745. I AM CLEOPATRA by Natasha Solomons (10/22/25) Historical Fiction
This book is a story of a young Cleopatra and how she makes an alliance with Julius Caesar to help her protect Egypt from the amounting threats from the Roman Empire. When the Pharaoh, Cleopatra’s father, dies Rome sets its sites on Alexandra, Egypt. Cleopatra ascends to the throne but is young and unsure of how to handle this situation. Using her strongest attribute, her astonishing beauty, she lures Caesar and is willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of her country, not for love.
The character of Cleopatra is young, selfish, sometimes cruel due to her entitled royal position, which is a normal reality as Egypt used slaves, treating them as possessions. This book ends with Ceasar, before her love affair with another Roman, Anthony. There is still much to learn about this unique woman in history and I bet there will be a sequel to this book.
4 Stars
744. THE CIRCLE OF DAYS by Ken Follett (11/9/25) Historical Fiction
The Circle of Days explores the mystery of the building of Stonehenge. Set in about 2500 BC, we learn about the tribes of that prehistoric time living in what we now call England. The tribes were hearders, farmers, or woodlanders. They had many conflicts which became increasingly violent over territory and resources. Joia, a priestess, has a plan to unite the tribes after a violent occurrence at a festival damaged their monument. She decided to unite the tribes and form a coalition among the leaders, including Seft, a miner. Joai wanted to rebuild the monument which was destroyed, but rebuild it in massive stone from a faraway region. She envisioned a gigantic monument made of stone for their cremation and religious ceremonies. Most felt it was an impossible task and could never be done. It took centuries to build Stonehenge which took place before the invention of the wheel and the arrival of metals. This masterpiece of engineering was built with simple tools, including antler picks, hammerstones, ropes, and timber.
After Follett and his family visited Stonehenge, he learned more about this mysterious place and decided to write about it. He based most of it on a book written by archeologist, Mike Pitt, called “How to Build Stonehenge”. Follett used his imagination for what the people were like and how they lived. Follett, an excellent storyteller, created an interesting plot and made this into a possible exploration of what these extraordinary people did to create over 500 years this feat of engineering which makes our heads spin even today.
4 Stars
743. THE WOMAN IN THE WHITE KOMONO by Ana Johns (11/5/25) Historical Fiction
In Japan, 1957, seventeen-year-old Naoko’s pre-arranged marriage to the son of her father’s business associate would secure her and her family’s future. But Naoko has fallen in love and carries the child of an American soldier which will disgrace her family and ruin her life.
By using alternate chapters we also learn of Tori, in present-day America, who is striving to learn the truth about her deceased father, who left information about his past many years ago in Japan. Tori sets out to go to Japan to uncover her father’s secret, even though the information could shake up her world and expose the ethics of a father she admired and adored all her life.
As we travel back and forth in time we hear more about the lives of both women, a lot about the culture and traditions in Japan, and the restrictions and situations which controlled the outcome for Naoko. It is difficult to see the horrible outcast she became as the mother of a mixed-race child. The racist treatment followed thousands of innocent children, after World War II during the occupation by American soldiers. This part of the book is historically true and even to an extent exists today.
This was an emotional love story, touching, aggravated by things out of their control, and a powerful representation of what was happening in the 1950’s. It is beautifully written and flows with passion and sympathy that breaks your heart.
5 Stars
740. ALL THE FLOWERS OF PARIS by Sarah Jis (11/1/25) Historical Fiction
This is about two women in Paris-one Celine, living in occupied Paris during the second world war, and Caroline, who decades later wakes up in a Paris Hospital with no memory of her past. Slowly she regains parts of her memory. There are vague memories of a man and a young child, but she thinks she may be in danger as she puts the pieces of her life back together. Caroline finds letters in her apartment written by a woman named Celine during WWII. Caroline soon realizes that her apartment houses many secrets about the war and about Celine who was Jewish, and was trying to secure her safety and the safety of her loved ones, especially her daughter.
These stories, thought heartbreaking and emotional, show the resilient strength of the human spirit during the worst of times. A good read.
4 Stars
739. THE LAST GIRLS OF WILLOWBROOK by Ellen Marie Wiseman (11/1/25) Historical Fiction
Some fact, some fiction, this haunting story tells us about Sage, a young woman mistakenly imprisoned at the Willowbrook State School, a real-life school for troubled girls, who rather than educate and rehabilitate, are imprisoned and horrifically abused the young girls as though they were criminals. They endured most days in slave labor and not in school.
Sage had a twin sister, Rosemary, who she had been told died of pneumonia. Sage, years later, overheard that her sister was actually a resident at Willowbrook, and the nuns were contacting her stepfather that Rosemary was missing. Her mother had died and her stepfather, her guardian, never told her the truth about Rosemary. Sage went to the institution to find her. The moment she entered Willowbrook the staff thought Sage was Rosemary and she could not convince them of the truth. As an inmate she got a first-hand view of the conditions and of how the inmates were treated and abused. But she still could not find Rosemary.
To find out that this is an actual institution of the past, that had been found guilty of many types of abuses, sent chills down my spine. The suffering of young children by a church organization has been in the news all too much and I glad these doors were shut forever. A very good, sad, but interesting read.
4 Stars
737. THE LIES WE LEAVE BEHIND by Noelle Salazar (10/22/25) Historical Fiction
A World II flight nurse, Kate Campbell, bravely flies in and out of battle zones to rescue wounded soldiers. She is conflicted when she takes on an injury and is reassigned to the English countryside to recover. This is where she meets a wounded soldier and they fall in love. For the first time she can see a future after the war. But first she must return to the war zone so they become separated.
I have read dozens of WWII historical fiction novels and this one is more of a romance novel than others, but it also told stories of the interesting history of the war nurses.
4 Stars
728. BUCKEYE by Patrick Ryan (9/26/25 ) Historical Fiction
Two couples from Ohio become entangled in this multigenerational story. It starts with a baby being dropped off at an orphanage and the kind woman who works there who kept trying to find a loving home for the red-haired infant girl who she grew to love. It was the depression and few people could afford to take on the responsibility of adoption or fostering another child. As Margaret grew up she wanted to spread her wings in the big city, Columbus, to finally experience life outside of the institution. In her search for love and acceptance she took on lovers that didn’t last and felt rejected again. After a few attempts to find love through sex she met Felix, a man who dated her and didn’t expect anything in return. She wasn’t sure she loved him but when he proposed she felt he was a good option with his handsome looks, college education, and good job. What she did not know was he was hoping marriage to this beautiful woman would help him resist his homosexual activities, which only made Margaret feel more lonely and unfulfilled. Their beautiful new home did not make up what was lacking in their intimacy.
The second couple is Cal, born with a shorter leg, and his wife Betsy. At first they seemed good together until she explored her psychic ability to conduct seances to help people talk to their loved ones who died. Cal was skeptical about her powers and couldn’t adjust to the strangers she invited into their home for the seances. They grew farther and farther apart.
World War II came and both men wanted to join up. Felix became a Naval officer on a warship, but Cal’s deformed leg kept him out. Then Cal and Margaret met and everything changed.
This book, despite the sadness, was a delight to read. The flowing prose and longings of all for love and closeness was heartfelt but not morose. The expressions of longing for love and fulfillment, the frustrations of being different, and the sadness of grief and abandonment were expressed in a way we can all relate. This book is worth every star I gave it!
5 Stars
719. WAYWARD GIRLS by Susan Wiggs (8/6/25) Historical Fiction
In the late 60’s, in Buffalo, New York, six girls are are condemned to hard labor at a Catholic reform school. The story, based on real events at the Good Shepard School, run by the Sister’s of Charity, take in young teen girls for their “crimes” of being gay, unruly, pregnant, or unwanted. The rules and punishments were harsh, the 12-hour labor doing take-in laundry, which benefitted the nuns, was exhausting, and the girls were not educated, only indoctrinated with religion.
Of the six girls whose stories were highlighted, two were protagonists. Mairin, the gutsy girl, always looking for a way to escape, was imprisoned because her mother thought she needed protection from her step-father who had eyes for her. Angela, innocent and naive, at fifteen had fallen in love with a girlfriend and was sent to the institution for “reform”. She soon became the victim of a predator from within. The nuns were harshly cruel to the girls and blamed them for their behavior.
In Ireland and in the United States, there were hundreds of Catholic institutions for wayward girls that lasted into the 70’s when some laws were finally changed. This story, which is based on reality, shows how these girls escaped, exposed the harrowing truth, and eventually found redemption and justice. This book is powerful, shocking, historically sad, enlightening, and triumphant!
5 Stars
714. THE WINEMAKER’S WIFE by Kristin Harmel (8/25/25) Historical Fiction
In Champagne, France, 1940, Ines and Michel, married, own the winery Maison Chauveau. The German’s have invaded France, and without telling his wife, Michel begins hiding munitions in the labyrinth of champagne caves underground. When Ines finds out she is fearful of his risky behavior. Also living at the winery are another married couple, the Chef de Cave and his wife Celine, who is half Jewish, which brings even greater risk to the winery. As the story unfolds, Michel and Celine have an affair. Ines finds out and in her anger she accidently puts all of them at risk.
Skip to 2019, NYC, where Liv Kent’s French great-grandmother unexpectedly comes to Liv to immediately leave for France. Liv has no idea what this mystery is all about and the old women does not tell her. Eventually the grandmother the truth to Liv about a decades old story which leads back to the Maison Chauveau.
This is an interesting, yet heartbreaking story about the occupation of France during World War II and the tragic story of how people behave during a crisis and how it affects lives for decades.
There are about a million historical fiction books dealing with the German occupation and the gallant resisters, trying to challenge the enemy while trying to survive, and this book is a little different in that it shows not only bravery, but those who chose other paths and the consequences that ensued. This is a worthwhile read.
4 Stars
713. THE PARIS ORPHAN by Natasha Lester (8/24/25) Historical Fiction
Model Jessica May left her boyfriend/photographer when he used her image to provide an ad for Kotex, in the days when women’s feminine products would be a career breaaker. It was 1942 and Jessica wanted a change. She loved photography and wanted to capture the war which was brewing in Europe. She asked Vogue to help her get a credential as a photojournalist and then had to convince the State Department that they should give her a passport and that she was up to the task. Very few women were at battle lines in those days and her linguistic skills helped her get through the red tape and showed she was up to the task.
The book follows her career during the war and her relationship with an officer who had adopted a little girl who was orphaned in the war. The child, Victorine, became fond of Jess but was sent off to a boarding school in England to be protected. The story becomes a saga of generations and secrets of evil acts during the war. Loosely based on many sources of true experiences during the war, this is an interesting read.
4 Stars
LAST TWILIGHT IN PARIS by Pam Jenoff (8/17/25) Historical Fiction
At a London thrift store in 1953, Louise sees a necklace in a box that she recognizes from her days in Paris when she worked for the Red Cross in Nazi occupied Europe. She feels this is a clue to the mysterious death of her friend Fanny. She goes back to Paris and follows a series of clues including the name on the box of the necklace, a glamorous department store in Paris which had been taken over by the Nazis to house prisioners.
Jenoff is a master at this historical period of time when Nazis occupied much of Europe, and does extensive research in order to get ideas for her books. She usually uses females who fight in the resistance as her heroic figures who sacrifice for the cause.
4 Stars
701. THE AVIATOR’S WIFE by Melanie Benjamin (7/30/25) Historical Fiction
This story of the fictionalized version of the marriage and lives of Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh seems to stick close to the truth of the actual events of their partnership, without sugar-coating their complicated relationship.
Charles’ famous solo non-stop flight from New York to Paris made him a national hero. In choosing a wife he also wanted a flight partner. Anne was an enthusiastic learner and became an outstanding pilot in her own right and an adventurer, but was always in the shadows without recognition with her famous husband, which she accepted.
When they had their first child, Charles did not want her domesticated to the child or the house, but wanted her to continue her career as he was doing. When tragedy struck with the kidnapping and death of their son, it changed her life. But not his. She continue to have five more children, abandoned the cockpit, and stayed close to home with the children. Charles continued to fly all over the world breaking records and getting involved with large commercial aircraft and new airlines. Sometimes he would only come home a handful of times each year. These long separations caused problems of loneliness and infidelity. But they never divorced.
Anne loved Charles. Charles loved aviation. This is a great story of triumph and pain.
5 Stars
698. MONTAUK by Nicola Harrison (7/23/25) Historical Fiction
Montauk, Long Island is a summer retreat for wealthy New Yorkers to escape the city. Beatrix is hoping the time with her husband, Harry, in Montauk will bring them closer. She is desperate for a child and feels that Harry spends more time working than with her. As it turns out Harry expects Bea to fit in to the lifestyle of the rich by staying at the Montauk Manor with all the society wives while he is promoting business interests in the city. She does not feel like she fits in and ventures into the town where she enjoys the fishing village and the town which is anti-development. Bea grew up in rural Pennsylvania and feels happy to be with people she relates to.
She meets a man in town, the opposite of her husband, with whom she comes to admire and feel comfortable. As they become close he inspires her to confront a tragedy from her past. She is desperate for happiness and is torn between the life she chose and the life she desires.
Although this story is not a new story, the background of Montauk helps make it interesting.
4 Stars
689. IF I WERE YOU by Lynn Austin (7/5/25) Historical Fiction
The story began before World War II when social structures had strict divides. But Audrey and Eve were children and needed a playmate on the big country estate that Audrey’s family owned. Eve’s mother was the lady’s maid for Audrey’s mother. Reluctantly she allowed Eve to play with her daughter who needed a companion. They became close friends for life and both joined the war effort driving ambulances during World War II. Audrey met an American soldier, married him and had his child, but soon became a war widow. When the war was over and England in shambles, the class differences had declined and Audrey felt the responsibility to take her child to meet the American grandparents. When she arrives at the wealthy estate she finds that Eve had been impersonating her for years to the grandparents.
This historical fiction covers many aspects of life before, during and after World War II, including the decline of strict class structures, the lengths some went to to survive the economic pressures of the post-war years, and the value of friendships.
4 Stars
678. THE INVISIBLE HOUR by Alice Hoffman (6/10/25) Historical Fiction
Ivy, a feisty young woman becomes pregnant and is threatened with forcible adoption of her baby. In order to prevent this she flees to a welcoming community which she later finds out is a cult. They preach love, sharing, and communal living but she feels like a prisoner to their demands and her spirit becomes broken. Her daughter Mia is her joy and she teaches her things the cult will not allow like reading forbidden books. When Ivy dies, Mia decides to escape and finds a library to take refuge in. Here she discovers “The Scarlett Letter” and Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author. As she becomes obsessed with him she is in his world in a fantasy time travel where they live in his time era. Mia and Nathaniel are hopelessly in love in his world, but soon Mia realizes that her presence may alter history preventing him from writing his classic, “The Scarlet Letter.”
Alice Hoffman writes beautifully, never forgetting to have an interesting story.
4 Stars
672. SIX DAYS IN BOMBAY by Alka Joshi (5/20/25) Historical Fiction
An Anglo-Indian nurse, Sona, became entangled in a death wish of a famous painter, Mira, who was in her care at the Bombay Wadia Hospital. Mira asked Sona to deliver four of her paintings to people in her past across Europe, which takes her from India to Prague, Florence, Paris, and London. This trip forces he to face her own prejudices of colonial India and it becomes a personal journey of self discovery.
This book, although not earth-shaking, was interesting from Sona’s perspective of what she learned from the journey itself and discovered why she was delivering the artwork to these people.
4 Stars
664. THE SPECTACULAR by Fiona Davis (4/22/25) Historical Fiction
In 1956 Marion auditioned for the Rockettes against her father and boyfriend’s wishes. She had endless rehearsals to learn the precision dancing of the troupe. It was also the time in New York when “The Big Apple Bomber” was terrorizing the city and the Music Hall was one of it’s victims. Marion cooperated in a new science of criminal profiling to help catch the bomber.
The next part has Marion moving into assisted living as she suuffers from Parkinson’s Disease. and when there is a reunion of the Rockettes Marion is applauded as one of the longest performing of the Rockettes. This was an enjoyable read especially to look into what it takes to become a Rockette and with the added historical history and the mystery of the bomber thrown in for good measure.
4 Stars
651. THE LOST PASSENGER by Frances Quinn (3/18/25) Historical Fiction
In 1910, Elinor Hayward, daughter of a Manchester mill owner marries by arrangement to Frederick Coombs, son of a Lord and Lady, who look down upon Elinor. Her husband, though not unkind, is not in love with her and does not set boundaries for his parents. When their first child was born, Teddy was whisked away from Elinor at childbirth to a nanny and they allowed her little access to Teddy. She was miserable.
When her father invited Elinor, her husband, and Teddy to join him on the Titanic, she was thrilled. When the ship goes down Elinor and Teddy were rescued but not her husband or father. She realizes this is her chance to escape her old life and she takes on a fake identity and builds a new life for herself in New York.
The writing was good and historically authentic and the story was well developed.
4 Stars
646. A MAP OF BETRAYAL by Ha Jin (93/3/25) Historical Fiction
Lilian Shang was born and raised in America. She found her father, Gary’s diary after his death which revealed some shocking secrets. He was a notorious Chinese spy and was convicted decades ago of being a mole for the CIA.
The diary begins in 1949 Shanghai, to Okanowa, to Langley, Virginia. It reveals the pain and conflict his double life entailed–both loyalty to his motherland versus his growing love for his adopted country–a double life that left a second hidden family behind.
As Lilian follows her father’s trail back to China and his other family, she comes to understand that he had been betrayed too. Also, another generation of Strangs may be following in her father’s footsteps.
This spy novel is a portrait of a man trying to find the meaning of patriotism.
4 Stars
644. WE DO NOT PART by Han Kang (2/25/25) Historical Fiction
South Korean novelist Han Kong follows a woman, Kyungha as she travels to Jeju Island as a favor to her friend Inseon, who urgently begs Kyungha, from her hospital bed, to rescue her beloved pet, a white bird named Ama. As Kyungha arrives on the island, an icy storm slows her down as night overtakes her. Lost in the snow the novel blurs the boundaries between reality and dreams bringing back lost voices of the past-from the history of the island and the Jeju Massacre.
The history of the massacre was after World War II, when the US Government was occupying Japan. They set up a station in Jeju to combat the rise of Communism, however their restricted policies led to social and political unrest. By 1949 violence between right-wing militants and the US supported military escalated to estimates of the loss of tens of thousands of lives. For Kang’s first book about this history, “Human Acts”, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2024.
4 Stars
641. ISOLDA by Allegra Goodman (2/20/25) Historical Fiction
Inspired by a real life sixteenth century heroine and her timeless story of her survival, we find Marguerite, born into wealth in France, but orphaned early, and although the heir to the family fortune, her abusive guardian spent her inheritance and sold the estate. Left with nothing she was hired to become the tutor for the estates new children.
Her guardian, hoping to seek his fortune, insisted Marguerite and her maid accompany him on a voyage to New France (French Canada). On the voyage she meets Auguste, her guardian’s secretary and they fall in love. When the couple are accused of betrayal they are brutally punished, and the guardian abandons them to a remote island on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, along with her maid and a few provisions.
Now at the mercy of nature, they begin to cope with winter arriving and teach themselves to hunt birds and fish, create shelter from driftwood, and how to find fresh water. Marguerite is pregnant and they find a cave to live in for the long winter. Many crisis happens to them including an encounter with a bear, birth, death, and infection. Just about everything goes wrong that could go wrong. But the perseverance and the will to survive is what makes this story triumphant.
4 Stars
640. JUNIE by Erin Crosby (2/16/25) Historical Fiction
Sixteen year old Junie, was an enslaved servant on the Bellereine Plantation, Alabama. Her imagination and daydreams helped her cope with the loss of her older sister, Minnie. While secretly roaming the woods late at night she would dream of faraway worlds while grieving for her sister.
When guests spoke of a possible marriage for Violet, the daughter of the estate to whom Junie was attending, Junie realized her future was in jeopardy. She enlisted the guest’s coachman, Caleb, to help her plan a liberation.
Sprinkled with magical fantasy and dreams, while the Civil War loomed, this rich prose pulled me into the nightmare of slavery and the dream of survival and escape.
4 Stars
THE STOLEN QUEEN by Fiona Davis (1/26/25) Historical Fiction
“The Stolen Queen” follows three timelines. First is Egypt, 1936 where anthropology student Charlotte Cross is doing a dig in the Valley of the Kings. When she is forced to leave the project unexpectedly, she has to reevaluate her dream.
The second timeline is 1978 New York, where Charlotte is an associate curator of The Museum of Art’s Egyptian Art Department. Charlotte was doing research on Hathorkare, a little-known female pharaoh, she had been researching while on her dig long ago.
Another storyline involves eighteen-year-old Annie Jenkins, present day, a high school graduate, who is passionate about art and fashion and who is lucky to get the opportunity to work with Diana Vreeland, former fashion of Vogue. There is a Met Gala, where a Egyptian artifact is stolen and Annie and Charlotte join forces to try to solve the crime.
Although the third timeline sounds contrived and unrealistic in many ways, the writing is exciting, the Egyptian part well researched.
4 Stars
634. SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE by Claire Keegan (11/22/25) Historical Fiction
Irish author Keegan, introduces us to Bill Furlong, a coal seller in 1985, New Ross Ireland, who is married with five daughters. Though their means are modest he sends his daughters to St. Margaret’s School for Girls which is run by nuns.
Bill is a good man and thinks giving his daughters a good educatioon is the best for them. He also tries to give others a break as he was given. One day he is making a coal delivery to the convent next to the school and he notices that girls, some young mothers, are living in a state of punishment and squalor. When he reports this to his wife she insists they not meddle in the nuns’ business. On his second visit he finds a girl named Sarah locked in the coal shed. She asks him to ask the nuns to find her baby. The Mother Superior makes a claim that Sarah has mental illness.
This story mirrors themes of true life stories like the Magdalene Laundries scandal in Ireland where women and girls had been abused and enslaved by nuns, which makes us realize there are very bad things that happened within religious communities and should never be repeated.
Keegan allows her writing to handle difficult, controversial topics while still showing the goodness of some. Her writing is inspirational.
5 Stars
629. FOSTER by Claire Keegan (1/14/25) Historical Fiction
629. FOSTER by Claire Keegan (1/14/25) Historical Fiction
In 1981 Ireland, a girl is sent to live with foster parents on a farm while her mother gives birth. She doesn’t know when she will go home but she finds the affection she had never experienced at her home and she warms to it in the foster care. When the summer ends she wonders what will happen to her.
This international bestseller, even though a novella, was chosen as one of the New York Times “Top 50 Novels Published in the 21st Century”. This beautiful story has astonishing emotional depth and though heart-wrenching it will grab your heart.
5 Stars
616. THE SECRET WAR OF JULIA CHILD by Diana R. Chambers (12/13/24) Historical Fiction
During WW II, Julia was too tall (6’2″) to join the military so she volunteered for the OSS, the forerunner of the CIA. She was one of the 4,500 women who served in the OSS. Julia was somewhat of a blue-blood having gone to Smith College and was the daughter of a prosperous California family. She was sent to Southeast Asia under Britian’s Lord Montbatten, where she underwent training in covert spy work. Her cover was being a file clerk, but she was also an operative in the field. It was here she met the love of her life, Paul Child.
Although fiction, the author followed the real Julia and later Paul in their military operations and tried to keep it very close to the truth. It is fascinating that she would later become a famous French chef, trained at the Cordon Blue and would become a frontrunner with a cooking show in the early days of TV and for decades to come. It was fun to hear another side of this extraordinary woman.
4 Star
614. THE LIBRARIAN OF CROOKED LANE by C J Archer (12/8/25) Historical Fiction
First in a series called “The Glass Library”, Sylvia becomes employed in a library housing the greatest books on magic. Sylvia wanted to know more about her background. She was brought up by her mother after her father died and her mother refused to talk about anything about the family. This made her a troubled, lonely child who sought books to escape her aloneness. A diary suggested she descended from magicians.
The library became her refuge and she and her co-worker, Gabe, start looking for the answer to the theft of a magician-made painting that caused her to lose her last job.
Although I usually like historical fiction about libraries and the old stories and books, this one didn’t grab me and I had trouble becoming invested in this story.
3 Stars
597. JAMES by Percival Everett (10/28/24) Historical Fiction
“James” is a controversial book in that the author rewrote the classic, “Huckleberry Finn”, from the point of view of James (Jim), Huck’s black companion. Those who have trouble with this version, and true Huck fans, seem to have problems with the somewhat more serious tone of this new version with strong themes addressing freedom, morality, and enslavement from James’s point of view. It delves deeply into the brutality of slavery and Huck’s moral awakening. By reexamining this history of the black experience it brings forward the resilience and humanity of the slaves to light.
Percival Everett won the Noble Prize for Fiction for this book. This is an incredible book, even as a stand alone version of Huckleberry Finn.
5 Stars
596. THE FROZEN RIVER byAriel Lawhon
In the winter of 1879, a corpse is spotted floating down the Kennebee River and becomes trapped in the ice. Martha Ballard, a midwife for the town of Hallowell, Maine, examines the body and identifies it as Joshua Burgess, a man who is accused of raping Rebecca, the parson’s wife who named him as one of her attackers. The other is Joseph North, a colonel and judge on the local circuit court. As s result of the rape, Rebecca is pregnant.
Although Martha determined that the death of Burgess was by hanging, Dr. Page did an autopsy. Meanwhile Martha went home where her two daughters were caring for Sam Dawin, the man who nearly died trying to rescue Burgess’s body. He told Martha he saw no rope evidence with the body.
The small town struggles to solve the murder amidst a court system riddled with accusations and innuendos which become evidence.
Martha Ballard, Lawhon’s strong, female protagonist, is a character based on a real life figure in a book called “The Midwife’s Tale” by Laura Thacher Ulrich. I enjoyed this fictional account of the story.
4 Stars
592. TABLE FOR TWO by Amor Towles (10/17/24) Historical Fiction
Towles shares six short stories based in New York City, Russia and a novella set in the Golden Age of Hollywood. None of these stories are related. Which to me made them all a little disjointed. I have been a fan of his other bestsellers, “A Gentleman in Moscow”, “Rules of Civility”, and, “the Lincoln Highway” and was looking forward to this book.
In ‘Table for Two’ he recaptures Evelyn Ross from “Rules of Civility” as she leaves New York by train in 1938, and decides in Chicago to forge a new life and future for herself by traveling to Los Angeles in ‘Eve in Hollywood”.
Told with seven different points of view, Towles is a master at taking a small moment, in this case two characters dining across the table, and with wit and sophistication transports us to a historical moment in time. His writing is so delicious that his stories in this book don’t seem as relevant and important as his words.
4 Stars
596. FROZEN RIVER
580. THE LION WOMEN OF TEHRAN by Marjan Kamali (9/20/24) Historical Fiction
In the 1950’s, seven-year-old Ellie had been living a life of luxury until the death of her father, which forced her mother to relocate to a tiny home in the city. Lonely and sad, Ellie found a friend, Homa, on her first day of school. Homa was full of spirit as the girls learned to cook, played games and wandered the Grand Bazaar. Both of them dreamed of becoming strong and brave “lion women”. When Ellie’s mother has the opportunity to go back to her former life, the girls became separated. Ellie had grown in confidence and became a popular student in one of the best high schools, and lost touch and memories of Homa. Later the girls, now women, reconnect in America but must confront a betrayal of long ago and of how differently their lives had become.
This beautiful book show the joys and challanges of friendship amidst decades of Irans history of the oppression of women.
5 Stars
575. THE SEVENTH VEIL OF SALOME by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (9/12/24) Historical Fiction
In the 1950’s Hollywood was looking for a Salome for their epic film, a high-budget Seven Veils film about the legendary Salome-a star-making role. Although highly sought after by many A-list actresses, the director cast an unknown Mexican girl named Vera Larios as the lead. That choice was the talk of tinsel town. Nancy Hartley, a bit player known to do anything to win fame came after Vera.
This story is not only about the Golden Age of Hollywood but tells the tale of Salome herself. It is loaded in scandal, intrigue, and history and was a delightful read.
4 Stars
572. THE JAPANESE LOVER by Isabel Allende (9/1/24) Historical Fiction
I must admit Isabel Allende is one of my favorite authors. She takes a moment in time with rich historical significance, inserts characters who respond to the time, and makes the reader feel present in the exciting time being portrayed. This epic novel covers the decades between World War II as Poland falls to the Nazis, and present-day San Francisco. It begins when young Alma Balasco has been sent from Poland to safely live with a wealthy aunt in San Francisco. She becomes friendly with the son of her aunt’s Japanese gardener, Ichimei. A love affair begins during the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. They become separated after the internment of Ichimei and his family.
I will tell no more about this love affair, but hope you are hooked enough to read this beautiful book.
5 Stars
559. THE GLASSMAKER by Tracy Chavalier (8/12/24) Historical Fiction
Named one of the best historical novels of 2024 by the Sunday Times and others, Ms. Chavalier takes us on a journey of a family of glassworkers from the Renaissance Era-Italy-to the present. We follow a family of Murano glass makers from the 1400’s to the 2020’s. We meet Orsola Rosso, in 1486 who longs to have the same opportunities in glassmaking as her brothers. When her father dies in a workshop accident, the family business struggles. Orsola comes up with a plan to make tiny glass beads, which the brothers discourage as not being “real” glass making, even though the intricate work takes time and skill to master. With Orsola guiding the work, she keeps the family afloat.
At this point in the book decades go by, but the characters barely age as the story continues, and the family moves from Venice to Murano in a new setting with various problems to conquer. The characters seem unaware that they are still alive for centuries-even up to the Covid pandemic. I think the author used this manipulation of time to focus on the history of glass making while staying loyal to the family. It is a little bit strange to experience this, but also, gives us the time to endear us to the characters.
I particularly enjoyed the history of glassmaking, and it was a joy to visualize Venice, since I have traveled there and have experienced demonstrations of glass blowing and glass making by the masters of today. I liked it very much.
4 Stars
549. THE BOOKS OF JACOB by Olga Tokarczuk (7/4/24) Historical Fiction
In this fictional portrayal of an actual mid 18th century event, we learn of Jacob Frank, a Jew of mysterious origins, who cast a charismatic spell over his followers throughout the Hapsburg and Ottoman Empires, as he reinvents himself over and over, from Jew to Islam to Catholicism. He wrecked havoc with traditions as his sect was mired with scandalous rumors of secret rituals swirling mystery and controversy throughout the land.
I had never heard of this self-proclaimed prophet, and I chose not to research him because I found his story to be less than mesmerizing. As with most historical figures, he is revered by many and despised by many. This book is fiction and therefore impossible to know how much is truth.
3 Stars
545. THE PARIS DAUGHTER by Kristin Harmel (7/15/24) Historical Fiction
Harmel hit the ball out of the Historical Fiction chart with “The Book of Lost Names” so I was anxious to read this book, also about World War II and the Nazi occupation. It is 1939 and two young mothers feel the war creeping into their lives. Elise and Juliette have young daughters who are close playmates. When the Nazi’s target Elise, she asks Juliette to take care of her daughter if she gets captured or goes missing, a duty she does take. Juliette’s small bookstore becomes destroyed in a bomb attack and Juliette is forced to run with the girls and appear to have vanished without a trace when Elise returns from the war. The story is about a mother’s love and determination to find her daughter in the post war-torn country is heart-rending and emotional. I felt totally involved in this story of survival, strength and courage. The author did it again!
5 Stars
537. SHELTERWOOD by Lisa Wingate (5/25/24) Historical Fiction
Wingate takes us to Oklahoma, 1909, where there is a long history of missing child cases. Oklahoma had become a breeding ground for corrupt land barons seeking oil rich lands at any cost. Amidst this setting, pioneer women combined to protect children caught in the firestorm of greed.
The story begins with two Choctaw girls living with the Raday family. Eleven-year-old Olive Raday realizes her step-father has bad intentions and when the older girl disappears, Olive flees with six-year-old Nessa to begin a treacherous escape through the wilderness of the Winding Stair Mountain, a hideout for outlaws and desperate men. The girls find others like themselves and band together, struggling to find a safe haven.
Jump to Oklahoma, 1990 where Valerie Boren-Odell reports for park ranger duty. A teenage hiker is missing and as she hunts for the hiker she comes across a long-hidden burial site where the remains of three children were unearthed in a cave. This uncovers the tragic history of the lost children and exposes the conflict of who owns the land.
Wingate is a master of uncovering historical truths that were hidden. Through her deep investigation into the past she is able to come up with a strong, close to the truth, vision in time.
4 Stars
535. THE GODDESS OF WARSAW by Lisa Barr (6/17/24) Historical Fiction
When legendary screen star Lena Browning is approached by a popular modern-day star, Sienna Hayes in 2005, to direct a film about Lena’s life, the life of the legend turns out to be far more entrancing than she imagined. It turns out that Lena was a Polish Jew whose life was destroyed by the Nazi’s. Bina, her name then, and her husband were imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto, but she fought back and became a spy to help her fellow Jews. After the war she gained fame and success but her personal war never ended.
I think I’ve read a lot about the resistance fighters during World War II and thought I’d heard it all. But this is a slightly different approach to the story by making one resister an aging movie star.
This book is a good solid tale of resisters of World War II in which the characters were interesting and believable.
4 Stars
530. THE PHOENIX CROWN by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang (6/9/24) Historical Fiction
This collaborated story begins in San Francisco, 1905, in the city bursting with fortune seekers and hopeful upstarts. Two women seek to bring positive change to their lives. Gemma, an operatic soprano needs a boost in her career and Suling, a Chinatown embroideress, hopes to somehow escape an arranged marriage. They meet when a railroad tycoon, Henry Thornton, comes into their lives. Thornton has a magnificent collection of rare Chinese antiques, including the Phoenix Crown from Beijing’s fallen Golden Palace. And he is an avid patron of the opera. He offers patronage to the women, appreciative of their unique talents. Then in 1906 the earthquake devistates San Francisco with Thornton mysteriously disappeaing.
Quinn and Chang do a seamless job of researching and writing about an important historical time and an ancient mystery to solve.
4 Stars
527. THE ALICE NETWORK by Kate Quinn (6/1/24) Historical Fiction
The Alice Network was a real-life female spy network in France during World War I. In 1947 an American socialite college girl, pregnant and unmarried, goes to London to find her cousin who disappeared during the Nazi invasion.
The story goes back and forth between World Wars I and II showing the betrayal that tore apart the Alice Network and the crumbling, alcoholic life of Eve, haunted by the wreck of her fellow spies long ago.
The American girl comes to Eve’s dilapidated London home seeking information on her cousin and the women join forces to find the truths for both women.
3 Stars
262. THE PARIS ARCHITECT by Charles Belfoure (4/30/22) Historical Fiction
Most Gentiles in occupied Paris had little empathy for Jews. Many were displeased with the “Resistance”, they thought of as thugs and Communists. Lucien Bernard was in this group when a wealthy industrialist offered him a large sum of money to design a secret hiding place for a Jew he knew. Lucien’s first reaction was “Why would this man put himself at risk for a Jew?” Lucien struggled with this choice to become a part of a cause he didn’t believe in. He ultimately couldn’t resist the money since the war literally stopped his ability to find work. When the first hiding place was a success he continued to devise unique hiding spaces-behind a painting, inside a drainpipe, in a column, and other unique places. Soon his lack of empathy for the Jews reverses and he gets more involved in helping. But he also gets jobs from the Nazis to build armament factories he justifies as being useful to Paris at the end of the war.
This was well-written and really a great story.
5 Stars
270. THE PARIS BOOKSELLER by Kerri Maher (5/28/22) Historical Fiction
Young American Sylvia Beach, lover of books and Paris moves to Paris and on a quiet street in 1919 she opens her own English language bookstore, “Shakespeare and Company”. Soon her bookstore becomes a favorite of the prominent writers and intellectuals, such as Ernest Hemmingway and James Joyce whose book Ulysses, was banned in the United States and Sylvia decided to risk it all to publish it through her bookstore. But the success and notoriety of the most infamous and influential book of the century brings great personal and financial crises and a strange relationship with the careless Joyce himself.
A good read into the past although I really don’t know how much is fiction and how much truth.
4 Stars
278. WILD WOMEN AND THE BLUES by Denny S. Bryce (6/16/22) Historical Fiction
Honoree Dalcour, a sharecropper’s daughter wants to dance her was to stardom in 1925, Jazz Age Chicago. Chicago is the center of Jazz, gangsters, bootleg whisky, speakeasies, and crime, and Honoree is in the midst of it all and could be at risk in this wild atmosphere.
Forward to 2015 where Honoree is 110 years old and decides to tell all to a young film student doing research. Sawyer Hayes thinks that Honoree is the only living person who can give him information about the legendary Oscar Micheaux, the subject of his research. Her story is historical, filled with clubs, Jazz greats, and danger. This is a fun book to enjoy the exciting life of the Jazz Age.
4 Stars
289. THE THINGS WE CANNOT SAY by Kelly Rimmer (7/11/22) Historical Fiction
Europe is in the grip of World War II in 1942 and just beyond the Russian refugee camp a young 15 year old, Alina Dzik is marrying her beloved, Tomasz. But little by little things change for the worse and the brutal Nazi occupation of Poland divides this tiny village apart as they are forced to give secrets against each other. Then Tomasz disappears and Alina will not give up hope. This emotional story is beautifully told and is well worth reading. The audio version is well-done.
4 Stars
292. THE VENTRILOQUISTS by E.R. Ramzipoor (7/18/22) Historical Fiction
In Brussels, 1943, twelve year old street Orphan Helene survives by living as a newsboy selling the most popular paper, Le Soir, now turned into Nazi propaganda. A journalist draws her into a secret network that publishes a second paper, a dissident underground edition. The Nazis find out and track down the underground group and give them no choice but to publish anti-Allies propaganda. While pretending to to be cooperating they instead prepare to publish a fake edition that pokes fun at Hitler and Stalin. Based on true events this novel shows extraordinary bravery and courage and is filled with accurate historic detail.
5 Stars
299. THE GIRL IN THE PAINTING by Tia Cooper (8/2/22) Historical Fiction
Siblings Michael and Elizabeth are philanthropists who after overcoming hardships arriving as poor immigrants to Australia, become successful, and try to help others. In 1906 they take in a nine year old girl named Jane Piper who appears to excel in mathematics. They educate Jane for seven years and she becomes helpful in the Quinn’s business. When Elizabeth and Jane are at an art exhibit Elizabeth becomes traumatized after looking at a particular painting. The reaction is so out of character that the two woman decide to try to find out more about this painting and the mystery takes them to other continents and through several decades.
4 Stars
304. LETTERS FROM SKYE by Jessica Brockmole (8/8/22) Historical Fiction
Elspeth Dunn is a published poet in Scotland living on the remote Isle of Skye. She has never ventured off the island and is thrilled to have received a fan letter from a college student, David Graham, from America. They correspond through beautifully written letters that soon turn from friendship to love. World War I is escalating and David volunteers to drive an ambulance on the Western Front. Elspeth can only hope for his safe return.
Fast forward to 1940 and Elsbeth’s daughter has fallen for a pilot in the Royal Air Force. She tries to warn her daughter of the danger of getting involved during wartime which falls on deaf ears. When Elspeth’s home is bombed a wall hiding Elspeth’s letters is exposed and Elspeth disappears. Her daughter Elizabeth finds one last letter and uses it to try to find her mother.
This is a debut novel and it is very good with the romance of love letters and the pain of wars.
4 Stars
307. TO SHIELD THE QUEEN by Fiona Buckley (8/13/22) Historical Fiction
This book, the first in a series of mysteries of Queen Elizabeth I’s Court introduces us to Ursala Blanchard, lady in waiting to the Queen. There are rumors about the Queen and her master of horse, Robin Dudley, who is married to an ailing wife named Amy, who appears to be the one preventing the Queen and Dudley from marrying. The queen dispatches Ursala to nurse Amy back to health but Amy falls to her death. Was this an accident or is Ursala doing the bidding of the Queen? I found this who-done-it well done and the Queen’s Court intriguing.
4 Stars
313. JACKIE AND ME by Louis Bayard (9/7/22)
I had to put this book in the category of Historical Fiction because if you look under the title the author calls it “A Novel”. So I can’t tell you how much is true but a lot of it follows the early life of Jackie before she was a First Lady and Celebrity. The story is told by Lem Billings, long family friend of the Kennedy’s and friend and go-fur to Jack. Jacqueline Bouvier is a former debutante working for a Washington newspaper as an inquiring reporter in 1951. She meets Jack at a Georgetown party and she and Jack are attracted and flirty. Jack is at first attentive but between his campaign schedule and his cavorting he call for the help of Lem to be a stand-in for him and promote his intentions. Jack wants him to “seal the deal” for him. Lem and Jackie meanwhile grow very close and he starts doubting his allegiance to Kennedy for Jackie’s sake.
This was a very fun and witty read which felt like a biography with so many details following what we know to be true. And Lem is a REAL friend of Jack’s.
4 Stars
318. THE NICKEL BOYS by Colson Whitehead (9/20/22) Historical Fiction
“The Nickel Boys” won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. An earlier book of his, “The Underground Railroad”, also won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The National Book Award, and was one of the Ten Best Books of the Year by the New York Times Book Review. And he has written several other New York Times Bestsellers…..and I have never read ANYTHING he has written! Where have I been??
This book stars with a prologue introducing Elwood a former inmate at the institution, was now living in New York. He goes on to tell of the atrocities that were standard treatment. He had befriended another boy named Turner who warned him about the treatment he would receive if he made waves about any of it including the illegal segregation practices, many forcing competitions black vs white and severe beatings, sometimes breaking bones, as punishment for minor events. The abuses at this reform school are so horrendous, I won’t go into the gruesome details. This story is based on one of Florida’s first reform schools and we are all lucky they have been shut down because the abuses are worse than in today’s penal institutions. The story is intense, but so realistic, as are the characters, that I can see why it has won so many awards.
5 Stars
319. THE SWEETNESS OF WATER by Nathan Harris (9/18/22) Historical Fiction
Set in the waning days of the Civil War, this powerful story finds two emancipated brothers traveling North to find their mother who had been sold away when they were boys. They come upon the homestead of George and Isabelle Walker, Georgians who had lost a son in the war and are grieving. They hire the brothers to work their farm and begin to form an unexpected friendship. Trouble happens when one of the brothers witness a forbidden romance in the woods between two returning young Confederate soldiers. With candor, sympathy and honesty, this debut novel does an excellent job of exposing the epic days of resentment and terror as reconstruction begins in a nation wanting not yet able to heal.
5 Stars
321. THE EXILES by Christina Baker Kline (9/24/22) Historical Fiction
In 1840 London young, naive governess Evangeline is swept off her feet by the romantic intentions of her employer’s son, Cecil. He gives her a ring, a family heirloom and leaves the estate. The ring is found in pregnant Evangeline’s possession and she is accused of theft and attempted murder. In those days criminals were conscripted by ship to Australia where Evangeline was to serve 14 years in the Penal colony. The book continues to show life in this penal institution, many there for insignificant crimes. The birth of Ruby took place on the ship and the rest of the book covers hardships and triumphs of women in the colony. This story tells of women’s treatment by men, their courage to work together to achieve goals and the bravery needed to survive and succeed.
5 Stars
322. THE PARIS WIFE by Paula McLain (9/27/22) Historical Fiction
This is a fictionalized account of the marriage and divorce of Ernest Hemmingway and Hadley Richardson, his first wife. Hemmingway, a romantic 20 year old fell hard for the 28 year old Hadley who showered him with positive inspiration and boosted his ego. Shortly after their marriage, during a bleak stage of writer’s block, Ernest sold some news articles and they decided to move to Paris where he felt he would have inspiration. They moved to Paris in 1921 and Ernest was captivated by the artistic community of writers, including Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, and Ezra Pound, and their open marriage lifestyles. Hadley has a hard time fitting in and being accepted into this community and later begins to suspect Ernest of affairs. The author did a lot of research into Hemmingway’s early life when he was breaking through with his first literary success, “The Sun Also Rises” and much of this is true except for detail she would have little to base conversations, etc. on. But it still grabs the essence of man and is a very interesting read.
4 Stars
328. THE SECOND MRS. ASTOR by Shana Abe (10/13/22) Historical Fiction
Madeline Force at 17 captured the heart of John Jacob (Jack) Astor, a wealthy American businessman who gained his wealth from investing, mainly in New York real estate, who was almost 30 years her senior. Young and beautiful, she was swept off her feet, but never accepted in society or by his family. This story portrays their love story and honeymoon to Egypt and the voyage home on an exciting new ship called The Titanic. The story is filled with the elegance of that time (1910-1912), and the story is warm and heartbreaking.
4 Stars
337. MR. WILDER AND ME by Jonathon Coe (11/17/22) Historical Fiction
In 1977 a young woman from Athens named Calista left her country for an adventure. She went to the U. S. and while waiting for a Greyhound bus she hooked up with a young woman named Gil. The two 21 year olds became friendly on the long bus ride to Los Angeles. Gil’s father had urged her to contact his former business partner, a famous director, who then invited the women to dinner. The director was Billy Wilder, an Academy Award winning director, who meant nothing to the sheltered Calista. Wilder became impressed with Calista and asked her read a script for his upcoming movie, “Fedora”.
Nothing happened for months, but Wilder then contacted Calista to come to Corfu, a Greek island where his movie was filming, to be a Greek translator. Soon Calista became a personal assistant to Wilder’s favorite scriptwriter who allowed her to write 50 pages of the screenplay. Her career grew from there.
The picture “Fedora” is a slightly veiled account of Wilder’s entrance into the Berlin film industry in the 30’s, and his escape to Paris before the war. Soon he broke into Hollywood. The movie, part biopic, part Holocaust memoir, and part midlife-crisis domestic drama, was an attempt by Wilder to rekindle his greatness after coming to terms with his fading relevance in Hollywood. I will be searching for this movie which I have not seen, as this was an interesting story as a fictional book.
5 Stars
343. TRUST by Hernan Diaz (12/2/22) Historical Fiction
“Trust” is one of those books that is pulling a fast one it its readers. Take the title, “Trust”. Well, don’t trust what you think. There are four sections to this book. In the first you are lulled and absorbed into the story. But, before you can process that section two has a narrative that upends the truth of what came before.
The book is about money, moguls, the the forces in the stock market. Benjamin Rusk is drawn to the world of finance and it’s complexities, but is not engaged with people and things effected by the transactions. As he and his wife accrue wealth, along comes the Crash of 1929. The speculator, Benjamin ends up making money when others suffer devastating losses. He get accused if manipulating the market and is ostracized and his wife suffers a mental breakdown.
There is an autobiography of an early mogul who grows richer and wife has a mental breakdown-a loosely veiled story of the former story-a novel within a novel. The last section, a literary puzzle, betrays the title and cannot be exposed, but is about the quest for truth. This highly acclaimed book reveals to me my lack of depth when the story becomes esoteric. Truth be told.
4 Stars
351. CARNEGIE’S MAID by Marie Benedict (12/28/22) Historical Fiction
Newly arrived immigrant Clara Kelley is not her real name. She is a poor Irish immigrant seeking to find a job in order to send money home to her family. But she knows how to clean homes and speaks well and finds herself passing herself off as an experienced Irish maid to the Carnegie home.
The author likes to imagine how strong, ambitious women can turn the fate of history. Andrew Carnegie was one of the richest men in America and most everything he touched turned to gold. Clara, after making a great impression in the household, rose to a leadership position, and was able to influence the industrialist, Carnegie, to use some of his money for philanthropy, for what he eventually became known.
This fictionalized version of what could have been, is a lovely book about a person rising in her station at a time when that rarely happened.
4 Stars
373. THE NURSE’S SECRET by Amanda Skenandore (2/8/23) Historical Fiction
Una Kelley is a grifter in the 1880’s, New York City. She is a survivor in a dangerous time of poverty when the poor are treated as criminals. Una is mostly a pickpocket. When another woman pins her for a murder in an alley she didn’t commit, Una, well-known to the police for her petty theft, flees. She sees an opportunity to change her identity in an ad for potential nursing students at the Bellevue Hospital Nursing School, who will teach and house young women who want to become nurses in a new chapter of nursing from Europe invented by Florence Nightingale. Young women of good moral character and breeding could receive this training after passing an examination. Una, always good at camouflage, has the tenacity and motivation to enter into this maze of uniformed care workers in order to disappear.
Una is a wonderful, colorful protagonist and the New York slums and hospital practices, before anesthetics were miserable and made me wonder how anyone survived in those days. This book is an excellent read into the past, with a bit of crime, mystery, romance thrown in.
4 Stars
374. THE PULL OF THE STARS BY Emma Donoghue (3/12/23) Historical Fiction
Ireland, 1918 is ravaged by the destruction of World War I and the Spanish Flu Epidemic. Nurse Julia Power works in a hospital flu ward for expectant mothers all quarantined together. Doctor Kathleen Lynn and volunteer Bridie Sweeney work along with Julia, under impossible conditions, to save as many mothers and babies as is possible. We see this catastrophe play out over a three day period, changing the three women through their tireless tenderness and humanity.
This book was published in April, 2020, just as Covid-19 was taking a grip in our world and gave us a hint of what eventually came to pass. If we had read it in 2020 we may have better anticipated what would become of our own reality and challenges of isolation, fear, loneliness, and loss. The similarities are shocking. Have we learned from the past?
5 Stars
380. THE PERFUMIST OF PARIS by Alka Joshi (4/7/23) Historical Fiction
Just recently published and highly anticipated, the third book of the Jaipur Trilogy (The Henna Artist, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur), is set in 1970’s Paris where Radha is living. Her friend’s grandfather offers her a job at his perfumery which brings Radha memories of essence from her life in India and soon became talented in the art of finding the perfect fragrance for her customers. After ten years she becomes more successful as she worked for a master parfumer designing fragrances for special clients. Soon she found herself at odds with her husband Pierre who disliked the time she spent away from home. When she decided to take a business trip back to India to enlist help from her sister Lakshimi, in finding the right ingredients she needed for her perfume, she realized she was taking chances that could jeopardize her marriage. And a long-held secret from the past could also be exposed.
Although I enjoyed this book, Joshi is a skilled storyteller, I missed the mystical images of Indian culture that flowed from her previous books. If you loved the others I recommend you finish out the series with this book.
3 Stars
386. HORSE by Geraldine Brooks (4/25/23) Historical Fiction
Although historical fiction, Horse is based on the true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, with all the elements of horse racing injustices and abuse which come forward in 1850 Kentucky. Brooks, a Pulitzer Prize winner, paints a broad stroke: From Jarret, an enslaved groom who bonds with a foal which carries the two to victories across the South; to an itinerant painter of horses during the Civil War; to New York City in the 1950’s where a gallery owner becomes obsessed with a painting; to Washington D.C., in 2019, when a Smithsonian scientist and an art historian collaborate on a stallion’s bones for clues to his power and endurance.
This complex, partially true story, has been uniquely woven into a novel about art, science and racism in the world of horse racing. Well done!!
4 Stars
387. THE CHELSEA GIRLS by Fiona Davis (4/28/23) Historical Fiction
Author of The Magnolia Palace and The Lions of Fifth Avenue, Chelsea Girls takes us to Europe near the end of World War II, where Hazel and Maxine are performing in a USO club for the soon to come home troops. As they become close they dream of their lives when they can return stateside and to New York City where the bright lights and post-war excitement lures them. They hear about the Chelsea Hotel, where musicians, poets, artists, writers and actors flourish in it’s creative oasis. Broadway with it’s glamour and danger sweeps into their lives as their new-found freedom entices them to experiment with new concepts and relationships.
Soon the cold war and fear of communism has taken hold as Senator Joseph McCarthy rounds up every person he can find who he thinks may be tied to communism and thinks thinks the entertainment industry is loaded with lefties. Through pressure and intimidation he used the same practices Hitler used when rounding up Jews and forced recriminations against anyone who refused to expose others. These tactics destroyed friendships, loyalties, reputations and careers and the girls were swept into this quagmire at the Chelsea Hotel.
Davis is a good storyteller and this book was both fun and interesting.
4 Stars
390. THE LIONS OF FIFTH AVENUE by Fiona Davis (5/8/23) Historical Fiction
It is 1913, New York City. Laura Lyons lives with her husband, the superintendent of New York Library, which gives them and their children the privilege of living in the apartment within the library. Laura is ambitious and wants more than the traditional housewife role, so she studies at Columbia journalism school which requires her to find stories all over the city. Laura becomes enamored with a radical feminist group which espouses suffrage, birth control and women’s rights.
There is a theft at the library and eighty years later Laura’s granddaughter, Sadie, now curator of the library becomes a suspect in the disappearance of a rare manuscript.
Fiona Davis has brought historical life to the past as she had in her previous book, The Chelsea Girls. Her characters are colorful and the story convincing.
4 Stars
391. NEWS OF THE WORLD by Paulette Jiles (5/10/23) Historical Fiction
With the perfect amount of charm and sophistication, Grove Gardiner, the narrator of this audiobook, delivers a beautiful story of how Captain Jefferson Kidd, a lonely widower in 1870 Texas, came to agree to return a ten-year-old girl, kidnapped by the Kinowa Indians, rescued four years later by the cavalry, to her kinfolk. Gardner and the author brought out the integrity, culture and dignity in Kidd during a dark history of the wild west. Kidd earned a living by going from town to town to read the news to news-starved settlers. This story follows the travails of his travels with the white-turned-Indian young girl, traumatized by her past, and his patient manner in restoring her faith.
This was made into a movie with Tom Hanks playing Kidd but not nearly as beautifully as this audio-version brought out the heart and soul of Kidd.
5 Stars
425. ALL THE BROKEN PLACES by John Boyne (7/30/23) Historical Fiction
Gretel Fernsby, 91, lived in her upperr-class flat in Mayfair overlooking Hyde Park for decades when she learns the apartment on the first floor, formerly owned by an elderly man who died, was on the market. Gretel, with a dark past in WWII, kept to herself and didn’t look forward to refusing neighborly small-talk with the new residents. When a young family moves in Gretel can’t help a small friendship with their little boy, Henry, even though he brings back painful memories of her past. This compelling story is a sequel to “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” and “All the Broken Places” which moves back and forth in time to Gretel’s childhood and present day, still haunted by her past.
This is a beautiful story of a woman who must confront the sins of the past and found it is never too late for bravery. A great story from a great writer. I recommend you read the three books in order although they all can stand alone.
5 Stars
449. THE PARIS AGENT by Kelly Rimmer (10/5/23) Historical Fiction
Based on true events, this search for a WWII hero who saved the life of her father, Noah Ainsworth, sends his daughter, Charlotte, on a quest which leads her to two ordinary women, Chloe and Fleur, who became fearless spies and lead her to their connection with her father Noah.
Rimmer again takes her readers on an exciting journey filled with historical truths, undeniable courage, and another powerful story about a war we cannot seem to let go. Author of “The Things We Cannot Say” and “The Warsaw Orphans”, Rimmer gives us another fast-moving, riveting story.
4 Stars
480. ABSOLUTION by Alice McDermott (1/16/24) Historical Fiction
Two military wives relocate to Saigon during the Vietnam War. Patricia, married to Peter, was a young military wife trying to become comfortable with garden and cocktail parties and dressing to impress. Charlene, was used to the military life, but unlike Patricia she was unafraid of conflict and criticism, was politically outspoken and opinionated about the war and the lives of the people. Desperate to be accepted by Charlene, she agrees to volunteer at the Children’s Hospital and to raise money for the people.
The book spans several generations through a series of letters between Patricia, now an old woman, and Charlene’s daughter, Rainey, when she discovered her mother’s letters from Patricia and wrote to her after her mother’s death. After learning of her mother’s activism Rainey realizes she has chosen a path more like Patricia’s, of choosing to be loved, cared for and protected.
In this book McDermott explored women’s choices over time and their motivations of becoming a “helpmate” rather than choosing a distinct pathway for helping others. Few have written about women during the Vietnam War with as much truth and grace as has Alice McDermott.
4 Stars
493. THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (2/15/24) Thriller
This is a historical novel about Belle da Costa Greene, the woman J.P.Morgan hired as his personal librarian to curate and acquire a collection to fill his newly built Pierpoint Morgan Library. In order to work in her field she had to pass herself off as a white person when she was in her early twenties. It was a secret she kept well hidden.
She became successful in one of the most visible occupations due to the notoriety of J.P. Morgan but she proved her worth through her shrewd auction negotiations for critical works to add to Morgan’s collection and her skills as curator of rare manuscripts. She became a household word in society and art worlds in New York and across Europe. Despite her secret she prevailed for her achievements and left a lasting legacy as a woman in the male-dominated field of art acquisitions.
This was so interesting to learn about. A triumph in it’s day and today. Well-written too.
4 Stars
503. THE GERMAN GIRL by Armando Lucas Correa (3/25/24) Historical Fiction
In this , his debut novel, Correa gives his protagonist, a 12 year old Jewish girl, Hannah, an upper crust life in Berlin, 1939. All is happy and well with her and her best friend Leo until Berlin becomes ensconced in Nazi flags draped all over the city. Soon friends disappear or flee and homes are raided and belongings taken away. It is time to leave. Hannah and Leo’s family decide to take a chance on an ocean liner called the St. Louis which would take them to Cuba. After enjoying a beautiful trip to freedom they find that the United States, Canada and Cuba have all refused the ship’s passengers to immigrate and want to send them back to Germany. A few are allowed to enter Cuba but the families are separated including Leo and Hannah who vow to marry some day.
Forward to New York, 2014, when Anna Rosen receives a mysterious package from her Aunt Hannah in Cuba, who was unknown to her. Anna and her mother decide to go to Cuba to learn the truth about the past.
This is based on a true story of three countries which would not admit the St. Louis and over 1000 Jewish refugees to their shores. Not exactly written in our history books. I liked the writing but some of the characters were portrayed as selfish and spoiled during life-threatening times. It is a heart-rending and abominable story.
4 Stars
517. LADY TAN’S CIRCLE OF WOMEN by Lisa See (5/2/24) Historical Fiction
Lisa See’s newest book, a novel, is based on a true story of an elite female, Tan Yunxian, during 15th century China-the Ming Dynasty-who became a physician. Trained in ancient medicine by her maternal grandparents, her medical notes are the earliest surviving texts written by a female physician. Although Lady Tan married into a wealthy family as an obedient wife, mother and daughter-in-law, she denied tradition by joining forces with a young midwife to together treat women from all classes. Yunxion also defied the prevailing belief that values women for only their childbearing and decorative functions. And she encourages women to develop supportive friendships with other women so they may have more fulfilling lives.
I found the traditions and beliefs fascinating and aggravating. Arranged marriages to the wealthiest families secured a woman’s place in society and was the norm. A woman was considered a failure if she didn’t succeed in producing a son. Concubines were acceptable and the right of men to possess. Women were expected to be pleasing to men. The highest class of women were not permitted to leave the boundaries of their estate. Some of these traditions are still evident today-especially woman taking a secondary role to men. Around the world, even today, we see cultures and secular rules that keep women from making choices and being ruled by men. Even in the United States.
Lisa See was able to show how women accepted their lot in life, usually never questioning the unfairness of it all. Lady Tan was slightly the acception, but still stayed close to the norms of the day. I can understand it in the 15th century, but not today. In many ways there has been little improvement. That makes me sad. So in reading this book I admired See’s diligent research into the past in order to get an accurate picture of the time. And her writing and characters are well developed. I was interesting, but the book still made me feel sad.
5 Stars
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