Category Archives: Historical Fiction

Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

18 Wednesday Jan 2023

Posted by in adventure, Fiction, Historical Fiction, murder, Uncategorized, United States

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At the very end of the Civil War, two newly freed slave brothers have no way to make a living and no where to go.  Running parallel to this story is the forbidden romance of two Confederate soldiers.  When these two stories collide, chaos ensues.  Written so deliberately and well paced, it is hard to believe it is a debut novel!

“Harris’s lucid prose and vivid characterization illustrate a community at war with itself, poisoned by pride and mired in racial and sexual bigotry. Prentiss and Landry are technically free, but they remain trapped by a lifetime of blighted hopes and broken promises. Reconstruction will prove to be yet another lie. Harris’s first novel is an aching chronicle of loss, cruelty, and love in the wake of community devastation.”―Lesley Williams, Booklist (starred review)

“Deeply moving… Harris’s ambitious debut explores the aftermath of the Emancipation Proclamation in rural Georgia… Harris peoples the small community with well-developed characters… [He] writes in intelligent, down-to-earth prose and shows a keen understanding of his characters.”―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A timeless portrait of warring factions seeking peace… There is a shared longing at the heart of Harris’ novel… Harris draws readers into this sense of longing by exploring silences… Celebrating all manner of relationships that combat hate, this novel is a hopeful glimpse into the long legacy of American racial and civil tensions.”―Mari Carlson, Bookpage (starred review)

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Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

28 Wednesday Dec 2022

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A young woman living in Northern Ireland during the Troubles is a teacher who also works at her family’s pub. She meets and falls in love with one of the pub’s customers, an older married man, as tensions in their community rise around them. This is a beautifully written story with strong characters.

“Brilliant, beautiful, heartbreaking. . .  A rising sense of tension throughout comes to a shocking head. I am not a crier, but by the final pages of Trespasses, I was in tears. It’s a testament to Kennedy’s talents that we come to love and care so much about her characters. And that reading about a long and difficult period from the recent past feels not like history, but like a warning.” —J.Courtney Sullivan, New York Times Book Review

“TRESPASSES vaults Kennedy into the ranks of such contemporary masters as McCann, Claire Keegan, Colin Barrett, and fellow Sligo resident, Kevin Barry.” —Oprah Daily

“Kennedy doesn’t shy away from either fun or femininity. . . . By attending to romance and courtship, and by writing about beatings and bombings alongside gossip and domestic detail, Kennedy refuses to shrink or ignore any part of her characters’ lives. . . . She demonstrates how artificial it is for fiction to divide love and war.” —The Atlantic

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Properties of Thirst by Marianne Wiggins

02 Wednesday Nov 2022

Posted by in Fiction, Historical Fiction, United States

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A New Yorker Best Book of 2022

Fifteen years after the publication of Evidence of Things Unseen, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist Marianne Wiggins returns with a novel destined to be an American classic..(Amazon). I never wanted this book to end.  I just kept slowing down to forestall the inevitable.  A stunner.

“A changing American landscape is beautifully portrayed in PROPERTIES OF THIRST, a moving and gripping new novel by Marianne Wiggins.  At the start of World War II, while Japanese families are relocated to Manzanar, the Rhodes family, who live on a ranch near the camp are equally uprooted by memories and circumstances.  What follows is a rich and powerful portrayal of love, loss, and the enduring strength of family.  A novel to be read and savored.”—Gail Tsukiyama, bestselling author of Women of the Silk and The Samurai’s Garden

“A sweeping, cinematic story of love and family set against the dramatic backdrop of World War II and the American West…. What makes the novel soar is the way Wiggins can evoke landscapes both interior and exterior, especially the expansive valley that has come to exemplify America’s best qualities—and its worst. This majestic novel will satisfy those thirsting for an epic saga of love, family, and the complexities of the American way.”—Kirkus *Starred Review* 

“Wiggins manages to capture a big swath of mid-century America by placing a blue-blooded family into a desert inland complete with adobe haciendas, desert blooms, and Hollywood movie sets, while throughout, the Rhodes hold out hope for Stryker’s survival. Wiggins’s masterpiece is one for the ages.”–Publishers Weekly, *Starred Review*

“[a] grand novel of principled and creative individuals caught in the vise of history… Loss, desire, moral dilemmas, reflection, and zesty dialogue with the do-good energy of Frank Capra films generate a WWII home front tale of profound and far-ranging inquiry and imagination, scintillating humor, intrepid romance, and conscience.”—Booklist *Starred Review*

“Masterful…. Readers won’t be able to look away. Wiggins’ characters are raw and honest… [her] writing, which can be fragmented or polished depending on the page, opens up microscopic universes and sprawling landscapes alike. It’s a joy to read.”—Bookpage *Starred Review*

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Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

19 Wednesday Oct 2022

Posted by in 20th century, Historical Fiction, United States

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Montgomery, Alabama, 1973.  Inspired by true events, this story pulls us into the world of newly  graduated nurse Civil Townsend who is bursting with optimism to change the impoverished lives of her patients only to become immersed in the appalling practices of the federal health care system.  You will remember Civil and her 2 first young girl patients long after the last page.

“A jewel of a book…Perkins-Valdez’s grasp of large historical themes is matched by her attention to her characters’ lives, their existence so meticulously rendered that you can smell the fetid air of the Williams’s country hovel and the scent of the girls freshly bathed and slathered with cocoa butter….Take My Hand reminds us that truly extraordinary fiction is rarely written merely to entertain…Perkins-Valdez has done a fine job of building a structure and scaffolding that will not only endure but also bear the weight of future writers yearning to bring the past to readers afresh.”—Washington Post

“Inspired by true events this story highlights the horrific discrepancies in our healthcare system and illustrates their heartbreaking consequences.”—Essence

“Take My Hand is a gem: one of those rare and beautiful novels that walks the balance beam of heartbreak and hope.  Dolen Perkins-Valdez demonstrates once again the way she can breathe life into history through fiction that adds deep and profound meaning to the past — and makes its relevance to the present meaningful and clear.”—Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of The Flight Attendant and Hour of the Witch

“In her newest novel, Dolen Perkins-Valdez probes the many ways institutional racism and classism inflicts lasting scars, especially on young Black women—and the grace, courage, and love needed to begin to heal those wounds. Deeply empathetic yet unflinching in its gaze, Take My Hand is an unforgettable exploration of responsibility and redemption, the dangers of good intentions, and the folly of believing anyone can decide what’s best for another’s life.”—Celeste Ng, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere

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Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus    

14 Wednesday Sep 2022

Posted by in Fiction, Historical Fiction, Humor, United States

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“It’s the world versus Elizabeth Zott, an extraordinary woman determined to live on her own terms, and I had no trouble choosing a side. Lessons in Chemistry is a page-turning and highly satisfying tale: zippy, zesty, and Zotty.”—Maggie Shipstead, author of Great Circle

“The enchanting story of Elizabeth Zott never belittles the offence of sexism, but neither – miraculously – does it ever take you more than a few sentences away from a smile, a chuckle, or a laugh out loud. Bonnie Garmus’ gift is to expose the sting and injustice of being a woman in a man’s world with a feather light touch that keeps our spirits buoyant and our hearts strong. I honestly don’t know how she does it. This is a remarkable book by a remarkable writer.”—Jo Browning Roe, author of A Terrible Kindness

“Lessons in Chemistry is a breath of fresh air—a witty, propulsive, and refreshingly hopeful novel populated with singular characters. This book is an utter delight—wry, warm, and compulsively readable.”—Claire Lombardo, author of The Most Fun We Ever Had

“Garmus tells a familiar story in a completely original voice in her delightful debut novel…Zott is an unforgettable protagonist, logical and literal and utterly herself…The novel deftly mixes comedy and tragedy, with only one very clear villain: the patriarchal culture of mid-20th century America, the days of which are numbered because of women like Zott…For those who admire a confident, bone-dry, and hilarious authorial voice, this novel achieves the difficult task of being both sharply satirical and heartwarming at the same time.”—Historical Novels Review

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Horse: a Novel by Geraldine Brooks

26 Friday Aug 2022

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A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history (publisher)

“Brooks’ chronological and cross-disciplinary leaps are thrilling . . . [Horse] is really a book about the power and pain of words . . . Lexington is ennobled by art and science, and roars back from obscurity to achieve the high status of metaphor.”—The New York Times Book Review

“[Brooks] demonstrates imaginative empathy […] and provides some sardonic correctives to White cluelessness . . . Brooks skillfully […] demonstrate[s] how the poison of racism lingers. Contemporary parallels are unmistakable . . . Strong storytelling in service of a stinging moral message.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) 

“Brooks probes our understanding of history to reveal the power structures that create both the facts and the fiction . . . [She] has penned a clever and richly detailed novel about how we commodify, commemorate, and quantify winning in the United States, all through the lens of horse racing.”
—Library Journal (starred review)

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Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang

25 Monday Jul 2022

Posted by in Fiction, Historical Fiction, United States, western

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Selection for August 2022 Novels at Night book club in Weston

“Brilliant and devastating, Four Treasures of the Sky tells the story of Daiyu, who is brought to America against her will and forced to hide who she is even as she grows into her true self. Weaving together myth and history, Zhang’s work is both timeless and utterly necessary right now.”
―Anna North, author of Outlawed

“Jenny Tinghui Zhang uses her considerable talents to illuminate the shocking injustices the Chinese in this country suffered in the 1800s, and in doing so, makes us stop and consider how much of that cruelty and injustice survive to this day. Four Treasures of the Sky is an engulfing, bighearted, and heartbreaking novel.”―Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House

“Zhang’s debut novel imaginatively illuminates an often overlooked aspect of American history that resonates powerfully today, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and concurrent anti-Asian violence… Zhang’s blend of history and magical realism will appeal to fans of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Water Dancer as well as Amy Tan’s The Valley of Amazement.”―Booklist (starred review)

“Fierce and moving…Zhang delves into the history of violence and prejudice against Chinese people in the U.S. with her debut, a lyrical and sweeping Bildungsroman…The author skillfully delineates the many characters and offers fascinating details on Chinese calligraphy and literature, along with an unsparing view of white supremacy.”―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“The prides and prejudices of the Old West blaze to life in Zhang’s propulsive, fable-like novel…Zhang skillfully embellishes her novel with Chinese characters, suggesting that language is our most potent weapon against oppression.”―Oprah Daily

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The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

08 Friday Jul 2022

Posted by in Biographical fiction, Fiction, Historical Fiction, United States

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A remarkable novel about J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white in order to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation, from New York Times bestselling authors Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. (Amazon)

“Benedict, who is white, and Murray, who is African American, do a good job of depicting the tightrope Belle walked, and her internal conflict from both sides—wanting to adhere to her mother’s wishes and move through the world as white even as she longed to show her father she was proud of her race. Like Belle and her employer, Benedict and Murray had almost instant chemistry, and as a result, the book’s narrative is seamless. And despite my aversion to the passing trope, I became hooked.”—NPR

“This fictional account of Greene’s life feels authentic; the authors bring to life not only Belle but all those around her. An excellent piece of historical fiction that many readers will find hard to put down.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“Every element of this blockbuster historical novel is compelling and revelatory, beginning with the bedazzling protagonist based with awestruck care on Belle da Costa Greene… a novel of enthralling drama, humor, sensuality, and insight. … [a] resounding tale of a brilliant and resilient woman defying sexism, classism, and racism during the brutality of Jim Crow. Benedict and Murray do splendidly right by Belle in this captivating and profoundly enlightening portrayal.”—Booklist (starred review)

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The Coroner’s Lunch  (A Dr. Siri Paiboun Mystery Book 1) by Colin Cotterell

15 Friday Apr 2022

Posted by in detective, Fiction, Historical Fiction, murder and investigation, mystery

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Readers of literary mysteries will want to seek out a copy of The Coroner’s Lunch, the first of a series set in the country of Laos in the throes of its communist takeover during the 1970s. These engaging stories feature a strong sense of place and a sympathetic protagonist, one Siri Paiboun, a 72-year-old physician and lonely widower. Dr. Siri, who hopes to retire quietly is instead conscripted as the country’s sole medical examiner and finds his work draws him into ever more suspicious and dangerous entanglements. 

”The sights, smells, and colors of Laos practically jump of the pages of this inspired, often wryly witty first novel.” —Denver Post

”In Siri, Cotterill has created a detective as distinctive as Maigret or Poirot.” —Orlando Sentinel

”This series kickoff is an embarrassment of riches: Holmesian sleuthing, political satire, and [a] droll comic study of a prickly late bloomer.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

”A wonderfully fresh and exotic mystery . . . If Cotterill . . . had done nothing more than treat us to Siri’s views on the dramatic, even comic crises that mark periods of government upheaval, his debut mystery would still be fascinating. But the multiple cases spread out on Siri’s examining table . . . are not cozy entertainments but substantial crimes that take us into the thick of political intrigue.” —New York Times Book Review

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The Henna Artist (The Jaipur Trilogy Book 1) by Alka Joshi

11 Monday Apr 2022

Posted by in 20th century, Fiction, Historical Fiction

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Lakshmi at 17 years old, escapes an arranged, abusive marriage leaving her village to arrive in the pink city of Jaipur where she cultivates her original artistic designs of henna as she cultivates her upper class clientele.  She can never reveal her past but one day her husband finds her with a high-spirited 13 year old sister in tow that she never knew she had and all begins to unravel…..

“Rich in detail and bright with tastes and textures, The Henna Artist is a fabulous glimpse into Indian culture of the 1950s.”—Bookpage, Starred Review

“Vibrant characters, evocative imagery, and sumptuous prose create a satisfying, unforgettable tale.”—Christian Science Monitor


“Joshi has constructed a bewitching glimpse into the past with a tough heroine well worth cheering on.”—Booklist

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