Books like

Books like This Tender Land

12 books with a reading profile close to This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger. Balanced in tone; an easy read.

  1. 1 The Island of Sea Women

    The Island of Sea Women

    by Lisa See

    narrative, accessible

    Set on the Korean island of Jeju, this novel follows the lifelong friendship between Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls who join a collective of haenyeo female divers.

  2. 2 The Dictionary of Lost Words

    The Dictionary of Lost Words

    by Pip Williams

    narrative, accessible

    Set in the late nineteenth century during the compilation of the first Oxford English Dictionary, Esme Nicoll grows up beneath the sorting table where her father and other lexicographers classify words.

  3. 3 The Lincoln Highway

    The Lincoln Highway

    by Amor Towles

    narrative, accessible

    In 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson returns to his foreclosed Nebraska farm after serving time at a juvenile work farm for involuntary manslaughter.

  4. 4 Uncommon Type

    Uncommon Type

    by Tom Hanks

    narrative, accessible

    Tom Hanks's debut book of fiction contains seventeen stories, each in some way featuring a typewriter, whether as the object at the centre or just in passing.

  5. 5 The House of Eve

    The House of Eve

    by Sadeqa Johnson

    narrative, accessible

    In 1948 Philadelphia, high school student Ruby Pearsall strives to become the first in her family to attend college until a forbidden relationship with a local boy threatens her scholarship prospects.

  6. 6 The Invention of Wings

    The Invention of Wings

    by Sue Monk Kidd

    narrative, accessible

    The story follows Sarah Grimké, the daughter of a wealthy Charleston judge, and Hetty "Handful," the enslaved girl gifted to Sarah on her eleventh birthday.

  7. 7 Olga Dies Dreaming

    Olga Dies Dreaming

    by Xóchitl González

    narrative, accessible

    Set in 2017 New York City, the narrative follows Olga Acevedo, a high-end wedding planner for the billionaire class, and her brother Prieto, a popular congressman representing their native Brooklyn neighborhood.

  8. 8 Rules of Civility

    Rules of Civility

    by Amor Towles

    narrative, accessible

    On New Year’s Eve in 1937, legal secretary Katey Kontent and her roommate Eve Ross meet a wealthy banker named Tinker Grey in a Greenwich Village jazz hole.

  9. 9 Fourteen Days

    Fourteen Days

    by Margaret Atwood, Douglas Preston

    narrative, accessible

    Set in a Lower East Side tenement during the early lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, this collaborative novel follows a group of neighbors who gather on their rooftop to exchange stories.

  10. 10 The Boston Girl

    The Boston Girl

    by Anita Diamant

    narrative, accessible

    The novel follows Addie Baum, the daughter of Jewish immigrants, as she recounts her life story to her granddaughter in 1985.

  11. 11 You Think It, I'll Say It

    You Think It, I'll Say It

    by Curtis Sittenfeld

    narrative, accessible

    Curtis Sittenfeld's collection of ten stories looks at contemporary American relationships with a sharp, witty eye.

  12. 12 Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows

    Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows

    by Balli Kaur Jaswal

    narrative, accessible

    Nikki, a young British-Punjabi woman, accepts a job teaching creative writing to a group of Sikh widows in Southall, London.

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