“Of all that we’re asked to give others in this life, the most difficult to offer may be forgiveness.”
If you found yourself enthralled by This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger, you’re far from alone. With its rich historical backdrop, emotional coming-of-age tale, and unforgettable journey of four orphaned children during the Great Depression, it’s a book that leaves a lingering imprint. But, once you turn the final page, you may find yourself searching for more books like This Tender Land – tales that blend heartfelt friendships, adventure, and the resilience of the human spirit. Which is why we here at What We Reading have rounded up our favourite books similar to This Tender Land. Whether you’re pulled to atmospheric historical fiction, moving tales of found family, or deeply human stories set against America’s past, these novels deliver. From emotional literary fiction to epic journeys of hope and survival, each one captures the magic and meaning that makes This Tender Land so unforgettable!
This Tender Land Summary
It is the summer of 1932, and on the banks of Minnesota’s Gilead River, the Lincoln Indian Training School is a pitiless place where Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also the home of Odie O’Banion, a lively orphan who constantly finds himself on the wrong side of the superintendent’s fury. Odie and his brother Albert are the only white faces among hundreds of Native American children at the school.
After committing a terrible crime, Odie and Albert are forced to flee along with their best friend, Mose, a mute young man of Sioux heritage. They also take a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy along out of pity. Together, the four steal a canoe and set off down the Mississippi for a place to call home. With the feel of a modern American classic, This Tender Land is a captivating epic that shows how the mighty landscapes connect us all, haunt our dreams, and make us whole.
All The Colors Of The Dark – Chris Whitaker
Kicking off our list of books like This Tender Land is Chris Whitaker’s All the Colors of the Dark. 1975 is a time of profound change in America. The Vietnam War is coming to a close. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And, in the small Missouri town of Monta Clare, girls are disappearing. When the daughter of an affluent family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges – Patch, a local boy, who saves the girl and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.
Patch and those who love him soon learn that the line between triumph and tragedy has been more murky. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another. A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a heartfelt love story, and a dazzling take on all of the above, Chris Whitaker’s novel is all about what lurks in the shadows of obsession and the blinding rays of hope.
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James – Percival Everett
When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can come up with a plan. Elsewhere, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of great American literature are aware, this kickstarts the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.
Bursting with nuanced humour and lacerating observations that have helped establish Percival Everett as a literary titan, James is a brilliant and tender reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view. It is one of the best books similar to This Tender Land for anyone looking for another great American adventure across sweeping landscapes and deep casts of characters.
The Berry Pickers – Amanda Peters
July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks on, the family’s youngest child, four-year-old Ruthie, suddenly disappears. She is last seen by her brother, six-year-old Joe, sitting on a favourite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain grief-stricken over his sister’s vanishing for years to come.
In Maine, a young girl called Norma grows up as the only child of a wealthy family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother irritatingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that feel more like memories than imagination. As she grows up, Norma slowly comes to discover there is something her parents aren’t telling her. One of the best coming-of-age books like This Tender Land, Amanda Peters’ debut novel, The Berry Pickers, is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time.
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Go As A River – Shelley Read
Nominated for Readers’ Favourite Historical Fiction in the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards, Shelley Read’s Go As a River follows Victoria Nash on a cool autumn day in 1948. Whilst delivering late-season peaches from her family’s farm set amid the rugged beauty of Colorado, a dishevelled stranger stops to ask her the way. How she chooses to answer will unknowingly alter the course of both of their young lives.
So begins a mesmerising tale of split-second decisions and brave acts that propel Victoria away from the only home she has ever known, and toward a reckoning with loss, hope, and her own untapped potential in a way any fans of This Tender Land are sure to recognise. Pulling all the pieces of her small and extraordinary existence together, spinning through the eddies of desire, heartbreak, and betrayal,, Victoria will find herself arriving at a single rocky choice that will change her life forever.
The Whalebone Theatre – Joanna Quinn
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn is a sweeping, character-driven historical novel set on the English coast during the interwar years. The story follows orphaned Cristabel Seagrave, a fiercely imaginative girl who constructs a makeshift theatre inside the ribcage of a beached whale. In this unlikely stage, she and other children in her crumbling manor house escape from the harsh realities of their lives through storytelling and performance.
As Cristabel grows up, the shadows of war loom, and her courage is put to the test in unimaginable ways. She eventually becomes a British spy in Nazi-occupied France, carrying with her the strength forged during her childhood. Like This Tender Land, The Whalbone Theatre is a story about resilience, transformation, and the search for identity featuring rich atmospheric detail, found families, and emotional depth.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
