Books Like The Essex Serpent

10 books for fans of The Essex Serpent

1. 1

   

   The Things We Cannot Say

   by Kelly Rimmer

   Rimmer weaves together a Polish woman's wartime survival story with her granddaughter's modern family struggles, including caring for an autistic child. The parallel narratives explore how family secrets across generations can both wound and ultimately heal.

   More about this pick

   Rimmer weaves together a Polish woman's wartime survival story with her granddaughter's modern family struggles, including caring for an autistic child. The parallel narratives explore how family secrets across generations can both wound and ultimately heal.

   ★ 4.54 Goodreads (284.0K ratings)

   448 pages • 2019

   Get the Book → Start Listening →
   Get the Book → Start Listening →
2. 2

   

   A Land Remembered

   by Patrick D. Smith

   Smith chronicles three generations of a Florida family's rise from poverty to wealth, capturing the state's transformation from untamed wilderness to developed paradise across a century.

   More about this pick

   Smith chronicles three generations of a Florida family's rise from poverty to wealth, capturing the state's transformation from untamed wilderness to developed paradise across a century.

   ★ 4.48 Goodreads (14.8K ratings)

   416 pages • 1984

   Get the Book → Start Listening →
   Get the Book → Start Listening →
3. 3

   

   Homegoing

   by Yaa Gyasi

   Two family branches—one sold into slavery, one complicit in selling—unfold across three centuries from 18th-century Ghana to contemporary America.

   More about this pick

   Two family branches—one sold into slavery, one complicit in selling—unfold across three centuries from 18th-century Ghana to contemporary America.

   ★ 4.47 Goodreads (410.6K ratings)

   305 pages • 2016

   Get the Book → Start Listening →
   Get the Book → Start Listening →
4. 4

   

   Mrs. Endicott's Splendid Adventure

   Constable Evan Mystery

   by Rhys Bowen

   After thirty years of marriage, Ellie Endicott's husband demands a divorce in 1938 England—giving her the perfect excuse to finally live for herself.

   More about this pick

   After thirty years of marriage, Ellie Endicott's husband demands a divorce in 1938 England—giving her the perfect excuse to finally live for herself.

   ★ 4.46 Goodreads (25.5K ratings)

   377 pages • 2025

   Get the Book → Start Listening →
   Get the Book → Start Listening →
5. 5

   

   Gates of Fire

   by Steven Pressfield

   George Guidall's epic narration matches Pressfield's visceral recreation of ancient warfare and the warrior culture that made such sacrifice possible.

   More about this pick

   George Guidall's epic narration matches Pressfield's visceral recreation of ancient warfare and the warrior culture that made such sacrifice possible.

   ★ 4.40 Goodreads (44.4K ratings)

   526 pages • 1998

   Get the Book → Start Listening →
   Get the Book → Start Listening →
6. 6

   

   The Frozen River

   by Ariel Lawhon

   A midwife in 1789 Maine becomes a detective when a man's body is found frozen in the river, drawing on her intimate knowledge of every family secret in town. Lawhon turns colonial America into a forensic thriller.

   More about this pick

   A midwife in 1789 Maine becomes a detective when a man's body is found frozen in the river, drawing on her intimate knowledge of every family secret in town. Lawhon turns colonial America into a forensic thriller.

   ★ 4.38 Goodreads (594.0K ratings)

   448 pages • 2023

   Get the Book → Start Listening →
   Get the Book → Start Listening →
7. 7

   

   The Lies They Told

   by Ellen Marie Wiseman

   A young immigrant mother in 1930s rural Virginia faces America's rising eugenics movement, where class and origin determine who deserves forced sterilization. Wiseman illuminates this horrific period when pseudoscience justified systematic oppression.

   More about this pick

   A young immigrant mother in 1930s rural Virginia faces America's rising eugenics movement, where class and origin determine who deserves forced sterilization. Wiseman illuminates this horrific period when pseudoscience justified systematic oppression.

   ★ 4.34 Goodreads (21.4K ratings)

   416 pages • 2025

   Get the Book → Start Listening →
   Get the Book → Start Listening →
8. 8

   

   Call To Arms

   The Corps • Book 2

   by W.E.B. Griffin

   ★ 4.34 Goodreads (7.1K ratings)

   356 pages • 1987

   Get the Book → Start Listening →
   Get the Book → Start Listening →
9. 9

   

   The Killer Angels

   The Civil War Trilogy • Book 2

   by Michael Shaara

   ★ 4.33 Goodreads (92.5K ratings)

   345 pages • 1974

   Get the Book → Start Listening →
   Get the Book → Start Listening →
10. 10

    

    Semper Fi

    The Corps • Book 1

    by W.E.B. Griffin

    ★ 4.33 Goodreads (10.0K ratings)

    352 pages • 1986

    Get the Book → Start Listening →
    Get the Book → Start Listening →