Books like The Agony and the Ecstasy
12 books with a reading profile close to The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone. Clear-cut; a moderate read.
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1
China Dolls
by Lisa See
Also clear-cut · history, narrative
In 1938 San Francisco, three young women from different backgrounds—Grace, Helen, and Ruby—meet while auditioning for the Forbidden City nightclub.
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2
The Glassmaker
Also clear-cut · history, narrative
In 1486, Orsola Rosso is the daughter of a master glassmaker on Murano, the island near Venice where the city's glass is made under strict guild rules.
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3
The Lady and the Unicorn
Also clear-cut · history, narrative
In 1490s Paris, nobleman Jean Le Viste commissions a set of six tapestries to display his status.
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4
Glory Over Everything: Beyond The Kitchen House
Also clear-cut · history, narrative
In 1830s Philadelphia, James Pyke lives as a wealthy white gentleman, concealing his identity as the son of a black runaway from the Pyke plantation.
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5
The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers
Also clear-cut · history, narrative
Margaret George captures the life of England’s most notorious monarch through a fictionalized memoir discovered centuries after his death.
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6
The Bookbinder
by Pip Williams
Also clear-cut · history, narrative
Peggy Jones works in the bindery of Oxford University Press during the First World War, spending her days folding printed sheets for books she is not permitted to read.
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7
In the Company of the Courtesan
by Sarah Dunant
Also clear-cut · history, narrative
The story begins in 1527 during the Sack of Rome, as the luxury-loving prostitute Fiammetta Bianchini and her companion, the dwarf Bucino Teodoldi, escape the city’s destruction.
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8
The Book of Lost Friends
by Lisa Wingate
Also clear-cut · history, narrative
The narrative follows dual timelines centered around the real-life "Lost Friends" advertisements placed by formerly enslaved people searching for displaced family members after the American Civil War.
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9
The Marriage of Opposites
history, narrative
Set on the island of Saint Thomas in the early nineteenth century, this novel follows Rachel Pomie, a woman born into a strict Sephardic Jewish community.
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10
The Women in the Castle
history, narrative
Set in the immediate aftermath of World War II, this novel follows Marianne von Lingenfels, the widow of a German resistance fighter executed for his role in the failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
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11
A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck
Also clear-cut · history, biography
In 1973, Maurice and Maralyn Bailey departed England on a small yacht, seeking an alternative to the stagnant routines of suburban life.
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12
The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear
by Kate Moore
Also clear-cut · history, biography
In 1860, Elizabeth Packard’s husband committed her to the Illinois State Hospital for the Insane because she challenged his religious authority and asserted her intellectual independence.
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