Books like Land of love and drowning by Tiphanie Yanique

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.

Cora, a woman enslaved on a Georgia cotton plantation, partners with a new slave named Caesar to flee the South. Their daring escape follows a literal underground network of tunnels that mirrors the perilous journey of countless fugitive slaves toward freedom.

Americanah follows Ifemelu, a Nigerian student who moves to the United States for university, exploring her life and love across continents while reflecting on identity, immigration, and cultural belonging.

Zora Neale Hurston’s Pulitzer‑winning novel follows Janie Crawford’s journey of self‑discovery and empowerment, mapping her search for love, independence, and identity against the backdrop of the African‑American South during the early 20th century.

Homegoing is Yaa Gyasi’s debut historical novel that traces generations of an Asante family from 18th‑century Ghana to modern America, exploring the enduring impact of slavery and colonialism.

In World War II, four refugees—descendants of a Royalist, a German Jesuit, a Jewish family, and a Polish munitions factory worker—board the doomed MV Wilhelm Gustloff in a desperate bid for survival.

After the Civil War, a veteran newspaper‑reader, Captain Jefferson Kidd, journeys through Texas and agrees to escort an orphaned Kiowa girl, Johanna, to San Antonio—a perilous trek that tests their survival and trust.

Celestial and Roy, a young couple embodying the American Dream, are torn apart when Roy is wrongfully convicted and sent to prison. Five years later, his conviction is overturned, forcing Celestial to confront the fractured life she must rebuild.

When Alexandra inherits her father's farm in 1880s Nebraska, she battles poverty, family loyalty, and love in a harsh pioneer world.

Jojo and his little sister Kayla, raised by their grandparents, embark on a perilous journey across Mississippi after their mother, a drug addict, leaves to seek her incarcerated husband.

A sweeping family saga that follows the Clifton and Barrington families through love, betrayal, and corporate intrigue in 1960s Britain as secrets and ambition collide.

Emma Donoghue’s debut novel follows a French burlesque dancer who, after a murder in 1876 San Francisco, seeks justice for her friend amid heat, smallpox and fierce class tensions.

Michelle Obama chronicles her life from South Side Chicago to the White House, revealing the personal drive behind her public advocacy for women, families, and health.

A nine‑year‑old’s perspective in 1990s Akure, Nigeria, where four brothers’ forbidden fishing trip leads to a fratricidal myth that reshapes their lives.

Michael W. Twitty traces the roots of Southern cuisine through his own African‑American and white ancestry, exploring how food, slavery, and freedom shaped both cooking traditions and race relations in the American South.

Set in the 1680s, Toni Morrison’s *A Mercy* follows Florens, a young enslaved girl, as she navigates a world of religious prejudice, class conflict, and the brutal realities of the early Atlantic slave trade.

A vivid portrait of life on a Jamaican sugar plantation at the turn of the nineteenth century, following Lilith, a young enslaved woman whose emerging powers draw her into a secret rebel faction.

In Tudor England, two sisters embroiled in political intrigue and love navigate the treacherous court as Mary Tudor’s reign unfolds, risking treason for survival and choice between duty and desire.

A quiet, powerful tale of Henry Townsend, a former slave who rises to become a plantation owner in antebellum Virginia, and the turbulent world of his estate and the wider South as slavery persists and challenges surface.

In 1938, Senator’s daughter Layla Beck is forced to leave her affluent life and work on the Federal Writers' Project, where she uncovers hidden family secrets and the true history of the West Virginia town of Macedonia.

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.

A biographical historical novel that follows the budding friendship between a teenage Louise Brooks and a middle‑aged chaperone as they travel to New York City in 1922, showing how the journey reshapes their lives.

**Luke** Sienna Carter has no idea I’m her favorite masked man. We met online five years ago, and though I know everything about her, there’s still so much she doesn’t know about me. Including my real name. Now that she’s living under the same roof, friendship turns to full-blown obsession. Love at first sight. The stuff of fantasies. But here Sienna Carter is, waltzing into my life and making me fall in love with her the second our eyes lock. She’s convinced she needs to stay away from me. But I won’t let her. We’ve always been better together, even if she doesn’t know it. **Sienna** After one reckless night together, Luke Valentine has his sights set on me. If the circumstances were different, maybe I’d want him too, but he’s entirely forbidden. Once we’re on campus together, staying away from him is impossible. He’s lurking around every corner, waiting for any chance to catch me alone. Luke is determined to make me his, no matter how wrong it is, and with every move he makes, I’m finding it harder and harder to resist him. Except we both have our secrets, and the closer I get to learning Luke’s secrets, the closer he gets to learning mine. And some secrets are better off buried…