Recommendations based on "Stories We Could Tell"

From the Australian bush to the cafes of Paris; from the highs of first love to the lows of failed ambition, this is an unforgettable, rollicking and deeply moving family story.

Middle-age sneaks up on Mr. Smith, but he survives despite his son's wedding in Paris, his inability to understand his new relatives, and his grudging acknowledgment of his mortality

FROM THE NUMBER ONE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE OLIVE TREE AND THE SHADOW SISTER A heart-rending page turner which sweeps from war-torn Europe to Thailand and back again . . . As a child, Julia Forrester would linger in the hothouse of Wharton Park estate, where exotic flowers tended by her grandfather blossomed and faded with the seasons. Now, recovering from a family tragedy, she once more seeks comfort at Wharton Park, newly inherited by Kit Crawford, a charismatic man with a sad story of his own. But when a years-old diary is found during renovation work, the pair turn to Julia's grandmother to hear the truth about the love affair that turned Wharton Park's fortunes sour . . . And so Julia is plunged back in time, to the world of Olivia and Harry Crawford, a young couple torn apart by the Second World War - and whose fragile marriage is destined to affect the happiness of generations to come, including Julia's own. Outside the UK, this book is published under the title The Orchid House 'Atmospheric, heart-rending and multi-layered' Grazia

The most nostalgic and reflective of Evelyn Waugh's novels, Brideshead Revisited looks back to the years before the Second World War. It tells the story of Charles Ryder's infatuation with the Marchmains and the rapidly-disappearing world of privilege they inhabit. Enchanted first by Sebastian at Oxford, then by his doomed Catholic family, in particular his remote sister, Julia, Charles comes finally to recognize only his spiritual and social distance from them.The Penguin English Library - collectable general readers' editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century to the end of the Second World War.

Ethan Allen Hawley has lost the acquisitive spirit of his wealthy and enterprising forebears, a long line of proud New England sea captains and Pilgrims. Scarred by failure, Ethan works as a grocery clerk in a store his family once owned. But his wife is restless and his teenage children troubled and hungry for the material comforts he cannot provide. Then a series of unusual events reignites Ethan’s ambition, and he is pitched on to a bold course where all scruples are put aside...Steinbeck’s searing examination of the evil influences of money, immorality, greed and ambition on American drew acclaim from the Nobel Committee who hailed him as an 'independent expounder of the truth'.

“Dramatic, adventurous, heroic, romantic. . . these historical chronicles, legends, myths, tall tales and fables, featuring warriors, kings, monks, explorers and clever common folk, imaginatively tell the history of Ireland.” — Philadelphia InquirerThis New York Times bestselling epic is an unforgettable tour de force that marries the intimate, passionate texture of the Irish spirit with a historical scope that is sweeping and resplendent. Storyteller extraordinaire Frank Delaney takes his readers on a journey through the history of Ireland, stopping along the way to evoke the dramatic events and personalities so critical to shaping the Irish experience.In the winter of 1951, a storyteller, the last practitioner of an honored, centuries-old tradition, arrives at the home of nine-year-old Ronan O'Mara in the Irish countryside. For three wonderful evenings, the old gentleman enthralls his assembled local audience with narratives of foolish kings, fabled saints, and Ireland's enduring accomplishments before moving on. But these nights change young Ronan forever, setting him on a years-long pursuit of the elusive, itinerant storyteller and the glorious tales that are no less than the saga of his tenacious and extraordinary isle.

Completed in 1914, this novel is a condemnation of the repressive attitudes of British society and a plea for emotional and sexual honesty. Aware that its publication would cause a furore, Forster ensured that it did not appear until after his death in 1970.

It is 1941 and Captain Antonio Corelli, a young Italian officer, is posted to the Greek island of Cephallonia as part of the occupying forces. Ostracised at first, he proves in time to be peace-loving, humorous - and a consummate musician. A burgeoning love with the local doctor's daughter, whose letters to her fiance - and members of the underground - go unanswered, seems inevitable. But can it survive as a war of bestial savagery gets closer and the lines are drawn between invader and defender?

Winner of the 2004 Orange Prize for FictionA Picador Original Trade PaperbackHortense Joseph arrives in London from Jamaica in 1948 with her life in her suitcase, her heart broken, her resolve intact. Her husband, Gilbert Joseph, returns from the war expecting to be received as a hero, but finds his status as a black man in Britain to be second class. His white landlady, Queenie, raised as a farmer's daughter, befriends Gilbert, and later Hortense, with innocence and courage, until the unexpected arrival of her husband, Bernard, who returns from combat with issues of his own to resolve.Told in these four voices, Small Island is a courageous novel of tender emotion and sparkling wit, of crossings taken and passages lost, of shattering compassion and of reckless optimism in the face of insurmountable barriers---in short, an encapsulation of that most American of experiences: the immigrant's life.

“A masterpiece that can compare with Steinbeck’s East of Eden. … Some books make you laugh; some make you cry; some make you think. The Prince of Tides is a rarity: It does all three.” — Detroit Free Press A modern American classic and a family saga that spans decades, this is the story of the volatile Tom Wingo, his brilliant but troubled twin sister, Savannah, and the complex and damaging family legacy they share. Moving between the sparkling glamour of New York City and the vanishing beauty of the South Carolina low country, The Prince of Tides is Pat Conroy’s masterwork. “A big, sprawling saga of a novel…the kind you hole up with and spend some days with and put down feeling you have emerged from a terrible, wonderful spell.” —San Francisco Chronicle “A literary gem . . . The Prince of Tides is in the best tradition of novel writing. It is an engrossing story of unforgettable characters.” —The Pittsburgh Press