Books like 'The World That We Knew'
Readers who enjoyed The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical fantasy supernatural action / adventure horror military, war & conflict 20th century historical-fiction magical-realism war
-
Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski
41 ratingsGeralt is a witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary murderer: his targets are the multifarious monsters and vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent.This is a collection of short stories, following the adventures of the hit collection THE LAST WISH... -
Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski
44 ratingsGeralt is a witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary murderer: his targets are the multifarious monsters and vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent.This is a collection of short stories, following the adventures of the hit collection THE LAST WISH... -
Warbound by Larry Correia
18 ratingsNew York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling author's gritty urban fantasy set in an alternate noir 1930s. A tough P.I. battles an interdimensional monster that wants to suck magic power out of the world. Sequel to Hard Magic and Spellbound. Book Three in the Grimnoir Chronicles... -
The Tower of the Swallow by Andrzej Sapkowski
35 ratingsThe world has fallen into war. Ciri, the child of prophecy, has vanished. Hunted by friends and foes alike, she has taken on the guise of a petty bandit and lives free for the first time in her life. But the net around her is closing. Geralt, the Witcher, has assembled a group of allies determined to rescue her. Both sides of the war have sent brutal mercenaries to hunt her down... -
-
The Time of Contempt by Andrzej Sapkowski
42 ratingsThe New York Times bestselling series that inspired the international hit video game: The Witcher Geralt is a witcher: guardian of the innocent; protector of those in need; a defender, in dark times, against some of the most frightening creatures of myth and legend. His task, now, is to protect Ciri... -
Lady of the Lake by Andrzej Sapkowski
32 ratingsThe Witcher returns in this action-packed sequel to The Tower of Swallows, in the New York Times bestselling series that inspired The Witcher video games. After walking through the portal in the Tower of Swallows while narrowly escaping death, Ciri finds herself in a completely different world... an Elven world. She is trapped with no way out... -
Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
44 ratingsThe New York Times bestselling series that inspired the international hit video game: The Witcher.For over a century, humans, dwarves, gnomes, and elves have lived together in relative peace. But times have changed, the uneasy peace is over, and now the races are fighting once again. The only good elf, it seems, is a dead elf... -
Hard Magic by Larry Correia
24 ratingsJake Sullivan is a licensed Private Eye—with a seriously hardboiled attitude. He also possesses raw magical talent and the ability to make objects in his vicinity light as a feather or as heavy as depleted uranium, all with a magical thought. It's no wonder the G-men turn to Jake when they need someone to go after a suspected killer who's been knocking off banks in a magic-enhanced crime spree...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magic paranormal war 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history -
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
6 ratingsDuring the Great War, a combat nurse searches for her brother, believed dead in the trenches despite eerie signs that suggest otherwise, in this hauntingly beautiful historical novel with a speculative twist from the New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the NightingaleJanuary 1918... -
Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer
16 ratingsAfter Charlotte's first night at boarding school, the view from the window has changed and the girl in the next bed is not the girl who was there last night. She is a stranger who calls Charlotte "Clare" and says she's her sister..Categorized as:
coming-of-age family friendship historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal war 20th-century -
Three Souls by Janie Chang
16 ratingsAn absorbing novel of romance and revolution, loyalty and family, sacrifice and undying loveWe have three souls, or so I'd been told. But only in death could I confirm this ... So begins the haunting and captivating tale, set in 1935 China, of the ghost of a young woman named Leiyin, who watches her own funeral from above and wonders why she is being denied entry to the afterlife...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction magical-realism paranormal war -
The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis
16 ratingsSomeone is killing Britain's warlocks.Twenty-two years after the Second World War, a precarious balance of power maintains the peace between Great Britain and the USSR. For decades, the warlocks have been all that stand between the British Empire and the Soviet Union-- a vast domain stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the shores of the English Channel...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magic magical-realism paranormal war ww2 20th-century action-adventure -
The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope
16 ratingsNewly orphaned Peggy Grahame is caught off-guard when she first arrives at her family's ancestral estate. Her eccentric uncle Enos drives away her only new acquaintance, Pat, a handsome British scholar, then leaves Peggy to fend for herself. But she is not alone. The house is full of mysteries and ghosts...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction literary-fiction paranormal war 20th-century action-adventure book -
Hollow City by Ransom Riggs
46 ratingsThis second novel begins in 1940, immediately after the first book ended. Having escaped Miss Peregrine’s island by the skin of their teeth, Jacob and his new friends must journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. Along the way, they encounter new allies, a menagerie of peculiar animals, and other unexpected surprises...Categorized as:
coming-of-age friendship historical-fiction magic magical-realism paranormal war ww2 -
-
Declare by Tim Powers
18 ratingsAs a young double agent infiltrating the Soviet spy network in Nazi-occupied Paris, Andrew Hale finds himself caught up in a secret, even more ruthless war. Two decades later, in 1963, he will be forced to confront again the nightmare that has haunted his adult life: a lethal unfinished operation code-named Declare... -
Necessary Evil by Ian Tregillis
16 ratings12 May 1940. Westminster, London, England: the early days of World War II.Again.Raybould Marsh, one of "our" Britain's best spies, has travelled to another Earth in a desperate attempt to save at least one timeline from the Cthulhu-like monsters who have been observing our species from space and have already destroyed Marsh's timeline...Categorized as:
historical-fiction paranormal war ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history -
Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James
18 ratingsIn 1919, Kitty Weekes, pretty, resourceful, and on the run, falsifies her background to obtain a nursing position at Portis House, a remote hospital for soldiers left shell-shocked by the horrors of the Great War. Hiding the shame of their mental instability in what was once a magnificent private estate, the patients suffer from nervous attacks and tormenting dreams...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal war 20th-century abuse action-adventure adult -
The Witch’s Lens by Luanne G. Smith
16 ratingsAs World War I rages, there are evils—both living and dead—that only a witch can see in a spellbinding novel by the Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestselling author of The Raven Spell.With her husband off fighting at World War I’s eastern front, Petra Kurková embraces her fleeting freedom, roaming the city at night with her camera... -
The Woven Path by Robin Jarvis
10 ratingsThe Woven Path is the first book in the compelling Wyrd Museum trilogy. All readers will be drawn in by the gripping storytelling of Robin Jarvis, where the fantastical elements combine with the seriously chilling. In a grimy alley in the East End of London stands the Wyrd Museum, cared for by the stranger Webster sisters -- and scene of even stranger events... -
The Horse King by Richard A. Knaak
6 ratingsFreed of the rule of the Dragon Kings, Lanith, warlord of Zuu, has launched a mad war of conquest. Cabe Bedlam and his friends prepare to join battle against him, only too late discovering that their true foe is a creature from beyond, a sadistic manipulator who desires to see the entire realm torn asunder... -
The Turnkey by Allison Rushby
6 ratingsFlossie Birdwhistle is the Turnkey at London’s Highgate Cemetery. She must ensure all the souls in the cemetery stay at rest. This is a difficult job at the best of times for a twelve-year-old ghost, but it is World War II and each night enemy bombers hammer London. Even the dead are unsettled...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction magic paranormal war ww2 20th-century action-adventure -
The Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers
19 ratings'The Drawing of the Dark is not only one of my favourite Tim Powers novels, it's simply one of my favourite novels. The seamless and seemingly effortless blend of action and humour, the wonderful characters, the rich settings, the brilliant plot - all of it is perfect' James P...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magic magical-realism myths war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal
18 ratingsGhost Talkers: a new novel from beloved fantasy author Mary Robinette Kowal featuring the mysterious spirit corps and their heroic work in World War I.Ginger Stuyvesant, an American heiress living in London during World War I, is engaged to Captain Benjamin Hartshorne, an intelligence officer. Ginger is a medium for the Spirit Corps, a special Spiritualist force... -
The Foreshadowing by Marcus Sedgwick
14 ratingsIt is 1915 and the First World War has only just begun.17-year-old Sasha is a well-to-do, sheltered English girl. Just as her brother Thomas longs to be a doctor, she wants to nurse, yet girls of her class don't do that kind of work. But as the war begins and the hospitals fill with young soldiers, she gets a chance to help... -
-
Unnatural Issue by Mercedes Lackey
18 ratingsA brand-new Elemental Masters novel from the national bestselling author Mercedes Lackey. Richard Whitestone is an Elemental Earth Master. Blaming himself for the death of his beloved wife in childbirth, he has sworn never to set eyes on his daughter, Suzanne...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magic paranormal war 20th-century action-adventure alternate-history audiobook -
Lost Among the Living by Simone St. James
18 ratingsEngland, 1921. Three years after her husband, Alex, disappeared, shot down over Germany, Jo Manders still mourns his loss. Working as a paid companion to Alex's wealthy, condescending aunt, Dottie Forsyth, Jo travels to the family’s estate in the Sussex countryside... -
The Midnight Front by David Mack
8 ratingsOn the eve of World War Two, Nazi sorcerers come gunning for Cade but kill his family instead. His one path of vengeance is to become an apprentice of The Midnight Front—the Allies’ top-secret magickal warfare program—and become a sorcerer himself... -
Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis
18 ratingsIt's 1939. The Nazis have supermen, the British have demons, and one perfectly normal man gets caught in betweenRaybould Marsh is a British secret agent in the early days of the Second World War, haunted by something strange he saw on a mission during the Spanish Civil War: a German woman with wires going into her head who looked at him as if she knew him... -
The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
31 ratingsA mysterious house harbors an unimaginable secret. . . .It’s wartime, and the Carver family decides to leave the capital where they live and move to a small coastal village where they’ve recently bought a home. But from the minute they cross the threshold, strange things begin to happen. In that mysterious house there still lurks the spirit of Jacob, the previous owners’ son, who died by drowning...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama historical-fiction magic magical-realism paranormal war 20th-century -
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
56 ratingsA mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family friendship historical-fiction magic magical-realism paranormal war -
The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle by Janet Fox
14 ratingsSomething is not right at Rookskill Castle, a rundown Scottish manor shrouded in mystery. The castle is a temporary boarding school for children escaping the Blitz, but soon it’s clear there is something terribly wrong. There are clues hinting that a spy is in the house, and there are undeniable signs of a sinister magic... -
The Children of the King by Sonya Hartnett
12 ratingsInternationally acclaimed author Sonya Hartnett tells a hauntingly beautiful story set during World War II. Cecily and Jeremy have been sent to live with their uncle Peregrine in the English countryside, safe from the war, along with a young refugee named May. But when Cecily and May find two mysterious boys hiding in the ruins of a nearby castle, an extraordinary adventure begins...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family friendship historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal war ww2 -
The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore
12 ratingsIn a work that strives to do for werewolves what Stoker's Dracula did for vampires, Endore's werewolf, an outcast named Bertrand Caillet, travels round seeking to calm the beast within. An episodic tale, the story wanders through 19th Century France and into hotspots like the Franco-Prussian war...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction paranormal war 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
Dracula vs. Hitler by Patrick Sheane Duncan
12 ratingsA novel worthy of being called the true sequel to Bram Stoker s Dracula, and Patrick Sheane Duncan a writer rightfully deserving to be considered that author s successor. New York Journal of Books Ravaged by the Nazi Secret Service during World War II, Romanian resistance forces turn to one of their leaders, Professor Van Helsing for any way out...Categorized as:
historical-fiction paranormal war ww2 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history -
-
Bloodline by Kate Cary
16 ratingsThirty-five years have passed since the death of the Master. But now a new evil walks among the living. . . . When nineteen-year-old John Shaw returns from the trenches of World War I, he is haunted by nightmares—not only of the battlefield, but of the strange, cruel and impossible feats of his regiment's commander, Quincey Harker...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magic paranormal war 20th-century action-adventure book epistolary -
A House of Ghosts by W.C. Ryan
16 ratingsShortlisted for the Irish Book Award, a classic cozy big-house mystery haunted by the specters of World War One—for readers of Agatha Christie and Simone St. James. Winter 1917. As the First World War enters its most brutal phase, back home in England, everyone is seeking answers to the darkness that has seeped into their lives...Categorized as:
historical-fiction paranormal war 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman
20 ratingsFailed academic Frank Nichols and his wife, Eudora, have arrived in the sleepy Georgia town of Whitbrow, where Frank hopes to write a history of his family's old estate-the Savoyard Plantation- and the horrors that occurred there. At first, the quaint, rural ways of their new neighbors seem to be everything they wanted...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction literary-fiction paranormal war 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton
28 ratingsIt is 922 A.D. The refined Arab courtier Ibn Fadlan is accompanying a party of Viking warriors back to their home. He is appalled by their customs—the gratuitous sexuality of their women, their disregard for cleanliness, and their cold-blooded sacrifices...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction literary-fiction myths spirituality war 20th-century action-adventure -
The Last Days of New Paris by China Miéville
18 ratings"Beauty will be convulsive...."It's 1941. In the chaos of wartime Marseille, American engineer - and occult disciple - Jack Parsons stumbles onto a clandestine anti-Nazi group, including surrealist theorist André Breton. In the strange games of the dissident diplomats, exiled revolutionaries, and avant-garde artists, Parsons finds and channels hope...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction magic magical-realism paranormal war ww2 20th-century -
The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse
24 ratingsBy the author of the "New York Times"-bestselling "Labyrinth," a story of two lives touched by war and transformed by courage. In the winter of 1928, still seeking some kind of resolution to the horrors of World War I, Freddie is traveling through the beautiful but forbidding French Pyrenees. During a snowstorm, his car spins off the mountain road...Categorized as:
drama grief historical-fiction literary-fiction magical-realism paranormal war 20th-century
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.