Books like 'The Brilliance of Stars'
Readers who enjoyed The Brilliance of Stars by J'nell Ciesielski also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical fantasy suspense 20th century ancient times christian mystery war
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Ponniyin Selvan- Whirlwinds : Part 2 by Kalki
Rated: 4.66 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsWhirlwinds, the exciting second part of Kalki R Krishnamurthy's historic magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan, our hero Vallavarayan Vandhiyathevan's adventures continue as he rides into marshy quagmires, befriends a mysterious girl, becomes the object of intense suspicion by the wily Pazhuvettarayars - and meets the hero of his dreams... -
![Whirlwinds by Kalki]()
Whirlwinds by Kalki
Rated: 4.65 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsWhirlwinds, the exciting second part of Kalki R Krishnamurthy's historic magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan, our hero Vallavarayan Vandhiyathevan's adventures continue as he rides into marshy quagmires, befriends a mysterious girl, becomes the object of intense suspicion by the wily Pazhuvettarayars - and meets the hero of his dreams... -
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![Sword of Slaughter by Kalki]()
Sword of Slaughter by Kalki
Rated: 4.66 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsKalki Krishnamurthy’s Ponniyin Selvan is a masterpiece that has enthralled generations of Tamil readers. Many authors have written phenomenal books in Tamil literature after Kalki Krishnamurthy, but Ponniyin Selvan remains the most popular, widely-read novel... -
![Ponniyin Selvan-Part 1-Fresh Floods by Kalki]()
Ponniyin Selvan-Part 1-Fresh Floods by Kalki
Rated: 4.64 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsPonniyin Selvan is Kalki’s magnum opus based in the 10th century and presents the early life of Raajaraajan and the kings of Chozha Empire. Though written more than 60 years ago this saga is timeless, reeling the readers in its gripping plot which is interwoven with intrigue, conspiracies and romance... -
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![Troy by Stephen Fry]()
Troy by Stephen Fry
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsThe story of Troy speaks to all of us - the kidnapping of Helen, a queen celebrated for her beauty, sees the Greeks launch a thousand ships against the city of Troy, to which they will lay siege for ten whole years. It is a terrible war with casualties on all sides as well as strained relations between allies, whose consequences become tragedies... -
![Joanna by Katrina D. Hamel]()
Joanna by Katrina D. Hamel
Rated: 4.61 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsShe's bound to the infamous Herodian dynasty, but her bold faith will carve her name in the gospel.Joanna must pay the price for her brother's crime. Claimed as a hostage, she's forced from the verdant slopes of her beloved vineyard to serve Herod Antipas' neglected wife. In an opulent palace where Roman culture supersedes the commands of God, Joanna struggles to express her Jewish faith... -
![Dreamers by Angela Elwell Hunt]()
Dreamers by Angela Elwell Hunt
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsTuya came as a teenaged slave to Potiphar's household, a personal gift from the Pharaoh. Tall and slender, the young girl had eyes that shone like a stream of gold. She knew nothing about her past, except that she had always been a slave... -
![Dreamers by Angela Elwell Hunt]()
Dreamers by Angela Elwell Hunt
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsIn the exotic land of Pharaoh, Tuya, a slave girl, is sold into servitude as a playmate to a wealthy child. Betrayed and cast out as she ascends into womanhood, Tuya finds herself belonging to Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh's guard. Yet she soon gives her heart to handsome Joseph, a man sold into slavery by his own brothers... -
![Aztec by Gary Jennings]()
Aztec by Gary Jennings
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsAztec is the extraordinary story of the last and greatest native civilization of North America... -
![The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton]()
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 72 ratingsA lost child: On the eve of the First World War, a little girl is found abandoned on a ship to Australia. A mysterious woman called the Authoress had promised to look after her - but has disappeared without a trace. A terrible secret: On the night of her twenty-first birthday, Nell Andrews learns a secret that will change her life forever... -
![Heir of Hope by Morgan L. Busse]()
Heir of Hope by Morgan L. Busse
Rated: 4.61 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhat would you sacrifice to save mankind?The great city of Thyra has fallen and shadows spread across the land. Rowen Mar, the last Truthsayer, is taken before the Shadonae. But the Shadonae are not who she thought they were, and now they want to claim her as their own. Caleb Tala, former assassin and prince, is now a Guardian of mankind... -
![Winter Warriors by David Gemmell]()
Winter Warriors by David Gemmell
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsWinged demons gather, silent and unseen, above the city of Usa, their talons long and sharp. Their purpose is clear, as is the Upon the deaths of the three kings, the demon riders of the Krayakin will become flesh, free to slake their thirst with human blood - and the stench of evil will cover the land. Two of the kings are already dead... -
![The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King]()
The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsIn Laurie R. King’s latest Mary Russell–Sherlock Holmes mystery, the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author delivers a thriller of ingenious surprises and unrelenting suspense—as the famous husband and wife sleuths are pursued by a killer immune from the sting of justice...Categorized as:
mystery suspense 20th century historical contemporary victorian fantasy heroine sleuth -
![The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco]()
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 84 ratingsThe year is 1327. Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. When his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths, Brother William turns detective... -
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![The City of Tears by Kate Mosse]()
The City of Tears by Kate Mosse
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsFollowing on from the Sunday Times number one bestseller, The Burning Chambers, Kate Mosse's The City of Tears is the second thrilling historical epic in The Burning Chambers series, for fans of Ken Follett and Dan Brown... -
![Dovetail by Karen McQuestion]()
Dovetail by Karen McQuestion
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of Hello Love comes a spellbinding new novel of enduring love, family secrets, and mysterious death.Joe Arneson’s ordinary life is upended by troubling dreams of himself as a different man in another place and time. It isn’t until he visits his estranged grandmother, Pearl, in her Wisconsin hometown that a startling connection emerges... -
![Heretic by Bernard Cornwell]()
Heretic by Bernard Cornwell
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsWith Calais in English hands, hostilities are suspended, but Thomas' quest to find the Holy Grail continues. His cousin Guy of Vexille still pursues him with deadly purpose, convinced that there is a link between Thomas and what he covets... -
![Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières]()
Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsIn his first novel since Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernières creates a world, populates it with characters as real as our best friends, and launches it into the maelstrom of twentieth-century history. The setting is a small village in southwestern Anatolia in the waning years of the Ottoman Empire. Everyone there speaks Turkish, though they write it in Greek letters... -
![The Souls of Lost Lake by Jaime Jo Wright]()
The Souls of Lost Lake by Jaime Jo Wright
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWren Blythe has long enjoyed being among the Northwoods, helping her father with programming at a youth camp. But when a little girl in the area goes missing, an all-out search ensues, reviving the decades-old campfire story of Ava Coons, the murderess, who still roams the woods. Joining the search, Wren stumbles upon the Coons cabin ruins and a rotting porcelain doll... -
![The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King]()
The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsBONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Laurie R. King's The God of the Hive and Pirate King.For Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, returning to the Sussex coast after seven months abroad was especially sweet. There was even a mystery to solve—the unexplained disappearance of an entire colony of bees from one of Holmes’s beloved hives...Categorized as:
mystery suspense 20th century historical contemporary fantasy victorian heroine sleuth -
![A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follett]()
A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follett
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsIn 1866, tragedy strikes at the exclusive Windfield School. A young student drowns in a mysterious accident involving a small circle of boys. The drowning and its aftermath initiates a spiraling circle of treachery that will span three decades and entwine many lives... -
![The Forgotten Palace by Alexandra Walsh]()
The Forgotten Palace by Alexandra Walsh
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn an underground labyrinth a lost soul wanders, waiting for revenge, waiting for love… London 1900Alice Webster has made the worst decision of her life. When her Aunt Agatha offers her the chance to go on a Grand Tour she jumps at the opportunity to get away from the glare of scandal... -
![She Walks in Majesty by MaryLu Tyndall]()
She Walks in Majesty by MaryLu Tyndall
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDanger around every corner. Intrigues in everyone’s past. And a romance that’s swoon worthy. She Walks in Majesty is all that and more, with a plot that twists and turns and truths that are hard-hitting... -
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![A Family Affair by Mary Jane Staples]()
A Family Affair by Mary Jane Staples
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratings1926 was the year of the General Strike, but Adams Enterprises, under the wily management of Sammy Adams, youngest entrepreneur in Walworth and Lambeth, was doing very well. All the Adams brothers worked in the business, and so did two of the wives, Emily and Susie. There was just one dark cloud on the horizon - the impending trial of Gerald Ponsonby... -
![On Mother Brown's Doorstep by Mary Jane Staples]()
On Mother Brown's Doorstep by Mary Jane Staples
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe big event of the Walworth year was to be the wedding of Sammy Adams, King of Camberwell, to Miss Susie Brown. Everyone was looking forward to it, and Susie was particularly overjoyed when her soldier brother suddenly turned up on leave from service in India in time for the approaching 'knees-up'... -
![The Premonition at Withers Farm by Jaime Jo Wright]()
The Premonition at Withers Farm by Jaime Jo Wright
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn 1910 Michigan, Perliett VanHilton is a self-proclaimed rural healer, leaving the local doctor, George Wasziak, convinced she practices quackery. It doesn't help that her mother, Maribeth VanHilton, is a Spiritualist who regularly offers her services to help others speak to their dearly departed... -
![A Man Called Blessed (The Caleb Books Series Book 2) by Ted Dekker]()
A Man Called Blessed (The Caleb Books Series Book 2) by Ted Dekker
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsOne man holds the key to locating the Ark of the Covenant—but he’s hidden deep in the desert and no one has seen him since he was a boy. In this explosive sequel to Blessed Child, Jewish soldier-turned-archaeologist Rebecca Soloman leads a team deep into the Ethiopian desert to find the one man who may know the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant... -
![The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi]()
The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 59 ratings1900 BC. In what modern Indians mistakenly call the Indus Valley Civilisation. The inhabitants of that period called it the land of Meluha a near perfect empire created many centuries earlier by Lord Ram, one of the greatest monarchs that ever lived. This once proud empire and its Suryavanshi rulers face severe perils as its primary river, the revered Saraswati, is slowly drying to extinction... -
![Down Lambeth Way by Mary Jane Staples]()
Down Lambeth Way by Mary Jane Staples
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Adams family of Walworth were poor, cheerful, and above all respectable - even though they sometimes had to seek a little help from the pawnbroker. Mrs Adams - affectionately called Chinese Lady by her children - was a widow, her soldier husband having gone, rather carelessly, to a hero's death on the Northwest Frontier... -
![The Wall by Adrian Goldsworthy]()
The Wall by Adrian Goldsworthy
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBritannia, AD 117: Roman centurion Flavius Ferox is trying to live a quiet life of dignified leisure, overseeing his wife's estate and doing his best to resist the urge to murder an annoying neighbour – until someone else does it for him... -
![Island of Ghosts by Gillian Bradshaw]()
Island of Ghosts by Gillian Bradshaw
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsAriantes is a Sarmatian, a barbarian warrior-prince, uprooted from his home and customs and thrust into the honorless lands of the Romans. The victims of a wartime pact struck with the emperor Marcus Aurelius to ensure the future of Sarmatia, Ariantes and his troop of accomplished horsemen are sent to Hadrian's Wall... -
![The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley]()
The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley
From the author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street and The Kingdoms, an epic Cold War novel set in a mysterious town in Soviet Russia... -
![The Watchmaker's Daughter by Dianne Haley]()
The Watchmaker's Daughter by Dianne Haley
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsHiding the worn piece of paper among her father’s watch deliveries, her eyes fill with tears at the memory of her brave friend walking towards the Nazi soldiers, and the sharp sound of gun fire. Her friend sacrificed herself so that she could deliver this message... -
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![A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett]()
A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Scotland, 1766. Sentenced to a life of misery in the brutal coal mines, twenty-one-year-old Mack McAsh hungers for escape. His only the beautiful, highborn Lizzie Hallim, who is trapped in her own kind of hell. Though separated by politics and position, these two restless young people are bound by their passionate search for a place called freedom... -
![The Circus Train by Amita Parikh]()
The Circus Train by Amita Parikh
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsAt the World of Wonders, Europe's most magnificent travelling circus, every moment is full of magic, and nothing is as it seems--especially for the people who put on the show Lena Papadopoulos has never quite found her place within the circus, even as the daughter of the extraordinary headlining illusionist, Theo... -
![The Swift and the Harrier by Minette Walters]()
The Swift and the Harrier by Minette Walters
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDorset, 1642. England is on the cusp of civil war.Jayne Swift, a daughter of the Dorset gentry, has resisted all offers of marriage and instead trained as a physician, using her skills to tend to her Royalist father's tenants and the local population. When civil war sweeps England she vows to remain neutral and aid the injured whether they be Royalist or Parliamentarian... -
![Night Train to Marrakech by Dinah Jefferies]()
Night Train to Marrakech by Dinah Jefferies
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsMARRAKECH 1966 Vicky Baudin steps onto a train winding through Morocco, looking for the grandmother she has never met. It’s an epic journey that’ll take her to the edge of Atlas Mountains – and closer to the answers she’s been craving all her life. But dark secrets whisper amongst the dunes. And in unlocking the mystery of Clemence’s past, Vicky will unearth great danger too . . -
![J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter]()
J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsThe authorized biography of the creator of Middle-earth. In the decades since his death in September 1973, millions have read THE HOBBIT, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and THE SILMARILLION and become fascinated about the very private man behind the books. Born in South Africa in January 1892, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was orphaned in childhood and brought up in near-poverty... -
![A Year of Ravens by Ruth Downie, Stephanie Dray]()
A Year of Ravens by Ruth Downie, Stephanie Dray
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBritannia: land of mist and magic clinging to the western edge of the Roman Empire. A red-haired queen named Boudica led her people in a desperate rebellion against the might of Rome, an epic struggle destined to consume heroes and cowards, young and old, Roman and Celt . . . and these are their stories. A calculating queen sees the sparks of revolt in a king’s death... -
![Of Daggers and Deception by A.L. Sowards]()
Of Daggers and Deception by A.L. Sowards
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAfter years as a soldier and mercenary, Rasheed has retired from battle to run the bathhouse in Thebes with his friends Gillen and Eudocia. The simple life suits them, so when Venetian strangers come to town looking to hire the renowned crew, their answer is no... -
![Tales of Love, Madness and Death by Horacio Quiroga]()
Tales of Love, Madness and Death by Horacio Quiroga
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsThis is an English translation of the famous collection of 18 weird tales of Horacio Quiroga, which is presented as a Spanish/English bilingual edition.Most of the stories are dark and strange and describe situations that offer no clear way out for the protagonist... -
![Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle by Manda Scott]()
Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle by Manda Scott
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsDreaming the Eagle is the first part of the gloriously imagined epic trilogy of the life of Boudica. Boudica means Bringer of Victory (from the early Celtic word "boudeg"). She is the last defender of the Celtic culture in Britain; the only woman openly to lead her warriors into battle and to stand successfully against the might of Imperial Rome - and triumph... -
![Wait for Me: A Novel by Santa Montefiore]()
Wait for Me: A Novel by Santa Montefiore
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom #1 internationally bestselling author Santa Montefiore comes a gripping new novel of enduring love and devastating secrets, sweeping across England during WWII to Australia five decades later, based on a true story.Rupert promised he was going to come back. All Florence had to do was wait... -
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![A Letter of Mary by Laurie R. King]()
A Letter of Mary by Laurie R. King
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsThe third book in the Mary Russell–Sherlock Holmes series.It is 1923. Mary Russell Holmes and her husband, the retired Sherlock Holmes, are enjoying the summer together on their Sussex estate when they are visited by an old friend, Miss Dorothy Ruskin, an archeologist just returned from Palestine...Categorized as:
mystery suspense 20th century historical victorian contemporary fantasy heroine sleuth -
![Firstborn by Tosca Lee]()
Firstborn by Tosca Lee
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsFrom New York Times bestselling author Tosca Lee comes the much-anticipated, high-speed sequel to The Progeny. Face-to-face with her past, Audra Ellison now knows the secret she gave up everything—including her memory—to protect. A secret made vulnerable by her rediscovery, and so powerful neither the Historian nor the traitor Prince Nikola will ever let her live to keep it... -
![The Smoke Hunter by Jacquelyn Benson]()
The Smoke Hunter by Jacquelyn Benson
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratings"Indiana Jones meets Lara Croft in Benson's engrossing action thriller."-RT Book Reviews, Top Pick THE DEBUT OF A CAPTIVATING VOICE AND RIVETING STORYTELLER!Frustrated suffragette and would-be archaeologist Ellie Mallory stumbles across a map to a city that shouldn't exist, a jungle metropolis alive and flourishing centuries after the Mayan civilization mysteriously collapsed... -
![To Free the Stars by J'nell Ciesielski]()
To Free the Stars by J'nell Ciesielski
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe Great War consumes all in its path, but for the assassins at Talon it’s just another day on the job . . . until a new threat rises from the smoke of war-torn Europe to obliterate the world as they know it... -
![Murder on the Tor by Frances Evesham]()
Murder on the Tor by Frances Evesham
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA silent child, a necklace of amber beads, and a body on Glastonbury Tor add up to more cosy crime in the third Exham on Sea Mystery...Categorized as:
mystery ancient times suspense heroine sleuth historical urban legends & fairy tales fantasy -
![The Clockmaker’s Wife by Daisy Wood]()
The Clockmaker’s Wife by Daisy Wood
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsThe world is at war. And time is running out…London, 1940. Britain is gripped by the terror of the Blitz, forcing Nell Spelman to flee the capital with her young daughter – leaving behind her husband, Arthur, the clockmaker who keeps Big Ben chiming. When Arthur disappears, Nell is desperate to find him...
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