Historical Fiction
Essex dogs
Dan Jones
FICTION Jones Dan
Historical Fiction
"The New York Times bestselling historian makes his historical fiction debut with an explosive novel set during the Hundred Years' War. July 1346. Ten men land on the beaches of Normandy. They call themselves the Essex Dogs: an unruly platoon of archers and men-at-arms led by a battle-scarred captain whose best days are behind him. The fight for the throne of the largest kingdom in Western Europe has begun. Heading ever deeper into enemy territory toward Crécy, this band of brothers knows they are off to fight a battle that will forge nations, and shape the very fabric of human lives. But first they must survive a bloody war in which rules are abandoned and chivalry itself is slaughtered. Rooted in historical accuracy and told through an unforgettable cast, Essex Dogs delivers the stark reality of medieval war on the ground - and shines a light on the fighters and ordinary people caught in the storm"--
I Must Betray You
Ruta Sepetys
OverDrive Audiobook
Historical Fiction, Young Adult
A #1 New York Times and National Bestseller! A gut-wrenching, startling historical thriller about communist Romania and the citizen spy network that devastated a nation, from the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray. Romania, 1989. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer, but Romanians aren’t free to dream; they are bound by rules and force. Amidst the tyrannical dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu in a country governed by isolation and fear, Cristian is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer. He’s left with only two choices: betray everyone and everything he loves—or use his position to creatively undermine the most notoriously evil dictator in Eastern Europe. Cristian risks everything to unmask the truth behind the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country. He eagerly joins the revolution to fight for change when the time arrives. But what is the cost of freedom? Master storyteller Ruta Sepetys is back with a historical thriller that examines the little-known history of a nation defined by silence, pain, and the unwavering conviction of the human spirit. Praise for I Must Betray You: “As educational as it is thrilling...[T]he power of I Must Betray You [is] it doesn’t just describe the destabilizing effects of being spied on; it will make you experience them too.” –New York Times Book Review “A historical heart-pounder…Ms. Sepetys, across her body of work, has become a tribune of the unsung historical moment and a humane voice of moral clarity.” –The Wall Street Journal * "Sepetys brilliantly blends a staggering amount of research with heart, craft, and insight in a way very few writers can. Compulsively readable and brilliant." –Kirkus Reviews, starred review * "Sepetys once again masterfully portrays a dark, forgotten corner of history." –Booklist, starred review * "Sepetys’s latest book maintains the caliber readers have come to expect from an author whose focus on hidden histories has made her a YA powerhouse of historical fiction…Sepetys is a formidable writer, and her stories declare the need to write about global issues of social injustice. For that reason and her attention to detail, this is a must-read." –School Library Journal, starred review * "Cristian’s tense first-person narrative foregrounds stark historical realities, unflinchingly confronting deprivations and cruelty while balancing them with perseverance and hope as Romania hurtles toward political change." –Publishers Weekly, starred review “Sepetys keeps readers riveted to this vivid, heartbreaking and compelling novel, locked into every meticulously researched detail. I Must Betray You demands a full investment from its audience—through poetic writing, sympathetic characters, revolutionary plot and pacing, it grips the heart and soul and leaves one breathless.” –Shelf Awareness, starred review "A master class in pacing and atmosphere." –BookPage
I would recommend listening to this wonderfully detailed, young adult, historical fiction novel. Edoardo Ballerini does an excellent job narrating the story and conveying the language and pronunciations. At the end is an enlightening afterword from the author., which I always appreciate getting more information about the writing of a story that deals with history. Sepetys shows us all about a little known, taught or remembered part of communism in Romania in 1989 and the fall of the regimen. All of this and more through the eyes of teenage Cristian, in historical accuracy. Cristian's story is intense, beautiful, tragic, and heartbreaking and Sepetys brings his life and fight and those during this time in Romania, out in the open. -Angie
Empty theatre
Jac Jemc
FICTION Jemc Jac
Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
History knows them as King Ludwig II of Bavaria and Empress Elizabeth of Austria, icons of the late nineteenth century who died young and left behind magnificent portraits and palaces. But to each other they were Ludwig and Sisi, cousins who shared a passion for beauty and a stubborn refusal to submit to the roles imposed upon them. Ludwig, simultaneously spoiled and punished for his softness and "unmanly" interests, falls hard for the operas of Richard Wagner and neglects his state duties in the pursuit of art. Sisi, married at the age of sixteen to her beloved Franzl, bristles at the restrictions of her elevated position, the value placed on her beauty, and the simultaneous expectation that she ravage her body again and again in childbirth. Both absurdly vain, both traumatized by the demands of their roles, Sisi and Ludwig struggle against the ideals they are expected to embody, and resist through extravagance, petulance, performance, and frivolity.
Between the podcast "Noble Blood" and the recent movie "Corsage," you might be familiar with King Ludwig II of Bavaria and his mysterious murder and Empress Sisi of Austria and her beauty habits. Jemc brings these people to life in this historical fiction novel giving meaning to the eccentricities, while also giving us a good dose of humor. Highly recommend. -Anne M
Black Bottom saints : a novel
Alice Randall
FICTION Randall Alice
Fiction, Historical Fiction, Black History
In the black-owned-and-operated Kirkwood Hospital, Joseph "Ziggy" Johnson reflects on his life. From the Great Depression through the post-World War II years, Ziggy had been the pulse of Detroit's famous Black Bottom. A celebrated gossip columnist for the city's African-American newspaper, the Michigan Chronicle, he was also the emcee of one of the hottest night clubs, where he rubbed elbows with the legendary black artists of the era. In his hospital bed, Ziggy curates his own list of Black Bottom's venerable "52 Saints," local heroes whose unstoppable ambition, love of style, and faith in community made this black Midwestern neighborhood the rival of New York City's Harlem. -- adapted from jacket
This was an enlightening and uplifting read. The story of jazz-era Detroit, told through the lives of some of its most mesmerizing and affecting Black residents. The book begins with the narrator, Ziggy, recounting what he calls the "Caramel Camelot," the area and world of Detroit where Black families had migrated to, and having found solid employment in the burgeoning auto industry, made their homes in the neighborhoods where they could buy houses and support enterprises (ie, jazz clubs, schools, hospitals, stores, restaurants, etc.) run by their people and for their people. It's a book that shows the reader what once was, what's been lost, and just possibly, what could be again. -Candice
She Who Became the Sun
Shelley Parker-Chan
FICTION/Parker-Chan, Shelley
Historical Fiction, Fantasy
In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness… In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected. When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate. After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu uses takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness.
It's not clear whether the main character of this story would identify as trans or not, and that's mostly because this type of language wasn't used in the time this novel is set. The author is queer and non-binary so who is to say! I simply enjoyed the book. -Zach
Shrines of gaiety : a novel
Kate Atkinson
FICTION Atkinson Kate
Historical Fiction
"1926, and in a country still recovering from the Great War, London has become the focus for a delirious new nightlife. In the clubs of Soho, peers of the realm rub shoulders with starlets, foreign dignitaries with gangsters, and girls sell dances for a shilling a time. The notorious queen of this glittering world is Nellie Coker, ruthless but also ambitious to advance her six children, including the enigmatic eldest, Niven, whose character has been forged in the crucible of the Somme. But success breeds enemies, and Nellie's empire faces threats from without and within. For beneath the dazzle of Soho's gaiety, there is a dark underbelly, a world in which it is all too easy to become lost. "--
I’ve always enjoyed Kate Atkinson’s books. She is always able to somehow marry the tragic and the comedic, showing complexity of character or situation. But I loved this book. Perhaps it was the time and place (1920’s London reeling from the aftermath of World War I) or the characters (Gwedonllen Kelling, a librarian now independently wealthy looking for a lost family member of a friend), but I reveled every page. -Anne M
The book of everlasting things : a novel
Aanchal Malhotra
FICTION Malhotra Aanchal
Historical Fiction
"A lush, sweeping debut novel in the vein of All the Light We Cannot See, about a Hindu perfumer and a Muslim calligrapher, who fall in love against the backdrop of Partition. On a January morning in 1938, Samir Vij first locks eyes with Firdaus Khan through the rows of perfume bottles in his family's ittar shop in Lahore. Over the years that follow, the perfumer's apprentice and calligrapher's apprentice fall in love with their ancient crafts and with each other, dreaming of the life they will one day share. But as the struggle for Indian independence gathers force, their beloved city is ravaged by Partition. Suddenly, they find themselves on opposite sides: Samir, a Hindu, becomes Indian and Firdaus, a Muslim, becomes Pakistani, their love now forbidden. Severed from one another, Samir and Firdaus make a series of fateful decisions that will change the course of their lives forever. As their paths spiral away from each other, they must each decide how much of the past they are willing to let go, and what it will cost them. Lush, sensuous, and deeply romantic, The Book of Everlasting Things is the story of two lovers and two nations, split apart by forces beyond their control, yet bound by love and memory. Filled with exquisite descriptions of perfume and calligraphy, spanning continents and generations, Aanchal Malhotra's debut novel is a feast for the senses and the heart"--
The main story that threads this novel is of the love of Samir Vij and Firdaus Khan. They are both skilled in their crafts: Samir an apprentice in his family’s perfumery and Firdaus, a student of calligraphy, the only female in her father’s studio. While their love grows, the British Raj dissolves and Partition begins. And Samir is a Hindu and Firdaus is a Muslim. The new borders that create Pakistan and India doesn’t just sever land. But this book is much more than a love story. It is about finding meaning in oneself when everything is taken away. It is about how trauma and history are inherited. It is about what memories we hold on to and what we don’t. And it is about perfume. Malhotra brings scents alive along with the memories they capture. I enjoyed this novel. -Anne M
Stone blind : a novel
Natalie Haynes
FICTION Haynes Natalie
Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classics
"The only mortal in a family of gods, Medusa is the youngest of the Gorgon sisters. Unlike her siblings, Medusa grows older, experiences change, feels weakness. Her mortal lifespan gives her an urgency that her family will never know. When the sea god Poseidon assaults Medusa in Athene's temple, the goddess is enraged. Furious by the violation of her sacred space, Athene takes revenge--on the young woman. Punished for Poseidon's actions, Medusa is forever transformed. Writhing snakes replace her hair andher gaze will turn any living creature to stone. Cursed with the power to destroy all she loves with one look, Medusa condemns herself to a life of solitude. Until Perseus embarks upon a fateful quest to fetch the head of a Gorgon"--
To be fully transparent, I'll read anything by Natalie Haynes, so I'm probably not a fair judge. I've loved all her works, and this is no exception. Not only is Haynes to be commended for giving voice (sometimes, for the first time) to characters we know from the Greek myths, but her own voice--influenced by her skill, her amazing intellect, her sense of humor, her empathy--shines through and makes her writing so immediate and fulfilling to the reader (well, at least this reader!). Her (re)telling of these stories is fresh and necessary and delightful. -Candice
Trespasses
Louise Kennedy
FICTION Kennedy Louise
Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
"Set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, a shattering debut novel about a young woman caught between allegiance to community and unsanctioned love"--
Cushla Lavery wants to fix things. She wants to help her brother manage the family's pub. She wants to help her mother stop drinking. As a primary school teacher, she wants to help a socially struggling student find acceptance. She wants a lot of things and works for them. But this is Northern Ireland in the 1970's and everything is an uphill battle. And then Michael Agnew walks into the pub. He is all the wrong things: married, Protestant, older and from a different social class. He offers Cushla an escape from the daily toils and community violence. Will this last? This is a beautifully written novel. Heartbreaking, of course, and full of feeling. The audiobooks is a gem. -Anne M
The marriage portrait
Maggie O'Farrell
FICTION O'Farrell, Maggie
Historical Fiction
"A novel set in Renaissance Italy, and centering on the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de' Medici"--
Maggie O’Farrell expertly builds a narrative surrounding the life and suspicious death of Lucrezia de’Medici. Tension is created by splitting the time frame, shifting between Lucrezia’s upbringing and her marriage to the Duke of Ferrara, the man suspected of her death. -Becky
In summer 1346, the Essex Dogs fight their way through Normandy with the English army. Is the suffering, both inflicted and endured, worth it for the spoils of war? The most interesting parts of this story ponder this question and others like it through Loveday's and Romford's eyes. -Tom