Book picks similar to
Omamori by Richard McGill


historical-fiction
fiction
asia
family-saga

The Time of the Dragon


Dorothy Eden - 1975
    It was a place to escape and to forget the searing pain of Nathaniel's betrayal with a young governess back in England.But the delights of the Orient prove more fragile than the ancient jades and porcelains the Carringtons have come to acquire. The disturbingly beautiful young American whom Nathaniel insists on hiring as governess to their young family serves only to remind Amelia of past pain. And even more ominous are the rumblings of the coming Boxer Rebellion which echo around the Tartar Wall sheltering the Legation District and its "foreign devil." The tide of Chinese nationalism will not be stemmed, and for eight harrowing weeks the Carringtons, as chief among the desecraters of the Chines heritage, huddle together in the European complex, while marauding Boxers in scarlet headbands and with savage long swords demand their lives. The Chinese Dragon has spewed its venom into the Carrington blood.Two generations later the rebellion still casts its deadly shadow over the family as Suzie Carrington, the only child born after the siege and named after the Empress Dowager, lives out her fantasies in the decaying family mansion on the banks of the Thames. There she writes and revises the will disposing of the fabulous Carrington collection of stolen Chinese art. And with each new draft of the will the reader comes closer to the heart of the Carrington mystery, as intricate and subtle as a Chinese puzzle.Shimmering with suspense and enchantment, The Time of the Dragon is intriguing new territory filled with Dorothy Eden's old magic. The unchallenged mistress of the dynastic novel has written her most ambitious and captivating novel to date.

The Ginger Tree


Oswald Wynd - 1977
    But soon after her arrival, Mary falls into an adulterous affair with a young Japanese nobleman, scandalizing the British community. Casting her out of the European community, her compatriots tear her away from her small daughter. A woman abandoned and alone, Mary learns to survive over forty tumultuous years in Asia, including two world wars and the cataclysmic Tokyo earthquake of 1923.A bestseller in England, this bittersweet story of love and betrayal in the Far East is the source of the Masterpiece Theatre miniseries.

The Passing Bells


Phillip Rock - 1978
    From the well-kept lawns, rich woodlands, and gracious halls of Abingdon Pryory, from the elegant charm of summer in London's Park Lane to the devastation of Ypres and the horror of Gallipoli, this is the story of the Grevilles - two generations of a titled British family and their servants - men and women who knew their place, upstairs and down, until England went to war and the whole fabric of British society began to unravel and change.

Olivia And Jai


Rebecca Ryman - 1990
    When Olivia, a forthright young American, comes to live with her very proper British relatives, she falls headlong into love with angry, half-caste Jai. Olivia believes nothing will ever diminish her love for Jai, but can it withstand the terrible revenge he is planning to take on the people who betrayed him? Ryman has done a good job of portraying the closed, rigidly stratified colonial society; against this background her vibrant, passionate main characters compel attention. Occasional lapses into overheated prose are disconcerting but don't impede the story's flow. Suspense, exotic locales, and strong-willed lovers make this novel a treat for romance readers.

North and South


John Jakes - 1982
    Though brought together in a friendship that neither jealousy nor violence could shatter, the Hazards and the Mains are torn apart by the storm of events that has divided the nation.

The Summer Day Is Done


R.T. Stevens - 1976
    The haunting story of a forbidden love between the agent of the British King and the daughter of the Imperial Czar.

At the Going Down of the Sun


Elizabeth Darrell - 1985
    The Sheridan brothers pursue the pastimes of the rich and talented in the idyllic village of Tarrant Royal, unaware of the coming war that will test their courage and family loyalty to the limit. Roland, an aspiring surgeon, believes his duty lies in remaining as squire of his Dorset village. But charges of cowardice force him into a conflict his conscience cannot condone. Rex, a womanizer and daredevil aviator, dons the RFC uniform. As time passes and he becomes an ace over the skies of France he knows that one day soon his luck must run out. Chris, a brilliant scholar about to enter university, is driven to enlist by a scandal which shatters his golden future. Hopelessly unfitted for battle, he faces the carnage of Gallipoli not caring whether he lives or dies. In Elizabeth Darrell's richly detailed, mesmeric novel the Sheridans live, love and fight for survival like the sons of all families caught up in a savage war which changed the old ways forever. ‘Moving romance’ - Yorkshire Evening Post ‘A wonderful story, compellingly told…the authenticity - both historical and emotional - really shines through’ - Sarah Harrison Elizabeth Darrell served as an officer in the WRAC. She is the author of seven acclaimed novels, including ‘Concerto’, ‘And in the Morning’ and ‘We Will Remember’. Under the pen-name Emma Drummond she has written eleven historical novels. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.

The Guardian of Secrets


Jana Petken - 2013
    Celia's two sons march under opposing banners, whilst her twin daughters take different paths; one to the Catholic Church and the other to the battlefields. And in the shadow of war, a sinister villain from the past resurfaces with the sole purpose of destroying the entire family. "Four generations struggle in a suspenseful family saga, which begins in 1912, in Kent, England, and ends in 1939 in Spain, during the Civil War."

The Last Pearl


Leah Fleming - 2016
    She finds refuge as a Saturday girl for an old jeweller, Saul Abrahams, and her eye for detail, her long fingers and appreciation of beauty persuade Saul to train her as a pearl stringer. This skill will lead her through hardship and pain towards a new life. 1879, Scotland.Jem Baillie knows the immense power of a perfect pearl. His father was a fisher on a tributary of the Tay river in Perthshire, Scotland, and together they found the rarest of pearls, a great white pearl they call Queenie. When this is stolen from them, Eben vows revenge. Spanning generations and continents, tracing the rivers of Scotland and the Mississippi, The Last Pearl is a sweeping novel of desire and revenge, of family and freedom, and of one woman's journey to open the shell she has built around herself to reveal the true beauty within.

The Lost Wife


Alyson Richman - 2011
    'Do you remember me now?' he asked, trembling. She looked at him again, as if giving weight and bone to a ghost. 'Lenka, it's me,' he said. 'Josef. Your husband.' During the last moments of calm in prewar Prague, Lenka, a young art student, falls in love with Josef. They marry - but soon, like so many others, they are torn apart by the currents of war. In America Josef becomes a successful obstetrician and raises a family, though he never forgets the wife he thinks died in the camps. But in the Nazi ghetto of Terez??n - and later in Auschwitz - Lenka has survived, relying on her skills as an artist and the memories of a husband she believes she will never see again. Now, decades later, an unexpected encounter in New York brings Lenka and Josef back together. From the comfort of life in Prague before the occupation to the horrors of Nazi Europe, The Lost Wife explores the endurance of first love, the resilience of the human spirit and our capacity to remember.

The Baker's Daughter


D.P. Cornelius - 2017
    Marek, a young man with a secretive past, labors just a few paces away in the kitchen, but where do his loyalties lie? With the Nazis? With Liddy? Liddy's father, Klaus, secures a night job as a prison guard where anti-Nazi dissident, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is being held. Klaus smuggles out the pastor's letters, but tensions rise as Keppler establishes a tenuous relationship with Liddy's young brother, Willy. Does the Nazi officer wish to recruit Willy, or is Keppler there to spy on Liddy's family? From air raids to the Hitler Youth, Liddy becomes enmeshed in a world of spies intent on betrayal. When Liddy makes a critical mistake that endangers a loved one, she faces a decision that puts her own faith on the line and her family's safety in jeopardy.

The Dance of Love


Angela Young - 2014
    Against a backdrop of high Edwardian luxury, Natalie Edwardes is poised on the brink of adulthood and, in an age when a woman's destiny is decided by marriage, her beauty, wit and wealth would seem to guarantee her a glittering future. But, isolated by her father's position as a self-made man, Natalie has never felt at ease in a society bound by a maze of conventions. Heart, for her, will always rule head, and so it seems that an encounter with a dashing yet gentle artist-soldier contains all the seeds of her life's happiness. The dance of Natalie's life whirls her from the glittering ballrooms of London and the grand houses of Scotland and Devon, to the Scottish Highlands. But the strictures of polite society are far-reaching and Natalie's happiness is abruptly snatched away. She is forced to compromise her romantic ideals and it is only when the tragedy of the Titanic touches her life, years later, that she discovers what love really means and the heartrending choices it poses. Choices that even the cataclysmic events of 1914-1919 seem unlikely to challenge.

The Forever Tree


Rosanne Bittner - 1995
    Then he beheld the exotic Spanish beauty called Santana, and the rugged New Englander was forever lost. In her dark, luminous eyes he saw all that was beautiful and irresistible about this rich and fertile country -- all that he wished to possess yet did not fully understand.BUT NOTHING AND NO ONE COULD KEEP THEM APARTWith every beat of her innocent heart Santana knew that this tall, handsome, blue-eyed American was the only man she could ever love. But between Santana and Will stood a lifetime of tradition -- and a powerful and ruthless Spanish don who would kill any man who dared to covet his intended bride. Now, as Will's dream of Lassater Mills becomes a reality, he will risk everything to make Santana his own. And though love cannot protect them from vengeful enemies or the fires of change raging across this land, it may give them the strength to face an uncertain future, and in the midst of tragedy the courage to begin anew...

Going Home


James D. Shipman - 2014
    As he grows older, he finds his kind nature exploited by others—including an alluring young woman named Lucy—until he gets swept away by the conflict that divides a nation.After the bloody siege of Petersburg, Joseph floats in and out of consciousness at a Union army hospital. Keeping vigil at his side is Rebecca Walker, a nurse and widow all too familiar with the horrors of war. As Joseph fights for his life and Rebecca struggles to follow her heart, both face a devastating choice: whether to hang on to the wounds of the past or move on to an uncertain future.From the fields of Ireland to the metropolis of Quebec to the battlefields of Virginia, Going Home follows one man’s quest for his place in a world still healing from the wreckage of war.

Seldom Come By


Sherryl Caulfield - 2013
    Love sparks in the crystal cave of an iceberg but is thwarted by an unreasonable father and the Great War that drags Samuel and his brother, Matthew, to the Western Front as medical officers. Knowing Rebecca is home safe in Newfoundland brings Samuel great comfort. But as the war moves towards its final harrowing days, they both discover that tragedy and terror can strike anywhere, setting their love on an unforeseen path.Only when Samuel and Rebecca can fully come to terms with such devastating loss and their impossible choices can their love soar. With an emotional intensity reminiscent of The Bronze Horseman, Seldom Come By, named after an actual place in Newfoundland, is an unforgettable journey across waves and time and the full spectrum of human emotions.