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


historical-fiction
fiction
20th-century
coming-of-age

Prelude to War


S.J.A. Turney - 2014
    events that, while peripheral to the saga itself, will shape events to come, shake the republic, and herald the one thing Caesar's army have feared most: a full-scale revolt.Cenabum: The fire arrow - Caesar's chief quartermaster, Cita, encounters trouble with supply lines.Bovillae: The fallen eagle - Former prefect Paetus leaves Rome with revenge on his mind.Gergovia: Rise of kings - Priscus and his companions witness tumultuous events firsthand.

A Boatload


Dwight Holing - 2014
    Keeps the plot turning.” — Kirkus Reviews When San Francisco con artist Jack McCoul gets married, he vows to give up his life of crime for good. But then his new brother-in-law pulls a heist that lands Jack in the middle of a deadly fight over hot computer chips. As bodies stack up, he must pull off the grift of a lifetime to solve a murder and escape a one-way ticket to death row.What readers are saying:★★★★★ The characters are delicious. The local color spot-on.★★★★★ Gritty, surprising, and funny as hell.★★★★★ Fun, stylish, edge-of-your-seat.★★★★★ A roller coaster ride full of surprises.★★★★★ 100% fun.★★★★★ Brilliantly authentic.★★★★★ Successful in every way and at every level.

The Mustering of the Hawks (Ira Penaluna #1)


Max Hennessy - 1976
    The average life-expectancy of an RAF pilot on the Western Front is three weeks. Inexperienced young men are hurled into vicious dogfights over the trenches, often without adequate training, and are slaughtered by the German aces.Into this hell arrives Ira Penaluna, only nineteen years old and totally in love with aviation. As those who have become his friends die one-by-one, Ira realises that in a world where skill, speed and killer-instinct are all, there is only one way to survive: to think like a hawk.A searing, moving novel of the First World War, full to the brim with detailed historical research, perfect for fans of Thomas Wood and Wilbur Smith.

The Memory of Love


Jim Fergus - 2013
    Precocious, passionate, talented, the free-spirited Chrysis rebels against a society and an art world in which men have all the privilege and women none. By day, a serious student at the prestigious l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, at night Chrysis loses herself to the sensual pleasures of the Montparnasse nightlife, where all seems permissible. There, she and the American cowboy will live the love of a lifetime."

Villa Normandie


Kevin Doherty
    The Normandy coastal village of Caillons is under German occupation, its villagers struggling to survive. With her husband forced into compulsory service for the German Reich, Jeanne Dupré, mother of two adolescent daughters, risks everything to lead the local Resistance cell.Life becomes even more dangerous with the arrival of British agent Daniel Benedict. He needs Jeanne's help to complete his mission, vital to Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings. But Jeanne is suspicious that they are not fighting for the same outcome. Their joint foe is Jürgen Graf, a Nazi oberleutnant set on wiping out the local Resistance. Aware that a spy is at large, Graf is on a ruthless mission to hunt Benedict down. With the help of a network of Catholic priests, Benedict penetrates the heart of the Nazis’ defences against Allied invasion, the Atlantic Wall. As the lives of Jeanne and Benedict become increasingly intertwined can they stay true to themselves? Will they have to sacrifice all in their fight for freedom..? ‘Villa Normandie’ is a moving historical novel, presenting an accurate picture of life under Nazi occupation. It is thoroughly detailed, meticulously researched and vividly authentic - depicting the turbulent world of the French resistance and the struggle of the French people for freedom.

The Barry Island Murders


Andrew Peters - 2013
    Will Williams' budding detective skills be equal to the task of catching any of the murderers? Will his current gin intake permit him to remember any of the details?Transcribed from the original interviews, the only changes made have been to names, places, dates and facts. Oh, and cutting out all the heavy swearing.

Sea of Memories


Fiona Valpy - 2018
    They spend the summer together, exploring the island’s sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters, and, for the first time in her life, Ella feels truly free.But the outbreak of war casts everything in a new light. Ella is forced to return to Scotland, where she volunteers for the war effort alongside the dashing Angus. In this new world, Ella feels herself drifting further and further from who she was on the Île de Ré. Can she ever find her way back? And does she want to?From the windswept Île de Ré to the rugged hills of Scotland, Sea of Memories is a spellbinding journey about the power of memory, love and second chances.

The Practice House


Laura McNeal - 2017
    Aldine’s sister converts and moves to America to marry, and Aldine follows, hoping to find the life she’s meant to lead and the person she’s meant to love.In New York, Aldine answers an ad soliciting a teacher for a one-room schoolhouse in a place she can’t possibly imagine: drought-stricken Kansas. She arrives as farms on the Great Plains have begun to fail and schools are going bankrupt, unable to pay or house new teachers. With no money and too much pride to turn back, she lives uneasily with the family of Ansel Price—the charming, optimistic man who placed the ad—and his family responds to her with kind curiosity, suspicion, and, most dangerously, love. Just as she’s settling into her strange new life, a storm forces unspoken thoughts to the surface that will forever alter the course of their lives.Laura McNeal’s novel is a sweeping and timeless love story about leaving—and finding—home.

The Shadows of Versailles


Cathie Dunn - 2020
    Broken by tragedy. Consumed by revenge.Fleur de La Fontaine attends the court of King Louis XIV at Versailles for the first time. Dazzled by the opulence, she is soon besotted with handsome courtier, Philippe de Mortain. When she believes his words of love, she gives in to his seduction – with devastating consequences.Nine months later, when the boy she has given birth to is whisked from her grasp, she flees the convent and finds shelter at the brothel of Madame Claudette.Jacques de Montagnac, a spy working for the Lieutenant General, investigates a spate of abducted children from the poorer quartiers of Paris when his path crosses Fleur’s. He searches for her son, but the trail leads to a dead end – and a dreadful realisation.Her son’s suspected fate too much to bear, Fleur decides to avenge him. With the help of her new acquaintance, the Duchess de Bouillon, Fleur visits the famous midwife, La Voisin, but it’s not the woman’s skills in childbirth that Fleur seeks.La Voisin dabbles in poisons.Will Fleur see her plan through? Or can she save herself from a tragic fate?Delve into The Shadows of Versailles and enter the sinister world of potions and black masses during the Affairs of the Poisons, a real series of events that stunned the court of the Sun King!

Through Castle Windows (Horstberg Saga #5)


Elizabeth D. Michaels - 2015
    Following her mother’s death she is guided to Horstberg in search of answers and contentment. When her path repeatedly crosses with the brooding Stefan Heinrich, she is drawn to him by feelings too profound to ignore. The love they share is intense and undeniable, but Ericha’s ignorance of Stefan’s circumstances puts her on a scale in his life opposite to the country he rules, and the wife he loathes.While Stefan questions daily what kind of madness drove him to marry the deceptive and tawdry Johanna Von Bindorf, a princess from the neighboring country of Kohenswald, he is torn between his commitment to do what is right, and his love for a woman that he cannot have; a woman who fills his aching soul. Years of spiraling downward in hopelessness finally drive him to make Ericha a part of his life as far as it is possible, while deep inside he knows that eventually a price for his happiness will have to be paid.As Ericha develops a deep bond with the legendary Abbi du Woernig, she unknowingly breathes life back into the heart and soul of Horstberg. But happiness and peace for the entire family are fleeting and fragile. Both Stefan and Ericha quickly realize the price for their choices is higher than either of them ever could have imagined. When Horstberg’s freedom is bargained for with the life of its ruler, Stefan knows that he must sacrifice everything to once again prove himself worthy to serve the people of his country with dignity and to live his life with the woman he loves.

The Lincoln Moon: A Historical Novel


Michael Price Nelson - 2020
    Told through the eyes of the defendant's nine year old brother, "The Lincoln Moon" is more than legal drama. It is a story of family, friends and acts of conscience in troubled times.

Storm of Arrows


Paul Bannister - 2019
    For fans of Bernard Cornwell and Michael Jecks.' Richard Foreman 1330. Edward III of England calls on Lancastrian baron and longbow archer Sir Thomas Holland to capture Roger Mortimer, the regent who usurped the young king’s throne and murdered his father. Holland and his bowmen next help butcher the Scots at Dupplin Moor and destroy the French fleet at Sluys. Yet the archer's greatest challenge is still to come. The Black Prince and Holland lead a great raid across Normandy. But not all goes according to plan. Two French armies pin the heavily-outnumbered English between the Seine and Somme. Their one hope of escape is to cross a dangerous ford. Thomas personally leads the vanguard and although he engineers the defeat of a waiting enemy force, there is still blood to be spilled. The archer and the Prince must still face a desperate battle against the might of France - at a village called Crecy. Recommended for fans of Bernard Cornwell, Michael Jecks and Robyn Young. The archer and the Prince must still face a desperate battle against the might of France - at a village called Crecy. Paul Bannister is a journalist and author. He has written for national newspapers in Britain and America, covering assignments in about 40 countries. His is also the author of the Forgotten Emperor and Crusader series.

Ardennes Sniper


David Healey - 2015
    As German forces launch a massive surprise attack through the frozen Ardennes Forest, two snipers find themselves aiming for a rematch. Caje Cole is a backwoods hunter from the Appalachian Mountains of the American South, while Kurt Von Stenger is the deadly German “Ghost Sniper.” Having been in each other’s crosshairs before, they fight a final duel during Germany’s desperate attempt to turn the tide of war in what will come to be known as the Battle of the Bulge. Can the hunter defeat the marksman? Even in the midst of war, some battles are personal.

Crow Hollow


Michael Wallace - 2015
    She’s convinced her daughter is alive but cannot track her into the wilderness alone. Help arrives in the form of James Bailey, an agent of the crown sent to Boston to investigate the murder of Prudence’s husband and to covertly cause a disturbance that would give the king just cause to install royal governors. After his partner is murdered, James needs help too. He strikes a deal with Prudence, and together they traverse the forbidding New England landscape looking for clues. What they confront in the wilderness—and what they discover about each other—could forever change their allegiances and alter their destinies.

Struggles of the Women Folk


T.M. Brown - 2013
    She is a young black girl growing up in the 1940s in a small, rural town in Virginia. Life is hard and she dreams of better life. She experiences great loss and heartache. She loses friends and family, as well as the love of her life. And still, she remains strong. This emotional and inspiring story has a gritty dialogue. TM Brown's signature writing style is captivating. You will find it difficult to stop reading once you begin...