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Recommendations based on A Woman of Substanceby Barbara Taylor Bradford
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
The Thorn Birds
by Colleen McCullough
A powerful tale of forbidden love, set in rural Australia in the early 20th century.
The story begins in New Zealand on 8 December 1915, the fourth birthday of Meghann "Meggie" Cleary who is the only daughter of Padriac ("Paddy"), an Irish farm labourer, and Fiona ("Fee"), his wife. ... (Wikipedia)
The Far Pavilions
by M.M. Kaye
Epic adventure story set in 19th century India, exploring the clash of East and West.
Ashton Pelham-Martyn (Ash) is the son of a British botanist travelling through India; he is born on the road shortly before the Sepoy uprising of 1857 . His mother dies from childbed fever shortly ... (Wikipedia)
The Shell Seekers
by Rosamunde Pilcher
A family explores their past, present, and future while examining the importance of treasured objects.
Shifting in time, the novel tells the story of Penelope Keeling, the daughter of unconventional parents (an artist father and his much-younger French wife), examining her past and her relationships ... (Wikipedia)
Centennial
by James A. Michener
Epic journey through the history of the American West, painting a vivid picture of its people and culture.
Written to commemorate the Bicentennial in 1976, James A. Michener’s magnificent saga of the West is an enthralling celebration of the frontier. Brimming with the glory of America’s past, the story ... (Goodreads)
The Client
by John Grisham
A young boy is thrust into a legal battle, as he tries to protect himself and his family.
Boyd Boyette, a United States Senator from Louisiana, goes missing. Because of his vocal opposition to a proposed major toxic landfill project by a company known to be Mafia-backed, murder is ... (Wikipedia)
Cause of Death
by Patricia Cornwell
A medical examiner and her team investigate a series of murders connected to a mysterious virus.
It is New Year's Eve, the last day of Virginia's bloodiest year since the Civil War. Dr. Kay Scarpetta plunges into the murky depths of a ship graveyard to recover the very human remains of Ted ... (Goodreads)
Where the Heart Is
by Billie Letts
A journey of resilience and courage, as a young woman faces her struggles with poverty and hardship.
This novel opens with Novalee and Willy Jack, her then boyfriend, traveling from Tennessee to California , where Willy Jack claims he was promised by his cousin, J. Paul, a job working at a train ... (Wikipedia)
Presumed Innocent
by Scott Turow
Prosecutor Rusty Sabich is accused of murdering his colleague and mistress. He must prove his innocence while navigating a web of lies and deceit.
The novel begins with the discovery of Carolyn Polhemus, dead in her apartment. She is the victim of what appears to be a sexual bondage encounter gone wrong, killed outright by a fatal blow to the ... (Wikipedia)
Absolute Power
by David Baldacci
A power-hungry President, a daring thief and a determined investigator collide in a thrilling tale of manipulation and murder.
An experienced burglar, Luther Whitney, breaks into a billionaire's house with the intent of robbing it. While there, he witnesses the President of the United States and the billionaire's wife having ... (Wikipedia)
These Happy Golden Years
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
A young girl's journey of self-discovery as she moves through adulthood.
As the novel begins, Pa is taking Laura 12 miles from home in the dead of winter to her first teaching assignment at Brewster settlement. Laura being only 15 and a schoolgirl herself, is apprehensive ... (Wikipedia)
The Green Mile
by Stephen King
A prison guard discovers the power of redemption, and miracles, when he meets a mysterious inmate.
Featuring a first-person narrative told by Paul Edgecombe, the novel switches between Paul as an old man in the Georgia Pines nursing home writing down his story in 1996, and his time in 1932 as the ... (Wikipedia)
Rich Man, Poor Man
by Irwin Shaw
A family saga spanning generations, exploring the power of money and its influence on relationships.
In the early parts of the novel Shaw goes to great lengths to make the point about "Jordache blood" – violent, bitter, resentful. One of the ways he does this is by meticulously describing the ... (Wikipedia)
Heaven and Hell
by John Jakes
A family saga set in late 19th century America, confronting the consequences of ambition and greed.
The last days of the Civil War bring no peace for the Main and Hazard families. As the Mains’ South smolders in the ruins of defeat, the Hazards’ North pushes blindly for relentless industrial ... (Goodreads)
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
by Hannah Green
A young woman's story of struggle to overcome her mental illness and reclaim her life.
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden is the story of a sixteen-year-old who retreats from reality into the bondage of a lushly imagined but threatening kingdom, and her slow and painful journey back to ... (Goodreads)
The Undomestic Goddess
by Sophie Kinsella
A lawyer's unexpected journey into domesticity, learning the joys of a simpler life.
Workaholic attorney Samantha Sweeting has just done the unthinkable: she’s made a huge mistake. A mistake so huge, it’ll wreck any chance of a partnership. Going into utter meltdown, she walks out of ... (Wikipedia)
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
by Ernest J. Gaines
The life story of a former slave, Jane Pittman, who lived through the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement.
Miss Jane Pittman. She is one of the most unforgettable heroines in American fiction, a woman whose life has come to symbolize the struggle for freedom, dignity, and justice. Ernest J. Gaines’s ... (Goodreads)
Roots: The Saga of an American Family
by Alex Haley
A multigenerational saga tracing the journey of an African American family in the U.S.
Roots tells the story of Kunta Kinte —a young man taken from the Gambia when he was seventeen and sold as a slave—and seven generations of his descendants in the United States. Kunta, a Mandinka ... (Wikipedia)
Coming Home
by Rosamunde Pilcher
A journey of self-discovery and rediscovering love and family.
The story focuses on Judith Dunbar, who is enrolled in St. Ursula's, an English boarding school, when her parents and younger sister move to colonial Singapore . She is introduced to a world of ... (Wikipedia)
North and South
by John Jakes
A story of two families divided by the Civil War and their journey to reconciliation and understanding.
Part history, part novel, this book chronicles two great American dynasties over three generations. Though brought together in a friendship that neither jealousy nor violence could shatter, the ... (Goodreads)
Firestarter
by Stephen King
A young girl with pyrokinetic powers is pursued by a mysterious government agency.
Andy and Charlene "Charlie" McGee are a father/daughter pair on the run from a government agency known as The Shop. During his college years, Andy had participated in a Shop experiment dealing with ... (Wikipedia)
Scruples
by Judith Krantz
A young woman rises to the top of the fashion industry, navigating love, betrayal, and scandal along the way.
Born the only child of a distinguished scientist, who is a member of the venerable Winthrop family but must work for a living, Wilhelmina is nicknamed "Honey," a diminutive of her middle name. In her ... (Wikipedia)
The Lion's Game
by Nelson DeMille
An international terrorist gives chase to a CIA operative, with the fate of the world in the balance.
"The Lion" will be landing. And at New York's JFK Airport, an elite American task force waits as the notorious Libyan terrorist prepares to defect to the West. Then, aboard Flight 175, something goes ... (Wikipedia)
QB VII
by Leon Uris
A courtroom drama that explores the aftermath of a libel suit brought by a Polish doctor against an American author.
A famous author, Abraham Cady, stands trial for libel. In his book The Holocaust , he named eminent surgeon Sir Adam Kelno as one of the Jadwiga concentration camp 's most sadistic inmate/doctors. ... (Wikipedia)
Airport
by Arthur Hailey
An airport becomes a microcosm of human drama, revealing the stories of those who pass through its gates.
The story takes place at Lincoln International, a fictional Chicago airport based very loosely on O'Hare International Airport . The action mainly centers on Mel Bakersfeld, the Airport General ... (Wikipedia)
A Virtuous Woman
by Kaye Gibbons
A woman's struggle to overcome poverty and take control of her own destiny.
When Blinking Jack Stokes met Ruby Pitt Woodrow, she was twenty and he was forty. She was the carefully raised daughter of Carolina gentry and he was a skinny tenant farmer who had never owned ... (Goodreads)
The Reader
by Bernhard Schlink
A man's journey of understanding, uncovering a dark secret from his past.
Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of ... (Goodreads)
Exodus
by Leon Uris
The story of the birth of Israel, following the lives of Jewish refugees from WWII to the establishment of the state.
In 1946 American foreign correspondent Mark Parker and American nurse Kitty Fremont reunite as old friends. Kitty is an American volunteer at the Karaolos internment camp on Cyprus , where thousands ... (Wikipedia)
Curtain
by Agatha Christie
An amateur detective investigates a murder at a country estate, uncovering a mysterious plot.
A specific person is unsuspected of involvement in five murders by both the police and family of the victims. In all cases, there was a clear suspect. Four of these suspects have since died (one of ... (Wikipedia)
The Complete Anne of Green Gables 8-Book Box Set
by L.M. Montgomery
Follow the life of Anne Shirley, an imaginative and talkative orphan, as she grows up on Prince Edward Island.
Favorites for nearly 100 years, these classic novels follow the adventures of the spirited redhead Anne Shirley, who comes to stay at Green Gables and wins the hearts of everyone she meets. Includes ... (Goodreads)
Kane & Abel
by Jeffrey Archer
Two rival men, from different backgrounds, fight for success and power in a cutthroat world.
The book tells the stories of two men born worlds apart. They have nothing in common except the same date of birth (18 April 1906 in the book, and 1901 in the miniseries based on it) and a zeal to ... (Wikipedia)
