Historical Fiction
Hungerstone : a novel
Dunn, Kat, author.
FICTION Dunn Kat
Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror, LGBTQ+
It's the height of the industrial revolution and ten years into Lenore's marriage to steel magnate Henry, their relationship has soured. When Henry's ambitions take them from London to the remote British moorlands to host a hunting party, a shocking carriage accident brings the mysterious Carmilla into their lives. Carmilla, who is weak and pale during the day but vibrant at night. Carmilla, who stirs up something deep within Lenore. And before long, girls from the local villages fall sick, consumed by a terrible hunger. As the day of the hunt draws closer, Lenore begins to unravel, questioning the role she has been playing all these years. Torn between regaining her husband's affection and the cravings Carmilla has awakened, soon Lenore will uncover a darkness in her household that will place her at terrible risk.
The Starving Saints
Starling, Caitlin.
ON ORDER BOOK
Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror, LGBTQ+
"Aymar Castle has been under siege for six months. Food is running low and there has been no sign of rescue. But just as the survivors consider deliberately thinning their number, the castle stores are replenished. The sick are healed. And the divine figures of the Constant Lady and her Saints have arrived, despite the barricaded gates, offering succor in return for adoration. Soon, the entire castle is under the sway of their saviors, partaking in intoxicating feasts of terrible origin. The war hero Ser Voyne gives her allegiance to the Constant Lady. Phosyne, a disorganized, paranoid nun-turned-sorceress, races to unravel the mystery of these new visitors. And a serving girl, Treila, is torn between her thirst for a secret vengeance against Voyne and the desperate need to escape from the horrors that are unfolding. To save the castle, and themselves, will take a reimagining of who they are, and a reorganization of the very world itself."
If unsettling horror with a medieval gothic flair sounds like your kind of read, then Caitlin Starling's most recent novel is perfect for you. Blending faith, gluttony, and the power of manipulation, "The Starving Saints" explores what happens when devotion takes a deadly turn, leaving any reader hungry for more. -Madison C
Blood on Her Tongue (Standard Edition)
Veen, Johanna van.
ON ORDER BOOK
Historical Fiction, Horror
"I'm in your blood, and you are in mine…" The Netherlands, 1887. Lucy's twin sister Sarah is unwell. She refuses to eat, mumbles nonsensically, and is increasingly obsessed with a centuries-old corpse recently discovered on her husband's estate. The doctor has diagnosed her with temporary insanity caused by a fever of the brain. To protect her twin from a terrible fate in a lunatic asylum, Lucy must unravel the mystery surrounding her sister's condition, but it's clear her twin is hiding something. Then, the worst happens. Sarah's behavior takes a turn for the strange. She becomes angry… and hungry. Lucy soon comes to suspect that something is trying to possess her beloved sister. Or is it madness? As Sarah changes before her very eyes, Lucy must reckon with the dark, monstrous truth, or risk losing her forever.
Johanna van Veen's novel is one any vampire fan will want to sink their teeth into. A dark, gothic tale of horror, this book will capture any reader who enjoys chilling reads, historical mysteries, and exploring the lengths two sisters will go to keep monstrous forces at bay. -Madison C
The Paris express : a novel
Emma Donoghue
FICTION Donoghue Emma
Fiction, Historical Fiction
Based on an 1895 disaster that went down in history when it was captured in a series of surreal, extraordinary photographs, The Paris Express is a propulsive novel set on a train packed with a fascinating cast of characters who hail from as close as Brittany and as far as Russia, Ireland, Algeria, Pennsylvania, and Cambodia. Members of parliament hurry back to Paris to vote; a medical student suspects a girl may be dying; a secretary tries to convince her boss of the potential of moving pictures; two of the train's crew build a life away from their wives; a young anarchist makes a terrifying plan, and much more.
Emma Donoghue brings imaginative storytelling to a famous photograph: the Montparnasse derailment, the one with the steam engine hanging out of the station. Donoghue wonders who was on that train, what were their lives like, what did their interactions look like. What she creates is riveting. -Anne M
The reformatory : a novel
Due, Tananarive, 1966- author.
FICTION Due Tananari
Historical Fiction, Horror
Gracetown, Florida. June 1950. Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie's journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory. Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it's too late.
This Tananarive Due novel is a haunting work of historical fiction based on the real-life story of her Great Uncle, killed with so many others at the notorious Dozier School for Boys. "The Reformatory" will possess any reader who appreciates historical fiction, horror, and novels that take a hard look at the often-hidden truths of racism in America. -Madison C
Come to the window : a novel
Howard A. Norman
FICTION Norman Howard
Historical Fiction
In 1918, amid war and pandemic, a Nova Scotia murder ignites a reporter's pursuit of the truth as his wife, a war surgeon, becomes unexpectedly entangled.
The book, set in 1918 Nova Scotia, are the journals of Toby Havenshaw, a court reporter who is assigned to cover a murder case. The accused, Elizabeth Frame, allegedly and admittedly murders her husband on their wedding night after he refuses to come to the window to see a beached whale. Elizabeth’s story gets pretty odd and as the story progresses and Toby uncovers more and more about the case, things start to shift for Toby. He feels the magnitude of the change of time—World War I, the Spanish flu, this murder—it is all catching up with him. And Amelia, Toby’s wife, a surgeon, is back from the front—working through her own fears and terrors. I think living during a time of immense change (I guess who hasn’t lived through immense change…), you feel an affinity with Toby and Amelia. This is one of those small, but mighty books. -Anne M
The bright sword : a novel of King Arthur
Lev Grossman
SCIENCE FICTION Grossman Lev
Fantasy, Historical Fiction
"Collum, a brilliantly gifted young knight from the provinces, arrives at Camelot two weeks after the Battle of Camlann, hoping to compete for a spot on the Round Table. But he finds the city empty, King Arthur dead, and the Table destroyed. The remaining six knights aren't the mighty heroes, the legends, like Lancelot and Gawain and Tristram and Galahad. These are the survivors, a grab-bag of minor oddball knights from the margins--Sir Palomides, the Saracen Knight; Sir Bedivere, Arthur's one-handed longtime companion; Sir Dagonet, Arthur's fool, knighted as a joke; Sir Dinadan, a cutting wit who's hiding a deep secret. Arthur's death has exposed the splinters of his kingdom, and a void has opened in the heart of Britain. As power-hungry lords from the north descend on Camelot to seize control of the land, Collum is thrust into the front lines. Here lies the battlefield between pagans and Christians, fantasy and empire, power and destiny. Monsters and fairies are reawakening, the moral center is gone, and the fragile alliances that held Britain together are breaking. It is up to the surviving knights, the rebellious sorceress Nimue, and young Collum to avenge Arthur's murder and save Camelot. Can they re-build the Table and bring back the glory that was Camelot? Should they even try? The first major Arthurian epic of the new millennium, full of duels and quests, battles and tournaments, magic swords and Fisher Kings, The Bright Sword is a story about power and hope, and the struggle for the soul of England between the new Christian God and the old gods of fairy. But most of all it's a story about flawed men and women full of strength and pain who are looking for a way to reforge a broken land, in spite of being broken themselves"--
I'm a huge fan of Grossman's "Magicians" trilogy, so I was very excited to dive into his new novel. It did not disappoint at all, and it's easily my favorite book of the year. It reimagines Arthurian legend and gives it great emotional heft. It follows the "leftover" knights after Arthur has fallen and fills in their backstories, while bringing a new knight, Collum, into the fold. I highly recommend to readers who enjoy Arthurian legend and those who know nothing about it all. -Brian
Tidelands
Philippa Gregory
FICTION Gregory Philippa
Historical Fiction
Midsummer's Eve, 1648, England is in the grip of civil war between renegade King and rebellious Parliament. The struggle reaches to every corner of the kingdom, even the remote Tidelands - the marshy landscape of the south coast. Alinor a descendant of wise women, crushed by poverty and superstition, waits in the graveyard under the full moon for a ghost who will declare her free from her abusive husband. Instead, she meets James, a young man on the run and shows him the secret ways across the treacherous marsh, not knowing that she is leading disaster into the heart of her life. Suspected of posessing dark secrets in a suspicious country, Alinor's ambition and determination marks her out from her neighbours. But this is the time of witch-mania, when it is dangerous for a woman to be different....
I was in need of a good story and Tidelands fit the bill. Gregory always writes good characters and dialogue and knows her historical settings. You feel thrown in the moments on the page. -Anne M
The Mesmerist : a novel
Caroline (Caroline Courtney) Woods
FICTION Woods Caroline
Historical Fiction, Suspense
"A tightly plotted page-turner ripped from the headlines of history, as three very different women must work together to stop a killer and save the truest home they've ever known"--
Set in 1894 Minneapolis, the backdrop is a new city, teeming with possibilities--and every vice that comes with that. Abby, a progressive crusader and treasurer of the Bethany House for Unwed Mothers is desperately trying to solicit donations and lobby city leaders to support the work of the respite home. She needs to shore up their reputation as their work might not have the support of the incoming mayoral administration. And then Faith shows up. Newly pregnant, unable to speak, wearing an expensive gown, and looking as if she survived a serious act of violence, Faith is welcomed into the house’s community. But she comes with rumors—rumors of the occult, of magic powers, of mesmerism and she is quickly blamed by the other girls in the house for any small misfortune. Abby wants to help the girl—that is her prerogative and the purpose of the Bethany Home. But she also doesn’t want Faith’s reputation to be a blight on their tenuous stance in Minneapolis. She tasks May, Faith’s roommate to figure out how Faith got to Bethany. The answer is far more human than supernatural. -Anne M
Welcome to Samantha's world, 1904 : growing up in America's new century
Catherine Gourley
j973.91 Gourley
Fiction, Historical Fiction, Kids, Nonfiction, History
An in-depth look at life for girls and women in America in 1904, discussing city and town life, social reform, new inventions, amusements, and more.
If you're like me and grew up with American Girl, you know that this book was a highly sought after item! I, myself, am a Samantha, and was absolutely thrilled to find that ICPL had a copy of Welcome to Samantha's World in the collection! I'd never had the privilege of looking through this book before, but always dreamed about it when I was younger. Catherine Gourley provides a wider historical context for the Samantha books that illustrate what life what like for young girls at the turn of the century. I would definitely recommend for any fans of American Girl! -Violette
This atmospheric, sapphic gothic tale is rife with feminine rage, insatiable desire, and a quest for meaning beyond life's mundane. Kat Dunn's latest novel is perfect for those looking to take a bite out of a modern, "Carmilla" retelling. -Madison C