London, 1947: Besieged by the harshest winter in living memory, burdened by onerous shortages and rationing, the people of postwar Britain are enduring lives of quiet desperation despite their nation’s recent victory. Among them are Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin, embroiderers at the famed Mayfair fashion house of Norman Hartnell. Together they forge an unlikely friendship, but their nascent hopes…
I have to say I can’t actually remember how I stumbled on this book. I may have been trolling the internet for historical fiction and found it that way. At any rate I ended up with this rather esoteric work of historical fiction that I loved. Sadly we don’t have a copy of The Bookseller’s…
You may remember me mentioning Elsa Hart’s City of Ink a couple of months ago when I was reading the next installment of her Li Du Mystery series The White Mirror. City of Ink is the third book in the series and one that I approached with a little trepidation. What drew me to the…
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. opens with a woman setting in a house somewhere in Victorian London. She is taking up her quill to write out the history of the shadowy government organization called D.O.D.O. She is bound and determined that her narrative will destroy that organization. Flash forward to present day Boston where…
Do you ever have those times where you really love a book and you think “oh I can’t wait until the next one comes out!” Then life moves on and suddenly you look back and not only have you missed the next one but you missed the next one after that. That’s what happened to…
You may remember from a post of mine a couple of weeks ago that I was reading Buckley’s latest, Judge Hunter. I enjoyed that book so much I basically turned around and pulled Relic Master right off the shelf and dug in. Relic Master has a lot of the same features I loved about Judge…
Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. The cover was the main reason I picked up Buckley’s The Judge Hunter a couple of weeks ago. The parrot and the feel of the dust jacket just sucked me right in and it really paid off. The Judge Hunter is set in 1664 after the…
Jane is a household name in the literary world, owing in no small part to Eyre and Austen. Indulge your love for both ladies with these forthcoming titles. The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen Flynn (Available in July) “Perfect for fans of Jane Austen, this engrossing debut novel offers an unusual twist on the legacy of…
In our Today In History Reading List feature, we take the events of a particular day in history and try to give you a work of fiction and a work of non-fiction relating to those events. 1174 William I of Scotland is Captured by Henry II of England In 1173 the sons of Henry II…
In our Today In History Reading List feature, we take the events of a particular day in history and try to give you a work of fiction and a work of non-fiction relating to those events. 240BC The First Recording of a Perihelion Passage of Halley’s Comet Chinese astronomers recorded the passage of Halley in…
Richardson’s The Damned, first book in the Darkest Hour Trilogy, (it sometimes appears as the Darkest Hand Trilogy) is a fascinating combination of alternate history, church murder mystery, and horror thriller all wrapped up in a nice dark fiction package. The book opens in the trenches east of Arras in the opening days of an…
In our Today In History Reading List feature, we take the events of a particular day in history and give you a work of fiction and a work of non-fiction relating to that day’s events. 1704 The Raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts. Early in the morning of February 29th, a force of French and Native Americans…
You know how it is, you are finishing up reading a book and it hits you: “What am I going to read next?!” And it’s not that you don’t have other things to read, it’s that you have too much to read. Maybe you have piles of books on the floor, by your bed, basically…
Those who have read Downing’s Jack of Spies (check out a review of that one here) will be happy to hear that the next book in the series One Man’s Flag is just as good. It is now 1915, and as Europe goes up in flames in the second year of World War I, Jack…
I admit I picked up this book because of the cover. I first saw it in the new book display by the circ desk (if you haven’t checked that one out you really should there are a lot of gems there). And everything on the cover of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street has a connection to the story which makes it even cooler. Plus it has really great endpapers. This is Natasha Pulley’s first book and it is a mixture of historical fiction and fantasy.
One of the things I’m always on the look out for is historical fiction set in an under represented time period and location. Elsa Hart’s Jade Dragon Mountain fits both of those categories. This is Hart’s first novel and it is set in 1708 in Yunnan province the border region between China and Tibet.
Reviewed by Jen: The Vintner’s Daughter transports us back to the 1800’s and into vineyard life offering a bit of romance, tragedy and an interesting look into the wine-making process during this time so long ago.
Our patron, who loved this title, recommends the book to readers who like historical fiction/WWII era books, and mentioned that it would be a great choice for book groups.
On the surface Perez-Reverte’s The Siege is a historical fiction mystery set in Cadiz, Spain during the siege of that city by a Napoleonic army. However the story has much more depth and complexity than a straight up murder mystery.
If you are like most fans of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall series you’ve been climbing the walls waiting for PBS to release the BBC miniseries (which they’ve been watching in England for months the lucky devils). But there’s a problem you can only watch one episode a week and you’ve already reread Wolf Hall and…
May 7 will be the 100 anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania (see Chris’s review of Lusitania: Triumph, Tragedy and the End of the Edwardian Age) by German U-20 off the Irish coast. Like a lot of anniversaries of major historical events this one has spawned a lot of books on the subject. Here…
The Today In History Reading List is a list of books, fiction and non-fiction, to go along with some of the events that happened today.
Living in the soot-stained darkness that was Pittsburgh in 1941, John is keen to enlist after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He doesn’t view it as a choice or an option; it’s something he has to do.
David Flusfeder’s novel John the Pupil has been repeatedly compared to Umberto Eco’s fiction. The similarity is definitely there. The story is about John a young Franciscan monk in 1267 Oxford studying under the English philosopher Roger Bacon (Bacon also gets a couple of mentions in Name of the Rose if I remember rightly). John is tasked with making a pilgrimage to the Viterbo Italy where the Pope is in residence.
I normally do four events for the Today in History reading list but I just couldn’t choose this time so I did five. Check out a day full of Emperors and presidents, Samurai and various kinds of rebels. We give you one non-fiction and one fictional work to go with each event.
Sons of Liberty priemeres on History Channel on January 25th. Get caught up in the Revolution, and then stop by the library to check out our display of books dedicated to this rabble-rousing lot and other key Revolutionary figures; look for the display just beyond the new book room.
If you like the gore of 16th century childbirth, rich historical descriptions and strong female characters, these are the books for you!
We’ve got some music and musicians and big political events on this day in history. Enjoy a nice reading list with a work of fiction and a work of non-fiction commemorating them.
I was afraid November 12 was going to be all World War I stuff (winding down from Veterans/Armistice day) or Pilgrims (winding up for Thanksgiving). How wrong I was. I had to pick and choose what went in this list.
2015 looks to be a very good year for fans of historical fiction. It took a great deal of time and hemming and hawing to cull down all of the titles that caught my eye to just these nine, making up a more manageable list. Many of these titles feature real-life characters: Coco Chanel, Edouard Manet, Virginia Woolf, and Shakespeare, to name a few. While other books on the list might appeal to fans of Kate Morton, Susanna Kearsley, and Anya Seton.
Extremely touchy witches, bumbling spies and 1950s Paris
Duggan’s The Lady for Ransom is set in the 11th century just prior to the First Crusade. In those days a soldier could make himself a prince in the chaotic borderlands between Christendom and Islam, but the Norman mercenary Rousseul de Balliol sought only good pay, honest employers, and to retire someday rather than die on the battlefield.
England has been in a nearly constant state of war with Spain for years, the Queen might be getting a little fuzzy between the ears and her spy service has a mole. Robert Cecil Jr, Elizabeth’s Secretary of State, calls in Marbeck aka John Sand. Cecil does this reluctantly since he considers Marbeck a loose canon and, to use his expression, a coxcomb but he knows Marbeck is loyal at least.
As anyone who reads any of my reviews on this blog knows I read a lot of non-fiction (Especially history. See my last review). Even when I read fiction I love it when there is some kind non-fiction connection. This holds true with graphic novels and here are a few for the non-fiction lover that are fictional but still have some historical connection.
Ever looked up the historical events of a particular day just to see what happened? Well I have done that for this lovely September 5 but I’ve added a twist. I’ve included some reading material to go along with some of today’s events. Where ever possible I’ve tried to do a work of non-fiction and a work of fiction for each event.
This is the story of how Jim came to read Traitor’s Blade:
Michelle, after one chapter: Dude, this is basically Three Musketeers fanfiction!
Jim: Oh? Are there swords?
Michelle: Yes! And magic! Okay, that’s not very Three Musketeers, but fanfiction! And I know who’s who.
Jim: Yeah? Who’s Ara–
Michelle: Oh, no. You’re going to read it and then we’ll discuss.
Jim: *gets book that evening*…
I’m normally terrible about staying on top of my favorite authors and genres. I’ll find out about a book months after it’s been released and be mystified as to how I could have missed it. But this time was different. David Downing’s (author of the John Russell/Station series) Jack of Spies kept popping up on…
“Snow had fallen in the night, and now the great house, standing at the head of the valley, seemed like a five-hundred-year old ship sailing in a white ocean For the Cavendish family, Rutherford Park is much more than a place to call home. It is a way of life marked by rigid rules and…
Jessica Brockmole’s debut novel written in letters sparkles from the start. Don’t let the format put you off. If you are thinking of long-winded letters from the 18th Century, think again. These letters move the pace along in this historical novel often leaving the reader hanging and highlighting the desperation of the time period. Brockmole…
About the Book: Born in the squalid Irish slums of Brooklyn, in the first year of the twentieth century, Willie Sutton came of age at a time when banks were out of control. If they weren’t taking brazen risks, causing millions to lose their jobs and homes, they were shamelessly seeking bailouts. Trapped in a…
If you have already read The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel’s Game, this book is a must read. If you haven’t read the others, you’ll want to go back and read them first. I wish I had re-read both before starting The Prisoner of Heaven as all three books are so closely linked…
Reviewed by Alan Death of Kings continues the story of Uhtred, this time through the tumultous years which followed the death of Alfred the Great as two men struggle to inherit the crown of Wessex. Uhtred has to contend with betrayal, treachery and the largest army the Danes have yet assembled to conquer Wess to…
Reviewed by Kim Tess Collins is a young aspiring dressmaker who is desperate to get on the Titanic in order to make her way to America where she’ll hopefully have better luck. Fortuitously she happens upon Lady Lucille Duff Gordon who herself is a famous dressmaker and is on her way to an upcoming spring…
Reviewed by Kim Beautiful Cora Cash (yes, that is really her name), is a wealthy Nouveau Riche American who has everything but a titled husband. Set in the 1890s, appearance is everything when you’re acquaintances with the likes of the Vanderbilts. Unfortunately for the Cash family, although they are the wealthiest, they are still looked…
Reviewed by Kim In this fascinating tale of perseverance, Linda Urbach picks up where Flaubert left off, at Charles Bovary’s funeral. A society outcast because of her mother’s actions, twelve-year-old Berthe is forced to live with her bitter and impoverished grandmother. After her grandmother dies Berthe desperately seeks work, finally winding up in a cotton…
Publisher’s Summary: “An invalid for most her life, Alice James is quite used to people underestimating her. And she generally doesn’t mind. But this time she is not about to let things alone. Yes, her brother Henry may be a famous author, and her other brother William a rising star in the new field of…
If you are a fan of writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Isabelle Allende, you may want to pick up a copy of The Invisible Mountain. In her debut novel, Carolina De Robertis tells the story of three generations of a family in Uruguay. Ignazio fled Venice and his family’s gondola shop after his father,…
We were so lucky to have Daphne Kalotay visit the library at the beginning of the month. She was a wonderful speaker. We couldn’t resist another joint review for Russian Winter. The beautiful cover is what first catches your eye of Daphne Katolay’s Russian Winter. It depicts a back shot of a woman with her…
Juliet is the debut novel by Anne Fortier and what a grand debut it is. For those of you who are Romeo and Juliet purists, a word of warning; while there are many similarities, there are also just as many differences such as instead of the story being set in Verona it takes place in…
The life changing events in Agnes Trussel’s life seem to occur by chance. She has a knack for either being in the right place at the right time or vice versa. When she accidentally comes upon some money, she flees to London to avoid facing the consequences of her unwanted pregnancy. While it may seem…
In the 19th book in this series, Roman detective Marcus Didius Falco travels to Alexandria with his family so that his pregnant wife can see the pyramids. This menagerie which includes, Falco and his wife, two young daughters, an adopted teenage daughter and Falco’s brother-in-law stays with Falco’s outcast uncle and his partner. As one…
When Scottish exile, Stewart Jamison, finds himself in pre-Revolutionary War Boston, he is full of talent but strapped for cash. A smooth talking portrait painter, Jamison manages to set himself up in business but he needs an apprentice. Enter Francis Weston, or as the reader knows him/her, Fanny Easton. Weston/Easton is a daughter of a…
When Loyal Ledford, returns to the Mann Glass Factory after being wounded at Guadalcanal, he has trouble readjusting to his old life. He drinks to drown the horrors he saw there and finds the most comfort talking to an African-American veteran, Mack Wells. Though trained as an engineer during the war, Mack resumes his post…
Winner of the Man Booker Prize, Mantel has called Wolf Hall a response to Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons. The ruthless character in that play is tempered in Mantel’s fictionalized account of the life of Thomas Cromwell. Her Cromwell is still opportunistic and willing to overlook some of his personal beliefs in order…
Told from the point of view of Cleopatra Selene, the only daughter of Cleopatra and Marc Antony, Moran’s latest historical novel gives an interesting glimpse into the life of a young Egyptian woman as she learns to make her way in Rome. Octavian (Caesar Augustus) kills the majority of her family, yet he brings Selene…
One of our staff members read and loved Dennis Lehane’s latest novel of historical fiction. It sounds like a must-read for anyone interested in the history of Boston. Set in Boston at the end of the First World War, bestselling author Dennis Lehane’s extraordinary eighth novel unflinchingly captures the political and social unrest of a…
One thing a disreputable rake does not expect to return home to after a night of carousing with like-minded friends is news of his father’s death in a duel. That, Lord Nevinstoke learns, is like a slap to the face; the debts and resulting destitution left in his father’s wake, on the other hand, are…
In 1860s Seattle, lumberjack Joe Denton struggles to hold onto the land he was awarded as part of a Land Donation Grant. Without a wife, the burgeoning city’s law officials threaten to sell off the acreage Joe is desperate to hold onto. The answer to Joe’s prayers arrives in the enviable form of Anna Ivey,…
Funny, cute, totally different, with a bit of the bizarre thrown in, this is how I’ve been describing this book to friends. If you’re expecting a complete re-telling of Ms Austen’s classic, you will be disappointed. The author has instead kept much of the original work intact and thrown in his zombie mayhem for good…
It is a well known story that Eve convinced Adam to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and was therefore expelled from Eden. In a chorus of voices, including Eve and her three daughters, we learn the details of how Eve was tempted to eat the fruit, why she…
The author of Peace Like a River has written another well-crafted novel. Monte Becket is an author whose one book was a huge success. He is under great pressure to write another blockbuster, but has a severe case of writer’s block. His story starts in Minnesota in 1915 when a white-haired stranger rows by on the…
I’ve never tried to review two books at the same time so please bear with me. “And Only To Deceive” is the first book in a historical/romance/mystery series featuring Emily Bromley. In this first entry, Emily is left a young widow albeit rich and titled widow when her husband dies while on Safari. Emily it…
Fresh from a six-month sojourn in Italy, Lady Julia returns home to Sussex to find her father’s estate crowded with family and friends— but dark deeds are afoot at the deconsecrated abbey, and a murderer roams the ancient cloisters. Much to her surprise, the one man she had hoped to forget—the enigmatic and compelling Nicholas…
It has been a year of change since Gemma Doyle arrived at the foreboding Spence Academy. Her mother murdered, her father a laudanum addict, Gemma has relied on an unsuspected strength to turn catty schoolgirls into loyal friends, and has discovered an ability to travel to an enchanted world called the realms, where dark magic…
“Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.” These ominous words, slashed from the pages of a book of Psalms, are the last threat that the darling of London society, Sir Edward Grey, receives from his killer. Before he can show them to Nicholas Brisbane, the private inquiry agent he…
In 1811, murder has jarred London’s elite. The sons of prominent families have been found at dawn in public places, their bodies mutilated and strange objects stuffed into their mouths. Although Sebastian St. Cyr is distracted by his seemingly doomed relationship with actress Kat Boleyn, the oddness of these murders nags at him-and he becomes…