by Margaret Verble Overall: I love books set during the 1920s, so when I came across When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky, I immediately put it on my hold list. Set in Nashville’s Glendale Park Zoo, the novel is filled with characters from all different backgrounds (a Black zoo employee from a prominent family,Continue reading “When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky”
Category Archives: Historical Fiction
The Marriage Portrait
by Maggie O’Farrell Overall: Hamnet was one of my favorites this year, so as soon as I realized that Maggie O’Farrell would publish The Marriage Portrait in September, I got on my library’s hold list. I’m so glad I did! I love historical fiction and stories about women’s lives, and this is a beautiful exampleContinue reading “The Marriage Portrait”
Memphis
by Tara M. Stringfellow Overall: This is an incredibly powerful book. Memphis tells the story of the North family through the voices of Hazel, her daughters Miriam and August, and Miriam’s daughter Joan. These women’s lives span the 20th century, but aside from being united by blood, they are also united by their experiences asContinue reading “Memphis”
Dawnlands
by Philippa Gregory Overall: I loved Philippa Gregory’s series about the wives of Henry VIII (The Other Boleyn Girl is the best-known) and her series about the Wars of the Roses (The Cousins’ War series). She’s deservedly one of the top authors of historical fiction about England, and her latest series, Fairmile, takes on theContinue reading “Dawnlands”
As Little As Nothing
by Pamela Mulloy Overall: As Little As Nothing is a quiet, contemplative book that focuses on the interior lives of its characters. Set in a rural English village in the tense months leading up to World War II, it focuses on the lives of four people: Miriam, a woman recovering from a recent miscarriage; Edmund,Continue reading “As Little As Nothing”
Cradles of the Reich
by Jennifer Coburn Overall: Cradles of the Reich follows three women into a Lebensborn home called Heim Hochland in Nazi Germany. Like the author, I hadn’t heard much about the Lebensborn program other than a reference to it in the Netflix series “The Man in the High Castle” and an occasional allusion to it inContinue reading “Cradles of the Reich”
All the Gold in Abbotsford
by E. L. Daniel Overall: All the Gold in Abbotsford takes place in a fictional town in England in the 1300s. In the prologue, the reader meets Stephen Warde, an English soldier who barely escapes from a battle that kills his father. The main narrative then picks up 12 years later when Stephen has returnedContinue reading “All the Gold in Abbotsford”
The House in the Orchard
by Elizabeth Brooks Overall: The House in the Orchard is a perfect read for October, as Brooks has written a gothic tale in the classic style. In 1945, we meet Peggy, recently widowed by the war, her four-year-old son Laurie, and her elderly father-in-law, Frank. They’ve come to Orchard House, a rather decrepit house inContinue reading “The House in the Orchard”
Mother Daughter Traitor Spy
by Susan Elia MacNeal Overall: Don’t think there’s anything left to write about WWII? Think again! Susan Elia MacNeal’s Mother Daughter Traitor Spy sheds some light on a relatively unexplored area: Nazi spies and activists in California during the 1940s. Veronica, who’s just graduated from college in New York, and her widowed mother Violet decideContinue reading “Mother Daughter Traitor Spy”
The House with the Golden Door
by Elodie Harper Overall: This is the second book in the Wolf Den trilogy, so if you haven’t read Wolf Den, PLEASE don’t read any further to avoid spoilers! I’ll wait. Ready? The reader returns to ancient Pompeii in The House With the Golden Door to find Amara a free woman installed in her ownContinue reading “The House with the Golden Door”
Liz Helfrich 