Category Archives: Historical Fiction

Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar

20 Wednesday Apr 2016

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Here is an excerpt from Vanessa’s diary – “every moment with Virginia – one feels more alive, not just alive, but living.  I have understood this Virginia equation – there is no rational, logical, or reachable Virginia lurking beneath – eventually Virginia  becomes exhausting”.  One would never want a sister like Virginia Woolf!

“Parmar inhabits the gilded ‘bohemian hinterland’ of Virginia Woolf and her sister Vanessa, creating a vibrant fictional homage.”—O: The Oprah Magazine

“Parmar does a stellar job conveying Virginia’s complicated, almost incestuous feelings for Vanessa. . . . The author also deftly brings to life the various artists and writers who formed the nascent Bloomsbury group. . . . Parmar’s narrative is riveting and successfully takes on the task of turning larger-than-life figures into real people. . . . [She] weaves their stories together so effortlessly that nothing seems out of place.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart

28 Monday Mar 2016

Posted by in Fiction, Historical Fiction, Humor

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I thoroughly enjoyed this work of historical fiction set in the early 1900’s about three sisters pursuing justice after a local bully crashes his motor car into their buggy and refuses to pay damages.  I sincerely hope Amy Stewart writes a sequel – one book about the Kopp sisters is not enough – it’s a feminist romp and a complete hoot!

“Constance Kopp, the feisty heroine of Amy Stewart’s charming novel “Girl Waits With Gun,” sounds like the creation of a master crime writer. At nearly 6 feet tall, Constance is a formidable character who can pack heat, deliver a zinger and catch a criminal without missing a beat. Based on the little-known story of the real Constance Kopp, one of America’s first female deputy sheriffs, the novel is an entertaining and enlightening story of how far one woman will go to protect her family.” —Washington Post 

“Stewart has spun a fine, historically astute novel…The sisters’ personalities flower under Stewart’s pen, contributing happy notes of comedy to a terrifying situation…And then there is Constance: Sequestered for years in the country and cowed by life, she develops believably into a woman who comes into herself, discovering powers long smothered under shame and resignation. I, for one, would like to see her return to wield them again in further installments.”—New York Times Book Review

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The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

24 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by in Fiction, Historical Fiction, History

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Author Pearl Buck drew from her own experiences growing up in China to write this novel, a family saga set in the rural countryside in the years just before the political and social upheavals of the 20th century. The book portrays the life of Wang Lung, a poor subsistence farmer who prevails over setbacks both man-made and natural to eventual prosperity.  An atmospheric, reflective novel with strong characterization makes for an enjoyable tale.  The book won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938.

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Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman

17 Wednesday Feb 2016

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I loved this story of a strong woman and her family, friendships, and faith. It’s beautifully written.  If you enjoy historical fiction, it’s not to be missed.

“Lilting prose, beautifully meted out folklore and historical references, and Hoffman’s deep conviction in her characters (especially those “willing to do anything for love”) make reading this “contes du temps passé” a total pleasure.”—Kirkus, starred review

“[A] rhapsodic blend of keenly observed historical elements and vibrantly fabulistic invention generates an entrancing saga of sacrifice, forbidden loves, betrayals, and family tragedies endured in a world fractured by religion, class, and race, and redeemed by art and by love. Hoffman is at her resplendent best in this trenchant and revelatory tale of a heroic woman and her world-altering artist son.” – Booklist, Starred Review

“Hoffman’s subject matter and her evocative writing style are a wonderful fit for this moving story, which illuminates a historical period and women whose lives were colored by hardships, upheavals, and the subjugation of personal desires.”—Publishers Weekly

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Brooklyn: a Novel by Colm Toibin

11 Thursday Feb 2016

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A pure delight to read.  The author depicts a young Irish woman, Eilis Lacey, who leaves a small town in Ireland in the 1950’s to live in Brooklyn and then unexpectedly returns to Ireland. Eilis has to deal with the consequences of love lost and found. What choice should she make?

Brooklyn “is one those magically quiet novels that sneak up on readers and capture their imaginations.” USA TODAY

“[A] masterly tale… There is not a sentence or a thought out of place.” — Irish Times

“Toibin’s prose is as elegant in its simplicity as it is complex in the emotions it evokes.” — The New York Times Magazine

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The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks

28 Monday Dec 2015

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I recommend Geraldine Brooks titles to anyone who loves historical fiction.  She has done it once again!  I was swept away into Second Iron Age Israel, most violent of times. This vivid, imaginative account takes one through the tribal battlefields and into the heart of David’s family of 8 wives and 9 children. Inspired by the lost book of Nathan.

“There’s something bordering on the supernatural about Geraldine Brooks.  She seems able to transport herself back to earlier time periods, to time travel.  Sometimes, reading her work, she draws you so thoroughly into another era that you swear she’s actually lived in it.  With sensory acuity and a deep and complex understanding of emotional states, she conjures up the way we lived then. . .Brooks has humanized the king and cleverly added a modern perspective to our understanding of him. . .[Her] vision of the biblical world is enrapturing.”  —The Boston Globe
“The best historical fiction. . .Brooks gives the whole king his due. . .It’s a tall order to breathe life into such a human being, and she manages it admirably.”—NPR
“In her gorgeously written novel of ambition, courage, retribution, and triumph, Brooks imagines the life and character of King David in all his complexity. . .The language, clear and precise throughout, turns soaringly poetic when describing music or the glory of David’s city. . .taken as a whole, the novel feels simultaneously ancient, accessible, and timeless.” —ALA Booklist
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The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

23 Monday Nov 2015

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If you are willing to be transported to the jungle-fringed tea plantations of the Cameron Highlands to discover the only Japanese garden in Malaysia, this most gifted writer will unveil another time, a place, two characters who wrestle with unspeakable brutal pasts, and seek the healing solace in the art of gardening.  I guarantee this story and this garden will linger in your mind long after you’ve read the last page.

“Beautifully written…Eng is quite simply one of the best novelists writing today.”–Philadelphia Inquirer
“Like his debut, The Gift of Rain (2007), Tan’s second novel is exquisite…Tan triumphs again, entwining the redemptive power of storytelling with the elusive search for truth, all the while juxtaposing Japan’s inhumane war history with glorious moments of Japanese art and philosophy. All readers in search of spectacular writing will not be disappointed.”–Library Journal, Starred Review
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Orphan #8: a novel by Kim van Alkemade

16 Monday Nov 2015

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In 1919, Rachel Rabinowitz and her brother were placed in the Hebrew Orphans Home in New York City after a series of tragic family events.  The orphanage is noted for its efficient care of over 1000 orphans and its modern medical facilities which include an X-ray machine.  Dr. Mildred Solomon, a young radiologist eager to show her knowledge, carries out medical research using several of the orphans as research subjects.

Thirty-five years later in 1954, Rachel is now a nurse in the hospice wing of the Old Hebrews Home where she recognizes her new patient as Dr. Mildred Solomon.  Rachel must now choose between forgiveness or revenge.

A fascinating but disturbing work of historical fiction by a new author who bears watching.

“Kim van Alkemade has moxie. In her provocative novel, family is saturated with betrayal, care is interrupted by ambition and desire, and the past is intimately explored, invoking the abandoned child in all of us. Orphan # 8 brims with complicated passions and pitch-perfect historical details. A riveting, memorable debut.” (Catherine Zobal Dent, author of Unfinished Stories of Girls)

“This book is utterly unputdownable. At once atmospheric, disturbing and absolutely engrossing, it poses a host of moral questions; I fully anticipate that it will become popular with book clubs.” (Historical Novels Review)

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Nora Webster by Colm Toibin

14 Monday Sep 2015

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Rural Ireland’s recent past is the setting for this novel about a 40-year-old mother of four, Nora Webster, who struggles to adjust emotionally after a fatal illness takes the life of her husband of 20 years.  Burdened by straitened finances, distracted by grief and by turns worried about or detached from her children, she is weighed down by the dullness of her days without her husband.  Nora’s circumstances are not entirely hopeless though as she is capable, independent-minded and supported by well-meaning family and acquaintances.  Her pessimism about the future begins to recede as she permits herself to take pleasure in small moments of happiness. A chance encounter with a local voice teacher leads to a new focus on music as a means to recovery as she crafts a new life on her own.

“Fascinating… Revelatory… More thoughtful than Emma Bovary and less self-destructive, in the end far and away a better parent than the doomed Anna Karenina for all the latter’s dramatic posturing, Nora Webster is easily as memorable as either—and far more believable. To say more would spoil a masterful— and unforgettable—novel.” (Betsy Burton NPR)

“The Ireland of four decades ago is beautifully evoked… Completely absorbing [and] remarkably heart-affecting.” (Booklist (starred review))

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The Turner House by Angela Flournoy

07 Tuesday Jul 2015

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The Turner House is a thoughtful, character-driven novel centered on the beloved home of an African American family. Francis and Viola Turner leave their sharecropping roots in Arkansas with their baby son Cha-Cha to find opportunity in Detroit during the city’s industrial heyday. Through sacrifice and hard work, together they raise a large family at 6257 Yarrow Street, a place that embodies their pride and hope for a brighter future. When matriarch Viola falls sick in 2008, the Turner family, thirteen-strong, must reckon with changing realities over which they have little control.

“A lively, thoroughly engaging family saga with a cast of fully realized characters…[Flournoy] handles time and place with a veteran’s ease…She puts her own distinctive stamp on this absorbing narrative.”–Publisher’s Weekly, starred and boxed review
“Nobody can take you from joyful to infuriated as fast as your brother or sister. Similarly, the ups and downs of the 13 siblings that populate The Turner House, the first novel by Angela Flournoy, whip from laugh-out-loud to heart-crushing. Still, she proves even bonds that have stretched a mile long have the ability to snap back.”—Essence
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