Books like Night train by Clyde Edgerton
In 1963, Dwayne Hallston discovers the music of James Brown and aspires to emulate him. His black friend Larry, who wants to play piano like Thelonious Monk, apprentices to a jazz musician called The Bleeder. Together, their shared passion for music guides them through challenges of friendship, race relations, and pursuing their dreams.
Set in North Carolina, the novel explores interracial friendship and the cultural impact of musicians within an African American community.
First publish date: 2011
Genre: Historical Fiction/20th Century Historical Fiction
Authors: Clyde Edgerton
★
★
★
★
★
0.0 (0 community ratings)
How are these books recommended?
The books recommended for Night train by Clyde Edgerton are shaped by reader interaction. Votes on how closely books relate, user ratings, and community comments all help refine these recommendations and highlight books readers genuinely find similar in theme, ideas, and overall reading experience.
Have you read any of these books?
Your votes, ratings, and comments help improve recommendations and make it easier
for other readers to discover books they’ll enjoy.
Books similar to Night train (26 similar books)
Harper Lee’s 1960 classic follows young Scout Finch in Depression‑era Alabama as her father, lawyer Atticus Finch, defends a black man accused of rape, confronting racism, prejudice, and the moral growth of a child.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Alice Walker's 1982 novel, The Color Purple, won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, exploring the lives of black women in the South and their experiences of abuse and struggle for independence.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A 1930s wartime tale of a blind French girl and a German boy whose lives intersect in occupied France, weaving themes of survival, friendship, and the moral choices people make amid World War II.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
In 1964 South Carolina, Lily Owens, grieving her mother’s death, seeks refuge with a fierce stand‑in mother and a trio of black beekeeping sisters who open her to the secret world of bees, honey, and healing.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Sisters Vianne and Isabelle are pulled into the turmoil of World War II, each forging a path of courage and resistance against the Nazi occupation of France.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Jennifer Egan’s interlocking narratives weave the lives of Bennie Salazar, a former punk rocker turned record executive, and Sasha, a restless young woman, across decades and continents, exploring music, memory and the fragile threads that bind us.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Zadie Smith’s debut, White Teeth, blends humour and insight to explore race, immigration, family and identity across three generations in London.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A Black man's journey through racism, identity and activism in 1940s Harlem, culminating in a revelatory escape from the streets to self-knowledge.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A seasoned detective investigates a suicide that may hide murder, uncovering layers of deception and her own trauma.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
An orchardist's lonely existence torn by love and pain, captured in vivid nature and human relationships.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A study of racial, gender, and class tensions in post‑Reconstruction North Carolina, illustrated with primary sources and contemporary commentary.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Farmer Woolf is a courageous father who discovers an unexpected treasure hidden beneath his antique farm. When he opens the mysterious chest, he unveils a key that could change the fate of the village forever.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A woman in the Civil War deserts her farm life to enlist as a Union soldier, facing battle, betrayal, and the struggle to return home.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
It is 1974 when Leni Allbright's impulsive father Ernt decides the family is moving to Alaska. But the Alaskan winter is just as unforgiving as Ernt, and life quickly becomes a struggle for survival.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Hilly finds himself drawn to a niece he meets, leading him to confront his past and family secrets.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
North East India, 1923. On the broiling Night Mail from Calcutta to Jamalpur, a man is shot dead in a first class compartment. Detective Inspector Jim Stringer was sleeping in the next compartment along. Was he the intended target? Jim should have known that his secondment to the East Indian Railway, with a roving brief to inspect security arrangements, would not be a working holiday. The country seethes with political and racial tension. Jim also has worries on the home front: his daughter has formed a connection with a Maharajah's son, who may in turn have a connection to Jim's incredibly rude colleague, the bristling Major Fisher. Jim must do everything he can to keep his family safe from harm, as he unravels the intrigues that surround him.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A historical image of African American life in Mississippi, exploring race relations and personal resilience.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Sarah, an English nanny, leaves her job to visit her grandmother in Spain, where she faces a romantic dilemma: marry the secure life of a doctor or risk a passionate affair with the darkly charming Carlos Hastings.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A generational sweep of LGBT friendship and British society from 1940s Oxford to contemporary England, tracing the life of David Sparsholt and his family across war, art, and changing attitudes toward homosexuality.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A tale of resistance and survival in World War II, as a Polish town faces annihilation and devises a daring plan to save itself from the Nazis with the help of doctors and partisans.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
After a life‑threatening heart attack, celebrated actor Leo Proudhammer reflects on the choices that forged his fame and exposed his vulnerability, while navigating love, loyalty, and racial tension in Harlem and the theater world.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
In "Dessa Rose" two women—a black slave in Kentucky and a white farmer in North Carolina—meet in the 1830s and form an uneasy alliance to fight slavery and prejudice.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
In the looming Great Depression, a wounded World War I veteran on the run from justice teams with an African-American fugitive to reveal hidden truths about crime, bias, and redemption in small-town Illinois.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A sweeping, generational saga that follows an African American family from the post‑Civil War era through the Great Depression, illuminating the complex ties—family, race, and regional—shaping America.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Some Other Similar Books
Raney by Claude BrownThe Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
Have a similar book in mind? Let others know!
Please login to submit books!