Recommendations based on The Diary of Mattie Spenserby Sandra Dallas

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

  1. The Persian Pickle Club

    by Sandra Dallas
    A group of women in Kansas during the Great Depression, finding friendship and courage through quilting.

    In her magical, memorable novel, Sandra Dallas explores the ties of loyalty and friendship that unite the women in a, quilting circle in Depression-era Kansas,It is the 1930s, and hard times have hit ... (Barnes & Noble)

  2. These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901

    by Nancy E. Turner
    A young woman's struggle for independence, chronicles her journey through the American Southwest.

    “Belongs on your must-read list. This novel is a gem.” — Omaha World-Herald Nancy E. Turner's unforgettable, These Is My Words, melds the sweeping adventures and dramatic landscapes of, Lonesome ... (Barnes & Noble)

  3. Tallgrass

    by Sandra Dallas
    During WWII, a small Colorado town is forced to house Japanese-Americans in an internment camp, causing tension and revealing secrets.

    An essential American novel from Sandra Dallas, an unparalleled writer of our history, and our deepest emotions... During World War II, a family finds life turned upside down when the government ... (Goodreads)

  4. Whistling Past the Graveyard

    by Susan Crandall
    A young girl's journey of self-discovery, overcoming challenges on a journey to be reunited with her family.

    The summer of 1963 begins like any other for nine-year-old Starla Claudelle. Born to teenage parents in Mississippi, Starla is being raised by a strict paternal grandmother, Mamie, whose worst fear ... (Goodreads)

  5. Prayers for Sale

    by Sandra Dallas
    A heartwarming story of two women in a Colorado mining town during the Great Depression, who form an unlikely friendship through their shared experiences.

    Hennie Comfort is eighty-six and has lived in the mountains of Middle Swan, Colorado since before it was Colorado. Nit Spindle is just seventeen and newly married. She and her husband have just moved ... (Goodreads)

  6. One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd

    by Jim Fergus
    In 1875, May Dodd and a group of women are sent to marry Cheyenne warriors. May's journal tells of her journey and the relationships she forms.

    Based on an actual historical event but told through fictional diaries, this,, is the story of May Dodd—a remarkable woman who, in 1875, travels through the American West to marry the chief of the ... (Barnes & Noble)

  7. Sarah's Quilt

    by Nancy E. Turner
    Sarah's journey continues as she navigates life on the frontier, facing challenges and finding love.

    Sarah's Quilt, the long-awaited sequel to, These Is My Words, continues the dramatic story of Sarah Agnes Prine. Beloved by readers and book clubs from coast to coast,, These Is My Words, told the ... (Barnes & Noble)

  8. The Kitchen House

    by Kathleen Grissom
    A young Irish girl is taken in by a plantation family in Virginia and becomes entangled in the lives of the slaves who work there.

    When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family. Orphaned while onboard ship ... (Goodreads)

  9. Pope Joan

    by Donna Woolfolk Cross
    A story of a female Pope's rise to power in a male-dominated world.

    Joan, the daughter of a priest and his Saxon wife, is born in 814 as the last of three children. When he discovers that Joan has learned to read, her father calls her “child of the devil” and blames ... (Wikipedia)

  10. Cutting for Stone

    by Abraham Verghese
    A sweeping journey of two twin brothers and their search for identity, belonging and family.

    The story is told by the protagonist, Marion Stone. He and his conjoined twin Shiva are born at Mission Hospital (called "Missing" in accordance with the local pronunciation), Addis Ababa , in ... (Wikipedia)

  11. A Year Down Yonder

    by Richard Peck
    Young girl moves to her grandmother's for a year, discovering life's hard lessons and unexpected joys.

    The year is 1938, and the Great Depression has hit the Dowdel family hard. 15-year-old Mary Alice is sent downstate to live with Grandma Dowdel while her mother and father remain in Chicago. Her ... (Wikipedia)

  12. The Good Earth

    by Pearl S. Buck
    A story of humble farmers facing the struggles of poverty and the upheaval of social change.

    The story begins on Wang Lung 's wedding day and follows the rise and fall of his fortunes. The House of Hwang, a family of wealthy landowners, lives in the nearby town, where Wang Lung's future ... (Wikipedia)

  13. My Name Is Mary Sutter

    by Robin Oliveira
    A midwife's journey of self-determination, as she strives to become a surgeon in the Civil War.

    A, New York Times, bestseller and a moving Civil War novel about a young midwife who dreams of becoming a surgeon. Fans of Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks, Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, and ... (Goodreads)

  14. The Goose Girl

    by Shannon Hale
    A young princess must overcome great obstacles to reclaim her rightful throne.

    When crown princess Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee was born, she did not open her eyes until her aunt held her. The woman became her nursemaid and constant companion, nicknaming her Ani and telling ... (Wikipedia)

  15. Mrs. Mike

    by Benedict Freedman
    A young woman's voyage of self-discovery, learning to survive and thrive in the Canadian wilderness.

    The novel is based on the stories of Katherine Mary O'Fallon Flannigan (1899-1954). , , , According to her fictionalized account, in 1907 at age 16 O'Fallon travels to Calgary to visit her uncle and ... (Wikipedia)

  16. The Forgotten Garden

    by Kate Morton
    A woman's quest to uncover the secrets of her family's past, leading to a mysterious garden.

    At Nell's joyous 21st birthday party her world falls apart when her father tells her she was adopted as a 4-year-old in 1913, seemingly abandoned on an Australian wharf and unable to remember her ... (Wikipedia)

  17. Follow the River

    by James Alexander Thom
    A woman's epic journey of survival and courage, escaping captivity in the American wilderness.

    Mary Ingles was twenty-three, married, and pregnant, when Shawnee Indians invaded her peaceful Virginia settlement, killed the men and women, then took her captive. For months, she lived with them, ... (Goodreads)

  18. The Space Between

    by Diana Gabaldon
    A woman's quest to reconcile her past and present, ultimately finding love and acceptance.

    Joan MacKimmie is on her way to Paris to take up her vocation as a nun. Yet her decision is less a matter of faith than fear, for Joan is plagued by mysterious voices that speak of the future, and by ... (Goodreads)

  19. The Red Queen

    by Philippa Gregory
    The story of Margaret Beaufort, a woman who would stop at nothing to see her son crowned King of England.

    Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found, here, The second book in Philippa's stunning new trilogy, The Cousins' War, brings to life the story of Margaret Beaufort, a shadowy and ... (Goodreads)

  20. Chains

    by Laurie Halse Anderson
    A young girl's mission to secure her and her sister's freedom from enslavement.

    As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight...for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become ... (Goodreads)

  21. A Long Way from Chicago

    by Richard Peck
    Story of a brother and sister's adventures with their larger-than-life grandmother during their summer visits.

    "Shotgun Cheatham's" Last Night Above Ground - 1929" (originally printed in Twelve Shots: Stories About Guns, 1997). The first summer the children go to their grandmother's house, a reporter comes ... (Wikipedia)

  22. Sold

    by Patricia McCormick
    A young girl's fight for freedom after being sold into the sex trade in Nepal.

    Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl living with her family in a small hut in the mountains of Nepal. Her family is desperately poor, but her life is full of simple pleasures, like raising her ... (Wikipedia)

  23. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter

    by Tom Franklin
    A haunting tale of two childhood friends, one accused of murder, and the secrets that bind them together.

    Tom Franklin's extraordinary talent has been hailed by the leading lights of contemporary literature—Philip Roth, Richard Ford, Lee Smith, and Dennis Lebanese. Reviewers have called his fiction ... (Goodreads)

  24. Five Quarters of the Orange

    by Joanne Harris
    A gripping tale of a young woman's struggle to uncover the secrets of her past and confront her family's dark history.

    The novels of Joanne Harris are a literary feast for the senses. Five Quarters of the Orange represents Harris's most complex and sophisticated work yet - a novel in which darkness and fierce joy ... (Goodreads)

  25. The Thirteenth Tale

    by Diane Setterfield
    A mysterious storyteller reveals a dark family secret, transforming the lives of those around her.

    Vida Winter, a famous novelist in England, has evaded journalists' questions about her past, refusing to answer their inquiries and spinning elaborate tales that they later discover to be false. Her ... (Wikipedia)

  26. Pillar of Light

    by Gerald N. Lund
    Epic saga of a family's faith and courage in the face of persecution.

    "You believe me, don't you, Nathan." It was not a question, but a statement, filled with wonder.,, It stunned Nathan., ,"You believe it all. I can see it on your face.",, For a moment, time seemed ... (Barnes & Noble)

  27. The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

    by Mitch Albom
    A sweeping musical journey through the life of a Spanish guitar prodigy.

    “Talent is a piece of God’s shadow, and under that shadow, human stories intersect.,”, A Spanish war orphan born in a burning church and raised by a blind guitar teacher, Frankie Presto was gifted ... (Barnes & Noble)

  28. Yellow Crocus

    by Laila Ibrahim
    A story of courage and resilience in the face of slavery and racism in the Antebellum South.

    Moments after Lisbeth is born, she’s taken from her mother and handed over to an enslaved wet nurse, Mattie, a young mother separated from her own infant son in order to care for her tiny charge. ... (Goodreads)

  29. The Camel Club

    by David Baldacci
    A group of conspiracy theorists investigate a series of mysterious events, uncovering secrets at the highest levels of government.

    The exciting beginning of a talked-about series. Existing at the fringes of Washington D.C., the Club consists of four eccentric members. Led by a mysterious man known as "Oliver Stone," they study ... (Goodreads)

  30. Dreams of Joy

    by Lisa See
    A young woman's journey to discover her Chinese roots, only to find unexpected truth and tragedy.

    Dreams of Joy is organized in four sections—The Tiger Leaps, The Rabbit Dodges, The Dog Grins, and The Dragon Rises. Joy is the Tiger – romantic, artistic, rash, and impulsive. In this novel, unlike ... (Wikipedia)