Book picks similar to
Return to the Outer Banks House by Diann Ducharme


historical-fiction
first-reads
blog-tour
north-carolina

The Last Bathing Beauty


Amy Sue Nathan - 2020
    Back then Betty Stern was an eighteen-year-old knockout working at her grandparents’ lakeside resort. The “Catskills of the Midwest” was the perfect place for Betty to prepare for bigger things. She’d head to college in New York City. Her career as a fashion editor would flourish. But first, she’d enjoy a wondrous last summer at the beach falling deeply in love with an irresistible college boy and competing in the annual Miss South Haven pageant. On the precipice of a well-planned life, Betty’s future was limitless.Decades later, the choices of that long-ago season still reverberate for Betty, now known as Boop. Especially when her granddaughter comes to her with a dilemma that echoes Boop’s memories of first love, broken hearts, and faraway dreams. It’s time to finally face the past—for the sake of her family and her own happiness. Maybe in reconciling the life she once imagined with the life she’s lived, Boop will discover it’s never too late for a second chance.

Just Went Out for Milk


Tommy Cotton - 2014
    While Kayla is forced to fight for her life in hospital, Dane is thrown back into a world he fled from years before.Kayla tells her story through a series of quirky, unsent letters to Dane and relives her rollercoaster past in her childhood diaries, a past she must face if she is to survive. At the same time, Dane must confront his own violent past and the person who hates him most – the one he was once closest to – if he is to make it back to the woman he loves.Just Went Out For Milk is a physical and emotional journey, the raw love story of two scarred people, who long to find their place in the world.Will Dane make it back to Kayla? Will she be alive if he does?

A Sapphire Season


Lynn Morris - 2015
     Lady Mirabella Tirel, the beautiful daughter of the Marquess of Camarden, takes a practical approach to love since a dashing captain broke her heart at age 17. Now at almost 22 years old, she has decided to endure one last London season to secure a suitable engagement and begin a simple life in the country. Sir Giles Knyvet is Mirabella's oldest friend and her most dependable ally, and he is also secretly in love with her. Yet he knows the prospect of a relationship is doubtful: Besides being a mere baronet, he aims to settle a large family debt before sharing his feelings with her. But as Mirabella draws close to a suitable match, Giles may need to interfere to buy himself more time.

Change Up: How to Make the Great Game of Baseball Even Better


Buck Martinez - 2016
    Currently the play-by-play announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays, Martinez has witnessed enormous change in the game he loves, as it has morphed from a grassroots pastime to big business. Not all of the change has been for the better, and today’s fans struggle to connect to their on-the-field heroes as loyalty to club and player wavers and free agency constantly changes the face of every team’s roster.In Change Up, Martinez offers his unique insights into how Major League Baseball might reconnect with its fanbase, how the clubs might train and prepare their players for their time in “The Show,” and how players might approach the sport in a time of sagging fan interest. Martinez isn’t shy with his opinions, whether they be on pitch count, how to develop players through the minor-league system, and even if there should be a minor-league system at all. Always entertaining, ever insightful, Martinez shares brilliant insights and inside pitches about summer’s favourite game.

The Life and Times of Rowan Daly


Rex Owens - 2021
    They settle in the mining town of New Hope. In 1934 the best paying job is dynamiting rock in the pit—a job Eli volunteers to do with disastrous consequences. When he’s killed, Rowan is alone and abandoned with no way to support herself. Rowan is recruited to be a Pack Horse Librarian and soon finds herself delivering books to hill families, facing her fears of abandonment, and learning about the unique rural folks she serves. It’s just the beginning for Rowan—being a Pack Horse Librarian changes her future, giving her a life she could never have imagined.

Cascade


Maryanne O'Hara - 2012
    When he dies, Dez finds herself caught in a marriage of convenience, bound to the promise she made to save her father’s Shakespeare Theater, an especially difficult feat since the town faces almost certain flooding to create a reservoir. When she falls for fellow artist and kindred spirit Jacob Solomon, she sees a chance to escape with him and realize her New York ambitions, but her decisions will have bitter and unexpected consequences.Fans of Richard Russo, Amor Towles, Sebastian Barry, and Paula McLain will savor this transporting novel about the eternal tug between our duties and our desires, set in New York City and New England during the uncertain, tumultuous 1930s.

The Legend of Stuckey's Bridge


Lori Crane - 2013
    In the middle of the project, they began discovering bodies buried on the banks of the river. Legend has it, he was so evil, he was even thrown out of the notorious Dalton Gang. Years later, he opened an inn near the river, and on foggy nights, boatmen witnessed him pacing back and forth across the bridge, waving his lantern, offering travelers a hot meal and a soft bed. Those unfortunate enough to take him up on the hospitality were often never seen again. To this day, eerie experiences are still reported around the bridge that now bears his name. If you travel down to Stuckey's Bridge, be careful, for not much else is known about the man locals refer to as Old Man Stuckey...until now.

The First Rule of Swimming


Courtney Angela Brkic - 2013
    Magdalena's search begins to unspool the dark history of their family, reaching back three generations to a country torn by war.This haunting and sure-footed first novel explores the legacy of betrayal and loss in a place where beauty is fused with hardship, and where individuals are forced to make wrenching choices as they are swept up in the tides of history.

The Legacy


Melanie Phillips - 2018
    Deeply uncomfortable with his own Jewish identity, he is torn between anger with his father-estranged over Russell's marrying a non-Jewish woman - and grief over their failure to reconcile. At his father's memorial Russell meets Joe Kuchinsky, a Polish survivor who unaccountably latches on to him. Kuchinsky claims to possess an ancient Hebrew manuscript that has been in his family for generations and which he wants to have translated before he dies. Kuchinsky believes fervently that the manuscript contains some important ancient wisdom-perhaps, even, the key to the survival of the Jewish people. Despite his doubts, Russell agrees to inspect the manuscript and tell Kuchinsky what it contains. Thus begins an international mystery that stretches a thousand years in the past, is wrapped in the tragedy of the Holocaust, and which comes to a startling conclusion that has dire personal consequences for everyone caught up in the saga. Filled with depth and pathos, The Legacy is destined to become one of the most important historical novels of the 21st century.

The Officer's Affair: A novel of World War II


Samantha Grosser - 2018
    When at last he arrives, she is devastated to find he is a different man, a man she cannot love. Disabled and embittered, Danny can never resume a normal life, and though Rachel is determined to restore their marriage, it seems the war has broken their lives beyond repair.Then Captain Andrews comes to visit, and despite a deep unease between Danny and his former commander, for Rachel the attraction is instant, her heart captured by the officer.But the tension between the two men seems to stem from an earlier time. What happened in Italy to make Danny so hostile to an officer he once trusted and admired? And why has Andrews come to visit him in the face of it?As Rachel struggles to shake off the ghosts of the war, she is torn between her loyalties to an empty marriage and her deepest desires. Only one can prevail in this heart-wrenching novel, which delves into the devastation left behind by the Second World War.

Ripped


Shelly Dickson Carr - 2012
    Having to leave Boston to live with Grandma Cleaves in London was hard, but she's making new friends, working on her British accent and even learning some Cockney rhyming slang. London's cool and actually feels like home in some ways, like she's been here before, belongs here.When a museum visit with her cousin and his cute friend turns funky, Katie finds herself in a long, uncomfortable dress, wearing a ridiculous hat, wondering what happened to her jeans and high-top sneakers? And where's her iPhone?...It's London, 1888. Smart and gutsy, Katie knows she's here to stop Jack the Ripper. The serial killer didn't just slash his victims' throats; he butchered the women. Katie has read about the Ripper, knows the names of his victims and where and when they were killed. She's watched her fair share of CSI. Can Katie save their lives?With 60 illustrations by Chris Gall. (in color on color devices)

Invisible Threads


Lucy Beresford - 2015
    Invisible Threads

The Hamilton Affair


Elizabeth Cobbs - 2016
    Croix. He went to America to pursue his education. Along the way he became one of the American Revolution’s most dashing—and unlikely—heroes. Adored by Washington, hated by Jefferson, Hamilton was a lightning rod: the most controversial leader of the American Revolution.She was the well-to-do daughter of one of New York’s most exalted families—feisty, adventurous, and loyal to a fault. When she met Alexander, she fell head over heels. She pursued him despite his illegitimacy, and loved him despite his infidelity. In 1816 (two centuries ago), she shamed Congress into supporting his seven orphaned children. Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton started New York’s first orphanage. The only “founding mother” to truly embrace public service, she raised 160 children in addition to her own.With its flawless writing, brilliantly drawn characters, and epic scope, The Hamilton Affair will take its place among the greatest novels of American history.

An Angel's Work


Kate Eastham - 2020
    Then, a tiny hand poked out through a layer of grit... With tears pouring down her cheeks, she stood rocking and soothing the baby, knowing there was very little chance the child’s mother had survived.England, 1941. After three nights of relentless bombing from German aircraft, trained nurse Jo Brooks is told to report to the basement theatre of Mill Road Hospital. She goes with a heavy heart, not wanting to leave behind her best friend Moira, who is desperately soothing new mothers on the maternity ward. As Jo arrives safely underground, the ward takes a direct hit.Pulling herself from the rubble, Jo’s first priority must be her patients… but she can’t stop herself frantically searching for Moira. When Jo eventually finds her, buried beneath a foot of bricks and stone, Moira is barely clinging to life. Jo makes a solemn vow: she will do whatever it takes to help the allies win the war, even if it means sacrificing her own safety.But when, in the line of duty, Jo makes the acquaintance of a young American soldier with bright blue eyes and a voice like warm caramel, she feels her heart skip a beat and all her promises are put to the test. Because sacrificing everything in war is so much more difficult when suddenly you have so very much to live for…

A Matter of Love and Death


Caron Albright - 2017
    Telephone switchboard operator Frances' life is difficult as sole provider for her mother and adopted uncle. But it's thrown into turmoil when she overhears a suspicious conversation on the phone, planning a murder.If a life is at risk, she should tell the police; but that would mean breaking her confidentiality clause and would cost her the job. And practical Frances, not prone to flights of fancy, soon begins to doubt the evidence of her own ears - it was a very bad line, after all...She decides to put it behind her, a task helped by the arrival of their new lodger, Phil. Phil takes her to a nightclub, where she meets charming but slightly dangerous club owner Jack. Jack's no angel - prohibition is in force, and what's a nightclub without champagne? But he's a good man, and when Frances' earlier fears resurface she knows that he's the person to confide in.Frances and Jack's hunt for the truth put them in grave danger, and soon enough Frances will learn that some things are a matter of love and death...