by Rosalyn Story Overall: Historical fiction at its best woven together with a modern-day story. If you like novels with separate characters and plots that interlock over time, you should definitely pick up this book! In one strand we meet Celia DeMille, who in 1919 is watching both her career and the New Orleans OperaContinue reading “Sing Her Name”
Author Archives: Liz Helfrich
Four Treasures of the Sky
by Jenny Tinghui Zhang Overall: Can your name determine your destiny? Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang tells the story of Daiyu, a girl born into a happy family in rural China who’s named after a tragic heroine. The book follows Daiyu through the 1880s as she becomes an orphan, disguises herselfContinue reading “Four Treasures of the Sky”
Here be Dragons
I love series with dragons, dating back to my adolescent discovery of Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series. Here are my current favorite fantasy series featuring dragons. The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman This series of eight books (so far!) revolves around the adventures of Irene, who can travel to alternate realities through a mysteriousContinue reading “Here be Dragons”
My Favorite Fantasy Series You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
Kim Wilkins’ Daughters of the Storm or Blood and Gold Books: Daughters of the Storm, Sisters of the Fire, Queens of the Sea Bluebell, the warrior princess of these books, is such a great protagonist. She wouldn’t be out of place in one of the Game of Thrones or Wheel of Time books. I loveContinue reading “My Favorite Fantasy Series You’ve Probably Never Heard Of”
The Other Black Girl
by Zakiya Dalila Harris Nella, the only Black employee at published Wagner Books, initially feels elated when Hazel joins the staff. Then she starts receiving anonymous notes telling her to leave the company. And why won’t anyone tell her what really happened to former star editor Kendra back in the 1980s? Likes: This book tookContinue reading “The Other Black Girl”
Blood Grove
by Walter Mosley Easy Rawlins, world-weary Black private eye in late 1960s Los Angeles, need to find out whether a young white Vietnam veteran has killed a man. Did he really stab someone in defense of a mysterious young woman? Or was it a dream brought on by his PTSD? Rawlins takes a dive intoContinue reading “Blood Grove”
Our Woman in Moscow
by Beatriz Williams Ruth receives a postcard from her sister Iris, who disappeared with her husband from England years ago and now lives as a defector in the Soviet Union. Ruth doesn’t want to leave her comfortable life in 1950s New York, but the pull of events in the sisters’ past drags her unwillingly intoContinue reading “Our Woman in Moscow”
My Favorite Historical Fiction
Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon First of all, if you’ve never encountered Ariel Lawhon’s work, you’re missing out. Flight of Dreams, about the flight of the Hindenburg, was the first book of hers that I read, followed by I Was Anastasia. As an author she has a great ability to take a familiar storyContinue reading “My Favorite Historical Fiction”
My Top Five Historical Mystery Series Set in England
Maisie Dobbs – Jacqueline Winspear I was shocked to discover that a close friend who loves mysteries had never heard of Maisie Dobbs. I thought everyone knew about this long-running series! Winspear’s detective, born to a working-class family, becomes a parlor maid in an aristocratic Compton household. With the Compton family’s help, she educates herself,Continue reading “My Top Five Historical Mystery Series Set in England”
Teaching Black History to White People
by Leonard M. Moore Moore, a professor at the University of Texas, transforms one of his most popular history classes into an easily digestible synopsis of Black American history and an explanation of why it’s important for everyone to become familiar with it. Likes: conversational style, not afraid to confront difficult topics head-on, powerful useContinue reading “Teaching Black History to White People”
Liz Helfrich 