Historical Fiction
The road from Belhaven : a novel
Margot Livesey
FICTION Livesey Margot
Fiction, Historical Fiction
"From the New York Times best-selling author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy, a novel about a young woman whose gift of second sight complicates her coming of age in late 19th century Scotland Growing up in the care of her grandparents on Belhaven farm, Lizzie Craig discovers at a young age that she can see into the future. Her gift of sight is selective-she doesn't, for instance, see that she has an older sister who will come to join the family on her beloved farm. But she does see "pictures" that foretell various incidents and accidents and begins to realize a painful truth: she may glimpse the future, but she can seldom change it. Nor can Lizzie change the feelings that come when a young man named Louis, visiting Belhaven for the harvest, begins to court her. Why have the adults around her not revealed that the touch of a hand can change everything? After following Louis to Glasgow, though, she learns the limits of his devotion, and when faced with a seemingly impossible choice, she makes what turns out to be a terrible mistake. But while Lizzie can't change the past, her second sight may allow her a second chance. Luminous and transporting, The Road from Belhaven once again displays "the marvelous control of a writer who conjures equally well the tangible, sensory world . . . and the mysteries, stranger and wilder, that flicker at the border of that world." (The Boston Globe)"--
Held
Anne Michaels
FICTION Michaels Anne
Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction
"A breathtaking and ineffable new novel from the author of the international best sellers Fugitive Pieces and The Winter Vault-a novel of love and loyalty across generations, at once sweeping and intimate. 1917. On a battlefield near the River Aisne, John lies in the aftermath of a blast, unable to move or feel his legs. Struggling to focus his thoughts, he is lost to memory as the snow falls-a chance encounter in a pub by a railway, a hot bath with his lover on a winter night. 1920. John has returned from war to North Yorkshire, near a different river. He is alive but still not whole. Reunited with Helena, an artist, he reopens his photography business and tries to keep on living. But the past erupts insistently into the present, as ghosts begin to surface in his pictures: ghosts with messages he cannot understand. So begins a narrative that spans four generations of connections and consequences that ignite and re-ignite as the century unfolds. In luminous moments of desire, comprehension, longing, and transcendence, the sparks fly upward, working their transformations decades later. Held is affecting and intensely beautiful, full of mystery, wisdom, and compassion, a novel by a writer at the height of her powers"--
“Held” is a little like a literary puzzle. The narrative is organized in generational fragments; but “organized” isn’t quite the right word. Each chapter is connected with the others by a thread—a child, a grandchild, a spouse, a mother--advancing or in some cases, retreating through the 20th century. Each chapter gives you a little more understanding of the family as a whole. It is fitting that we are first introduced to a photographer, John, just back from the trenches in 1917 to find that his photographs contain the ghosts of his subjects. It’s a little like a metaphor for how this book develops. Anne Michaels’s prose shimmers. -Anne M
All the light we cannot see : a novel
Anthony Doerr
FICTION Doerr Anthony
Historical Fiction
"From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, a stunningly ambitious and beautiful novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks (there are thousands of locks in the museum). When she is six, she goes blind, and her father builds her a model of their neighborhood, every house, every manhole, so she can memorize it with her fingers and navigate the real streets with her feet and cane. When the Germans occupy Paris, father and daughter flee to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast, where Marie-Laure's agoraphobic great uncle lives in a tall, narrow house by the sea wall. In another world in Germany, an orphan boy, Werner, grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, both enchanted by a crude radio Werner finds. He becomes a master at building and fixing radios, a talent that wins him a place at an elite and brutal military academy and, ultimately, makes him a highly specialized tracker of the Resistance. Werner travels through the heart of Hitler Youth to the far-flung outskirts of Russia, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his path converges with Marie-Laure. Doerr's gorgeous combination of soaring imagination with observation is electric. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, All the Light We Cannot See is his most ambitious and dazzling work"--
I read this book when it first came out but picked it back up for a re-read since starting the Netflix adaptation. There have been many books written about World War Two, but this remains one of my favorite historical fiction pieces because of the exhilarating story Doerr crafts. He is highly adept at looking at the war through the lens of his characters; a French, blind woman, and a German man, yet carefully details them in a way where you see them for the richness of their humanity, not solely the countries they fight for. His layered characters: their drives, their consciences, base human instincts highlight the very worst and the very best of mankind that culminates in the reader's understanding in the futility and tragedy of war. Doerr's astute attention to detail, along with short chapters makes for a fantastic story- you will want to keep reading one more chapter, then another! -Victoria
Trust
Díaz, Hernán, 1973- author.
FICTION Diaz Hernan
Historical Fiction
"An award-winning writer of absorbing, sophisticated fiction delivers a stylish and propulsive novel rooted in early 20th century New York, about wealth and talent, trust and intimacy, truth and perception. In glamorous 1920s New York City, two characters of sophisticated taste come together. One is a legendary Wall Street tycoon; the other, the brilliant daughter of penniless aristocrats. Steeped in affluence and grandeur, their marriage excites gossip and allows a continued ascent -- all at a moment when the country is undergoing a great transformation. This is the story at the center of Harold Vanner's novel Bonds, which everyone in 1938 New York seems to have read. But it isn't the only version. Provocative, propulsive, and repeatedly surprising, Hernan Diaz's TRUST puts the story of these characters into conversation with the "the truth"-and in tension with the life and perspective of an outsider immersed in the mystery of a competing account. The result is an overarching novel that becomes more exhilarating and profound with each new layer and revelation, engaging the reader in a treasure hunt for the truth that confronts the reality-warping gravitational pull of money, and how power often manipulates facts"--
Of course, you can always start with the Pulitzer Prize, which awards "distinguished fiction from an American author." It is also one of the most notable. Find more Pulitzer Prize winning fiction here: <a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/219">Pulitzer Prize Winners</a> -Anne M
The fraud
Zadie Smith
FICTION Smith Zadie
Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
"It is 1873. Mrs. Eliza Touchet is the Scottish housekeeper-and cousin by marriage-of a once-famous novelist, now in decline, William Ainsworth, with whom she has lived for thirty years. Mrs. Touchet is a woman of many interests: literature, justice, abolitionism, class, her cousin, his wives, this life and the next. But she is also sceptical. She suspects her cousin of having no talent; his successful friend, Mr. Charles Dickens, of being a bully and a moralist; and England of being a land of facades, in which nothing is quite what it seems. Andrew Bogle, meanwhile, grew up enslaved on the Hope Plantation, Jamaica. He knows every lump of sugar comes at a human cost. That the rich deceive the poor. And that people are more easily manipulated than they realize. When Bogle finds himself in London, star witness in a celebrated case of imposture, he knows his future depends on telling the right story. The "Tichborne Trial"-wherein a lower-class butcher from Australia claimed he was in fact the rightful heir of a sizable estate and title-captivates Mrs. Touchet and all of England. Is Sir Roger Tichborne really who he says he is? Or is he a fraud? Mrs. Touchet is a woman of the world. Mr. Bogle is no fool. But in a world of hypocrisy and self-deception, deciding what is real proves a complicated task.""--
Zadie Smith is swinging for Dickens with this novel. There are some glimpses of brilliancy here: the humor, the cast of characters, and the atmosphere Smith creates showing the crushing nature of Victorian society. -Anne M
The Square of Sevens
Laura Shepherd-Robinson
OverDrive Audiobook
Fiction, Mystery, Historical Fiction
This "intricately plotted, epic" (The Times, London) international bestseller—in the vein of the vivid novels of Sarah Waters and Sarah Perry—follows an orphaned fortune teller in 18th-century England as she searches for answers about her long-dead mother.Cornwall, 1730: A young girl known only as Red travels with her father making a living predicting fortunes using the ancient Cornish method of the Square of Sevens. Shortly before he dies, her father entrusts Red's care to a gentleman scholar, along with a document containing the secret of the Square of Sevens technique. Raised as a lady amidst the Georgian splendor of Bath, Red's fortune telling delights in high society. But she cannot ignore the questions that gnaw at her soul: who was her mother? How did she die? And who are the mysterious enemies her father was always terrified would find him? The pursuit of these mysteries takes her from Cornwall and Bath to London and Devon, from the rough ribaldry of the Bartholomew Fair to the grand houses of two of the most powerful families in England. And while Red's quest brings her the possibility of great reward, it also leads to grave danger. "Intricate, haunting, and magical by turns, Laura Shepherd-Robinson's tale is an absolute immersive read you won't soon forget" (Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author).
An engrossing account of a young woman finding her way in 17th century England, from plying her trade of reading tarot on the streets and in fair booths, to seeking out the story of her family in the country homes of Bath and Devon. Red (aka Rachel) is at once an intelligent and curious waif, and a cunning teenager who balks at restraints and finds her own strength, as well as her weaknesses, as she grows up. This is a heroine one can root for at the same time they cringe at some of the choices she has to make, or chooses to make. Expertly read, as ever, by Imogen Wilde, who knows how to nail all the voices and dialects. Aimed at adults, but I think older teens would like this as well. -Candice
Night Watch : a novel
Jayne Anne Phillips
FICTION Phillips Jayne
Historical Fiction
"In 1874, in the wake of the Civil War, eleven-year-old ConaLee and her mother arrive at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia. They're delivered to the hospital's entrance by Papa-an abusive veteran who forces himself into their lives-after ConaLee's mother, who hasn't spoken in a year, grows even more withdrawn. Before he departs, Papa assigns them new identities and demands that ConaLee introduce herself as her mother's nurse-not her daughter-so they'll both be admitted and allowed to stay. There, far from family, their beloved neighbor, Dearbhla, and the home they know, ConaLee will care for her mother and try to reclaim their lives. Years earlier, ConaLee's father left for the war before she was born and never returned. After suffering a life-threatening headwound in battle, he couldn't remember his name, his family, or where he came from. Forced to start over, he takes the name of the doctor who gave him a second life, and ventures back into the world looking for work and the truth about his past"--
Longlisted for the National Book Award, Jayne Anne Phillips’ “The Night Watch” is a compelling narrative about one West Virginia family and how the Civil War broke them apart. Phillips lands the reader first in the middle of the foray on a plodding carriage ride to deliver ConaLee and her mother to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. ConaLee's mother hasn't spoken for years, and the man she calls Papa is done. He hands over the younger children to some neighbors, packs up the house, and commits his wife, demanding ConaLee report as her companion and nurse. Phillips pushes and pulls us through the Civil War, how we got to the asylum door, and then moves us onto the consequences, the truths revealed. There were parts of this story that were immersive; the text made my heart race. It is a great read, albeit brutal. -Anne M
North woods : a novel
Daniel (Daniel Philippe) Mason
FICTION Mason Daniel
Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
"When a pair of young lovers abscond from a Puritan colony, little do they know that their humble cabin in the woods will become the home of an extraordinary succession of human and nonhuman characters alike. An English soldier, destined for glory, abandons the battlefields of the New World to devote himself to apples. A pair of spinster twins navigate war and famine, envy and desire. A crime reporter unearths a mass grave--only to discover that the ancient trees refuse to give up their secrets. A lovelorn painter, a sinister conman, a stalking panther, a lusty beetle: As each inhabitant confronts the wonder and mystery around them, they begin to realize that the dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive"--
I really enjoy Daniel Mason’s writing. I loved The Winter Soldier. (Now that I think of it, I should read that one again. It’s so good!) But Mason really surprised me with this book. It is refreshing, funny, and a little chaotic. It follows the history of a single piece of land in the woods of western Massachusetts from first contact into the future. It’s the story of the land, the animals that live there, and the house that stands on it and how they change with each generation, but also how each generation is influenced by the land and the house. It is full of these beautiful connections woven throughout the generations—sometimes in completely unexpected ways. One of my favorite parts of the novel are the ghostly ballads written by two twin sisters that are used as interludes between chapters. Yes, this novel is ambitious. And Mason succeeds. -Anne M
My brother's keeper
Tim Powers
SCIENCE FICTION Powers Tim
Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Horror
"This is a ghost story. It is a story about werewolves, and things that go bump in the night. It is a story of an ill-fated land, the pathless moors of Northern England so well chronicled in Wuthering Heights. And it is the story of a real family whose destiny it is to deal with this darkly glamorous and dangerous world. When young Emily Brontë helps a wounded man she finds at the foot of an ancient pagan shrine in the remote Yorkshire moors, her life becomes contentiously entwined with his. He is Alcuin Curzon, embittered member of a sect working to eradicate the resurgent plague of lycanthropy in Europe and northern England. But Emily's father, curate of the Haworth village church, is responsible for having unwittingly brought a demonic werewolf god to Yorkshire forty years ago-and it is taking possession of Emily's beloved but foolish and dissolute brother. Curzon must regard Emily's family as a dire threat. In spite of being at deadly odds, Emily and Curzon find themselves thrown together in fighting werewolves, confronting pagan gods, even saving each other from the lures of moorland demons. And in a final battle that sweeps from the haunted village of Haworth to a monstrous shrine far out on the moors, the two of them must be reluctant allies against an ancient power that seems likely to take their souls as well as their lives" --
Once again, Powers crafts an engaging, supernatural tale involving well known literary figures, in this case the Bronte sisters. Also thrown into the mix are their father and brother, and the consequences of missteps, misdirection and misdeeds with worldly and other worldly implications. -Paul
The vaster wilds
Lauren Groff
FICTION Groff Lauren
Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
"A servant girl escapes from a colonial settlement in the wilderness. She carries nothing with her but her wits, a few possessions, and the spark of god that burns hot within her. What she finds in this terra incognita is beyond the limits of her imagination and will bend her belief in everything that her own civilization has taught her. Lauren Groff's new novel is at once a thrilling adventure story and a penetrating fable about trying to find a new way of living in a world succumbing to the churn of colonialism. The Vaster Wilds is a work of raw and prophetic power that tells the story of America in miniature, through one girl at a hinge point in history, to ask how--and if--we can adapt quickly enough to save ourselves."
A lot of “pandemic novels” are coming out right now—at least narratives inspired by or written during the pandemic and everything that happened within that time. They provide a window into what authors were thinking about, working through, or grappling with during the height of the pandemic. Lauren Groff’s thinking was pretty bleak. Her thoughts turned to the “Starving Time” of Jamestown: crops failed, disease flourished, and those that survived ate everything. The narrative centers on a white servant girl, who is called many different names in her short life, and her decision to run away from the colonial settlement and strike out on her own in hopes of finding the French. She is hungry and afraid in the settlement and what is unknown to her beyond the palisade holds better chances for survival. The story follows her during those first few weeks with glimpses into how she found herself on this side of the Atlantic. This survival novel is engrossing, and it takes on quite a few subjects: colonization, land use, 17th century religion, and the oppressively hierarchical structure of English society. But also, what does it mean to be human when you are alone? What does real survival mean? Groff left me with more questions than answers, but good novelists do that. -Anne M
There is something reminiscent of Dickens, Hardy, and Bronte in this novel, but the sentiments are all modern. Livesey skillfully illustrates how one's desires shift and change. You never truly sure if what you want or what is best--but there are those moments you do. I really enjoyed this book. -Anne M