Great Action/Adventure Reads

Try these books if you're looking for:

• action/adventure stories
• focus on history and science details in the plot
• settings all over the world
• Reads like James Rollins, Steve Berry, Vince Flynn, Chris Kuzneski, Boyd Morrison, Clive Cussler, Matthew Reilly, Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child, Lee Child

Vulcan’s Forge 
By Jack Du Brul
F DU BRUL Philip M #1
The dramatic eruption of a volcano in the Pacific Ocean results in a world-wide battle for domination when it becomes obvious that Vulcan's Forge can provide a limitless supply of clean nuclear energy.

Hawke 
By Ted Bell
F BELL Alex Haw #1
A modern-day swashbuckler and one of England's most decorated naval heroes, Lord Alexander Hawke heads for the Caribbean on a top-secret mission for the U.S. government to locate an experimental stealth submarine built by the Soviets just prior to the end of the Cold War which has fallen into the hands of an unstable government planning a preemptive strike against the U.S.

Historical Fiction Set in England

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Historical fiction
• Books set in England
• Read-alikes for Jane Austen or Philippa Gregory

Green Darkness
By Anya Seton
F SETON
A 16th-century Benedictine monk Stephen Marsdon falls in love with Celia de Bohun and forsakes his vows only to be reincarnated 400 years later in a similar situation.

Innocent Traitor
By Alison Weir
F WEIR
A fictional portrait of Lady Jane Grey, the great-niece of Henry VIII, follows her turbulent life against the backdrop of Tudor power politics and religious upheaval, from her youth, to her nine-day reign as Queen of England, to its tragic aftermath.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
By Mary Ann Shaffer
F SHAFFER
In 1946, writer Juliet Ashton finds inspiration for her next book in her correspondence with a native of Guernsey, who tells her about the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a book club born as an alibi during German occupation.

Katharine of Aragon
By Jean Plaidy
F PLAIDY
An evocative historical novel chronicles the life of Henry VIII's first wife, Katharine of Aragon, from her early days in England after being sent from Spain to marry Henry's sickly older brother, through her subsequent marriage to Henry, to the divorce that ignited a storm of controversy that changed history.

Rebecca
By Daphne du Maurier
F DU MAURIER
A classic novel of romantic suspense finds the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter entering the home of her mysterious and enigmatic new husband and learning the story of the house's first mistress, to whom the sinister housekeeper is unnaturally devoted.

Historical Fiction Set in Europe or Asia

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Historical fiction
• International setting

Invisible Bridge
By Julie Orringer
F ORRINGER
An unforgettable story of three brothers, of history and love, of marriage tested by disaster, of a Jewish family's struggle against annihilation, and of the dangerous power of art in a time of war.

The Smile
By Donna Joe Napoli
YA F NAPOLI
In Renaissance Italy, Elisabetta longs for romance, and when Leonardo da Vinci introduces her to Guiliano de Medici, whose family rules Florence but is about to be deposed, she has no inkling of the romance--and sorrow--that will ensue.

The Clan of the Cave Bear
By Jean M. Auel
F AUEL
After a natural disaster kills Ayla's tribe, members of the Clan of the Cave Bear find her and mistrust her because her blonde hair and blue eyes are different, but she eventually helps them survive.

Ties That Bind, Ties That Break
By Lensey Namioka
YA F NAMIOKA
Ailin's life takes a different turn when she defies the traditions of upper class Chinese society by refusing to have her feet bound.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
By Lisa See
F SEE
A story of friendship set in nineteenth-century China follows an elderly woman and her companion as they communicate their hopes, dreams, joys, and tragedies through a unique secret language.

Teen Titles Set in India

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Teen books
• Books set in India or Pakistan
  

Shiva’s Fire
By Suzanne Fisher Staples
YA F STAPLES In India, a talented dancer sacrifices friends and family for her art.

Homeless Bird
By Gloria Whelan
YA F WHELAN
When thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated marriage, she must either suffer a destiny dictated by India’s tradition or find the courage to oppose it.

Broken Moon
By Kim Antieau
YA F ANTIEAU
When her little brother is kidnapped and taken from Pakistan to race camels in the desert, eighteen-year-old Nadira overcomes her own past abuse and, dressed as a boy and armed with knowledge of the powerful storytelling legend of Scheherazade, is determined to find and rescue him.

Beneath My Mother’s Feet
By Amjed Qamar
YA F QAMAR
When her father is injured, fourteen-year-old Nazia is pulled out away from school, her friends, and her preparations for an arranged marriage, to help her mother clean houses in a wealthy part of Karachi, Pakistan, where she finally rebels against the destiny that is planned for her.

Classics

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Classics
• International setting
• Fiction

Middlemarch
By George Eliot
F ELIOT
This Victorian-era classic represents the ambiguities of moral choice. Set in a provincial Victorian neighborhood, the author explores the complex social relationships and the struggle to hold fast to personal integrity in a materialistic environment.

Master and Commander
By Patrick O’Brien
F O’BRIEN
In this historical fiction account the characters are sharply defined and the story is well-crafted. Captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin fight in the Napoleonic Wars.

Tess of the D’Urbervilles
By Thomas Hardy
F HARDY
This classic 19th Century British novel tells of agonizing moral choices. The son in the family for which Tess Durbeyfield works assaults her, and she has a child who dies in infancy, but her husband is unforgiving.

Mysteries Set in England

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Mysteries
• Set in England

Maisie Dobbs
By Jacqueline Winspear
MYSTERY WINSPEAR
This is the first book in the series, in which clever housemaid Maisie, after attending university with the help of her wealthy employer and serving as a nurse in World War I, opens an office dedicated to "discreet investigations," and takes her first case involving a wife who keeps disappearing and a mysterious retreat for former World War I soldiers.

A Great Deliverance
By Elizabeth George
MYSTERY GEORGE
Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers is getting a final chance for a promotion. Assigned to work with Inspector Thomas Lynley, the two head to Yorkshire to investigate the murder of a man by his daughter who was found sitting by her decapitated father and would only say "I did it. And I'm not sorry." Though she has refused to say another word, the townspeople believe she is innocent.

Aunt Dimity’s Death
By Nancy Atherton
MYSTERY ATHERTON
Summoned from her latest dreadful temp job by her lawyers, Lori Shephard discovers that Aunt Dimity --her mother's favorite bedtime story heroine--was a real person who has left her millions with a challenge to solve an eerie mystery.

Romantic Suspense Novels with International Settings

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Romance
• Suspense
• International Setting
• Mystery
  

Possession
By A.S. Byatt
F BYATT
"Literary critics make natural detectives," says Maud Bailey, heroine of a mystery where the clues lurk in university libraries, old letters, and dusty journals. Together with Roland Mitchell, a fellow academic and accidental sleuth, Maud discovers a love affair between two Victorian writers. At first, the discovery threatens only to alter the direction of their research, but as they unearth the truth about the long-forgotten romance, their involvement becomes increasingly urgent and personal

Rebecca
By Daphne Du Maurier
F DU MAURIER
A classic novel of romantic suspense finds the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter entering the home of her mysterious and enigmatic new husband and learning the story of the house's first mistress, to whom the sinister housekeeper is unnaturally devoted.

Ex-Libris
By Ross King
F KING
Hired to restore a once-magnificent library that had been ravaged during the English Civil War, London bookseller Isaac Inchbold leaves 1660s London to journey to a remote country estate, only to become embroiled in the search for a missing manuscript and a dark conspiracy of spies, smugglers, secret codes, and forgery.

Women's Stories with International Settings

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Women's literature
• Female characters
• International setting

A Thousand Splendid Suns
By Khalid Hosseini
F HOSSEINI
Two women of different backgrounds share a life under the same roof with the same abusive husband. “A Thousand Splendid Suns” is a story of personal tragedy set against the backdrop of national tragedy in Afghanistan.

Girls of Riyadh
By Rajaa Alsanea
F ALSANEA
A series of emails tells the struggles of four friends. These close girlfriends from upper-class Saudi families attend universities in Riyadh and in Chicago and San Francisco. Searching for love, they cannot escape deep-seated oppressive traditions after they return to Riyadh.

Saffron Kitchen
By Yasmin Crowther
F CROWTHER
The relationship between a mother and daughter grows turbulent when the mother, Maryam, returns to the tiny village in Iran where she grew up to come to terms with her past, especially with the ghost of her father and with her first love, Ali, who has been waiting for her return

Women of the Silk
By Gail Tsukiyama
F TSUKIYAMA
Spanning the years between the world wars, this tale of a young Chinese girl forced to work in a silk factory describes the sisterhood of workers she discovers there.

A Golden Age
By Tahmina Anam
F Anam
As she plans a party for her son and daughter, Rehana Haque's life will be transformed in a story of one family caught in the middle of the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence, as they face changes and decisions that will have a profound impact on their lives.

Historical Fiction Set in China

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Historical fiction
• Books set in China
• Female characters

Ties that Bind, Ties that Break
By Lensey Namioka
YA F NAMIOKA
Ailin's life takes a different turn when she defies the traditions of upper class Chinese society by refusing to have her feet bound.

Women of the Silk
By Gail Tsukiyama
F TSUKIYAMA
Spanning the years between the world wars, this tale of a young Chinese girl forced to work in a silk factory describes the sisterhood of workers she discovers there.

Bound
By Donna Jo Napoli
YA F NAPOLI
In a novel based on Chinese Cinderella tales, fourteen-year-old stepchild Xing-Xing endures a life of neglect and servitude, as her stepmother cruelly mutilates her own child's feet so that she alone might marry well.

Shanghai Shadows
By Losi Ruby
YA F RUBY
From 1939 to 1945, a Jewish family struggles to survive in occupied China; young Ilse by remaining optimistic, her older brother by joining a resistance movement, her mother by maintaining connections to the past, and her father by playing the violin that had been his livelihood.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
By Lisa See
F SEE
A story of friendship set in nineteenth-century China follows an elderly woman and her companion as they communicate their hopes, dreams, joys, and tragedies through a unique secret language.

The Last Empress
By Anchee Min
F MIN
Follows the last empress of China, as Empress Orchid copes with tragic personal losses as she struggles to save her crumbling empire.

Literary Fiction with a Latin America Focus

Try these books if you are looking for:

• Mutlicultural Fiction
• Latin American Characters
• Read-alikes for Isabelle Allende
• Read-alikes for Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Literary fiction

Caramelo
By Sandra Cisneros
F CISNEROS
During her family's annual car trip from Chicago to Mexico City, Lala Reyes listens to stories about her family, including her grandmother, the descendant of a renowned dynasty of shawl makers, whose magnificent striped shawl has come into Lala's possession.

In the Time of the Butterflies
Julia Alvarez
F ALVAREZ
Readers who are drawn to Allende's masterful storytelling voice may enjoy Julia Alvarez. Her novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, is rooted in the history of the Dominican Republic and tells the story of the Mirabal sisters, vibrant, revolutionary women who opposed the Trujillo regime. The story is divided into sections voiced by each of the four sisters, and is a gripping, personal tale set against a sweeping backdrop.

Lost City Radio
Daniel Alarcon
F ALACORN
Imparting comfort while reading the names of missing people to her war-ravaged listeners, radio host Norma finds her life irrevocably changed when a young boy from a remote jungle village provides a connection to her long-missing husband.

Sister of My Heart
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
F DIVAKARUNI
Two girls, one the daughter of an upper-caste Calcutta family, the other the daughter of the black sheep of that same family, form a sisterly bond that shatters when one of the girls discovers a dark family secret.

Eccentric Neighborhoods
Rosario Ferre
F FERRE
A fictional memoir about a woman from a male-dominated family of industrialists in Puerto Rico who struggles to understand her late mother, Eccentric Neighborhoods, tells the story of the loves and tragedies of the Rivas de Santillana, vibrant and individualistic women, and the Vernets, flawed and grasping men.

Chick-lit Set in the United Kingdom or Ireland

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Chick-lit
• Setting in U.K. or Ireland

Sushi for Beginners
By Marian Keyes
F KEYES
This novel depicts the lives of three women working in the Dublin fashion magazine industry. It explores the trials and tribulations as well as the happiness and joy of true friends in the fast-paced world of love and career.

Remember Me?
By Sophie Kinsella
F KINSELLA
When twenty-eight-year-old Lexi Smart wakes up in a London hospital, having survived a car accident, she has lost her memory of the last three years of her life. Somehow she has gone from a 25 year old working girl to a gorgeous, cut-throat businesswoman. And who is this gorgeous husband – who also happens to be a multimillionaire?

Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married
By Marian Keyes
F KEYES
26-year-old Londoner Lucy thinks that any man who’s decent to her must be Mr. Wrong. But when she visits a fortune-teller with a trio of friends, a marriage is predicted for the near future. When the fortune-teller’s prophecies for the other three come true, even disbelieving, boyfriendless Lucy begins to suspect that wedding bells will ring for her.

Bridget Jones’s Diary
By Helen Fielding
F FIELDING
The daily chronicle of a 30-something single English woman who is convinced her life would be perfect if she could lose weight, stop smoking and develop "Inner Poise".

The Thing About Jane Spring
By Sharon Krum
F KRUM
Struggling to find romance in spite of her intelligence, attractiveness, and promising career in the Manhattan D.A.’s office, Jane Spring models herself after Doris Day in the hope that a more feminine persona will land her the man of her dreams. (This title is not set in the U.K. or Ireland, but it’s a fun chick-lit book.)