Book picks similar to
The Ways of Mud and Bone by Carrie Ann Lahain


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No Man's Land


Simon Tolkien - 2016
    His impoverished childhood in the slums of Islington is brought to an end by a tragedy that sends him north to Scarsdale, a hard-living coalmining town where his father finds work as a union organizer. But it isn’t long before the escalating tensions between the miners and their employer, Sir John Scarsdale, explode with terrible consequences.In the aftermath, Adam meets Miriam, the Rector’s beautiful daughter, and moves into Scarsdale Hall, an opulent paradise compared with the life he has been used to before. But he makes an enemy of Sir John’s son, Brice, who subjects him to endless petty cruelties for daring to step above his station.When love and an Oxford education beckon, Adam feels that his life is finally starting to come together – until the outbreak of war threatens to tear everything apart.

Unlovely


Carol Walsh Greer - 2013
    The lucky ones live to regret it.Don't misunderstand: it's not that Claudia Milford wants people to get hurt. Claudia wants what's best for everyone; her motives are pure and her goals are noble. It's just that sometimes people don't really know what (or who) is best for them. Claudia sees things more clearly than most of her peers. It takes plenty of nerve to act on that intelligence. Of course, Claudia shouldn't be expected to put her own needs last. That wouldn't make sense. And Claudia is a sensible person, no matter what the doctors may conclude.Some people are born crazy, some become crazy, and some have crazy thrust upon them. Claudia Milford thrusts crazy all over the place.

The Winter Guest


Pam Jenoff - 2014
    The constant threat of arrest has made everyone in their village a spy, and turned neighbor against neighbor. Though rugged, independent Helena and pretty, gentle Ruth couldn’t be more different, they are staunch allies in protecting their family from the threats the war brings closer to their doorstep with each passing day.Then Helena discovers an American paratrooper stranded outside their small mountain village, wounded, but alive. Risking the safety of herself and her family, she hides Sam—a Jew—but Helena’s concern for the American grows into something much deeper. Defying the perils that render a future together all but impossible, Sam and Helena make plans for the family to flee. But Helena is forced to contend with the jealousy her choices have sparked in Ruth, culminating in a singular act of betrayal that endangers them all—and setting in motion a chain of events that will reverberate across continents and decades.Originally published in 2014. Look for Pam Jenoff’s new novel, The Woman with the Blue Star, an unforgettable story of courage and friendship during wartime.Read these other sweeping epics from New York Times bestselling author Pam Jenoff.The Lost Girls of ParisThe Orphans TaleThe Diplomat’s WifeThe Kommandant’s GirlThe Last Summer at Chelsea BeachThe Ambassador's Daughter

The Crimson Rooms


Katharine McMahon - 2009
     Still haunted by the death of her only brother, James, in the Great War, Evelyn Gifford is completely unprepared when a young nurse and her six-year-old son appear on the Giffords' doorstep one night. The child, the nurse claims, is James's, conceived in a battlefield hospital. The grief-stricken Giffords take them both in; but Evelyn, a struggling attorney, must now support her entire family—at a time when work for women lawyers is almost nonexistent. Suddenly a new case falls in Evelyn's lap: Seemingly hopeless, it's been abandoned by her male coworkers. The accused—a veteran charged with murdering his young wife—is almost certain to die on the gallows.... And yet, Evelyn believes he is truly innocent, just as she suspects there may be more to the story of her "nephew" than meets the eye...

Philomena


Mark Guiney - 2013
    But now that the Imperium Titus has taken over, every ship sails on the edge of a knife. Young airman Cyprian Fields isn't one to turn away from danger. During his service as the deckmaster of an old freighter named Philomena, the arrival of mysterious young physician Basil Black and alluring stowaway Veronica Stromm turn the intrepid boy officer's world upside-down. Suddenly, Cyprian and Philomena's ragtag crew are thrown into a wonderful and perilous adventure that will take them to the furthest reaches of air, land, and sea. In the midst of whispering Silverspoons and murderous admirals, printing presses and aetherolabes, fleets and fortresses, Cyprian, Veronica, and Basil must decide whether they will face down the might of the Imperium or allow the doom descending on Cor Nova to overwhelm them all.

The Last Voyage of Sigismund Skrik


Karsten Flohr - 2014
    Not only will he give clients new, life-changing looks—he also gets to know all their secrets.But the days of transatlantic sailing are numbered. It’s 1879, and Europeans immigrating to the United States are starting to prefer the huge new steamships that make the crossing ten times as fast. As those glory days come to an end, Sigismund embarks on his final voyage from Hamburg in the old clipper Liberty, welcoming the latest batch of emigrants with his usual open-minded calm. He doesn’t know them yet, but he will. As each one passes through his cabin salon, the stories they tell reveal the drama, pathos, and humor of a thousand lives that, for a brief, wave-tossed spell, come together on their way to the promised land.

A Mother’s Dilemma


Emma Hornby - 2019
    But when the baby dies of natural causes while under her roof, and knowing her neighbour will be devastated, Minnie swaps it with one of the infants in her care.Now seventeen, Jewel Nightingale knows nothing of her true origins. But assaulted by her hateful cousin and making the dreadful discovery that she is pregnant, she faces a desperate dilemma. Fleeing her job as a domestic maid, she follows an advertisement to a house in Bolton's dark slums, where a woman promises to help her when the child is born. Little does Jewel know that there’s a terrible price to pay . . .Can she keep herself – and her baby – safe? And what will happen when Jewel discovers the truth about where she came from? Gritty and page-turning historical saga set in Northern England in the late 1800s, perfect for fans of Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin.

Where My Heart Used to Beat


Sebastian Faulks - 2015
    But his subject seems more interested in finding out about Robert's past than he does in revealing his own. For years, Robert has refused to discuss his past. After the war ended, he refused to go to reunions, believing in some way that denying the killing and the deaths of his friends and fellow soldiers would mean he wouldn't be defined by the experience. Suddenly, he can't keep the memories from overtaking him. But can he trust his memories and can we believe what other people tell us about theirs?Moving between the present and past, between France and Italy, New York and London, this is a powerful story about love and war, memory and desire, the relationship between the body and the mind. Compelling and full of suspense, Where My Heart Used to Beat is a tender, brutal and thoughtful portrait of a man and a century, which asks whether, given the carnage we've witnessed and inflicted over the past one hundred years, people can ever be the same.

Villa America


Liza Klaussmann - 2015
    Villa America was in fact a real house on the French Riviera that Sara and Gerald Murphy built to escape to in the 1920's. Members of a group of expat Americans, they were known for their fabulous parties and for making the Riviera into the glamorous place it is today. Their freewheeling days were filled with champagne and caviar, but these were people who kept secrets and who were, of course, heartbreakingly human. This is a stunning story about the Lost Generation, about a marriage, about a golden age which could not last.

Savage Eden


K.M. Ashman - 2011
    In the meantime, miles away, his clan's peaceful existence is devastated by an attack from an unknown cannibalistic species, the Baal. Some of the clan are killed but many more are taken as prey by the Baal to their lands beyond the ice wall. When Golau leads a rescue mission north, Inter species alliances are forged with the Neanderthal and barriers are broken down as the struggle for survival intensifies. Meanwhile back in the clan, hunger and tragedy force the remaining clan members to embrace strange new ideas from a lowly teenage girl and a mentally challenged boy.A final bloody confrontation ensues, but not before Golau unveils the strange ancestry of the Neanderthal, a horrifying, truth about the Baal, and the uncertain future of humanity.

Once Night Falls


Roland Merullo - 2019
    Luca Benedetto has joined the partisans in their fight against the German troops ravaging the shores of his town on Lake Como. While risking his life to free his country, Luca is also struggling to protect Sarah, his Jewish lover who’s hiding in a mountain cabin. As the violent Nazi occupation intensifies, Luca and Sarah fear for more than their own lives.In the heart of their village, their mothers have also found themselves vulnerable to the encroaching Nazis. But Luca’s mother, undeterred, is devising her own revenge on the occupiers. With Mussolini deposed and Allied armies fighting their way up the peninsula, the fate of Italy hangs in the balance, and the people of Lake Como must decide how much they’re prepared to sacrifice for family, friends, and the country they love.The most trying of times will create the most unexpected heroes and incredible acts of courage in this stirring narrative as seen through the eyes of those devastated by war-torn Italy.

The Settler (The Lion and the Leopard Trilogy, #1)


Brian Duncan - 2012
    Can they survive the desperate fighting between settlers and African tribesmen, and between British and Boer armies? Which of four pioneering young women will choose to share their challenges? WINNER! Historical Fiction category; IndieReader 2013 Discovery Awards (announced at Book Expo America in New York on June 1, 2013 Excerpts from reviews on Amazon: ***** “A brilliant unputdownable read from start to finish.” ***** “I've read many books about Africa and find this story the most believable.” ***** “…a compelling plot line based on diverse, colorful characters.” ***** “There are a lot of strong characters in this book…” ***** “A wonderfully crafted story that keeps you hooked to read more!” ***** “…you'll be hooked to the end.”

The Secret Mother


Victoria Delderfield - 2015
    The Secret Mother puts a face on the label Made in China - the bittersweet story of a girl - like millions of others - willing to risk everything.

Hemingway's Girl


Erika Robuck - 2012
    At the time she’d thought it romantic. She hadn’t understood his warning.”In Depression-era Key West, Mariella Bennet, the daughter of an American fisherman and a Cuban woman, knows hunger. Her struggle to support her family following her father’s death leads her to a bar and bordello, where she bets on a risky boxing match...and attracts the interest of two men: world-famous writer, Ernest Hemingway, and Gavin Murray, one of the WWI veterans who are laboring to build the Overseas Highway.When Mariella is hired as a maid by Hemingway’s second wife, Pauline, she enters a rarified world of lavish, celebrity-filled dinner parties and elaborate off-island excursions. As she becomes caught up in the tensions and excesses of the Hemingway household, the attentions of the larger-than-life writer become a dangerous temptation...even as the reliable Gavin Murray draws her back to what matters most. Will she cross an invisible line with the volatile Hemingway, or find a way to claim her own dreams? As a massive hurricane bears down on Key West, Mariella faces some harsh truths...and the possibility of losing everything she loves.

When White Fades to Black


Joe Conlan - 2014
    senator suddenly falls ill at a political fundraising event, he is rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment, but dies hours after being stabilized. Miami-based FBI Special Agent Daniel Falcone is called in to investigate. He quickly suspects foul play. As he searches for evidence, a torrent of domestic terrorism is unleashed upon the nation. An African-American church is bombed. A mass shooting devastates an event to commemorate the Holocaust. Mayhem tears through a Mexican-American charitable foundation and a deadly explosion rocks the downtown Manhattan Federal Building. As the pressure mounts, Daniel must race to protect the veritable future and freedom of America. A page-turning thrill ride, which pits the very best against the very worst of the United States. When White Fades to Black is a provocative, multi-layered and wildy engrossing tale that will captivate, resonate, entertain and haunt, long after the final page has been devoured.