18 books like Empire of the Sun

What to read after Empire of the Sun — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Sons of Heaven Terrence Cheng · 2002 · ★ 3.8 · 324p · ≈ 10h · Moderate "Sons of Heaven is an epic novel set against the backdrop of one of modern history's most haunting events: the Tiananmen Square massacre. In June 1989, the world watched in horror as China's military was mobilized to suppress a student movement that stood for peaceful democracy. Hundreds were killed; some say thousands. No one knows for sure.". "But the image that remains most powerful is that… Shares: China, Bildungsromans, History

Rinconete y Cortadillo Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra · 1761 · 76p · ≈ 2h · Demanding “Rinconete y Cortadillo” forma parte de las Novelas Ejemplares escritas por Miguel de Cervantes en 1613. Ésta es sin duda una de las más destacadas de la serie, siendo una excelente novela picaresca. Rincón y Cortado, dos muchachos andrajosos y maltratados de catorce a quince años de edad se encuentran un día caluroso de verano en la venta de Molinillo (Alcudia). Huyen de sus casas y deciden… Shares: Garçons, Boys

City of gold Len Deighton · 1992 · ★ 3.6 · 576p · ≈ 19h · Moderate "The pace of the story is compulsive . . . it is a real pleasure to be swallowed up in Deighton's description of wartime Cairo."—Daily TelegraphJanuary 1942. Rommel, the fabled "Desert Fox," has pushed back the British Army three hundred miles in a matter of weeks. His seemingly invincible Afrika Korps is at the gates of Egypt, soon to threaten Cairo itself. And Rommel has a spy in the city—a… Shares: World War II, World War

The Silence of Ghosts Jonathan Aycliffe · 2013 · 202p · ≈ 6h · Moderate "Dominic Lancaster hoped to prove himself to his family by excelling in the Navy during World War II. Instead he is wounded while serving as a gunner and loses his leg. Still recovering from his wounds and the trauma of his amputation when the Blitz begins, Dominic finds himself shuffled off to the countryside by his family, along with his partially deaf sister, Octavia. The crumbling family… Shares: World War II, World War

Night of the Fox Henry Patterson · 1757 · ★ 3.7 · 224p · ≈ 7h · Demanding Narra unos acontecimientos que hubieran podido cambiar radicalmente el desenlace de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Un veterano agente secreto británico debe rescatar a cualquier precio a un coronel norteamericano que ha naufragado cerca de la isla de Jersey, ocupada por los alemanes. El éxito de la operación resulta aún más problemático por la presencia en la isla de un doble del mariscal Rommel. La… Shares: World War II, World War

Lili Annie Wang · 2001 · ★ 4.0 · 320p · ≈ 10h · Moderate Derrière le portrait d'une jeune Chinoise dans les années 1980, l'histoire d'une prise de conscience sociale qui aboutit aux événements de la place Tian'anmen en 1989. [SDM]. Shares: China, Bildungsromans, History

Le grand cahier Ágota Kristóf · 1986 · ★ 4.1 · 185p · ≈ 6h · Moderate Un premier roman à la charnière de deux imaginaires. "L'Ouest intimiste et l'Est politique" (G. Brisac, "Le Monde", 7 mars 1986, p. 22). Les héros sont des jumeaux qui, comme l'écrit J.-Folch-Ribas dans "La Presse" du 10 mai 1986, opposent la perversité au mal. Shares: World War II, World War

Gravity's Rainbow Thomas Pynchon · 1973 · ★ 4.0 · 1160p · ≈ 38h · Challenging Winner of the National Book Award"The most profound and accomplished American novel since the end of World War II." —The New Republic“A screaming comes across the sky. . .” A few months after the Germans’ secret V-2 rocket bombs begin falling on London, British Intelligence discovers that a map of the city pinpointing the sexual conquests of one Lieutenant Tyrone Slothrop, U.S. Army, corresponds… Shares: World War II, World War, History

London Belles Annie Groves · 2010 London Belles is a tale of four very different young women thrown together by war. Finding freedom and independence – as well as love, passion and heartbreak – for the very first time, a unique bond is formed as the hostilities take their toll on Britain.United by chance, bound together in times of needWhen tragedy strikes, Olive is forced to seek lodgers. Three girls come knocking at her door,… Shares: World War II, World War

World's fair E. L. Doctorow · 1985 · ★ 3.9 · 288p · ≈ 9h · Moderate Recalls a certain New York City boyhood in the 1930s, through the eyes of the child himself and then him as an adult trying to reconstruct the past. Shares: Boys, Bildungsromans

Horizon, a novel Helen MacInnes · 1946 · 192p · ≈ 6h · Challenging A wartime story of conflicting emotions and loyalties. Some Tyrolean citizens, north and south, sick of being under Italian rule, look to the Nazi invasion as a liberation, their promises of freedom as something worth fighting for. Other wiser heads, including liberated POW Roy know the Nazi's treachery. Roy is holed up for 8 months in a family home as liaison between the local resistance and… Shares: World War II, World War

The Neon Bible John Kennedy Toole · 1989 · ★ 3.8 · 176p · ≈ 5h · Moderate The first novel by the Pulizer Prize-winning author of A Confederacy Of Dunces. David is a young boy growing up in a small Southern town in the 1940s. From his porch, David can see the whole valley, including the neon Bible that lights up the sky, emblem of the God-fearing folk who snub his family because Poppa can't afford the church dues. Shares: Boys, Bildungsromans

His Whole Life Elizabeth Hay · 2015 · 352p · ≈ 11h · Moderate 1 volume ; 20 cm Shares: Boys, Bildungsromans

Pied Piper Nevil Shute · 1941 · ★ 4.3 · 304p · ≈ 10h · Challenging The novel by Nevil Shute. As the German army overruns France . An old Englishman returning to Britain agrees to escort two children to London. Trains, buses, hotels fail him and each shift in his plans adds a new child until he and six children attempt to evade the Nazis and cross the English Channel. Shares: British, World War II, World War, History

Dragon Seed (Progress English) Pearl S. Buck · 1941 · ★ 4.5 · 352p · ≈ 11h · Challenging Dragon Seed is a fictional novel which describes the lives of Chinese peasants in a village outside Nanjing, China immediately prior to and during the Japanese invasion in 1937. Shares: China, World War II, History

Where Eagles Dare Alistair MacLean · 1967 · ★ 4.1 · 292p · ≈ 9h · Moderate One winter night, seven men and a woman are parachuted onto a mountainside in wartime Germany. Their objective: an apparently inaccessible castle, headquarters of the Gestapo. Their mission: to rescue a crashed American general before the Nazi interrogators can force him to reveal secret D-Day plans. Shares: British, World War II, World War

A Separate Peace John Knowles · 1959 · ★ 4.0 · 218p · ≈ 7h · Moderate Gene Forrester looks back fifteen years to a World War II year in which he and his best friend were roommates in a New hampshire boarding school. Shares: Boys, World War II, World War

Away in the wilderness Robert Michael Ballantyne · 1800 · ★ 3.7 · 55p · ≈ 1h · Challenging On a beautiful summer evening, not many years ago, a man was seen to ascend the side of a little mound or hillock, on the top of which he lingered to gaze upon the wild scenery that lay stretched out before him. The man wore the leathern coat and leggings of a North American hunter, or trapper, or backwoodsman; and well did he deserve all these titles, for Jasper Derry was known to his friends as… Shares: Garçons, Boys

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