Recommendations based on Mr. Churchill's Secretaryby Susan Elia MacNeal

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. His Majesty's Hope

    by Susan Elia MacNeal
    In WWII London, spy Maggie Hope infiltrates a Nazi training camp for female agents.

    World War II has finally come home to Britain, but it takes more than nightly air raids to rattle intrepid spy and expert code breaker Maggie Hope. After serving as a secret agent to protect Princess ... (Goodreads)

  2. A Duty to the Dead

    by Charles Todd
    A nurse in WWI makes a promise to a dying soldier, leading her on a dangerous quest to uncover the truth about his death.

    A Duty to the Dead introduces readers to an unforgettable new protagonist in an exceptional new series: Bess Crawford, a courageous World War I nurse and determined investigator. Once again the New ... (Goodreads)

  3. Elegy for Eddie

    by Jacqueline Winspear
    Private investigator Maisie Dobbs investigates the death of a simple-minded man, Eddie, and uncovers secrets and motives in his community.

    Early April, 1933. Maisie’s newest clients are the costermongers of Covent Garden, men who sell fruit and vegetables from horse-drawn carts on the streets of London. To the costers, Eddie Pettit was ... (Goodreads)

  4. A Lesson in Secrets

    by Jacqueline Winspear
    Maisie Dobbs investigates the murder of a college professor in Cambridge during the build-up to World War II.

    In the summer of 1932, Maisie Dobbs’s career takes an exciting new turn when she accepts an undercover assignment directed by Scotland Yard’s Special Branch and the Secret Service. Posing as a junior ... (Goodreads)

  5. A Dangerous Place

    by Jacqueline Winspear
    A woman's investigation into a murder reveals the dark secrets of a small English town.

    Four years after she set sail from England, leaving everything she most loved behind, Maisie Dobbs at last returns, only to find herself in a dangerous place . . . In Jacqueline Winspear‘s powerful ... (Barnes & Noble)

  6. The Lost Wife

    by Alyson Richman
    A love story set in WWII Prague, where a young couple is separated by war and reunited decades later.

    There on her forearm, next to a small brown birthmark, were six tattooed numbers. 'Do you remember me now?' he asked, trembling. She looked at him again, as if giving weight and bone to a ghost. ... (Goodreads)

  7. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

    by Jamie Ford
    A touching story of the intersection of love, family, and culture during World War II.

    Henry Lee, the son of Chinese parents in Seattle , Washington, is the only Asian child at his elementary school. His father makes him wear an "I Am Chinese" button so he will not be mistaken for a ... (Wikipedia)

  8. Life After Life

    by Kate Atkinson
    A woman lives multiple lives, reflecting on choices and consequences and the power of love.

    The novel has an unusual structure, repeatedly looping back in time to describe alternative possible lives for its central character, Ursula Todd, who is born on 11 February 1910 to an ... (Wikipedia)

  9. Magpie Murders

    by Anthony Horowitz
    A detective story set in the English countryside, featuring a mysterious murder, a missing manuscript and a secret that goes back generations.

    When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the bestselling crime ... (Goodreads)

  10. Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories

    by Agatha Christie
    A collection of short stories featuring the sharp-witted Miss Marple, solving crimes with her astute observations and knowledge of human nature.

    At last - all 20 Miss Marple short stories in a single volume! Jane Marple is from the village of St Mary Mead and applies her skills of observation and deduction to a wide variety of mysteries. ... (Goodreads)

  11. Day After Night

    by Anita Diamant
    Four women, survivors of the Holocaust, find solace and hope in a detention camp in Palestine.

    Atlit is a holding camp for illegal immigrants in Israel in 1945. There about 270 men and women await their future and try to recover from their past. Diamant with infinite compassion and ... (Goodreads)

  12. How the Light Gets In

    by Louise Penny
    Detective Armand Gamache investigates a murder in a small Canadian town, uncovering secrets and lies.

    Christmas is approaching, and in Québec it's a time of dazzling snowfalls, bright lights, and gatherings with friends in front of blazing hearths. But shadows are falling on the usually festive ... (Goodreads)

  13. The Face of a Stranger

    by Anne Perry
    A gripping mystery surrounding the identity of a murdered man and the secrets that lie beneath.

    His name, they tell him, is William Monk, and he is a London police detective. But the accident that felled him has left him with only half a life; his memory and his entire past have vanished. As he ... (Goodreads)

  14. Don't Look Back

    by Karin Fossum
    A psychological thriller about a murder investigation that uncovers dark secrets and hidden motives.

    The body of a local teenage girl named Annie was found by an idyllic pond in the woods. The suspect list grows indefinitely. However, as Inspector Sejer and his partner Jacob Skarre question the ... (Wikipedia)

  15. Juliet

    by Anne Fortier
    A young woman travels to Siena, Italy to uncover the truth about her ancestor, Giulietta, and her connection to the famous Romeo and Juliet story.

    Juliet is about a woman named Julie Jacobs who discovers that her ancestor Giulietta is the real-life Juliet of, Romeo and Juliet, fame. , In her encounters with various descendants of the young ... (Wikipedia)

  16. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend

    by Katarina Bivald
    A young woman's journey of self-discovery and finding her place in the world.

    Once you let a book into your life, the most unexpected things can happen... Broken Wheel, Iowa, has never seen anyone like Sara, who traveled all the way from Sweden just to meet her pen pal, Amy. ... (Goodreads)

  17. The Language of Bees

    by Laurie R. King
    Detective story of a British nobleman's investigation into the murder of Sherlock Holmes.

    Russell and Holmes return to their home in Sussex, England , in 1924 after seven months abroad in India, Japan and California. The novel features a domestic mystery as a hive on Holmes's farm has ... (Wikipedia)

  18. Letters from Skye

    by Jessica Brockmole
    A woman discovers her connections to a family living on a remote Scottish island.

    A sweeping story told in letters, spanning two continents and two world wars, Jessica Brockmole’s atmospheric debut novel captures the indelible ways that people fall in love, and celebrates the ... (Goodreads)

  19. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows

    by Alan Bradley
    A young girl's detective work uncovers a sinister mystery in a small English village.

    It's Christmastime, and the precocious Flavia de Luce - an eleven-year-old sleuth with a passion for chemistry and a penchant for crime-solving - is tucked away in her laboratory, whipping up a ... (Goodreads)

  20. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust

    by Alan Bradley
    An orphaned girl's adventure of solving a decades-old murder at the mysterious Miss Bodycote's Female Academy.

    NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER,Flavia de Luce—“part Harriet the Spy, part Violet Baudelaire from Lemony Snicket’s, A Series of Unfortunate Events,” (,The New York Times Book Review,)—takes her remarkable ... (Goodreads)

  21. The Perfume Collector

    by Kathleen Tessaro
    A woman discovers secrets of her past, uncovers forgotten memories.

    A remarkable novel about secrets, desire, memory, passion, and possibility. Newlywed Grace Monroe doesn’t fit anyone’s expectations of a successful 1950s London socialite, least of all her own. When ... (Barnes & Noble)

  22. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

    by Alan Bradley
    Amateur detective Flavia de Luce investigates mysterious murder in an English village.

    On a spring morning in 1951, eleven-year-old chemist and aspiring detective Flavia de Luce gathers with her family at the railway station, awaiting the return of her long-lost mother, Harriet. Yet ... (Goodreads)

  23. Winter of the World

    by Ken Follett
    Epic saga of war, family, and love during the tumultuous times of the 20th century.

    The story follows characters from Germany , Britain , the United States and the Soviet Union , who become linked by events leading to World War II , and continues through the war and its immediate ... (Wikipedia)

  24. Girl Waits with Gun

    by Amy Stewart
    A young woman's quest for justice, and her unexpected journey of bravery and empowerment.

    A novel based on the forgotten true story of one of the nation’s first female deputy sheriffs. Constance Kopp doesn’t quite fit the mold. She towers over most men, has no interest in marriage or ... (Goodreads)

  25. A Test of Wills

    by Charles Todd
    A suspenseful World War I murder mystery, set in England.

    In 1919, Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge remains haunted by World War I, where he was forced to have a soldier executed for refusing to fight. When Rutledge is assigned to investigate a murder ... (Goodreads)

  26. We Need New Names

    by NoViolet Bulawayo
    A young girl's journey from Zimbabwe to America, encountering the struggles of adapting to a different culture.

    The novel begins by following a group of mostly pre-teen children - the central character Darling and her friends Stina, Chipo, Bastard and Godknows - living in tin shacks in Zimbabwe after their ... (Wikipedia)

  27. To Say Nothing of the Dog

    by Connie Willis
    Time-traveling historian visits Victorian England in search of an artifact, amidst a comedy of errors.

    Ned Henry is a time traveler in 1940 studying Coventry Cathedral after the Coventry Blitz of World War II . He is specifically searching for the location of the "Bishop's bird stump ", a MacGuffin ... (Wikipedia)

  28. A Child's Garden of Verses

    by Robert Louis Stevenson
    A collection of poems that capture the joys and wonders of childhood, from playing outside to dreaming of far-off lands.

    Up into the cherry tree Who should climb but little me? I held the trunk with both my hands And looked abroad on foreign lands. Here is a delightful look at childhood, written by master poet and ... (Goodreads)

  29. Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

    by Therese Anne Fowler
    A reimagining of the life of the iconic Jazz Age socialite and her tempestuous marriage with F. Scott Fitzgerald.

    A dazzling novel that captures all of the romance, glamour, and tragedy of the first flapper, Zelda Fitzgerald. When beautiful, reckless Southern belle Zelda Sayre meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a ... (Goodreads)

  30. A Murder Is Announced

    by Agatha Christie
    An unexpected death in a small village leads to a mystery investigation.

    A notice appears in the paper of Chipping Cleghorn: "A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, 29 October, at Little Paddocks, at 6.30 pm. Friends accept this, the only intimation." This ... (Wikipedia)