. Brilliant Ada secretly takes college classes despite the disapproval of her Russian Jewish father. Stunning Maria could marry anyone yet guards her heart to avoid the fate of her Italian Catholic mother, broken down by an alcoholic husband. And shy Thea is torn between asserting herself and embracing an antiquated Jewish tradition.The friends face family clashes and romantic entanglements, career struggles and cultural prejudice. But through their unfailing bond, forged through their weekly gathering, they’ll draw strength—and the courage to transform their immigrant stories into the American lives of their dreams.

The Witch of Napoli


Michael Schmicker - 2015
    A reporter photographs the miracle, and wealthy, skeptical, Jewish psychiatrist Camillo Lombardi arrives in Naples to investigate. When she materializes the ghost of his dead mother, he risks his reputation and fortune to finance a tour of the Continent, challenging the scientific and academic elite of Europe to test Alessandra's mysterious powers. She will help him rewrite Science. His fee will help her escape her sadistic husband Pigotti and start a new life in Rome. Newspapers across Europe trumpet her Cinderella story and baffling successes, and the public demands to know - does the "Queen of Spirits" really have supernatural powers? Nigel Huxley is convinced she's simply another vulgar, Italian trickster. The icy, aristocratic detective for England's Society for the Investigation of Mediums launches a plot to trap and expose her. Meanwhile, the Vatican is quietly digging up her childhood secrets, desperate to discredit her supernatural powers; her abusive husband Pigotti is coming to kill her; and the tarot cards predict catastrophe. Inspired by the true-life story of controversial Italian medium Eusapia Palladino (1854-1918), The Witch of Napoli masterfully resurrects the bitter,19th-century battle between Science and religion over the possibility of an afterlife.

The Far Journey: A Timeslip Novel of Survival on the Oregon Trail


Tom Reppert - 2013
    In modern life, she rebels against the curfews and restrictions of her day, seeing them as unfair hardships. But now in this alien world with its buffalo stampedes, wild Indians, and deadly pestilence, she is about to find out what real hardships are. To get home, she must set aside her Rude Girl persona and learn how to survive.On the trek, Paula meets young Daniel Langdon, hunter and part-time scout, and an infatuation quickly becomes a great passion. She realizes this is the love of her life and to get home she will have to leave him behind. In the tradition of Outlander, The Far Journey is a grand epic of love and tragedy, loyalty and betrayal, peril and survival. Throughout, Paula Masters is tested in body and soul and must discover the strength and toughness inside her. "It has all the elements that make a good book hard to put down." Foster Cline, M. D., author of Parenting with Love and Logic."What a grand, mind-bending tale Tom Reppert has spun!" Jim Payne, author of One Inch above the Water."An Intriguing story that captures you from the first page." Sara Vinduska, author of Reflections.

Return


Elliott Baker - 2014
    Slavery is a common plague along the European coast and into this wild time, an ancient Egyptian general armed with dark arts has managed to return and re-embody, intent on recreating the reign of terror he began as Pharaoh. René Gilbert must remember his own lifetime at the feet of Akhenaten to have a chance to defeat Horemheb. A secret sect has waited in Morocco for three thousand years for his arrival.

Wait Till Next Year


Doris Kearns Goodwin - 1997
     We meet the people who most influenced Goodwin’s early life: her mother, who taught her the joy of books but whose debilitating illness left her housebound: and her father, who taught her the joy of baseball and to root for the Dodgers of Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, and Gil Hodges. Most important, Goodwin describes with eloquence how the Dodgers’ leaving Brooklyn in 1957, and the death of her mother soon after, marked both the end of an era and, for her, the end of childhood.

Sprinting Through No Man's Land: Endurance, Tragedy, and Rebirth in the 1919 Tour de France


Adin Dobkin - 2021
    From Paris, the war-weary men rode down the western coast on a race that would trace the country’s border, through seaside towns and mountains to the ghostly western front. Traversing a cratered postwar landscape, the cyclists faced near-impossible odds and the psychological scars of war. Most of the athletes had arrived straight from the front, where so many fellow countrymen had suffered or died. The cyclists’ perseverance and tolerance for pain would be tested in a grueling, monthlong competition.An inspiring true story of human endurance, Sprinting Through No Man’s Land explores how the cyclists united a country that had been torn apart by unprecedented desolation and tragedy. It shows how devastated countrymen and women can come together to celebrate the adventure of a lifetime and discover renewed fortitude, purpose, and national identity in the streets of their towns.

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown


Heather B. Moore - 2020
    These “paper daughters,” so called because fake documents gain them entry to America but leave them without legal identity, generally have no recourse. But the Occidental Mission Home for Girls is one bright spot of hope and help.Told in alternating chapters, this rich narrative follows the stories of young Donaldina Cameron who works in the mission home, and Mei Lien, a “paper daughter” who thinks she is coming to America for an arranged marriage but instead is sold into a life of shame and despair.Donaldina, a real-life pioneering advocate for social justice, bravely stands up to corrupt officials and violent gangs, helping to win freedom for thousands of Chinese women. Mei Lien endures heartbreak and betrayal in her search for hope, belonging, and love. Their stories merge in this gripping account of the courage and determination that helped shape a new course of women’s history in America.

The House of Closed Doors


Jane Steen - 2012
    Yet Nell is determined to elude the duties and restrictions of matrimony. So when she finds herself pregnant at the age of 17, she refuses to divulge the name of the father and even her childhood friend Martin is kept in the dark.Nell's stepfather Hiram sends Nell to live at the Poor Farm of which he is a governor, to await the day when her baby can be discreetly adopted. Nell is ready to go along with Hiram's plans until an unused padded cell is opened and two small bodies fall out.Nell is the only resident of the Poor Farm who is convinced that the unwed mother and her baby were murdered, and the incident prompts her to rethink her decision to abandon her own child to her fate. But the revelations to which her questions lead make her realize that even if she manages to escape the Poor Farm with her baby, she may have no safe place to run to.

Assignment Bletchley: A WWII Novel of Navy Intelligence, Spies and Intrigue (Commander Romella, USN, WWII Assignments series Book 1)


Peter J. Azzole - 1999
    Navy is a specialist in the field of communications intelligence. Little did Tony know that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor would have such a direct impact on his career and life. He is urgently ordered from his comfortable duty in Washington, DC to an assignment at Bletchley Park, the British communications intelligence center. This fast-paced, riveting story thrusts Tony into personal, technical and diplomatic situations that test his skills and ingenuity. His love life intermingles with his involvement in a high-level world of intelligence, spies and intrigue. Tony loves every minute of it. Published author, Peter J. Azzole, is a retired U.S. Navy officer with a career in communications intelligence. He crafts this story from history and professional experience.

The Equal of God: Book 1 An Irish Family Saga: An Irish Family Saga Before and After the Irish Famine


Helen Cassidy Page - 2015
    Spikes, the Baron's agent is coming to assess the Connors' rent. If he finds anything amiss, he'll tack on a few extra shillings, whether it's deserved or not, whether it goes into the Baron's pocket or his own. If they can't pay, they'll face eviction. With the flaming red hair of a chieftan, the bull-headed Connor has prepared his six sons and his farm for this grueling day. He’s warned his wife, Rose, to behave and ordered five-year-old Agnes to curtsy to Spikes, then keep out of the way. He’ll take of business with the man.Five-year-old Agnes Connor unwittingly steps up to defend her family's honor when their little plot of Celtic land is at risk. Little does she know that her hot-headed action will set into motion a series of events that will resonate for decades to come. And so begins the saga of love, loyalty and rivalry that has roots as far back as Strongbow and will ultimately carry Ireland into the future. Will Agnes learn her lesson? Or is the encounter with Spikes preparing her for greater challenges?

Daughter of Joy


Kathleen Morgan - 1999
    BUT THE ONE WHO KNOWS THEM BEST MAY HAVE OTHER PLANS ...Abigail Stanton's whole life was rooted in her faith, a faith she now clings to solely to survive. In the wake of losing her husband and young son, Abby sets out alone, bereft and heartsick, to discover what God wants her to do. When he leads her to Conor MacKay's doorstep, though, the very foundation of her beliefs starts to shift.As the volatile rancher's new housekeeper, Abby is supposed to keep his affairs --- and his equally capricious little girl --- in order. Why, then, does she feel confusion, passion, desire, and anything but order every time they are together? Conor tries to hide his own seething emotions beneath a cold facade, but there is something about his prim new housekeeper that sets him on edge. And the more ruthlessly he attacks Abby's faith, the more his defenses crack.As Abby and Conor draw closer to the flame of their attraction, they must grapple with their deepest beliefs and fears. In opening their hearts again, both risk even greater loss for a chance at the greatest love of all.

Where the Desert Meets the Sea


Werner Sonne - 2008
    When she learns that he has died, she tries to take her own life in despair.After awakening in the hospital, Judith learns that Hana, a Muslim Arab nurse, has saved her life by donating her own blood. While the two women develop a fragile bond, each can’t help but be drawn deeper into the political machinations tearing the country apart. After witnessing the repeated attacks inflicted on the Jews, Judith makes the life-changing decision to join the Zionist fight for Jerusalem. And Hana’s star-crossed love for Dr. David Cohen, an American Jew out of his element and working only to save lives, will put her own life in danger.Then the political situation worsens. When tensions erupt, a shocking act of violence threatens Judith and Hana’s friendship—and the destinies of everyone they love.

Exiled: The Story of John Lathrop


Helene Holt - 1987
    Such a man was John Lathrop, a minister in the King's church, who, at the peril of his life, fought for religious freedom. This is the astounding biographical account of Lathrop's struggle and his ultimate exile to America. Winner of the National Freedom's Foundation Award

The House by the River


Lena Manta - 2007
    And so, before each girl leaves the small house on the riverside at the foot of Mount Olympus, Theodora makes sure they know they are always welcome to return.A devoted and resilient mother, Theodora has lived through World War II, through the Nazi occupation of Greece, and through her husband’s death, and now she endures the twenty-year-long silence of her daughters’ absence. Her children have their own lives—they’ve married, traveled the world, and courted romance, fame, and even tragedy. But as they become modern, independent women in pursuit of their dreams, Theodora knows they need her—and each other—more than ever. Have they grown so far apart that they’ve forgotten their childhood house in its tiny village, or will their broken hearts finally lead them home?

LEVIATHAN


Gordon John Thomson - 2014
    In Newgate prison, an innocent surgeon, Dr Jonathan Silver, is waiting in the condemned cell to be hanged for the murder of his wife, Marianne. Fate intervenes in the unlikely shape of a nineteen-year old thief, Elisa Saltash, who, in trying to break her burglar father free from Newgate on the eve of his execution, ends up freeing Dr Silver instead. Silver and Elisa end up in the riverside world of Wapping, among the seething and dangerous world of the London docks. Silver has only one clue to the identity of his wife’s real killer - with her dying breath she had said to him the word “Leviathan”... This leads Silver to suspect a former suitor of his wife’s - a marine engineer called Daniel Strode who works at the Napier shipyard on the Isle of Dogs where Brunel’s Leviathan is being readied for launching. Silver gets a job as a carpenter at the yard, trying to find some real evidence against Daniel Strode. On Silver’s trail are a couple of formidable human bloodhounds: Detective Sergeant Charlie Sparrow of the Shadwell and Wapping police; and an even more devious young turnkey from Newgate, James Minshall, who is determined to gain the reward on Silver’s head for himself. Elisa soon becomes as much a fugitive as Silver when she steals a priceless pearl necklace called the Tears of the Prophet and finds her own secret life as a thief about to be exposed. Then other young women begin to be murdered in Wapping, and the fogbound riverside streets and alleyways become a place of fear... As the net closes around Silver, he has to try and discover the real reason behind his wife’s death, while also being drawn unwillingly into the mystery over the deaths of these other murdered women. Silver finds himself in a race to discover the truth before he is himself recaptured. With the help of Elisa, and another equally mysterious young woman called Amy McLennan, the story reaches a climax on the day of the launch of Brunel’s Leviathan... Set against the romantic and thrilling backdrop of London of the 1850s - the bustling centre of the greatest empire in the world, with its music halls and brothels and bare knuckle fighting - this thriller is an historical crime story full of mystery, murder, suspense and romance...