18 books like Bend sinister

What to read after Bend sinister — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Казаки (Kazaki) Лев Толстой · 1887 · ★ 4.0 The Cossacks (Russian: Казаки [Kazaki]) is a short novel by Leo Tolstoy, published in 1863 in the popular literary magazine The Russian Messenger. It was originally called Young Manhood. Both Ivan Turgenev and the Nobel prize-winning Russian writer Ivan Bunin gave the work great praise, with Turgenev calling it his favourite work by Tolstoy. Tolstoy began work on the story in August 1853. In… Shares: Russian literature, Continental european fiction

The Girls in the Stilt House Kelly Mustian · 2021 · ★ 4.1 · 380p · ≈ 12h · Moderate THE USA TODAY BESTSELLER!"Remarkable debut.... [a] nearly flawless tale of loss, perseverance and redemption."—Publishers Weekly, STARRED reviewPerfect for readers of Where The Crawdads Sing! Set in 1920s Mississippi, this debut Southern novel weaves a beautiful and harrowing story of two teenage girls cast in an unlikely partnership through murder.Ada promised herself she would never go back to… Shares: American literature, Romance

The Women of Chateau Lafayette Stephanie Dray · 2021 · ★ 4.3 · 576p · ≈ 19h · Moderate The USA Today Bestseller!Recommended by Oprah Magazine ∙ Cosmopolitan ∙ PopSugar ∙ SheReads ∙ Parade ∙ and more!An epic saga from New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray based on the true story of an extraordinary castle in the heart of France and the remarkable women bound by its legacy. Most castles are protected by men. This one by women.A founding mother...1774. Gently-bred… Shares: American literature, Romance

The Forest of Vanishing Stars Kristin Harmel · 2021 · ★ 4.5 · 384p · ≈ 12h · Moderate Parade “Best Books of Summer” pick Real Simple pick She Reads “Best WWII Fiction of Summer 2021” pickThe New York Times bestselling author of the “heart-stopping tale of survival and heroism” (People) The Book of Lost Names returns with an evocative coming-of-age World War II story about a young woman who uses her knowledge of the wilderness to help Jewish refugees escape the Nazis—until a… Shares: American literature, Romance

Becoming Madam Secretary Stephanie Dray · 2024 · ★ 4.5 · 649p · ≈ 21h · Moderate She took on titans, battled generals, and changed the world as we know it…“Inspiring and essential reading.” –New York TimesNew York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray returns with a captivating and dramatic novel about an American heroine Frances Perkins. Raised on tales of her revolutionary ancestors, Frances Perkins arrives in New York City at the turn of the century, armed with her… Shares: American literature, Romance

And They Called It Camelot Stephanie Marie Thornton · 2020 An intimate portrait of the life of Jackie O…   Few of us can claim to be the authors of our fate. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy knows no other choice. With the eyes of the world watching, Jackie uses her effortless charm and keen intelligence to carve a place for herself among the men of history and weave a fairy tale for the American people, embodying a senator’s wife, a devoted mother, a… Shares: American literature, Romance

Voskresenīe Лев Толстой · 1899 · ★ 4.2 · 572p · ≈ 19h · Challenging Resurrection, the last full-length novel written by Leo Tolstoy, was published in 1899 after ten years in the making. A humanitarian cause—the pacifist Doukhobor sect, persecuted by the Russian government, needed funds to emigrate to Canada—prompted Tolstoy to finish the novel and dedicate its ensuing revenues to alleviate their plight. Ultimately, Tolstoy’s actions were credited with helping… Shares: Russian literature, Continental european fiction

Идиот Fyodor Dostoyevsky · 1874 · ★ 4.2 · 655p · ≈ 21h · Demanding Inspired by an image of Christ's suffering, Fyodor Dostoyevsky set out to portray "a truly beautiful soul" colliding with the brutal reality of contemporary society. Returning to St. Petersburg from a Swiss sanatorium, the gentle and naive Prince Myshkin—known as "the idiot"—pays a visit to his distant relative General Yepanchin and proceeds to charm the General and his circle. But after becoming… Shares: Russian literature, Continental european fiction

Une mort tres douce Simone de Beauvoir · 1964 · ★ 4.1 · 123p · ≈ 4h · Moderate La journée du mardi se passa bien. La nuit, maman fit des cauchemars. On me met dans une boîte, disait-elle à ma sœur. Je suis là, mais je suis dans la boîte. Je suis moi, et ce n'est plus moi. Des hommes emportent la boîte! Elle se débattait: Ne les laisse pas m'emporter! Longtemps Poupette a gardé la main posée sur son front: Je te promets. Ils ne te mettront pas dans la boîte. Elle a réclamé… Shares: Texts, Continental european fiction

Анна Каренина Лев Толстой · 1876 · ★ 4.1 · 651p · ≈ 21h · Demanding Described by William Faulkner as the best novel ever written and by Fyodor Dostoevsky as “flawless,” Anna Karenina tells of the doomed love affair between the sensuous and rebellious Anna and the dashing officer, Count Vronsky. Tragedy unfolds as Anna rejects her passionless marriage and thereby exposes herself to the hypocrisies of society. Set against a vast and richly textured canvas of… Shares: Russian literature, Romance

Вишневый сад Антон Павлович Чехов · 1918 · ★ 3.7 · 57p · ≈ 1h · Challenging ""Pevear and Volokhonsky are at once scrupulous translators and vivid stylists of English."-The New YorkerThere have always been two versions of Chekhov's heartrending and humorous masterwork: the one with which we are all familiar, staged by Konstatine Stanislavski at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1904, and the one Chekhov had originally envisioned. Now, for the first time, both are available and… Shares: Russian literature, Continental european fiction

The Mad Wife Meagan Church · 321p · ≈ 10h · Moderate THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERFrom bestselling author Meagan Church comes a haunting exploration of identity, motherhood, and the suffocating grip of societal expectations that will leave you questioning the lives we build—and the lies we live.They called it hysteria. She called it survival.Lulu Mayfield has spent the last five years molding herself into the perfect 1950s housewife.… Shares: Romance

The Frozen River: A GMA Book Club Pick Ariel Lawhon NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GMA BOOK CLUB PICK • AN NPR BOOK OF THE YEAR • From the New York Times bestselling author of I Was Anastasia and Code Name Hélène comes a gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history."Fans of… Shares: Romance

The Lion Women of Tehran Marjan Kamali · 2025 A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERFrom nationally bestselling author Marjan Kamali, this perfect book club read is “evocative...and a powerful portrait of friendship, feminism, and political activism” (People) set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran. In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move… Shares: Romance

Daughters of the Sun and Moon Lisa See · ★ 4.2 A New York Times bestseller! From beloved bestselling author Lisa See, the story of three Chinese women whose unexpected friendship helps them survive and, despite the odds, thrive, in the turmoil of post–Civil War Los Angeles. In 1870, three Chinese women arrive in the small, dusty, and violent pueblo of Los Angeles. Dove, the bound-footed daughter of an imperial scholar, is entrancing and… Shares: Romance

The Sweet Blue Distance Sara Donati · 801p · ≈ 26h · Moderate A young midwife travels west to the New Mexico Territory to care for women in need and faces dangers more harrowing than the ones she’s fleeing in this epic tale of survival, redemption, and love from Sara Donati, the international bestselling author of the Wilderness series. 1857: In a bid to outrun her past, Carrie Ballentyne accepts a nursing position with a doctor in the New Mexico… Shares: Romance

A Pair of Aces: Reese's Book Club Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • A gripping novel about two trailblazing women on opposite sides of the law—a prosecutor and a madam—who team up to bring down notorious Mob boss Lucky Luciano in 1930s New York, from the New York Times bestselling authors of the million-copy bestseller The Personal Librarian.Eunice Carter, assistant district attorney for the City of New York and Manhattan’s first Black… Shares: Romance

A Founding Mother Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICKIn time for the 250th Anniversary of the birth of the United States comes a sweeping, intimate portrayal of Abigail Adams—wife of one president and mother to another—whose wit, willpower, and wisdom helped shape the fledgling republic. A stunning historical novel with modern-day implications from the New York Times bestselling authors of America’s First Daughter and My… Shares: Romance

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