An Author of Many Awards
From the time Amy Harmon was a small girl, she knew that she wanted to be a writer. As she grew, she wrote both songs and stories that thrilled those she shared them with. She grew up in Levan, Utah, where there was nothing to entertain her besides books and her siblings. Since those times, Amy Harmon has written nineteen novels: one of her novels was a bestseller with the Washington Post.
Four of her novels made it to the USA Today bestsellers list. Eleven of her novels were #1 Amazon bestsellers, and she also had one New York Times bestseller. She has also made Italian and Israeli bestseller lists and won numerous awards. Among her awards are two Whitney Awards, three Goodreads Choice Awards, a Swirl Award, two Utopya Awards, and a Der Leserpreis award. This Amy Harmon book list will introduce you to some of the best Amy Harmon books that you can get your hands on.
Best Amy Harmon Books
What the Wind Knows
A Trip of Grief
Grief, love, and war are all prominent themes in this best-selling and most popular novel from celebrated author Amy Harmon. Anne grew up hearing her grandfather’s stories of his Irish home, and now that he has died, she finally gets to see it with her own eyes. She travels to Ireland to spread his ashes while consumed with grief, but she was not prepared for the way that her grandfather’s stories would live on in her memory, or in her real life.
With no clue how it happens, Anne finds herself in 1921 in Ireland. She is hurt, disoriented, and confused. Under the care of a gentle doctor, she finds herself drawn to the small boy that the doctor takes care of. The doctor unwittingly assumes that Anne is the mother who had abandoned the boy, and Anne, unsure what to do with herself at the wrong time in history, assumes the mom’s identity.
A Difficult Choice to Make
When the doctor joins the army for Ireland’s independence, Anne cannot explain why she is so distraught. She realizes that she has fallen in love with the doctor, and now she is faced with a heartbreaking decision. Can she give up her entire life for love, or will she choose to give up her love for her old life? With the skill that only a great author can bring, this book is full of beautiful language and gorgeous descriptions that will transport you to a past Ireland right along with Anne.
Making Faces
Unrequited Love
In this best novel by Amy Harmon, we meet Fern, who is a certified lover of romance novels. They consume her thoughts and truthfully might be responsible for giving her unrealistic expectations of men. Regardless, she cannot mistake the fact that Ambrose belongs on the pages of one of her romance novels as its main hero. He is gorgeous, tall and muscular with beautiful eyes. Intrigued by his flawlessness, but also intimidated by it, Fern watches from afar and pines away with her unrequited love.
After the attacks on September 11, 2001, Ambrose joins the military along with his four best friends and heads off to war. He comes back a completely different person, both on the inside and on the outside. Each and every one of his friends had died in the war, and he came back to his hometown permanently wounded and unable to love himself anymore. The guilt that he feels at his friends’ deaths threatens to completely consume him.
Second Chances
Fern makes it her life’s work to bring back the Ambrose that she fell in love with, but she soon realizes that he is not coming back. With this realization comes another: that her love for Ambrose is strong enough to overcome even this. With a little persuasion and a lot of patience, Fern is eventually able to coax Ambrose from his room, where he has spent his time since he got back from the war. With Fern’s help, he realizes that everyone deserves a second chance, no matter what you have done in your life.
From Sand and Ash
Separated by Circumstances
In this top novel by Amy Harmon, we meet Eva and Angelo, two children who are raised like family in pre-World War Two Italy. The only thing that separates them is their religion. Eva is Jewish, while Angelo is Catholic. As the two children grow older, feelings more than friendship begin to develop. Eva is understandably crushed when Angelo chooses his calling to the Catholic Church over his future with her.
Ten years later, Angelo is a priest who is deep in the Catholic church. Eva is a young Jewish woman who lives under constant threat of the Gestapo, who is moving ever closer to their home. The truth is that she has nowhere to turn, and is quite desperate when she decides to turn to her childhood friend and the Catholic Church to help. Angelo secrets her away to a convent, where the Catholic Church is already hiding many Jews in plain sight.
The Strength of Love
However desperate she might be, Eva discovers that she cannot just sit idly by while there are so many people hurting and in danger. She insists on helping when she can, regardless of the danger that she puts herself in. Her love for Angelo flows so deeply that she cannot sit by and let him take all of the danger on his plate.
Though their lives have gone in two different directions, the love that they share is undeniable. This is a beautifully written book that shows that sometimes love is the most powerful thing you can experience; more powerful than family expectations, danger, and even faith.
The Unknown Beloved
A Strange Occurrence
This new Amy Harmon book takes place during the Great Depression, when 10-year-old Dani returns home to a horrible scene. The police are swarming her house, and her parents lie dead inside. Mike Malone is the young patrolman who is put in charge of delivering Dani to her remaining relatives’ house, but he discovers something suspicious along the way. He begins to question everything he thought he knew about the case and about the little girl under his charge.
Solving a Case
The police chief tells Mike to keep his discoveries to himself and never tell anyone, but Mike simply cannot get the intriguing girl out of his head. Years later, there is a serial killer loose in the city, and Malone is put on the case. His job is to infiltrate the homeless people who seem to be the targets of the killer. In a strange twist of fate, the room that Malone rents out just happens to be owned by Dani and her aunts.
Dani instantly recognizes the nice police officer from her childhood, but it is unmistakable that he is a changed man. Malone soon discovers that Dani has a supernatural ability to know everything about a person just by feeling their clothes, and she begins writing obituaries for the murdered homeless people who no one seems to know. Maybe her power can also help Mike solve this case. You will not regret reading this best novel by Amy Harmon.
The Bird and the Sword Chronicles Series
Lark
In one of the best series by Amy Harmon, we are introduced to two separate books that are just as well-loved as you can expect any Amy Harmon novels to be. These two Amy Harmon books in order are The Bird and the Sword and The Queen and the Cure. In the first book, we are introduced to a world of magic where magic is hated. Lark, the main character of the series, was unfortunately born with magic.
With her magic, Lark is able to speak her words into existence; whatever she says will come true. There is only one catch. Her mother sacrificed herself for Lark, but she also cursed her to silence with her last breath. Now Lark cannot speak, and Lark cannot use the magic that makes her unique. However, when she finds a loophole to her mother’s curse, she risks putting everything in risk.
Kjell
In the second book, which is considered one of the best Amy Harmon books, we meet the illegitimate son of the king, Kjell. Kjell also was born with magic, though he happens to be a healer who also happens to despise his magic. When he meets a woman who has been having some rather troubling views of the future, Kjell is forced into a future that he neither saw coming nor wanted. He must come to terms with his magic if he wants to succeed at his goals.
Where the Lost Wander
A Widow
In one of the best novels by Amy Harmon as well as one of the latest Amy Harmon novels, we meet a recently-widowed Naomi. Though she is only 20 years old, she is faced with grief that she never imagined and a life-changing decision. Stay in the land that she shared with her husband, or load up everything with her family and take to the Overland Trail. For Naomi, it is an easy choice to make if it means leaving her grief behind her in the dust.
A Dangerous Journey
While on the trail she meets an intriguing man that she discovers she has an immediately strong connection with. John is half-Pawnee and completely outcast. His native tribe does not want him, and the white settlers definitely do not want him. This beautiful novel covers the hardships of traveling over land in a covered wagon, as well as the growing relationship between Naomi and John.
When they are forced to travel through hostile native land, John’s half-heritage protects them, and likewise when they travel through any towns they are protected by the white family. However, no one could have seen the tragedy that lay ahead of them. This tragedy forced John and Naomi to separate, with only bare hopes that they will see each other again. Amy Harmon does a wonderful job with this novel by mixing several themes together flawlessly: romance, survival, determination, and danger all abide within this story.
The Law of Moses Series
Baby Moses
This is another great book series brought to you by Amy Harmon; the two books in this series are titled The Law of Moses and The Song of David. In The Law of Moses, we learn the story of baby Moses. Moses is now a troubled teen, but once upon a time he was the baby on the ten o’clock news.
He had been found abandoned in a laundromat, wrapped in a blanket and left in a basket to await his death. Luckily, someone found him before he died, but his origin story stayed with him. When Georgia moves into town, her family warns her to stay away from Moses, but she finds herself inexplicably drawn to him. What follows is a love story that is sure to leave you, and Georgia, in tears.
Fighting David
The Song of David follows the love story of Millie and David Taggert (Tag). Tag is a fighter who can think of nothing he enjoys more than a good fight that will bloody his knuckles and black his eyes. Until he meets Millie. Millie and her brother have had a rough life, but Millie never stops pushing forward. Through the stories of both Millie and Tag, we are told a beautiful story of perseverance and learning the importance of never giving up.
The Songbook of Benny Lament
A Lone Piano Man
According to Amy Harmon book reviews, this is Amy Harmon’s best-rated novel. This novel introduces Benny, who is a piano man who sees no other way through life except to close himself off to everyone around him. He had grown up surrounded by danger and drama associated with his dad’s involvement in the mob. He has seen how love and family can pose a threat and be used to manipulate people. And he has no desire to be manipulated or hurt. It is much easier to stick to himself and worry about nothing else besides writing songs for other people.
A Beautiful Songstress
He is completely happy with the way he chooses to live his life. But when he watches Esther perform at a club, he suddenly realizes that he is going about his life completely wrong. He cannot help but write a song for her, and when the two perform together, they get national recognition. Benny’s love of music convinces him to ignore that voice in his head telling him that he is wading into dangerous waters.
But he finds that that voice is getting easier and easier to ignore. But societal expectations are not quite as easy to ignore. He is a young Italian man interested in an African American woman in the 1960s, and no one is very happy about it. But Benny begins to realize that he cannot live without Esther. This is the story of their beautiful journey to love.
The Chronicles of Saylock Series
The First Girl Born
The first book of this series is considered by some to be one of the best Amy Harmon books. Bayr’s mother left this world with a curse on her lips: there would be no girls born in Saylock from the day of her death forward. However, twenty years later, Alba is born. She is the first girl born in the country in a very long time, and Bayr makes it his life’s goal to protect her from all harm.
Bayr is determined to defeat the enemies that would rather see Alba dead, but he is surprised by the depth of his bond with Alba. In fact, he finds himself fueled and more determined by her love. However, the two soon realize that among their list of enemies lies the name of the king himself. They have to decide if saving the country from corruption is worth regicide.
An Orphan Girl and a Blind Boy
In the second book of the series, The Second Blind Son, which is also a top-ranked Amy Harmon book, we meet orphaned Ghisla and blind Hod. The two quickly become friends, but Hod is amazed to discover that Ghisla’s singing brings his sight back to him. Ghisla soon enters the temple with the rest of the girl children, but she and Hod soon discover that they are in deeper water than they ever imagined. Can this small team defeat their enemies and bring peace to the land?
A Different Blue
The Help of a Friend
In this best Amy Harmon book, we meet Blue, who at nineteen, is just now a senior in high school. That is pretty impressive considering that she did not even begin attending school until she was 10. She knows nothing about her past: no mother, no father, no family. She was found as an abandoned baby and raised by the drifter that found her. She gives her teachers a run for their money, and eventually they all give up on her.
Except one teacher: the British Mr. Wilson. Through his hard work and dedication, and eventually through the friendship that forms between the two of them, Blue learns an important lesson in her life. Mr. Wilson teaches her that, though she may not know who she is or where she comes from, it is up to her to decide who she will be and where she will go. Finding yourself can be hard, but with the help of a great friend, Blue discovers that it is actually the most important journey of her life.
A Few More
Though this list includes some of the best Amy Harmon novels, there are plenty more to enjoy from this bestselling author. Some more of Amy Harmon’s best books include Running Barefoot, Infinity + One, and The Smallest Part.
Alissa Wynn
Alissa is an avid reader, blogger, and wannabe writer. (She's a much better cook than a writer actually). Alissa is married, has one human, one feline, and two canine kids. She always looks a mess and never meets a deadline.
