historical fiction

I was reading through NPR's Happy Ever After: 100 Swoon-Worthy Romances, and for the most part, I agree with the list and am happy to find some of my favorites: Julie James, Nora Roberts, Joanna Bourne, and Jennifer Ashley. 

I really enjoy Grace Burrowes' Windham series, but none of her subsequent series have tempted me enough to start reading. So, when I saw The Captive on the list, I decided it was time to give it a try. It also fits nicely with this other NPR article, Don't Know Much About History? Read A Romance.

Christian Severn, Duke of Mercia, has returned to England after months of

This historical mystery, set in Imperial China in the late 1700s, is an absolute delight. It must be incredibly tough as an author to write a book like this – not only do you have to get the culture and history right, but you also have to create realistic characters and a compelling mystery. Debut novelist Elsa Hart takes all these threads – and a few more – and deftly weaves them into an excellent novel. This is a mesmerizing, riveting mystery - one of those novels where you read the last page, close the book, and sigh contentedly as if you just ate an incredibly satisfying meal.

The novel

Take one part 300, one part Das Boot, and one part Inglourious Basterds, and you have Fury, a brutal and overly-earnest tank battle movie. Set in the final days of WWII, five American soldiers are trapped in a disabled tank and must fend off hordes of Germans. Brad Pitt, the commanding officer named Wardaddy, leads Michael Peña, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman and Jon Bernthal in an exciting and bloody fight for their lives. The non-stop action is entertaining, but the numerous war movie clichés make Fury mostly forgettable. Also of interest to some, LaBeouf was reportedly involved in behind-the

In 1884, Arthur Conan Doyle published a fictionalized account of what happened to a mysteriously abandoned ship, the Mary Celeste. Following in his footsteps, Valerie Martin imagines what life may have been like for the family of Captain Briggs. Briggs, his wife and daughter, along with the entire crew disappeared from the Mary Celeste in 1872. She was found drifting, undamaged, but crewless.

The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Captain and crew is a minefield for creative writers and Martin has crafted a beautifully haunting tale. The story mostly revolves around Violet Petra, a

Maisie Dobbs' first case as a private detective is not what she expected nor wanted. But in the spring of 1929 in her new London office her first client walks through her door and asks for her assistance with a love triangle. Maisie, who was born into a working class family, is aware of her status and sex and is trying to make her mark in the detective world and so takes on the case as professionally as she possibly can. She has an inherent intuition about people and situations as well as a skill for attention to detail which she honed through years of reading, attending university and finally

An instant best-seller when published in 1968, True Grit has also been made into film. Twice. These facts alone should recommend it, and I am here to back it up with a solid vote for a place on your nightstand.

Fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross follows her slain father to Ft Smith, Arkansas to settle his affairs. While her mother expects her home, Mattie has other ideas. She hires a one-eyed, grizzled old US Marshal, Rooster Cogburn, to hunt down the killer and bring him to justice.

Against Mattie’s wishes, Texas Ranger LeBoeuf joins Rooster Cogburn in the manhunt, and the two try to leave her

Lady Elisabeth Kerr, a Highlander and sympathetic of the Jacobite cause, has not hidden her support of Prince Charles and his rebel army.  Now her husband, Lord Donald Kerr, has decided the cause is a worthy one and he and his brother have both decided to back the prince.  Lady Elisabeth’s widowed mother-in-law, Lady Marjory, is not at all excited about her two sons going into battle, but is caught up in the excitement the prince has stirred within their town of Edinburgh.  Lady Marjory makes no secret that she has switched her loyalty and has even financially backed the prince with more than

The Honorable Sebastian Sullivan faces the same predicament as his two brothers: a wealthy uncle has promised to divide his fortune among them upon his death on the condition that they each rescue a “fallen woman” by marrying her. Sebastian’s once-lost love, Lady Serena Grantley, was born into nobility but has since been forced into working with her gamester stepfather. She doesn’t really qualify for rescue, but when she turns to Sebastian once again in her time of need, he must find a way to save their rekindled romance. 

A Wedding Wager is the second in the Georgian trilogy, Blackwater

Although Jasper Sullivan, Earl of Blackwater, has inherited the family estates, they are mortgaged beyond his means to put them back on solid financial footing. That is, until his wealthy uncle promises to divide his fortune among his three nephews if each of them rescues a “fallen woman” by marrying her before the uncle’s impending death.

Camille Claudel is a woman most women cannot stand – she’s arrogant, loud-mouthed and pretentious. She always has an opinion, the right one, and she’s never afraid to share it. If you think these characteristics annoying and rude in today’s society, imagine its late 19th century Paris where men rule society and women are just prizes on their arms. Predictably, Claudel doesn’t win friends in Heather Webb’s Rodin’s Lover, a fictionalized account of the real-life affair of Claudel and Auguste Rodin.

Claudel is born into a well-off but working-class family who spend their summers in Villeneuve

In what master’s work will you find Denzel Washington and Keanu Reeves as brothers? Shakespeare, of course. The 1993 movie adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing also stars Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, and Micheal Keaton. It is a rollicking tale of mistaken identities with dashing princes, sharp tongued wenches, and evil plots.

The valiant knight Claudio yearns for the virginal Hero. Noble Don Pedro promises to arrange it, while The Evil Prince vows to break the lovers apart. Meanwhile, Beatrice and Benedict break everything but each other’s heads on their rocky road to romance

Peregrine Sullivan must marry. His brothers are putting pressure on him to meet the terms of their wealthy uncle’s will which states that each of his nephews must find, redeem, and marry a “fallen woman” in order for any of them to inherit. Alexandra Douglas and her sister have been unjustly denied their inheritance. In an attempt to take back what belongs to them, she disguises herself as a middle-aged spinster and risks prison and perhaps death if she is found out and marked a thief.  But Peregrine sees what no one else seems to see, and does his best to save her, ultimately trying to woo

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman is a difficult yet rewarding read—if you can stick with it. The novel tells the story of four strong-willed and resourceful women living in Masada, a mountain plateau in the Judean desert, in 70 C.E. The book is divided into four chapters with each chapter dedicated to a first-person narrative from one of our four leading females. The connecting detail of this quartet is that each woman is a dovekeeper, responsible for tending to and caring for the dove cote which supplies much needed manure for growing crops in the desert.

The story opens with Yael, the

Beginning at midnight on Sunday August 13, 1961 the German Democratic Republic, communist East Germany, ran coils of barbed wire fencing through the center of Berlin. By morning, East Berlin was completely cut off from West Berlin. After the wire came the wall and the Stasi – the East German state security service, one of the most effective and repressive intelligence and secret police agencies to ever have existed.

Now it’s 1983. Little has changed. West Berliners can apply for visas to make day visits on the East Berlin side, but the East Berliners are still watched and restricted. Some

Refusing to leave her parents and her sister behind, Lenka stays with them in Czechoslovakia to face the uncertainty of life for Jews during WWII. Lenka’s new husband, Josef, leaves for the safety of America without her. Lenka receives news that the ship carrying Josef was torpedoed by a German U-boat and Josef is dead.  Unbeknownst to Lenka, however, Josef lives and is searching for her. Lenka and her family are first sent to live and work in Terezin (a Jewish ghetto) and then to Auschwitz. Josef is mistakenly told Lenka was killed in the gas chamber at Auschwitz.  Each thinking the other is

Woodrell does an admirable job painting realistic, detailed, and vibrant characters.  Alma Dunahew works as a maid in West Table, Missouri for a wealthy family.  After her sister, along with 42 members of the town, are killed in an explosion at the local dance hall, Alma spends her life campaigning for and championing the truth.  This novel about a town ripped apart by tragedy, and the effect this tragedy has on the town throughout multiple generations, echoes former greats like Winesburg, Ohio and The Scarlet Letter.  I personally found the non-linear chronology sometimes hard to follow, but

In 1746 Scotland, Elizabeth Kerr and her mother-in-law, Marjory Kerr, are labeled traitors to the crown.  They’ve lost everything—their husbands and sons, their estate, titles, and fortunes.  All that is left to them is to beg mercy and refuge from Marjory’s distant cousin, a woman who has lived her entire life with only the barest of resources.  They must do what they can to survive and avoid being noticed by those who would turn them in to the authorities.  Elizabeth chances employment as a dressmaker for the staff of Lord Jack Buchanan, a retired admiral of his majesty’s navy.  He hears of

Leonard Marnham, an engineer employed by the British post office, has lived an extraordinarily sheltered life when he arrives in 1950s Berlin to work on a collaborative project between the British and Americans to tap into Soviet phone lines. His new job and colleagues, and living on his own for the first time, open him up to a wide variety of new tastes and experiences. As befits the Cold War setting,both his work and personal lives also consist of complex webs of secrecy, fear, mistrust, and paranoia. A British scientist even convinces him to try his hand at spying on their American partners

Readers who first became aware of Emma Donoghue via her blockbuster 2010 novel Room might imagine that her current offering, Frog Music, is a break from form. In fact, it's Room that's more of an anomaly in the author's canon. Donoghue has often crafted her novels by fictionalizing and elaborating on scant historical records to create richly detailed historical novels. Her first major success was 2001's Slammerkin, which was inspired by a one paragraph account in a Welsh historical encyclopedia of a girl who was executed (hanged and then burned!) for murder in 1763. When asked why she'd done

My original reaction to this series was acerbic (see below). But now that I have watched all 4 seasons of The Tudors, I believe it’s worth sticking it out. It grows on you. The characters grow deeper and more complex. I actually learned a lot about the period, especially what turns out to be the very significant religious clashes of the time. The series does well in showing how each queen made her mark in history. So despite my original review, I’ve decided it’s worth some eye rolling to see the history of King Henry VII’s reign come alive.

Original Review:

Although I’m a fan of many of the

Second in The Walter Day series, The Black Country finds Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad called to a small mining town to investigate the disappearance of a child and his parents. Secrets, superstition, and massive amounts of snow are only a few of the challenges Day and his colleagues face once they arrive in The British Midlands. The town is in the grips of a plague, calling on Dr. Kingsley to not only treat the ill but also re-educate the town doctor as well. As the city slowly sinks into the elaborate network of mines beneath, The Murder Squad races for clues, never knowing who is friend and

Power, lust, fear, and destruction are all words that could describe the story of Serena by Ron Rash. The novel's namesake, Serena, is an eerily beautiful woman who is obsessed with money and the destruction of both nature and her enemies. She is married to George Pemberton, the owner of a timber company responsible for clearing a large portion of the North Carolina landscape in 1929. One side of the story describes Serena's push to rid the landscape of trees and beasts alike. She captures the minds of every man working for their company as well as her competitors who would like to stop her so

In 1963 Jim Crow segregation laws were in effect in Mississippi. Nine year old Starla Claudelle last saw her mama when she was three and her daddy works on an oil rig in the Gulf, leaving Starla to be raised by her strict grandmother. Sassy Starla spends a good deal of time grounded and when her grandmother threatens to send her to reform school, Starla takes off for Nashville to find her mama. She accepts a ride from a black woman named Eula traveling with a white baby. While traveling with Eula, Starla is exposed to the hostility, mistreatment and racial inequality that Eula endures because

After receiving a scholarship to attend a school of architecture in Paris, Andras, a 22-year-old Hungarian Jew, leaves his home country to pursue his dream of becoming an architect. He meets and falls in love with the beautiful Claire Morgenstern, who is also Hungarian but reluctant to share information about why she is dwelling in Paris. It’s 1939 and Hitler is shaking things up as the threat of war looms in Europe. The Hungarian Consulate refuses to renew Andras’ visa because he is Jewish, and he is forced to return to Budapest without finishing his degree. Claire returns to Hungary with him

Mystery Mile is the second book in Margery Allingham’s Albert Campion series.  The Crime at Black Dudley is the first, but it features the detective Campion only incidentally.  In Mystery Mile, Campion’s playful insouciance and faux-insipid charm is in full effect.

Albert Campion is a golden age of detective fiction staple. He’s featured in 21 books, spanning the years from 1929 to 1970.  That was reason enough for me to begin reading, but in case you need more reasons, here are several:  Campion is a totally charming and unexpected young man; he’s apparently non-threatening and depends on

Mattie and Luke Spenser hardly know each other when they marry. Soon after marrying they take off from Fort Madison, Iowa in a covered wagon across the Great Plains to establish a homestead in Colorado Territory. Lacking any close friends or family nearby, Mattie confides in her journal and writes of the trials they face on the prairie and her loneliness and frustrations as she learns about her new husband and her role as his wife.  When a girl Luke left behind in Fort Madison threatens to destroy their marriage, Luke and Mattie learn to work as a team and build a home and a life together on

This historical fiction book is about Meggie Dillon's life.  To help improve the family's income, Meggie's family ups and moves to Willow Run, Michigan, during WWII. Her father has obtained a job working on war planes at night to help the war effort. Because they are moving into a small apartment they have to leave her German grandfather behind in New York.  Meggie soon realizes that she misses him but quickly meets other kids in the same circumstance as hers.  Then, coming home one day to a military car parked outside, she learns that her older brother is missing in action, and Meggie must

Forty-two people were killed in the 1929 dance hall explosion in the fictional Ozark town of West Table, Missouri. Alma, a maid for one of West Table's richest families, knows just how it happened. For being such a slim book, Alma's story spans many decades, and weaves in numerous suspects; mobsters from St. Louis, persecuted local gypsies, or maybe an overzealous preacher. Alma’s memory of the event drifts in and out of focus as she ages, jumping back and forth in time, while either leading the reader to the culprit or describing another victim of the horrible explosion.   

The Maid’s

Growing up, Vinnie Warren Bump longed to see the world, but her parents were concerned that the world would be cruel to Vinnie who was only 32 inches tall. Determined to make a name for herself, Vinnie signed a contract with Colonel Wood who promised to make her a singing sensation. Instead, Vinnie was exhibited as one of his “oddities” on a shabby showboat on the Mississippi River. Vinnie returned home humiliated. She reached out to P. T. Barnum who agreed to hire her to sing at his American Museum. Thus began a long, mutually respectful friendship. Barnum introduced Vinnie to General Tom

Based in Roman Egypt, Agora is about a female professor and philosopher, Hypatia, who teaches young men about science. Encouraged by her father, she surrounds herself with information in the great library of Alexandria and is constantly testing new scientific theories. She is quite content to live her life researching but several men would like to marry her, including Orestes, one of the disciples that she teaches, and Davus, her slave. Love, however, is not the only thing that Hypatia has to worry about. Although their world seems calm and peaceful, an uprising by Christians begins to brew