tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-193070032024-03-19T03:48:02.780-05:00Reading the PastNews, views, and reviews on historical fiction, both new and old / by Sarah JohnsonSarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.comBlogger1850125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-15385968800690547722024-03-17T07:53:00.000-05:002024-03-17T07:53:19.114-05:00Stefania Auci's The Triumph of the Lions continues her saga about a prominent Sicilian dynasty<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2WhCAS7sJAK0tLFPF9rHdkNHKG94TtYwN8wc-omz1C9U5NXG9kcTMfFQJnv_q_SukmS0zetWYSZejy0p77FzhPokCmk69FDNr7WfiBNHhgno_49FwvfCAua8PVUwVmdvlNfghkzdh3tOFePHdIBp4L8Jzcf3x1AzHUfj8nQ5vH1xw9Ybpo23P/s300/auci.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2WhCAS7sJAK0tLFPF9rHdkNHKG94TtYwN8wc-omz1C9U5NXG9kcTMfFQJnv_q_SukmS0zetWYSZejy0p77FzhPokCmk69FDNr7WfiBNHhgno_49FwvfCAua8PVUwVmdvlNfghkzdh3tOFePHdIBp4L8Jzcf3x1AzHUfj8nQ5vH1xw9Ybpo23P/s1600/auci.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>This second in a trilogy (after <i><a href="https://readingthepast.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-florios-of-sicily-saga-based-on.html" target="_blank">The Florios of Sicily</a></i>, 2020) about a real-life Italian industrialist dynasty opens in 1868, as thirty-year-old Ignazio Florio takes the reins after father Vincenzo’s too-early death. “Swear to me that you will never put work before your family,” Ignazio’s grieving mother Giulia demands, but despite their opposing temperaments, Ignazio resembles Vincenzo in his dedication to the firm above all else. <br /><br />Ignazio succeeds beyond anyone’s greatest plans, establishing a shipping empire alongside existing achievements in tuna canning and marsala wine. The Florios’ power, plus Ignazio’s marriage to Giovanna, a young baroness who adores him unrequitedly, guarantees their societal acceptance. <br /><br />Business and family are deeply interlinked here, and Auci’s smooth narrative explores this dynamic from multiple angles, depicting the inner workings of business deals alongside personal triumphs and romantic regrets. Giovanna, a greatly sympathetic character, suffers marital neglect while raising their children, and we later see the torch pass again from father to son. <br /><br />A diverting, informative saga and detailed tour of Sicily, from bustling Palermo to the picturesque outlying islands.<br /><br /><i>The Triumph of the Lions</i>, which was translated from Italian into English by Katherine Gregor and Howard Curtis, was published by HarperVia, HarperCollins' imprint for international voices, on March 12th. I wrote this review for <i>Booklist</i>'s March 15th issue. <i>The Lions of Sicily </i>is a <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19866510/" target="_blank">new TV series on Hulu</a> (which I haven't yet seen) that's based on this internationally bestselling series. There will be a third book, <i>The Fall of the Florios</i>, out in late August.Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-81519782933575094042024-03-09T08:23:00.003-06:002024-03-09T08:26:11.731-06:00Review of The Romanov Brides: A Novel of the Last Tsarina and Her Sisters by Clare McHugh<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaQun-yrcBR870sy8aRMsyFKxziWovwujqg6ro090EDtWRp1JDnOjmMn-VGeS6dkPbjcn9OpKy0cjqEly5HtHnYh_2puTOhppPSifYts7mjn5kUDWXvyJ_puFa-3Kry7OnlVcaDd73oKd0yQ2wugcpfk85r7kqEOqz-K7UstRp-1Mnyq_Wcrzv/s302/romanov-brides.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="200" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaQun-yrcBR870sy8aRMsyFKxziWovwujqg6ro090EDtWRp1JDnOjmMn-VGeS6dkPbjcn9OpKy0cjqEly5HtHnYh_2puTOhppPSifYts7mjn5kUDWXvyJ_puFa-3Kry7OnlVcaDd73oKd0yQ2wugcpfk85r7kqEOqz-K7UstRp-1Mnyq_Wcrzv/s1600/romanov-brides.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Decades before the Bolshevik Revolution and the Romanov dynasty’s terrible end, the future Tsarina Alexandra and her older sister, Grand Duchess Elizabeth, were princesses of the small German state of Hesse and by Rhine. Leading us very capably through these young women’s lives, McHugh shows how their marriages into Russia’s imperial family were by no means predestined.
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Ella and Alix, as they’re called, tragically lose their mother to diphtheria but grow up alongside their siblings and an extended family that includes the rulers of Britain, Prussia, and Russia. (McHugh travels through this potentially confusing mass of royal relationships with aplomb.) As a teenager, Ella, an elegant beauty, captivates Tsar Alexander’s brother, the Grand Duke Serge, and wonders if hidden emotional depths lie behind his seriousness. <br /><br />Her protectively imperious grandmother, Queen Victoria, begs her not to marry into a “country where no one of rank is safe” – and she’s right, as we know – but Ella comes to believe she’ll fulfill a higher purpose as Serge’s wife. As Ella navigates her marriage’s unexpected confines, Alix, painfully shy, remembers the bond she formed with Serge’s nephew, the tsarevich Nicky, when she visited Russia for Ella’s wedding. However, multiple barriers keep them apart.
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The story remains within the characters’ inner circles, with an occasional nod to outside politics (“They believe they are owed everything and their people are owed nothing,” says Ella’s uncle Leo about the Romanovs’ autocratic rule). The intimate focus ensures a sympathetic view while emphasizing how sheltered the women are. <br /><br />In this beautifully spun chronicle of love, family, and faith, McHugh carefully illustrates her protagonists’ religious views. One might wonder if a novel about both couples’ early histories (it ends in 1894) would offer enough plot to keep the pages turning, but it definitely does. <i>The Romanov Brides</i> will be enlightening for royalty buffs.<br /><br /><i>The Romanov Brides </i>will be published by William Morrow on March 12th. I reviewed it initially for the <i>Historical Novels Review,</i> from an Edelweiss e-copy. This is one I grabbed to read myself as soon as I heard it was available! I've read many nonfiction accounts about Romanov family members, but Alexandra and Ella don't appear in much fiction as principal characters. Their later lives are especially tragic, which may be a reason. There is an older biographical novel about the pair, Antony Lambton's <i>Elizabeth and Alexandra</i>, but it devolves into such bizarre scenarios at the end that it's better called alternate history. So this new novel about their earlier lives is definitely welcome.<br /><br />McHugh has also written fiction about Queen Victoria's oldest daughter, Vicky, who became Empress of Germany and the mother of Kaiser Wilhelm, in <i>A Most English Princess </i>(2020). I look forward to seeing who she'll write about next.Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-80738067572019758202024-03-05T18:01:00.001-06:002024-03-05T18:01:35.808-06:00Flora Carr's The Tower explores a dark, pivotal year in Mary, Queen of Scots' life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9dWYEGk5elfPRSpWDtq0i1rtaArpN7iYFJardgK7gYVzvq0gsA9k8iTMPMCCHAkKr72wsXhETKclN17lHxDXZViQMeyn1NAG0SW5ViOFkyLFCsyRQHUV5uVUhw-BV3eFED7RMBXhHVxDv4-4WmmcXu1HIMZy30HpA22xcAwt93Gn422fZTc9e/s303/tower%20flora%20carr.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="303" data-original-width="200" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9dWYEGk5elfPRSpWDtq0i1rtaArpN7iYFJardgK7gYVzvq0gsA9k8iTMPMCCHAkKr72wsXhETKclN17lHxDXZViQMeyn1NAG0SW5ViOFkyLFCsyRQHUV5uVUhw-BV3eFED7RMBXhHVxDv4-4WmmcXu1HIMZy30HpA22xcAwt93Gn422fZTc9e/s1600/tower%20flora%20carr.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Carr’s taut debut recalls Maggie O’Farrell’s <i>The Marriage Portrait</i> (2022) in its evocation of a highborn Renaissance woman trapped against her will and desperately contriving to escape. The setting: Lochleven Castle, a stone fortress on a Scottish island, hauntingly picturesque from outside, but a dank, oppressive prison for Mary, Queen of Scots and her two chamberwomen, Jane and Marie, called “Cuckoo.” <br /><br />In 1567, Mary, the embattled Catholic ruler of a Protestant country, is with child by her third husband, the despised Bothwell, and pressured to abdicate in favor of her one-year-old son, James. The women’s shifting emotional patterns, and regular flashbacks illustrating the political background, keep tension bubbling and prevent the story from feeling claustrophobic. Mary’s childhood friend Lady Seton joins the trio later, complicating their dynamics. <br /><br />Mary remains captivating as she earns and feeds off others’ devotion; Carr dexterously explores how the seductive allure of royalty is undimmed by Mary’s grim circumstances, which are depicted with earthy physicality. Despite Mary’s foreshadowed downfall, this pulled-from-history event resounds as a victory for female camaraderie and cleverness.<br /><br /><i>The Tower</i> is published today in the US by Doubleday, and this is the draft review I'd submitted for <i>Booklist</i> (the final version was published in the 2/15 issue). If you know the history, it's a novel that will have you reconsidering all of the characters in a new way, including (especially) Mary, Queen of Scots. If you don't mind some spoilers about the real history behind the story and how it ends, <a href="https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/mary-queen-of-scots-great-escape/" target="_blank">read more at The History Press</a>.Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-53528219403869287552024-02-29T13:30:00.000-06:002024-02-29T13:30:05.687-06:00Anne Perry explores dark secrets in small-town Dorset in her newest Victorian-era novella<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCWTy0DBZRQtNPxw4tY6nkG4cOaDuyjJSnzE2gPD9grlbKlLRz_jBJNz6D7zwWcko40Cub5vE2uPPTfXRh_zCoIs_7oBcsogetCe0-MIQ_6bAqXFCKAhHPc9G0YEJyUXhtvKjT-tjpPm6CtxnkOmoaWSKEX2yv9teG_kbiwYYFtlSe7p2g5sG/s292/christmas-vanishing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="200" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCWTy0DBZRQtNPxw4tY6nkG4cOaDuyjJSnzE2gPD9grlbKlLRz_jBJNz6D7zwWcko40Cub5vE2uPPTfXRh_zCoIs_7oBcsogetCe0-MIQ_6bAqXFCKAhHPc9G0YEJyUXhtvKjT-tjpPm6CtxnkOmoaWSKEX2yv9teG_kbiwYYFtlSe7p2g5sG/s1600/christmas-vanishing.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Over several standalone outings, Mariah Ellison, the formidable Grandmama of Charlotte Pitt from Perry’s long-running mystery series, has proved to have her own bona fides for detection. This latest holiday novella, set at the end of the Victorian era, sees Mariah arriving at St. Helens, a small Dorset village, after accepting her old friend Sadie Alsop’s invitation to stay with her over Christmas.
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Mariah senses that Sadie is in trouble and needs her help, and her inner alarm is heightened when she arrives on Sadie’s doorstep and is rudely turned away by her husband, Barton. Clearly not expecting her, Barton tells her Sadie has left, and he doesn’t know if she’s ever coming back. Baffled and eventually settling in at the cozy home of Gwendolyn, a kindly older woman who never married, Mariah grows concerned about Sadie’s whereabouts (did she leave willingly, or was she abducted?), a feeling that intensifies after days pass with no answers. <br /><br />Gwendolyn and a caring bookshop owner join Mariah’s unofficial investigation, which uncovers a web of malice that has overtaken St. Helens and threatens to dredge up painful secrets. As Mariah works out who’s responsible, she reflects on the fact that “everyone has a hidden side.”
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Characterization is top notch, and the interactions among the diverse villagers reflect Victorian society. As Christmas mysteries go, this story turns darker than most as it delves into human nature’s most sinister aspects. At the same time, the ending grants a feeling of hope, both for the village and Mariah herself. Her abusive marriage had turned her spiteful and bitter, but she’s come to recognize these destructive patterns and consciously works to express unfamiliar emotions like gratitude and compassion.<br /><br /><i>A Christmas Vanishing</i> was published by Ballantine in November 2023, and I reviewed it for February's <i>Historical Novels Review</i>. The UK publisher is Headline. <br /><br />You may ask... it's 2024 already, so why review this book now? Well, I hadn't gotten to read it myself until after the holidays, and Christmas doesn't play a big part in the plot other than its timing. This isn't exactly a warm and cozy read, but it's in keeping with Perry's perennial themes of justice and the complexity of human nature. It also may be Perry's final book, as she passed away in April last year.Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-35725581419067060412024-02-22T17:00:00.004-06:002024-02-22T17:27:42.586-06:00Looking for a reinterpretation of Lady Macbeth's dramatic life? Here are four new historical novels to tempt you.It's a trend in historical fiction for authors to dig into the roots of vilified characters and examine whether our long-held preconceptions hold true. Feminist reinterpretations of historical women's lives are likewise popular. These two topics converge in four new and upcoming historical novels about the figure best known to us as Lady Macbeth. It turns out that Shakespeare's depiction of the 11th-century Scottish queen—as a ruthless and manipulative woman driven to madness—and her husband is not exactly historically accurate. Like other writers of historical fiction, he used creative license to tell the story he wanted. <br /><br />It's rare to see four different novels about the same person (other than maybe the mythological figure Medusa) appearing so close together, an example of great minds (and their editors) thinking alike. Each author has made their choice on the approach to follow: do they begin with Shakespeare's anti-heroine? Do they go back a thousand years in history and try to find the real Lady Macbeth, a Scottish noblewoman named Gruoch? Or do they attempt to combine the two? <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuhEDuejYMrsn8CtIIWSBAVvCyTuqAcUdkkr5U3lnyE4yx6JitoBVVZTaosNGdKpvRDxDPleLolKAHql0Q4KyX78BnM5_fZ_00C3a6tfi0HD02S9IbLDirIN1_TyZXZ-K7npXviHdIrTorQReDBxYO1lW_sjqc7DQis5CSUHAh_XsAbQ0T7kyP/s1600/mcdermid.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="Queen Macbeth by Val McDermid" border="0" data-original-height="306" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuhEDuejYMrsn8CtIIWSBAVvCyTuqAcUdkkr5U3lnyE4yx6JitoBVVZTaosNGdKpvRDxDPleLolKAHql0Q4KyX78BnM5_fZ_00C3a6tfi0HD02S9IbLDirIN1_TyZXZ-K7npXviHdIrTorQReDBxYO1lW_sjqc7DQis5CSUHAh_XsAbQ0T7kyP/s16000/mcdermid.jpg" /><br /></a>Part of Scottish publishing imprint Polygon's <a href="https://birlinn.co.uk/the-darkland-tales/" target="_blank">Darkland Tales series</a> of "punky, anarchic retellings of landmark moments from our past," well-known crime writer Val McDermid's <i>Queen Macbeth</i> is a short novel that promises to expose the "patriarchal prejudices of history" in a dark, gritty story of a queen (and her three companions - sound familiar?) fleeing a dark fate. Out in May 2024.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRY7CH5isa70lOJqTqGTESo97ByJvtL0UMSJvJkn-nTvFPkX5vum4IHtk9Smb12bKo-x0jrICSZX9I0QzCtFxbWsYlzs2fQbsRdlxBEl3GKCxw0T0Gqy5zp2pL_TgM2C89z0b5v4hzpTk4wcD0TxS-Z7fpfb1iZ0R_71wtadtVv0YAgXRT6Fkl/s1600/morris.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="All Our Yesterdays by Joel H. Morris" border="0" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRY7CH5isa70lOJqTqGTESo97ByJvtL0UMSJvJkn-nTvFPkX5vum4IHtk9Smb12bKo-x0jrICSZX9I0QzCtFxbWsYlzs2fQbsRdlxBEl3GKCxw0T0Gqy5zp2pL_TgM2C89z0b5v4hzpTk4wcD0TxS-Z7fpfb1iZ0R_71wtadtVv0YAgXRT6Fkl/s16000/morris.jpg" /></a>The debut novel by Joel H. Morris, who holds a comparative literature PhD and has extensive familiarity with teaching Shakespeare's play, goes back to the characters' historical origins to examine the circumstances which led a young woman of royal Scottish blood (called "the Lady" here) to marry a powerful, enigmatic man as her second husband, and try to overcome the evil of an old prophecy. Out from Putnam in March 2024.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgONnzOpVzuOX_u1ry7dwsKK90u3NfBkFO4oocs377DgmWhIyOPtRgGj-uyWlBjEcREdgxDAZmIabm7wWZ5iB25_OhRgCoQCNFd6Dm7EDDsuHKbpQcvOMvJEbKIVYeZk3aq0Eq5V8Y7pOpOvE2p_0B9I7IESZ-di1qblAaRyZQ5ITmWhBAfrZou/s1600/reid.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid" border="0" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgONnzOpVzuOX_u1ry7dwsKK90u3NfBkFO4oocs377DgmWhIyOPtRgGj-uyWlBjEcREdgxDAZmIabm7wWZ5iB25_OhRgCoQCNFd6Dm7EDDsuHKbpQcvOMvJEbKIVYeZk3aq0Eq5V8Y7pOpOvE2p_0B9I7IESZ-di1qblAaRyZQ5ITmWhBAfrZou/s16000/reid.jpg" /></a>Falling into the romantasy genre (historical romantasy, to be specific!), Ava Reid's <i>Lady Macbeth</i>, to be published by the fantasy imprint Del Rey in August 2024, is described as a gothic reimagining of this famous character's life, a novel of dark secrets, prophecies, and occult battles featuring an ambitious female lead.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Queen Hereafter by Isabelle Schuler, or Lady Macbethad for the UK title" border="0" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="400" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCILcnvswP334ez_BY2SLw1lJtBc30Y-btcu93JzvBkaKjJpHeY6DPmOgGSRKQk7DVqD5nKirvgZQBLVZI9xPgOZxqwQAJZQt6Hu1Yd09yPvlHJqWDetI0JFJeQBY6pEOSpQjg9P0dsxPgiQp5zd2KsYUt5jqsV8JTJi11EzFKWdkJHplqrpjr/w400-h302/schuler-ukus.png" width="400" /></div><br />Gruoch, a young woman of Pictish heritage, comes of age in a violent medieval world and expects to be queen one day, as foretold in a prophecy, and becomes engaged to the royal heir, Duncan, in service of this goal... but life has a way of throwing roadblocks in her path to the throne. Published last year in the UK by Raven Books (at right) and by Harper Perennial in the US in October 2023 (at left).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div>Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-87031670713068871412024-02-20T17:40:00.001-06:002024-02-20T17:40:15.011-06:00A Wild and Heavenly Place tells a star-crossed love story spanning late 19th-century Scotland and the Pacific Northwest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIz-tR30E8-8FMphN0ND3tfXIQ8ZlCaDB70hlfhyrWwRwJDmuXn2bJhQcXzdR0cuvewPfPsIYFDvtnu2kjWwRJTI-gBOIELXRv4FPTIhrKrTXABp9ApqnRevdPNSM71i8jDKln9APk_CVXhm5OLhyphenhyphenMVzPtTLPo_FA8eyatPbao_xkPCQGgkL4G/s301/oliveira.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="200" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIz-tR30E8-8FMphN0ND3tfXIQ8ZlCaDB70hlfhyrWwRwJDmuXn2bJhQcXzdR0cuvewPfPsIYFDvtnu2kjWwRJTI-gBOIELXRv4FPTIhrKrTXABp9ApqnRevdPNSM71i8jDKln9APk_CVXhm5OLhyphenhyphenMVzPtTLPo_FA8eyatPbao_xkPCQGgkL4G/s1600/oliveira.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>With her aptly titled novel, Oliveira (<i>Winter Sisters</i>, 2018) sweeps romantically inclined readers into the spectacular setting of Washington Territory in the 1870s and 1880s, when Seattle was a muddy frontier outpost primed for growth and industrial development. <br /><br />Centering this epic tale is the enduring relationship between Hailey MacIntyre, a prosperous Scottish coal engineer’s daughter, and Samuel Fiddes, an aspiring shipbuilder determined to lift himself and his young sister from poverty. After Samuel saves Hailey’s brother from an accident in Glasgow’s streets, the two fall in love, despite her parents’ disapproval. <br /><br />When the MacIntyres lose everything in a bank failure, Hailey’s father relocates his reluctant, traumatized family to the Pacific Northwest, where they must adjust to severely reduced circumstances. Samuel follows soon afterward, hoping to find Hailey again. <br /><br />The characters aren’t quite as nuanced as those of Oliveira’s previous historical novels, but their stories are magnetic as they undergo complex personal transformations. This unique American immigration tale has a large, multiethnic cast, and the exceptionally well-evoked backdrop makes it perfect for armchair travelers seeking an absorbing emotional escape.<br /><br />Robin Oliveira's <i>A Wild and Heavenly Place</i> was published on Feb. 13th by G. P. Putnam's Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House. I submitted this review originally for <i>Booklist</i>, and the final version appeared in January. Isn't it a beautiful cover?Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-72248440589939513462024-02-16T14:30:00.002-06:002024-02-16T16:02:40.720-06:00Bits and pieces of historical fiction news<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlr_39Lpy3ziiqQpOSktftwA6Ug_Kgn6aFCZHAxliLSZGh3DUuNu39VY7XgTTqVpjdNsL0GcoUutDtdj1ujsv1ePPlYpIJbuVTvfj4M-wdqlnfS2FAwxoLGq1GMOXCx2oBTJb7fuYAdCg9ss7cxR4E0IzoA00oyJp9I7CNX2B-eEUIHe5zFfv7/s398/banner.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Cover images" border="0" data-original-height="146" data-original-width="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlr_39Lpy3ziiqQpOSktftwA6Ug_Kgn6aFCZHAxliLSZGh3DUuNu39VY7XgTTqVpjdNsL0GcoUutDtdj1ujsv1ePPlYpIJbuVTvfj4M-wdqlnfS2FAwxoLGq1GMOXCx2oBTJb7fuYAdCg9ss7cxR4E0IzoA00oyJp9I7CNX2B-eEUIHe5zFfv7/s16000/banner.jpg" /></a><br /><br />I had meant to post this roundup earlier, but I've been sidelined with a cold since Wednesday and am just starting to feel human again; I didn't even feel like reading much. Frustrating. But on with some links. I've been collecting articles from around the web dealing with historical fiction that I felt offered particularly noteworthy insights.<br /><br />In <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a46129027/historical-fiction-research/" target="_blank">an article for <i>Esquire</i>, author Vanessa Chan</a> discusses the emphasis on <i>research</i> in historical fiction ("There is a curious, almost voyeuristic desire to peer into an author’s process") but expresses the importance of a different approach, the one she used for her debut novel, <i>The Storm We Made</i>: drawing on family history and recounted memories to ground a story in its setting. Plus, she covers the importance of using oral accounts as sources when few actual records exist, or when they're about people "ignored by the Western sources."<br /><br /><a href="https://crimereads.com/armando-lucas-correa-thriller/" target="_blank">Armando Lucas Correa explains for CrimeReads</a> why he decided to write a psychological thriller (prompting a groan from his editor) following a successful career in historical fiction. "If my historical novel <i>The German Girl</i> sold more than a million copies, she said, why would I suddenly want to switch genres?" It's all about how bits and pieces of research can lead you in new directions and how genres fall along a continuum rather than being firmly fixed. The article got me interested in reading his historical novels, and the thriller too!<br /><br />Also for CrimeReads, <a href="https://crimereads.com/the-delightful-encounters-of-historical-crime-fiction/" target="_blank">H.B. Lyle writes about his enjoyment in incorporating colorful real-life characters</a> into his historical spy thrillers, from Mata Hari to two bungling Royal Marines officers and more.<div><br /></div><div>Author Laurie Frankel <a href="https://wapo.st/42JOq0N" target="_blank">contributes a piece for the <i>Washington Post</i></a> about how her contemporary novel suddenly became "historical" because of Covid and the Dobbs decision that took away the constitutional right to abortion in the US. Rewriting her plot became necessary. Even though I think it's a stretch to call novels set just a few years ago "historical fiction," the article does make you think about how history is changing all the time—thus shifting how people (and fictional characters) behave—and, as she writes, how that change doesn't always move in a positive direction.</div><div><br /></div><div>The <a href="https://langumfoundation.org/winners/current-winners-american-historical-fiction/" target="_blank">winner of the 2024 Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction</a> is Susanna Moore, for <i>The Lost Wife</i>, which is inspired by a real-life woman taken captive by Dakota Indians in 1862 Minnesota, during the devastating Dakota War. <i>American Ending</i> by Mary Kay Zuravleff, a novel of immigrant life in early 20th-century Pennsylvania, was the finalist.<br /><br />From Bill Wolfe at Read Her Like an Open Book, a Substack newsletter I follow for its focus on female writers: <a href="https://readherlikeanopenbook.com/2024/01/24/james-mcbride-and-elizabeth-graver-win-national-jewish-book-awards/" target="_blank">James McBride and Elizabeth Graver win National Jewish Book Awards</a>. These were announced several weeks ago. McBride's <i>The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store</i> <a href="https://readingthepast.blogspot.com/2024/01/historical-fiction-award-winners.html" target="_blank">has already won multiple other awards</a>, and Elizabeth Graver's novel <i>Kantika</i>, a multigenerational saga inspired by her grandmother's life, focuses on a Sephardic Jewish family.</div><div><br /></div><div>This isn't historical fiction-related specifically, but since I thought readers may find this interesting: On Wednesday, when I was home sick and unable to concentrate on much, I found myself going through YouTube watching genealogy shows (my favorite), which led me eventually to a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsTyGKKl8UA" target="_blank">video of a lecture given by geneticist Dr. Turi King of the University of Leicester</a> for the Royal Institution about the work she did in identifying the remains found under a Leicester car park as the lost king Richard III. The presentation is an hour long, and I found myself riveted.... it's worth watching in full as she's an excellent speaker. I learned new things even though I've read extensively about the discovery before. Definitely recommended!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-15338710388054622132024-02-09T08:00:00.002-06:002024-02-09T08:27:49.527-06:00ReShonda Tate's The Queen of Sugar Hill reveals the story of Oscar winner Hattie McDaniel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkVxqffFIh_TrLW3qhCK-26Rtb-HqfRUb5lvrMuhkGXKBZLyADbJMCclaCJaFExg7rkRjQKEEywV1BYLlWrVeb0l8LNK7fujOYb1hcxWDgCib1Pqn-S6vgR7OvaPH-FouSWW04uma-1zlDIk6S0-Xh9E6BwTaPYGp4W7YRprbWtsjVWAqUt5Vk/s301/queen%20of%20sugar%20hill.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="200" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkVxqffFIh_TrLW3qhCK-26Rtb-HqfRUb5lvrMuhkGXKBZLyADbJMCclaCJaFExg7rkRjQKEEywV1BYLlWrVeb0l8LNK7fujOYb1hcxWDgCib1Pqn-S6vgR7OvaPH-FouSWW04uma-1zlDIk6S0-Xh9E6BwTaPYGp4W7YRprbWtsjVWAqUt5Vk/s1600/queen%20of%20sugar%20hill.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Seeing this biographical novel about Hattie McDaniel, you may initially assume it traces her journey from her humble Wichita origins through her groundbreaking achievement as the first Academy Award-winning Black actor, for her depiction of Mammy in <i>Gone with the Wind</i>. Instead, Tate begins at that pivotal point, and in doing so tells an engrossing, less familiar story that digs deep to reveal what a dynamo McDaniel truly was.
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Although accustomed to Hollywood racism, which tries to segregate African Americans and gives them on-screen roles as domestics, Hattie expects her Oscar triumph will open new doors. Sadly, this doesn’t happen. Through a charismatic first-person account that holds no emotion back, we experience all her victories, disappointments, missteps, and transformative close relationships. <br /><br />As white audiences laugh at her comedic theatrical performances as Mammy, unaware they’re being mocked, Hattie draws the ire of the NAACP and its leader, Walter White, who claims she plays to demeaning stereotypes. His campaigns overshadow her later career. Hattie always works toward better roles and remains proud of her talent and background, having been a maid herself. She also recognizes that lighter-skinned Black actors have better opportunities. And despite the industry’s attempts to erase her sexuality, Hattie has an eye for handsome men and dives into new romances with passionate zest.
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Novels about old Hollywood can become a dizzying whirlwind of famous names, but Tate gives her secondary characters defining moments in the spotlight. These include Clark Gable, whose supportive friendship sustains Hattie; up-and-coming stars Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge; and the unconventional Tallulah Bankhead. At her mansion in LA’s Sugar Hill neighborhood, Hattie throws fabulous parties and battles against restrictive covenants, just one among many little-known accomplishments. This novel, the prolific author’s first historical, is book club gold for its many discussion points. Read it to discover more about an exceptional woman who gave life her all.<br /><br /><i>The Queen of Sugar Hill</i> was published by William Morrow on January 30 (I'd reviewed it for the <i>Historical Novels Review</i>'s February issue).Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-68629000856096835292024-02-05T07:00:00.008-06:002024-02-05T07:24:25.026-06:00Interview with M. A. McLaughlin about her atmospheric dual-period novel The Lost Dresses of ItalyIn 1947, costume historian Marianne Baxter, a war widow, accepts the invitation of her colleague and college friend Rufina to travel to Verona to restore three Victorian-era dresses for an upcoming museum exhibition. The dresses, Marianne discovers, once belonged to Christina Rossetti, who had vacationed in Italy in 1864 and seemingly abandoned her garments, which had been hidden in an old trunk since that time. As Marianne works to get the dresses into presentable shape, she contends with the difficult museum director while looking into mysteries involving the renowned, reclusive poet. A second narrative thread features Christina on her journey to Italy, which involves a request from her late father. M. A. McLaughlin's <i>The Lost Dresses of Italy</i> (Alcove Press, Feb. 6) is a novel about secrets from the past, unexpected romance, and the inner lives of women that lets you travel vicariously to a beautiful, historic place and learn details about antique clothing restoration. As Marty Ambrose, the author has previously written a trilogy of mysteries about Claire Clairmont, the last surviving member of the Byron/Shelley circle. My thanks to Marty for answering questions for this blog interview!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The novel offers an interesting pathway into history, one you don’t often see – through the medium of clothing, and how dresses from Victorian times can tell stories about the women who wore them. What got you interested in costume history?
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3icVeUnPIHH9V9L8y8c8YZgqBIsDpwC3Bkgpu85CcBDGqL7bi31s2tAELc89k748EoSbhpvLtMa1DtQY1VGkClB30YNm5yfjT-uyyydo4_-aOm7XNomTjxBzRWiDi8nYfX-6UjuTxeheKNwwLFcWT-BOLdcTMuEoh9i7ow5jTpcnPoD1jd1sz/s299/The%20Lost%20Dresses%20of%20Italy%20M.%20A.%20McLaughlin%20FINAL%20cover.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="299" data-original-width="200" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3icVeUnPIHH9V9L8y8c8YZgqBIsDpwC3Bkgpu85CcBDGqL7bi31s2tAELc89k748EoSbhpvLtMa1DtQY1VGkClB30YNm5yfjT-uyyydo4_-aOm7XNomTjxBzRWiDi8nYfX-6UjuTxeheKNwwLFcWT-BOLdcTMuEoh9i7ow5jTpcnPoD1jd1sz/s1600/The%20Lost%20Dresses%20of%20Italy%20M.%20A.%20McLaughlin%20FINAL%20cover.jpg" width="200" /></a></div></b><div><br /></div>This is an intriguing story. I’ve always been interested in antique clothing and textiles because I learned to sew and repair fabric when I was young, but the real obsession began with an incident that occurred when I was eighteen. My mother’s Aunt Lily passed away in her late seventies—unmarried and still living in her downtown home that was full of old furniture and knick-knacks. When Mom and I were sorting through her things and, at the end of the day, we opened her cedar trunk where we found carefully-preserved, antique clothing and hand-embroidered lace handkerchiefs, along with . . . a wedding certificate. I was stunned. It turned out my great-aunt had a secret marriage, and the truth had been hidden away for years, along with her dresses. <br /><br />Unfortunately, I never found the answer as to why my great aunt kept her marriage secret (my mom and I did learn that some of the family knew about it), or why she had chosen to place those particular items in her trunk, but I never forgot the incident. It remained a mystery; however, it set me on the road to building my own vintage collection, and I filed the incident away (it became central to plot of <i>The Lost Dresses of Italy</i>). You never know how one unexpected event like that can be re-fashioned (pun intended) into a creative project years later. Serendipity.
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The descriptions of Christina Rossetti’s travels in Milan and Verona are exquisite, and I loved spending time in both places. What did you learn on your own travels to these sites?
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Well, as you suggest, Italy is a magical place for a novelist. The first historical background information that I researched during my time in Milan was how the fashion industry started up again after WWII, manufacturing the exquisite fabrics for which Italy had always been famous. In particular, I studied how those textiles are produced and why the Italian silks, in particular, are so sought after (Como provides 70% of Europe’s silk). The reason is surprisingly simple: the mulberry trees planted around Lake Como attract silkworms which produce the threads that are then woven into luxurious fabrics, using the same, centuries-old processes. Of course, that meant a cruise around Lake Como! <br /><br />The second part of my research was absorbing the rich details of Italian settings that were a part of Christina Rossetti’s trip there: Milan, Lake Como, and Verona. In particular, during my stay in Verona, where much of <i>The Lost Dresses of Italy</i> takes place, I visited the exact locales that Rossetti refenced in her letters and found within them what I call “emotional touchpoint” locations—places that set my imagination on fire—which then become significant plot points in my novel. For example, I spent a long afternoon at Juliet’s Tomb in Verona, which is such a poetic, beautifully romantic spot, that it became part of a poignant scene for Christina. I like to create settings that almost become characters in themselves, and I can’t fathom how I would do that without traveling to the actual places I include in my novels.
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The Lost Dresses of Italy</i> is a dual-period novel, but distinctive since both stories are set in the past. What drew you to writing about postwar Italy?
</b><br /><br />
When I started conceptualizing the themes of love and loss in this book in 2021, our world was emerging from the Covid pandemic, and I was speculating on how we could ever start over after such a traumatic time; then, Hurricane Ian hit SW Florida in September 28, 2022, and we lost pretty much everything we owned. The level of destruction in our community was staggering, and it seemed inconceivable that we could ever “go back to normal” when so many beloved places were either severely damaged or just gone. As I thought about how to connect those feelings into a second narrative, it led me to one of the worst recoveries that I could imagine: the aftermath of WWII. I’ve read a lot of historical fiction about the time during the war, but not how the survivors found the strength to move forward. <br /><br />Since I knew I wanted to set my novel in Verona, I started digging into the post-war recovery issues that Northern Italy faced: the cities had sustained massive damage, the economy was decimated, and people literally had no food or clothing. Even worse, families had been torn apart in the war between those who supported Fascism and those who opposed it. Everyone suffered. However, the Italians desperately wanted to put the war behind them, and that inspired me. Anytime people have to rebuild after a war or natural disaster, it feels overwhelming, but somehow the human spirit finds a way—with grace and courage. I wanted to portray that in my novel.
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What inspired you to write about Christina Rossetti, and to imagine the inner life and adventures of this private woman?
</b><br /><br />
I’ve always been fascinated by Christina Rossetti and have taught her works for a number of years. Writing in both English and Italian, she has this amazingly ability to hit perfect pitch in her poetry, such as in “Fata Morgana” (which is referenced in my novel) with lines like, “It breaks the sunlight bound on bound:/ goes singing as it leaps along . . .” Stunning.
Immersing myself in her poetry again propelled me to pay attention to the sound of my sentence flow and make my prose as poetic as possible without sounding too “flowery.” But Rossetti also has always been a source of curiosity for me, too, because she wrote both delicate lyrics typical of a Victorian female poet and yet, also, erotically-charged sonnets not-so-typical of a woman of her era, such as the <i>Monna Innominata</i>, which translates to the “hidden woman.” How fitting since her inner life is expressed only in her poetry; she rarely revealed her personal thoughts in her letters. More specifically, she took a three-week trip through northern Italy and spoke about it in only one letter but, when she returned to London afterwards, she broke off with her suitor, and wrote that sensual sonnet sequence. So, I decided to fill in the gaps of her mysterious time there with a mystery and a romance. It certainly could have happened.
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Claire Clairmont and Christina Rossetti are both members of famous literary families, while Marianne Baxter, though fictional, also has an intriguing career and a backstory that’s shaped her character. What overall qualities do you look for in choosing and crafting your historical heroines?
</b><br /><br />
First of all, I love the idea of giving voice to literary women who may have been relegated to secondary roles in the lives of their more famous siblings, lovers, or husbands. They often produced amazing work that has been overlooked, as well. Claire Clairmont was overshadowed by her celebrity lover, Lord Byron, as well as her renown step-sister, Mary Shelley—the author of <i>Frankenstein</i>—yet Clairmont was a witty, sophisticated author in her own right. Similarly, Christina Rossetti was eclipsed by her charismatic brother, Dante Gabriel, even though her poetry was considered some of the finest penned by a Victorian poet. Clairmont and Rossetti were both independent thinkers, often pushing back against the traditional roles of women during their eras, which also makes for an interesting character. Secondly, I try to create heroines who are struggling with challenges of a woman’s life, while trying to establish their own identity. Marianne is a grieving WWII widow who goes to Italy to create a dress exhibit of Rossetti’s dresses, but she finds more than she bargained for: love, conspiracy, and betrayal. Yet she emerges from all of these unexpected and dangerous turns in her life as a stronger woman. I think we all need to read those kinds of stories where women triumph over adversity.
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How does your fiction-writing career build upon your academic background and scholarly interests?
</b><br /><br />
Certainly, I’ve spent most of my academic career studying and teaching authors from the nineteenth century—my particular area of expertise—including Christina Rossetti. This foundation has helped enormously when I’m researching my novels because I already know quite a bit about the literary figures I include in my books, including their works and their lives. Nevertheless, transforming these literati into fictional characters is tricky because I have to reach that sweet spot of where historical facts blend with imaginative recreations. Readers want a good story but also a level of accuracy so, if anything, writing about some of my favorite authors has made me even more meticulous in my research. I want my audience to come away with being intrigued enough to read further in an author’s work. Only then, do I feel that I have successfully done my job. Authors need to do everything they can to nudge readers into discovering these brilliant poets and writers from the past.
<br /><br />~</div><div><br /></div><div><b>M. A. McLaughlin Bio:
</b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ZNBbk4EgOssNvW8keku62n-NKmmNn-sVmjICbTAsnFoPVjQXaehKimFbuclKTbbs97Zr69cFa-cCUsebSP_4tdMTCu5An6veGATx6L29POmtC4ibusLVWKK7iVhWJlcUgyJ713Z9IqPdOeMg90NX2o6UwPDfAh74VHNH2QbzI6QaoDbPqLa9/s249/Ambrose%20Marty.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="249" data-original-width="200" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ZNBbk4EgOssNvW8keku62n-NKmmNn-sVmjICbTAsnFoPVjQXaehKimFbuclKTbbs97Zr69cFa-cCUsebSP_4tdMTCu5An6veGATx6L29POmtC4ibusLVWKK7iVhWJlcUgyJ713Z9IqPdOeMg90NX2o6UwPDfAh74VHNH2QbzI6QaoDbPqLa9/s1600/Ambrose%20Marty.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Marty Ambrose-McLaughlin is an award-winning, multi-published author, including a historical mystery trilogy set around the Byron/Shelley circle in nineteenth-century Italy, which earned starred reviews in <i>Publishers Weekly</i>, as well as a gold medal for historical fiction in the Florida Writers Association's Literary Palm Award. She completed her M.Phil. at the University of York (England) and teaches nineteenth-century British literature, composition, and fiction writing at Florida Southwestern State College. She has also given numerous workshops in the U.S. and abroad on all aspects of creating/publishing a novel, and is a member of The Byron Society, Historical Novel Society, Florida Writers Association, and Women's Fiction Writers Association. Her latest novel, <i>The Lost Dresses of Italy</i>, will be published by Alcove Press in February, 2024.</div>Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-35978199578543588062024-02-02T17:15:00.001-06:002024-02-02T17:15:28.389-06:00Margot Livesey's The Road from Belhaven reveals an ordinary yet uncommon woman's life in late 19th-century Scotland<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6XNmbm5uOJc2eFvsLn7zaDoWnXToiIxWECYS0BGcCNTsZ7b2JGKOgXE3PkjomtoW5AiBLc6c46Oq6WlM0AvHLtRM2ZkI2XBeOPNTGO6s3Tg8oAMQeKOvZ7irbuxp_KWhKlZBRQRReBKwazioDhZemQThFNROo5mAaBqkjcm36GkLbdOs_VEcM/s302/belhaven.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="200" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6XNmbm5uOJc2eFvsLn7zaDoWnXToiIxWECYS0BGcCNTsZ7b2JGKOgXE3PkjomtoW5AiBLc6c46Oq6WlM0AvHLtRM2ZkI2XBeOPNTGO6s3Tg8oAMQeKOvZ7irbuxp_KWhKlZBRQRReBKwazioDhZemQThFNROo5mAaBqkjcm36GkLbdOs_VEcM/s1600/belhaven.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Written with a graceful simplicity, <i>The Road from Belhaven</i> will enfold you unexpectedly quickly into the life of its heroine, Lizzie Craig, a character whose emotions are so vivid that it’s impossible not to feel for her through all her growing pains, yearnings, and mistakes. <br /><br />Orphaned as a baby, Lizzie is raised by her grandparents on their property, Belhaven Farm, in Fife, Scotland, in the late 19th century. The rhythms of rural life, beautifully summoned, instill a sense of wonder as Lizzie takes pride in gathering eggs and caring for their animals through the seasons, aware that the future responsibility for the land will lie with her. <br /><br />Excited to learn she has an older sister, Kate, who comes to join the family, Lizzie is slow to realize how this will affect her future. Lizzie also keeps to herself that she gets occasional flashes – “pictures,” as she calls them – of future events, which often drive her to rash decisions even though she doesn’t have the power to prevent what happens.
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When Lizzie turns sixteen, a tailor’s apprentice from Glasgow, Louis Hunter, comes to help her family in the fields. Their growing relationship has her following him to the city, where she soon finds herself in the shameful situation of all too many love-struck unmarried women. <br /><br />In this sense, Livesey’s novel offers a timeless story that’s made distinctive through well-wrought details: the harvest ceilidhs; the crowded bustle of Glasgow, which has Lizzie agog; the “white harled farmhouse” where her grandmother, Flora, dispenses wisdom she suspects won’t be heeded. But it’s not predictable, overall, thanks to the delicate characterizations. <br /><br />Although many people – herself included – cause Lizzie undue heartache and regret, there are no true villains, other than society itself and how it curtails women’s choices. This is a beautiful book about the sharp-cornered path to maturity.<br /><br />Margot Livesey's <i>The Road from Belhaven</i> will be published by Knopf next Tuesday, February 6th. I reviewed it from NetGalley for the <i>Historical Novels Review</i>. There doesn't appear to be a separate UK edition. The author is a Scottish-born writer who now resides in the US.Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-9776768851716059992024-01-28T14:26:00.010-06:002024-01-28T15:01:09.385-06:00Three recent nonfiction works for historical fiction readers to check outMultiple works of critical reflection about historical fiction have been published in the last few months, a sign of the genre's vibrancy and relevance to the current moment. Two of them focus exclusively on historical novels, and a third goes behind the scenes in the American publishing industry in the modern era. Although the last one has a more general focus, a great many historical novels are mentioned in the text. I have library copies of the first and last checked out to me.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17weYp88Y1CLmQ74u8SE1UpSy-Kw95womzMibRzKQk6KGDzren1SCIWbd4MS28I5LNUfPYCUFDN_6XoaI_Rsp7ZsxhigjVerjtHaO-_6LH0inTve5DTLOi_cwiyEv4AryNJIt8EA4EcxeP6Og5LVD1mff0qB_MrNJVmSN2XlufZl9G22iQ9VE/s410/hf%20now.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Historical Fiction Now (Eaton/Holsinger) and Big Fiction (Sinykin)" border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17weYp88Y1CLmQ74u8SE1UpSy-Kw95womzMibRzKQk6KGDzren1SCIWbd4MS28I5LNUfPYCUFDN_6XoaI_Rsp7ZsxhigjVerjtHaO-_6LH0inTve5DTLOi_cwiyEv4AryNJIt8EA4EcxeP6Og5LVD1mff0qB_MrNJVmSN2XlufZl9G22iQ9VE/s16000/hf%20now.jpg" /></a></div><div>
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Historical Fiction Now,</i> edited by Mark Eaton and Bruce Holsinger (both English professors, the latter an author of historical fiction himself), contains essays by a diverse selection of authors – novelists, critics, academics – about the present state of the genre. Some authors discuss the background to their novels’ creation, like Geraldine Brooks on <i>The Secret Chord</i>, Namwali Serpell on <i>The Old Drift</i>, Tiya Miles on <i>The Cherokee Rose</i> (which was recently reissued), and Katherine Howe on <i>The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane</i>. Other contributors examine the notion of supposed anachronisms (Holsinger), their relationship with their role in chronicling the past (Jessie Burton), and views on writing biographical fiction (Michael Lackey). Some of the essays were previously published as journal articles or introductions from the authors’ novels. <i>Historical Fiction Now</i> appeared from Oxford University Press in Oct. 2023.<br /><br /><i>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMQEIK3BriBOk13_bEDPUSJD9dA85hY1RG0Obqv2V-nTrn-LyYPNZQ38Zk-VNJsffp3UsjJ11QZQzT3VB-FkwWTAFv4poWje43rbSRh-el1HO1VZSqsjDhAQCdCpcn3G1LzTmj7PjIDAG53pS0gHLP2_a2UmSUIbkBTz-BwvOEDGIOvweCXmVs/s308/backwards.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="200" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMQEIK3BriBOk13_bEDPUSJD9dA85hY1RG0Obqv2V-nTrn-LyYPNZQ38Zk-VNJsffp3UsjJ11QZQzT3VB-FkwWTAFv4poWje43rbSRh-el1HO1VZSqsjDhAQCdCpcn3G1LzTmj7PjIDAG53pS0gHLP2_a2UmSUIbkBTz-BwvOEDGIOvweCXmVs/s1600/backwards.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Writing Backwards: Historical Fiction and the Reshaping of the American Canon</i> by Alexander Manshel (Columbia Univ. Press, Nov. 2023) has gotten a terrific amount of coverage in the popular press already, including the <i><a href="https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/fiction-a-year-in-reflection-5c7cefb9" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal</a></i> and <i><a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a45846909/historical-fiction-mainstream/" target="_blank">Esquire</a></i>. Historical novels frequently appear on syllabi for English courses at universities, and Manshel explores how and why that came to be. This volume, which I had the opportunity to browse through before mailing it off to a reviewer, focuses on literary historical fiction and how a once-denigrated genre became the genre of choice for novelists, particularly writers of color, interested in wrestling with serious themes. I hope to read the book in full more thoroughly in the coming months.
<br /><br />
I had discussed the popularity of literary historical fiction in a <a href="https://historicalnovelsociety.org/defining-the-genre-what-are-the-rules-for-historical-fiction/" target="_blank">2002 speech for the AWP conference</a> – it’s not exactly new for bestseller lists or literary prize lists to be filled with historical novels – so the line from the <i>Esquire </i>piece that “the genre is suddenly everywhere” made me roll my eyes a bit.</div><div><br />
Dan Sinykin’s <i>Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature </i>(Columbia Univ. Press. Oct. 2023) is the book I’ve been most excited to see, and I got a good start via my library's copy last night. It provides entertaining insights into how consolidations in publishing have come to shape the landscape of American fiction, including how bestsellers happened, the changing roles of editors and agents at a time when larger companies are gobbling up smaller ones, and how nonprofit and independent publishers made their mark. Highlights from the historical fiction arena include how W. W. Norton made Patrick O’Brian a huge success in the U.S., and how and why E. L. Doctorow’s <i>Ragtime </i>became a literary sensation. As someone who grew up reading classic historical novels and mass-market paperback fiction of many varieties, and who has followed the comings and goings of publishers’ imprints for many years as a book review editor, the topic of this book fascinates me. I’m looking forward to reading the rest.<br /><br />If you've read any of these in full, let me know your thoughts!<br /></div>Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-27391335939076304302024-01-22T11:00:00.001-06:002024-01-22T11:01:25.387-06:00Historical fiction award winners announced at the 2024 ALA LibLearnX conference<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFnJbj86-IFTxdbNUuHEkKnv1RTuuuFFmarjaGWReg2fW7Xj4EFAIxr0RpX2LTmOVVjQue7taqclVGJt6s2oCpVgXt-bmXNbHk_3xkLnQMeTPwK1mrj7fllUesMWHSnUu06mV7ns3hWtm4JPcCexa4t90wEzVW89TxuNAq6iK9USeE5JipPWQx/s304/lady%20tan.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Lady Tan's Circle of Women book cover" border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFnJbj86-IFTxdbNUuHEkKnv1RTuuuFFmarjaGWReg2fW7Xj4EFAIxr0RpX2LTmOVVjQue7taqclVGJt6s2oCpVgXt-bmXNbHk_3xkLnQMeTPwK1mrj7fllUesMWHSnUu06mV7ns3hWtm4JPcCexa4t90wEzVW89TxuNAq6iK9USeE5JipPWQx/s16000/lady%20tan.jpg" /></a></div>The 2024 Book and Media Award announcements from the American Library Association's LibLearnX conference in Baltimore were broadcast over the weekend, and here are the historical novels that took home prizes. <br /><br />
On <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2024/01/2024-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/" target="_blank">the Reading List, the ALA's annual awards in eight genre fiction categories</a>, the award for Historical Fiction award went to <i>Lady Tan's Circle of Women</i> by Lisa See, focusing on a female doctor navigating her career and an arranged marriage in 15th-century China.<br /><br />
On the Historical Fiction shortlist are:
<br /><br /><div><i>The Bookbinder</i> by Pip Williams - two young women in WWI-Oxford who work in the university press's bindery find their lives transformed by war.<br /><i>Essex Dogs</i> by Dan Jones - high-octane adventure during the Hundred Years' War.</div><div><i>Hang the Moon</i> by Jeannette Walls - a young woman reclaims her place in the family business in Prohibition-era Virginia.</div><div><i>Looking for Jane</i> by Heather Marshall - the multi-period story of three women and the battle for reproductive choice.<br /><br />The winner in Mystery was <i>A Disappearance in Fiji </i>by Nilima Rao, a police procedural set in 1914 Fiji and focusing on an indentured servant who went missing.</div><div><br />
On the <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2024/01/2024-notable-books-list-announced-years-best-in-fiction-nonfiction-and-poetry/" target="_blank">Notable Books List</a> are these four historical novels:
<br /><br /><i>In Memoriam</i> by Alice Winn - a love story between two British men who fight overseas in WWI.<div><i>North Woods</i> by Daniel Mason - an epic literary tale of all the inhabitants of a small corner of Massachusetts woods over multiple centuries.</div><div><i>The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store</i> by James McBride - a mystery in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in 1972 reveals the longtime interconnections between the town's Black and Jewish residents.</div><div><i>The Reformatory</i> by Tananarive Due - historical horrors at a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida.</div><div><br /></div><div>On the <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2024/01/2024listenlist/" target="_blank">Listen List</a> for excellence in audiobook narration:<br /><br /><i>The Adventures of Amina al Sirafi </i>by Shannon Chakraborty, narrated by Lameece Issaq and Amin El Gamal - a historical fantasy pirate adventure set in the 12th century.<div><i>The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store</i> by James McBride, narrated by Dominic Hoffman.</div><br />James McBride's <i>The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store</i> also won the <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2024/01/james-mcbride-named-winner-of-2024-sophie-brody-medal/" target="_blank">2024 Sophie Brody Medal</a>, which is given for outstanding achievement in Jewish literature.<br /><br />
Congratulations to all the winners!</div></div>Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-69776710111584082472024-01-20T09:09:00.002-06:002024-01-28T14:16:07.553-06:00Edith Holler by Edward Carey, his imaginatively weird tale set in the Edwardian theatre world (plus giveaway)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdLrJtoNtFH39YfG0pYYBdWePtg3xvGcITWg31h9nXYoz2qltTACPlf1_gYH7PANQpUlTR1ARtWfNtwJdZ8801IhR4hSVQS2bcYWbgEYylK1P1eIBgMzfmnuKb2rBAXsxMdQfaX_x-ufrKfUh4IHeOiGjBiksCyHj0WF9pqGETulqYDpm_3hB9/s302/holler.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="200" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdLrJtoNtFH39YfG0pYYBdWePtg3xvGcITWg31h9nXYoz2qltTACPlf1_gYH7PANQpUlTR1ARtWfNtwJdZ8801IhR4hSVQS2bcYWbgEYylK1P1eIBgMzfmnuKb2rBAXsxMdQfaX_x-ufrKfUh4IHeOiGjBiksCyHj0WF9pqGETulqYDpm_3hB9/s1600/holler.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Artistic vision, wit, and the creatively grotesque intermingle in Carey’s (<i>The Swallowed Man</i>, 2020) literary historical fantasy. In 1901, Edith Holler is a physically fragile, curious, motherless twelve-year-old who’s lived her entire life within her large family’s historic theatre in Norwich, England because of a supposed curse. <br /><br />A sprightly narrator, Edith is unsurprisingly possessed of an active imagination – too much so, the adults around her believe. After she deduces an unsavory association between Norwich’s lost children and the local delicacy of Beetle Spread (which is exactly what it sounds like), Edith writes a play about this secret history that her stern yet indulgent father agrees to stage. But when widowed Beetle Spread heiress Margaret Unthank becomes her father’s new fiancée, our heroine feels uneasy, for good reason. <br /><br />Edith’s entertaining tour of the theatre’s many nooks and their inhabitants feels somewhat protracted, though the pacing quickens after Margaret appears on scene. This quirky homage to Carey’s childhood home, which bursts with personality and his expressive pencil drawings (and multiple ghosts), underscores the importance of listening to children.
<br /><br />Recommendation for young adults: Edith will win over YA readers with her dryly funny observations and determination to outsmart and overcome the wily Margaret.
<br /><br /><i>Edith Holler</i> was published by Riverhead in the US last October; this review was written for <i>Booklist</i>'s September 1 issue. I haven't read Carey's previous novel, but <a href="https://readingthepast.blogspot.com/2018/10/edward-careys-little-witty-macabre-epic.html" target="_blank">loved his earlier historical <i>Little</i></a>, a reimagining of the woman who became Madame Tussaud. <br /><br />I also have a new hardcover copy to give away, open to US and Canadian readers. Please add your details to the entry form on this page for a chance to win; deadline Saturday, January 27th. Good luck!<div><br /></div><div>---<br /><br />The giveaway has ended. Congrats to Kellie - I'll be in touch. Thanks to all who entered!</div>Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-11747975071435125472024-01-15T12:16:00.001-06:002024-01-15T12:26:43.776-06:00The Red Bird Sings by Aoife Fitzpatrick transforms a late 19th-century Appalachian story into suspenseful fiction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbr6hiM5WZRH-_viIEuFsTUnL8To3VjLTURkdlv1C607mrk1Os2ZNuzQCssSLYZJnk9iDo5q_tFBHWo9ehAD4k2ebzH5wQ-z17Rus0LvnNehFzv0Cmc8o_oRHuYfSbqcqzSa7ur-BF86AXmRx7DGA68y6pKierf__POiri9hyCHlbHdRwxDrwi/s307/red%20bird%20sings%20cover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="307" data-original-width="200" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbr6hiM5WZRH-_viIEuFsTUnL8To3VjLTURkdlv1C607mrk1Os2ZNuzQCssSLYZJnk9iDo5q_tFBHWo9ehAD4k2ebzH5wQ-z17Rus0LvnNehFzv0Cmc8o_oRHuYfSbqcqzSa7ur-BF86AXmRx7DGA68y6pKierf__POiri9hyCHlbHdRwxDrwi/s1600/red%20bird%20sings%20cover.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>For her debut novel, Irish writer Aoife Fitzpatrick has ventured far from home, in time and distance, setting <i>The Red Bird Sings</i> in late 19th-century Greenbrier County, West Virginia – a rural place where “God hadn’t drawn many straight lines… the boundary between earth and sky was almost always curved and high.” She captures both the attractive scenery of this corner of Appalachia and its people’s proud, self-reliant character, just as a legend-inspiring murder trial is setting forth.
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In June 1897, Edward “Trout” Shue pleads not guilty to causing the death of his young wife of several months, Zona, a dark-haired beauty. Believing other venues aren’t producing a sufficiently accurate take on the events, Zona’s best friend, aspiring journalist Lucy Frye, types up her own articles on her faithful Remington.
<br /><br />
Although most of the community believes Trout to be innocent, both Lucy and Zona’s mother, Mary Jane Heaster, think he did it. They suspect Trout, a good-looking, reliable blacksmith who cared deeply for the animals brought to him, also had a darker, controlling side, since Zona had stayed isolated from her family and friends in her last days. Zona had a secret of her own, having given birth to an illegitimate daughter, Elisabeth, whom she’d given up for adoption.
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Some novels hook you into the story from the first paragraph; others take time to gain momentum. With <i>The Red Bird Sings</i>, it took a good hundred pages – a third of the way in – before I reached the point where I had trouble putting it down. It’s structured like a collage of past and present, with chapters alternating between Lucy’s courtroom reports, the touching letters Zona wrote for the much-loved daughter she never knew, and straight narrative from the viewpoints of Lucy and Mary Jane, detailing everything leading up to Zona’s death and the trial. The overall picture felt somewhat scattered, and the characters kept at a distance. The untimely death of any young person is a tragedy, but I wished I had a clearer image of who Zona was, when she was alive.
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By the end, I was completely gripped. Lucy and Mary Jane are intriguingly contrasted: Lucy is a bicycle-riding, forward-thinking modern woman whose family came into modest wealth, while the cigarette-smoking, slovenly Mary Jane invites scandal – and her husband’s ire – by abandoning her corset and claiming the ability to speak with the dead. Both being female, they share the plight of having their voices discounted, but they’re determined to pursue justice. And the late Zona herself will seemingly find a way to speak her truth aloud.
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After reading the book jacket, which states the novel was inspired by a real-life murder trial, I wondered what Sharyn McCrumb, who has masterfully woven numerous stories from Appalachian folklore into contemporary and historical fiction, would do with the same roots of literary material – before realizing that she’d already done so, in her novel <i>The Unquiet Grave</i>, which I haven’t yet read.
<br /><br />
I bought <i>The Red Bird Sings</i> (Virago, 2023) in hardcover from Blackwell’s – the cover (by Charlotte Stroomer) is so enticingly beautiful – but Americans can also <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Red-Bird-Sings-Aoife-Fitzpatrick-ebook/dp/B09XMDFZFT/" target="_blank">grab it on Kindle</a>, which is currently priced at just $2.99. Definitely worth it.
Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-17303940975041815432024-01-11T17:30:00.005-06:002024-01-11T19:58:49.325-06:00Looking at Emilia Hart's Weyward, her witchy, award-winning historical debut<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0M8WyHSH5btkvsBSWdedjovAQzUpXNdb6T052OrPFu5BBZh6_TsdWRu6KBqAmcuQcmjQivj2irbphFGIESX2t2qfA5uwuNXdwf_Hy9UeGCY_Q0a5Qhk9pCOWQSY1_aVShF83KhQvWY2E0gjAkzEH-t2X1b17mjn8M_sOV-eqr7xocBBgAPHLE/s304/weyward.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="200" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0M8WyHSH5btkvsBSWdedjovAQzUpXNdb6T052OrPFu5BBZh6_TsdWRu6KBqAmcuQcmjQivj2irbphFGIESX2t2qfA5uwuNXdwf_Hy9UeGCY_Q0a5Qhk9pCOWQSY1_aVShF83KhQvWY2E0gjAkzEH-t2X1b17mjn8M_sOV-eqr7xocBBgAPHLE/s1600/weyward.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Emilia Hart’s <i>Weyward</i> won the Goodreads Choice Award in both the historical fiction and debut novel categories in 2023, a significant feat. Over 84,000+ readers have already rated it at Goodreads. While it doesn’t especially need more attention, it had been in my NetGalley queue since last winter, and the holiday break was a good time to read it at last.
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With its multiple-narrative structure, theme of female empowerment, and witchy focus, it hits multiple trends. The writing is clear, the pacing brisk, and the scenes illustrating three women’s hereditary abilities to commune with the natural world of remote Cumbria, England, are the book’s strongest aspect.
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In the present day, Kate Ayres flees London and her abusive boyfriend for Weyward Cottage, which she inherited from a long-forgotten great aunt. During the WWII years, teenaged Violet Ayres, never permitted to leave the grounds of her titled father’s estate or learn anything about her late mother, takes comfort in exploring local plants and wildlife, which she has an affinity for. It’s a unique touch to have Violet take notice of the delicate beauty of bees and damselflies; she’s far from a typical young woman. And in the early 17th century, motherless Altha Weyward sits on trial, having been accused of bewitching a herd of cows into stampeding over a neighboring farmer – her former friend’s husband.
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As the plot explores its three protagonists’ struggle to flex their underlying strength and wield it against the forces (men) oppressing them, it becomes a classic account of good vs. evil, presented along gender lines. Each woman endures horrific circumstances, which kept my attention in hoping they’d escape and find some measure of contentment. But over time, I became so used to assuming the male characters would be heinous that it came as a surprise when one turned out to be compassionate or heroic.
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Recommended for readers who enjoy some magical gothic atmosphere with their feminist historical fiction; I just wish the nuance used to depict the Cumbrian countryside and women’s powers could have been invoked in the novel’s gender relations.
<div><br /></div><div><i>Weyward</i> was published by St. Martin's Press in February 2023, and the paperback is out next month.</div>Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-15849448401722018272024-01-08T06:30:00.001-06:002024-01-08T06:39:26.875-06:00My Enemy's Enemy, a guest post by Alan Bardos, author of the spy thriller Rising Tide<div>Historical novelist Alan Bardos is here today with a guest post about some little-known WWII history, related to wartime intelligence... the backdrop for his new spy thriller <i>Rising Tide</i> (Sharpe Books).</div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~</div></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>My Enemy's Enemy</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">Alan Bardos</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVvhm3s5z4vraaFASPcrPxiAl6ANGYc7L3EofvW-QCv0Orvzeugse4rEOBbx14_wPW1D2dlI41fijl_mDWccsz2bbUV4Mrhih-s41O0s-21naBt5tbmBouO6JdWBeLjNwbOeftmCkTMJ-OM-_qMsJXIzwiuqFfoL4bSbhQpw0AbDF2lt6VcF4z/s318/rising-tide-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="200" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVvhm3s5z4vraaFASPcrPxiAl6ANGYc7L3EofvW-QCv0Orvzeugse4rEOBbx14_wPW1D2dlI41fijl_mDWccsz2bbUV4Mrhih-s41O0s-21naBt5tbmBouO6JdWBeLjNwbOeftmCkTMJ-OM-_qMsJXIzwiuqFfoL4bSbhQpw0AbDF2lt6VcF4z/s1600/rising-tide-cover.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>The years leading up to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour saw a strengthening of diplomatic relations between Japan and Germany, and growing cooperation between their intelligence services. This is where I found inspiration for my new novel, <i>Rising Tide</i>.<br /><br />
Hitler’s long-term foreign policy goal had been to create living space in Eastern Europe. The Abwehr, German Intelligence, had therefore largely focused on the Soviet Union. They had not planned to fight Britain in 1939 and had not developed networks in Britain. This is demonstrated by the poor quality of the agents they sent to Britain, who were all caught.<br /><br />
By 1941, Japan and Germany knew they would have to fight America and hoped to split its resources between the Pacific and Europe, in a two-front war. The Third Bureau of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s General Staff had been gathering detailed intelligence on the British and American navies, which posed the major threat to Japan’s expansion in the Far East. In return for radio and microdot technology, they traded this information with Germany.<br /><br />
This relationship developed when the Germans began to run their own spy rings in America. As Westerners, their operatives could enter places which the Japanese could not, without drawing attention. One of these spy rings, the ‘Joe K’, gathered information on Hawaii’s defences for their Japanese allies. However, their reports were intercepted by British censors as they were sent from New York to Europe via Bermuda and the spy ring was broken up.<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrJJHHmtqVeLvsxeYJG29PbmCNtXHXoO2uINM93GnZrccMwsbglta3bbxvdEycliLUZ9esgRmjNjGW4-_o5Y6V0obvs41xKBQITM3rrd2caWdaH_OEDKtB_ij8KNci-FwhnSgvCEgpqLmRhhNScZAicLlkbR9f61HpLatarq2U-2P5Hy6d3oH4/s271/Dusko_Popov_(final).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Dusko Popov" border="0" data-original-height="271" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrJJHHmtqVeLvsxeYJG29PbmCNtXHXoO2uINM93GnZrccMwsbglta3bbxvdEycliLUZ9esgRmjNjGW4-_o5Y6V0obvs41xKBQITM3rrd2caWdaH_OEDKtB_ij8KNci-FwhnSgvCEgpqLmRhhNScZAicLlkbR9f61HpLatarq2U-2P5Hy6d3oH4/s16000/Dusko_Popov_(final).jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dusko Popov, 1941<br />(Wikimedia Commons, public domain)<br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br />To help rebuild their American networks, the Abwehr sent one of their best agents, Dusko Popov, to the States. He was given a list of questions about America to answer. A third of the questionnaire concerned Pearl Harbour and Hawaii. It included questions about the layout of its airfields, naval defences, ammunition dumps and anti-torpedo nets. Popov’s German handler instructed him to travel to Hawaii, and some writers have suggested that he was to replace a sleeper agent called Kuehn. Kuehn was the manager of a sugar plantation, and his wife owned a beauty parlour which she used to befriend army and navy wives, who the couple grandly entertained at their home to pick up gossip. <br /><br />
Yoshikawa, a Third Bureau agent on Hawaii, paid Kuehn to be Japan’s eyes and ears in Hawaii after the attack on Pearl Harbour. They even worked out an elaborate system for the German to signal information to Japanese submarines off the coast of Hawaii. Yoshikawa gives a less than flattering account of his meeting with Kuehn in his book <i>Japan's Spy at Pearl Harbour: Memoir of an Imperial Navy Secret Agent</i> and held reservations about Kuehn’s ability to do the job.<br /><br />
Suspicions that rang true since Kuehn’s extravagant lifestyle attracted the attention of the FBI, and he was arrested after the Pearl Harbour attack and executed in 1942, leaving the Japanese blind to American activities in Hawaii.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL_iRpdswzndHYIkHVnpxkPd3k-xQLQs_dl5O92tayY_u1On2FflWDQfOcl_0zVJXp0hIW5PAK5ZQbg8R1YAIx9HaN-KNSO7xFB_FJLbp4tDr5CQNaSXvugHC-jFZfu7Dm6fHN3BzDu1MjZLSmsCwUFKGy65q39MVkEWBJdoCnPVDtgQ4OA0Fd/s410/J._Edgar_Hoover_at_his_desk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img alt="J. Edgar Hoover at His Desk" border="0" data-original-height="263" data-original-width="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL_iRpdswzndHYIkHVnpxkPd3k-xQLQs_dl5O92tayY_u1On2FflWDQfOcl_0zVJXp0hIW5PAK5ZQbg8R1YAIx9HaN-KNSO7xFB_FJLbp4tDr5CQNaSXvugHC-jFZfu7Dm6fHN3BzDu1MjZLSmsCwUFKGy65q39MVkEWBJdoCnPVDtgQ4OA0Fd/s16000/J._Edgar_Hoover_at_his_desk.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">J. Edgar Hoover at his desk<br />(Wikimedia Commons, public domain)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />Dusko Popov was also unable to carry on Kuehn’s role. Popov was actually a British double agent, who tried to warn the FBI about Japan’s interest in Hawaii. However, J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI Director, did not believe Popov’s warning and prevented him from travelling on to Hawaii to link up with the German agent and gather more evidence. This is where my novel <i>Rising Tide </i>picks up the story. The central character, Daniel Nichols, travels to Hawaii and becomes caught up in a conspiracy that would keep America embroiled in a Far Eastern stalemate and split between the Pacific and Europe.
<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~</div><br /><div><b>Biography:</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Writing historical fiction combines the first great love of Alan Bardos’ life, making up stories, with the second, researching historical events and characters. He currently lives in Oxfordshire with his wife… the other great love of his life.</div><div><br /></div><div>His new World War 2 series follows Daniel Nichols, a former pacifist turned crusader, as he moves from the Fleet Air Arm to Intelligence and Special Operations. The first book <i>Rising Tide</i> is set against the backdrop of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, as Nichols is embroiled in a conspiracy to keep the USA bogged down in the Pacific and out of the war in Europe.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Blurb for Rising Tide:</b></div><div><br />November 1940. Lieutenant Daniel Nichols, a former pacifist turned crusader, is wounded taking part in the Royal Navy’s carrier born air raid on the Italian Battle Fleet in Taranto. Six months later Sándor Braun, a British double agent, escorts a Japanese delegation around Taranto and discovers that they are planning a similar attack. But what will the target be?</div><div><br />Nichols, now unable to fly, joins the Naval Intelligence Division, despite growing rumours that his nerve has gone. He debriefs Braun in London and sees the implications of his discovery. Britain cannot afford to suffer further setbacks in the far East. Nichols convinces his superior officer, Ian Fleming, to allow him to travel to Lisbon in a bid to identify the target before it’s too late. The former airman uses the rumours about his lack of moral fibre as cover and poses as a deserter, with information to sell about the Taranto raid.</div><div><br /></div><div>Braun helps Nichols to gain the confidence of German and Japanese Intelligence officers - and he is recruited to fly to Hawaii and spy on the US Navy. Convinced that the Japanese plan to attack Pearl Harbour, Nichols travels to America to inform the FBI, but his warnings fall on deaf ears. Nichols takes matters into his own hands and ventures to Hawaii, with the intention of preventing a catastrophe. But will the Englishman's intervention prove too little, too late?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CP4J1SZR">Amazon UK</a> | <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rising-Tide-Daniel-Nichols-Thrillers-ebook/dp/B0CP4J1SZR/" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/BardosAlan">Twitter </a>| <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15142092.Alan_Bardos">Goodreads</a> | <a href="https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCVOmjSYz2Eg7ChVFN3ygS5Q" target="_blank">YouTube</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/alanbardos">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AlanBardosWriter/">Facebook</a></div></div>Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-91217926178093177542024-01-03T07:00:00.001-06:002024-01-03T07:04:49.700-06:00Elizabeth R. Andersen's The Alewives brews up amusing entertainment in a medieval Alsatian city<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL9MZAOAFI3jdJKUAn8z2gqruF3bMr0vOWclr5t9B28M9Fq34OOhdURt8oJmvN032Vbj7g7scs5i87ZfjpOZ-lIT_3ilkBERwQw6WQGU-9QoKJ9HLQIwXncEjeI4-i88gZgzyhvvAUkFL_vHBI-OCKlCa0vb9XUUTmMx4H9kCqBQkv4MSCMtgi/s500/alewives.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL9MZAOAFI3jdJKUAn8z2gqruF3bMr0vOWclr5t9B28M9Fq34OOhdURt8oJmvN032Vbj7g7scs5i87ZfjpOZ-lIT_3ilkBERwQw6WQGU-9QoKJ9HLQIwXncEjeI4-i88gZgzyhvvAUkFL_vHBI-OCKlCa0vb9XUUTmMx4H9kCqBQkv4MSCMtgi/s320/alewives.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Frau Gritta, the wife of an easygoing fellow who spends nearly all his wages on drink, is the mother of twelve children – she can hardly keep track of them all – who “were all destined to be grifters.” The family lives on Trench Lane in Les Tanneurs, the tannery quarter of the free Alsatian city of Colmar, a shabby, crowded neighborhood that announces itself with a distinctively ripe smell. <br /><br />But in this first of what promises to be an entertaining medieval mystery series, it’s the Year of Our Lord 1353, and none of Gritta’s brood died during the recent plague outbreak, so other folks consider her lucky.
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Since life must go on, and her family’s needs must be met, Gritta concocts an ingenious idea. She joins forces with her longtime friend, Frau Appel Schneider, and young widow Efi, an attractive but dimwitted newcomer, to brew ale for profit. <br /><br />Only… their initial recipe needs work, they risk running afoul of church laws, and they doubt Gritta’s husband can be trusted with their earnings. At the same time, a thief has been absconding with treasures from the Dominican abbey, and the recent death of a meddlesome neighbor, which may not have been natural, meets with a shrug from the sheriff. A visiting Franciscan friar, tasked with finding the thief, becomes the women’s ally (or does he?). Then another body turns up, and the women decide to take up the case before the killer comes after them.<br /><br />
The alewives are an absolute hoot. Their boisterous, saucy humor and determination to master this challenging new business opportunity make this novel an infectiously appealing brew. The women’s friendship is one of laughter, good-natured ribbing, and hilarious advice (you won’t look at cabbage leaves the same way afterward). While they can appreciate male company, they’re wise enough – even Efi – to know the occasional dangers men can pose in their patriarchal world. Full of details on crafting a fine ale and seizing life after a traumatic time, the novel leaves you wanting more from this engaging trio of women. Fortunately, a sequel is on the way in April.
<br /><br /><i>The Alewives</i>, which was independently published, was a personal purchase. Find out <a href="https://www.elizabethrandersen.com/" target="_blank">more at the author's website</a>, and read more about Colmar, a beautiful little city, at the <a href="https://www.ontheluce.com/colmar-alsace-france-travel-guide/" target="_blank">On the Luce travel blog</a>.Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-84992680336284147692023-12-29T13:41:00.003-06:002023-12-29T21:49:12.856-06:00Short takes on nine historical fiction titles I read in 2023 but haven't reviewed here yetFor my last post of 2023, I'm taking a look back at some novels I'd read over the last twelve months but didn't get around to reviewing at the time. I fit all of these in between review assignments since sometimes I need a break, preferring to read without the necessity of taking notes. Still, all of these are books I'd highly recommend, so I wanted to write about them, at least briefly. All were personal purchases or library copies.<br /><br />Good reading to all of you in the New Year!<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHGMoKfw2SbHM6GxhVWXcVjIcBdKbfE4jz6PKd4sLbrrEooL2vPka3w7jzH-FVclnR3TcYvDjRt3yOTTRRCk03nmlg19aPqvBXvt4zbja8wqwQIMgeZYeT2PVIpzJXmI_rsnUNspAp0dK0q17OH-W8V1WDgymL-4-0ymtTyAPwQFhhe6AIa8hc/s392/banner1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Daughter of Providence, Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant, Florence Grace cover images" border="0" data-original-height="198" data-original-width="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHGMoKfw2SbHM6GxhVWXcVjIcBdKbfE4jz6PKd4sLbrrEooL2vPka3w7jzH-FVclnR3TcYvDjRt3yOTTRRCk03nmlg19aPqvBXvt4zbja8wqwQIMgeZYeT2PVIpzJXmI_rsnUNspAp0dK0q17OH-W8V1WDgymL-4-0ymtTyAPwQFhhe6AIa8hc/s16000/banner1.png" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator">In Julie Drew’s <i>Daughter of Providence</i>, which I bought right after its publication in 2011, a privileged young woman in 1934 coastal Rhode Island discovers how much of her family history has been kept from her. The first surprise is the arrival of her young half-sister, Maria Cristina, who she learns was the product of her late mother’s affair with a man who shared her Portuguese background. A moving coming-of-age story echoing with themes of parental abandonment, labor unrest, family secrets, and reconnecting to one’s heritage.</div>
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Countless historical novels use long-hidden love letters to cinch the connection between two parallel narratives. Kayte Nunn’s T<i>he Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant</i>, set on the Isles of Scilly near Cornwall, shows how a talented author can revitalize this trope and make it distinctive and unexpected. Moving between the early 1950s and 2018, the story evokes the rustic coastal beauty of its isolated setting as it follows a marine scientist’s uncovering of a young mother’s forced stay at an island sanitarium.
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A blurb on the back of Tracy Rees’ <i>Florence Grace</i> (from fellow novelist Joanna Courtney) describes it as “so very wise, as if it contains half the answers to life.” The quote is actually accurate. Florrie Buckley, an orphaned teenager from a remote corner of Cornwall in 1850, comes into a surprising inheritance and moves to join her newfound relatives in London, where she slowly adjusts to upper-class ways and forms new relationships but remains uniquely herself. Full of entertaining personalities and the protagonist’s lively narration, with a good balance of light and dark.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFjePbgw91YcBjyBgOzke0_IfYI8yZ0kdjY7CvZ9EQFN5Tdg9RQszHc1FyCJeLyNl8qtTZJT674zvPjcdzhigxN8KReDapS48y6bmG-CdUZGMuh4MhpcZR1t7rwPam0khGqW5VfJAIhDVKmQUFXzWvf6OEySOql39Wf4XL2wKTANC2T0Eoki6u/s389/banner2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The First Ladies, Lone Women, Firelight Rising covers" border="0" data-original-height="201" data-original-width="389" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFjePbgw91YcBjyBgOzke0_IfYI8yZ0kdjY7CvZ9EQFN5Tdg9RQszHc1FyCJeLyNl8qtTZJT674zvPjcdzhigxN8KReDapS48y6bmG-CdUZGMuh4MhpcZR1t7rwPam0khGqW5VfJAIhDVKmQUFXzWvf6OEySOql39Wf4XL2wKTANC2T0Eoki6u/s16000/banner2.png" /></a></div><br /><div>After teaming up for Belle da Costa Greene’s story in <i>The Personal Librarian</i>, which I loved, Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray join forces again for <i>The First Ladies</i>, a dual perspective take on the close friendship between American First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Black civil rights leader and educator Mary McLeod Bethune, nicknamed the “First Lady of the Struggle.” Their interracial bond was controversial, and the authors take a nuanced look at how the pair learn from each other as they make mistakes, grow, and unite to promote equality and justice.<br /><br />Victor LaValle’s dark historical fantasy <i>Lone Women</i> opens with a shocker: Adelaide Henry, daughter in a Black farming family in 1915 California, flees the scene of her parents’ brutal murder for a homesteading site in Montana, toting a painfully heavy trunk too dangerous to be opened. Let’s just say I had questions. As a “lone woman” in a harsh environment, Adelaide must form alliances with other would-be settlers but needs to discover who to trust. Inventive and not for the squeamish, this novel is a defiantly original take on the multicultural settlement of the American West.<br /><br />Anyone who’s traveled to the Holy Isle of Lindisfarne in Northumberland knows it’s a special place. First in a trilogy, Johanna Craven’s <i>Firelight Rising</i> takes place there in 1715, as Eva Blake, her siblings, and their families have grudgingly returned after two decades' absence, just as an underground Jacobite movement is stirring. As the Blakes restore their decrepit home, they contend with mysteries of the past and present-day dangers. A highly atmospheric story brimming with romance and mystery and a stellar sense of place.<br /><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJuq6qKnRv5LIUg6O47ttGbTzB6yZJqgi-mXOBvBCi_Q4sj5XKwlMYSEYdXNrghThs8TuMRF_Sh6qXLtXcv0f2UIi46MNVLyLXmf9QSIbcJD6JDm6k5T_muXob1z9xdg0s5ZhdIdYnUNmdSkAsp821vbybawJ3mwkAP8yV1cgoXntGMygICELN/s390/banner3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Exile, The Pilot's Daughter, The Weight of Ink covers" border="0" data-original-height="202" data-original-width="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJuq6qKnRv5LIUg6O47ttGbTzB6yZJqgi-mXOBvBCi_Q4sj5XKwlMYSEYdXNrghThs8TuMRF_Sh6qXLtXcv0f2UIi46MNVLyLXmf9QSIbcJD6JDm6k5T_muXob1z9xdg0s5ZhdIdYnUNmdSkAsp821vbybawJ3mwkAP8yV1cgoXntGMygICELN/s16000/banner3.png" /></a></div><br /><i>Historical Stories of Exile </i>is an anthology of thirteen short stories, each taking a different angle on its theme. All of the authors are talented historical novelists, and their contributions provide an appealing assortment of settings. Among my favorites were Anna Belfrage’s “The Unwanted Prince,” the heartbreaking true story of a young boy forced to part from his home and loving mother; Cryssa Bazos’ “The Exiled Heart,” retelling the love story between Prince Rupert of the Palatinate and his jailer’s daughter in Austria; Elizabeth St.John’s “Into the Light,” a 17th-century tale of religious disharmony and new beginnings; and Amy Maroney’s “Last Hope for a Queen,” evoking the valiant spirit of Queen Charlotta of Cyprus in the 15th century.<br /><br /><i>The Pilot’s Daughter </i>by Meredith Jaeger is another dual-narrative story, split between the late WWII years and Jazz Age New York. An office girl at the <i>San Francisco Chronicle</i>, recently informed of her pilot father’s MIA status, comes upon love letters intimating that he’d had an affair. For answers, she turns to her aunt Iris, who has her own secret past as one of Ziegfeld’s dancers in the ‘20s. An engrossing novel about meeting life on its own terms, partly inspired by a real-life crime, the murder of the flapper called the “Broadway Butterfly.”<br /><br /><i>The Weight of Ink </i>by Rachel Kadish tightly interweaves the stories of two modern academics, a stern older woman and a male American grad student who's used to charming his way into people's good graces, with that of a young Sephardic Jewish woman who handles correspondence for a blind rabbi in exile in Restoration-era London. As the modern pair uncover details about the scribe who signed herself “Aleph,” a deeper succession of mysteries unfolds. Over 500 pages long, brilliant on a sentence level and in its entirety, this National Jewish Book Award winner somehow achieves thriller-like pacing as it celebrates the undeniable quest for learning and delves into perennial human themes. This is right up there with A.S. Byatt’s <i>Possession </i>in my view, and more accessible. A magnificent read.Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-86888682354924966072023-12-24T07:41:00.001-06:002023-12-24T09:52:09.324-06:00Season's Readings: A compilation of favorite historical novel lists from 2023<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBzq51gsG-ZZCjWfBWTtxtjvhPlVe4tCD3kYFjfBic6pGqP4IpTk2QhyjSFwePUh3HUNuNZtXJduJNLUFtokbR_QHUUYtNwfCFHEfkpcW-XusNwrra4OVuKAkTOXbm008hEmYecqwBg6dgncvhI_HCvRBG0AV2KiVgZaEhYXi5kklaNmiKQXa9/s457/best%20banner.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Covers of some books chosen as the year 2023's best" border="0" data-original-height="174" data-original-width="457" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBzq51gsG-ZZCjWfBWTtxtjvhPlVe4tCD3kYFjfBic6pGqP4IpTk2QhyjSFwePUh3HUNuNZtXJduJNLUFtokbR_QHUUYtNwfCFHEfkpcW-XusNwrra4OVuKAkTOXbm008hEmYecqwBg6dgncvhI_HCvRBG0AV2KiVgZaEhYXi5kklaNmiKQXa9/w400-h152/best%20banner.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>I feel like I've been neglecting this blog over the last week. It's been a busy semester at the library, and I've also been spending a lot of time reading and reviewing novels that won't be published until 2024. These will be appearing here later. For now, I thought I'd post links to the "best books of 2023" roundups I've found that cover historical novels.</div><br />The <a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2023%2F12%2F05%2Fbooks%2Freview%2Fbest-historical-fiction-books-2023.html%3Fmwgrp%3Da-dbar%26unlocked_article_code%3D1.Hk0.VU5W.HVou7ozKX6bj%26smid%3Durl-share%26fbclid%3DIwAR0ZVW2L0NNFuui7sIpNECNYfPZTLFyILnjH87k3ygmq7yhdy6nCQQbc5k0&h=AT0ZmaY5fnRpn5zE21nTeD_zBHJTCjS1O0fdVpPhF7kcEKY8oe9QO7b5Onpz5St2Lk91nuCmGlRrJWAnBZegxm-jvMW24IsXT04fzDDiYHCebzGuM4BEYD3LE-DdHKy8tvgsY-xosF0NLg&__tn__=R]-R&c[0]=AT0cjJjjWWAMewAh64M1WtxehbLlIbXmjQ1Qilu2jEd2ea877i1zHwyelgT8ry1aO3KoT0xwwZQOO1cCoWvskBjFIM20RBF_Y9iS8bIXkaTc6lsb1ag-3y8e7KC_j3whuLtQC3UqigJMA4aRZZOgCL4mSs511f9ABWW65QInmwJvmTNX2CAwx9veb6ZI0c3I57WGC0v9dt9_GlHWGtr29Fzd" target="_blank"><i>New York Times</i> has their selection of the best historical fiction from 2023</a>. This is a gift article, so you can read it even if you don't subscribe. Unsurprisingly, most of these ten are literary fiction. Paul Harding's <i>This Other Eden </i>and Daniel Mason's <i>North Woods </i>would be on my list too. There are some others on the list that I struggled with. For example, I found <i>The Fraud</i> alternately compelling and confusing, since it's very dense, and the nonlinear structure left me feeling lost at times. But I can understand its appeal, and I'm very glad that the NYT has been covering historical fiction regularly.<br /><br />The <a href="https://apps.npr.org/best-books/#tags=historical+fiction&view=covers&year=2023" target="_blank">historical fiction category at NPR's Books We Love</a> is a perennial favorite since the books fall across many subgenres and age categories. And there are always novels here I haven't come across before.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-best-historical-fiction-books-of-2023-r256pfmtn" target="_blank"><i>Sunday Times</i> offers a dozen best historical novels of 2023</a>. This is probably paywalled unless you have an account, so I'll give some highlights. Elodie Harper's <i>The Temple of Fortuna</i>, third in her trilogy about a woman from a Pompeii brothel, is on the list. Book 1, <i>The Wolf Den</i>, was excellent, and I'm looking forward to the next two. There's also Elizabeth Fremantle's <i>Disobedient</i>, about Artemisia Gentileschi, and Laura Shepherd-Robinson's <i>The Square of Sevens</i>, set in Georgian England.<br /><br /><a href="https://crimereads.com/the-best-historical-fiction-of-2023/" target="_blank">Crimereads has their best historical fiction of 2023</a>. They describe their picks as historical mysteries and thrillers, but their definition seems broad; it encompasses historical fantasy adventure novels, a swashbuckling pirate story (Katherine Howe's <i>A True Account</i>), <i>The Square of Sevens</i> again, and Cheryl A. Head's <i>Time's Undoing</i>, a dual-period story about unearthing racial injustice, which I'd read from a library copy.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/the-5-best-historical-fiction-books-of-2023/article_9397a47e-99fa-11ee-9ac8-9b485846efe1.html" target="_blank"><i>Toronto Star</i> lists just five books</a>, including Emma Donoghue's <i>Learned by Heart</i>, about the young Anne Lister, and Janie Chang's <i>The Porcelain Moon</i>, covering a little-known angle on WWI-era France.<div><br /></div><div>Shepherd.com has been asking authors to name the best books they read this year. They compiled the results, sorted them by category, and came up with a list of the <a href="https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023/historical-fiction" target="_blank">100 best historical novels of 2023</a>. Many of these are older titles, and it'd be a stretch to call some of them historical fiction. But it is a wide-ranging, diverse list of choices. You can also <a href="https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023/historical-fiction?only-published" target="_blank">narrow it down to those titles published this year</a>.<br /><br />And the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-historical-fiction-books-2023" target="_blank">Goodreads Choice Awards for 2023 in the historical fiction category</a>. There's some overlap between this list and the ones linked above -- like James McBride's <i>The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store</i> and Isabel Allende's <i>The Wind Knows My Name</i> -- but not much. The overall winner is Emilia Hart's <i>Weyward</i>.<br /><br />If you have other lists to share, please let me know.<br /><br />Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! I'll be back after the holiday with more reviews and historical fiction news.<br /><br /></div>Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-75129391549266033892023-12-14T18:07:00.001-06:002023-12-14T18:07:18.287-06:00The Other Princess reveals the life story of Queen Victoria's African-born goddaughter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS6zMTHCaIze43d9jBGsf8Ly9DrcW71flAN6Ht7Cjk9awORU535MXxA4gx0zqQXpWsGmGV3NghFUuztKlcsgxl3ET8fr7qdttAhBMkxoWjatVe7NCIZMiuH9bzxtiXV1l2baHjqBskkQlkuUGSyxd6v4tDbBHUOf2eg-T1KKlhXyk30hSTiFuy/s301/other-princess.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="200" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS6zMTHCaIze43d9jBGsf8Ly9DrcW71flAN6Ht7Cjk9awORU535MXxA4gx0zqQXpWsGmGV3NghFUuztKlcsgxl3ET8fr7qdttAhBMkxoWjatVe7NCIZMiuH9bzxtiXV1l2baHjqBskkQlkuUGSyxd6v4tDbBHUOf2eg-T1KKlhXyk30hSTiFuy/s1600/other-princess.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Novels that trace an entire life can show extraordinary depth of character as the protagonists adjust to shifts in circumstance and mature physically and emotionally. <i>The Other Princess</i> is such a book, and its narrator, Sarah Forbes Bonetta, endures more trials than most. Hers is a life of extremes: enslavement, violence, loss, and loneliness, but also friendship, love, and great privilege, accompanied by countless restrictions on her behavior and choices. As wonderfully conveyed by Bryce, Sarah navigates the ripples and swells of her life with grace, always confident in her innate worthiness.
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Born into a royal family of the Egbado people in West Africa in 1843, and named Aina by her father (“child of a difficult birth”), she is orphaned at five, when the warriors of King Gezo of Dahomey attack her homeland, and gets transferred to a slave camp. Several seasons later, a British naval commander saves her from ritual sacrifice with the aim of bringing her to England and gifting her to Queen Victoria. As she grows up amid Commander Forbes’s family, the girl renamed Sarah, meaning “princess,” comes to appreciate life’s finer things, becoming a talented pianist and befriending Princess Alice on her regular visits to Windsor Castle to see the Queen. However, a permanent home eludes her.
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The story principally covers Sarah’s childhood and adolescence, since this formative time impacts the woman she becomes. As she moves across years and places, from various British locales to Sierra Leone and back, her voice feels achingly authentic, full of strength and pride but also vulnerability; she determines to find purpose in an existence where she’s seen as an outsider or novelty. Her relationship with Africa, the source of both her childhood trauma and her royal heritage, is rendered with remarkable complexity. A beautifully resonant biographical novel about a noteworthy figure.<div><br /></div><div>Denny S. Bryce's <i>The Other Princess</i> appeared from William Morrow in October. In the UK, the publisher is Allison & Busby. I reviewed it initially for the <i>Historical Novels Review</i>. Another historical novel based on the life of Sarah Forbes Bonetta is Anni Domingo's <i>Breaking the Maafa Chain</i>, which imagines a sister for Sarah who is transported to America as part of the transatlantic slave trade.</div>Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-27152679628805345902023-12-09T08:45:00.003-06:002023-12-09T08:45:40.320-06:00Jessie Burton's feminist Medusa flips the script on an ancient Greek myth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4CF2TU5CCLs8tDGVKl_jZfyPB7zJt_jJirnEfeWKHyDDLgbNyKVV3QZHqdvZMiZdujEj4EHhClTOHRFGkHPQg_u-i2tXLxN7vlkQ26otH7egGoIj_7eMevhdSITKG2BSLyyzbbGD6cGn1nTHzkKchDIsLlPSHN-G5bpiDsd7GFjzyKvqs2Em8/s262/medusa-adult.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="262" data-original-width="175" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4CF2TU5CCLs8tDGVKl_jZfyPB7zJt_jJirnEfeWKHyDDLgbNyKVV3QZHqdvZMiZdujEj4EHhClTOHRFGkHPQg_u-i2tXLxN7vlkQ26otH7egGoIj_7eMevhdSITKG2BSLyyzbbGD6cGn1nTHzkKchDIsLlPSHN-G5bpiDsd7GFjzyKvqs2Em8/s1600/medusa-adult.jpg" width="175" /></a></div>Originally published in 2022 for young adults, Burton’s feminist reboot of Medusa’s story has been reissued for the adult market, where mythological re-imaginings flourish. <br /><br />After her terrible transformation four years earlier, Medusa, now 18, and her immortal older sisters self-exiled to a deserted island, seeking peace. When Medusa observes a beautiful stranger anchoring his boat, she foresees a potential end to her loneliness. <br /><br />She and the boy, Perseus, grow close while exchanging personal histories, even though Medusa gives him a false name and doesn’t let him see her. Each draws back from revealing their ultimate secret—for Medusa, her head of multicolored snakes; for Perseus, the deadly purpose that led him there. A reckoning with the truth awaits. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2YKGlFrvn8u9mdQ82X1SJnW-A_puCIrja9Tbx8PjBS_omR26hCrm2nLG43ocFucWLXSeMmOVu2aqqbIDWtP4S5RLjUP0B_c5DphbJQARsaQCPz_UAIVLuNvHC9IbRWlD8TSuoMkPKIkTocBB3i_Z1gSyuu5nndqCbqc2a7wJeqw61DyKzyAV/s226/medusa-ya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="226" data-original-width="175" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2YKGlFrvn8u9mdQ82X1SJnW-A_puCIrja9Tbx8PjBS_omR26hCrm2nLG43ocFucWLXSeMmOVu2aqqbIDWtP4S5RLjUP0B_c5DphbJQARsaQCPz_UAIVLuNvHC9IbRWlD8TSuoMkPKIkTocBB3i_Z1gSyuu5nndqCbqc2a7wJeqw61DyKzyAV/s1600/medusa-ya.jpg" width="175" /></a></div>Burton compassionately humanizes her protagonist, a rape survivor yearning for the normal life she can never have, in unambiguous, occasionally poetic contemporary language as Medusa grows in self-confidence. While not as substantial as Natalie Haynes’ <i><a href="https://readingthepast.blogspot.com/2023/02/a-monster-reenvisioned-natalie-haynes.html" target="_blank">Stone Blind</a></i> (2023), this short novel of betrayal and destiny, which questions who the myth’s real monsters are, grants Medusa a well-deserved, empowering finale.<div><br /></div><div>YA recommendation: Medusa’s narrative encapsulates the themes of the #MeToo movement in an honest, vulnerable voice that YAs can easily relate to.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Medusa</i> was published (or I should say, republished) in paperback by Bloomsbury this month. I wrote this review for <i>Booklist</i>'s November 1st issue. The most recent cover is at the top; the original YA version is further down. The original indicates it contains illustrations, although these weren't there in the version I read. It's not typical that YA novels are reissued for adults, though this novel could work either way. Whether Burton's retelling is truly historical fiction (of the historical fantasy variety) is open to debate, since the story feels more timeless than ancient. There are references to specific places, but little sense of the historical past. </div><div><br /></div><div>Burton is also the author of <i><a href="https://readingthepast.blogspot.com/2014/06/book-review-miniaturist-by-jessie-burton.html" target="_blank">The Miniaturist</a></i>, its sequel <i><a href="https://readingthepast.blogspot.com/2022/07/jessie-burtons-house-of-fortune.html" target="_blank">The House of Fortune</a></i>, and <i><a href="https://readingthepast.blogspot.com/2016/07/jessie-burtons-muse-original-art.html" target="_blank">The Muse</a></i> (links to my reviews).</div>Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-3408955103145582002023-12-01T14:26:00.000-06:002023-12-01T14:26:23.203-06:00Resistance and memory: Lauren Grodstein's We Must Not Think of Ourselves<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibHggyJvv70vx4xDbP02wqbRvIv0WyFuKLOFsdv6VTEEG0ujFsnDMWKgYb0WmA_53a2srxMQeemY6Oq1fZVgJZtTRnRBvj0N-98X6qFKTKvQY3xdMl9lYOwdUwmSGJl6wXnA-Dfct5vThw5455447N3v-ZzrOg2Rqr4_mceCaAzmOWHJCKp_Nm/s302/grodstein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="200" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibHggyJvv70vx4xDbP02wqbRvIv0WyFuKLOFsdv6VTEEG0ujFsnDMWKgYb0WmA_53a2srxMQeemY6Oq1fZVgJZtTRnRBvj0N-98X6qFKTKvQY3xdMl9lYOwdUwmSGJl6wXnA-Dfct5vThw5455447N3v-ZzrOg2Rqr4_mceCaAzmOWHJCKp_Nm/s1600/grodstein.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Acts of resistance take many forms. For the Jews confined in the Warsaw Ghetto by the Nazis in November 1940, conditions are miserable: cramped living quarters, food shortages, mandatory curfews, increasing restrictions, harsh abuses stemming from pure bigotry. But these people are determined to embrace life, even as it becomes clear the world won’t be rescuing them. “It is up to us to write our own history… Deny the Germans the last word,” says organizer Emanuel Ringelblum, in recruiting the narrator of this penetrating novel to his clandestine archival team.
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As a recorder for the Oneg Shabbat (“joy of the Sabbath”) project, Adam Paskow, a 42-year-old widower, agrees to interview his fellow Jews about their daily lives and histories, whatever they witness in the ghetto and choose to reveal. Adam, an English teacher who continues his classes in the basement of a destroyed cinema, is an affable fellow. Having been surprised into sharing a small apartment with two families, he finds his interviewees close by. <br /><br />The children’s accounts are simultaneously poignant and delightful. While young boys smuggle food in from the outside, keeping their families alive, they remain amusingly disinterested in adult issues and problems, including Adam’s nosy questions. And through the unavoidable intimacy of their shared living space, Adam grows close to Sala Wiskoff, a married mother of two who’s resourceful, caring, and witty. Still in possession of his late wife’s valuable jewelry, Adam clings to it, realizing its value as a future bargaining chip during desperate times.
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The Oneg Shabbat was a real-life documentary project, a unique example of cultural resistance during the Holocaust in Poland. Grodstein movingly re-creates the circumstances behind its creation, capturing the dire atmosphere of the Ghetto and the richly developed, distinctive lives of the people trapped within its walls. Among recent WWII-era fiction, this is a memorable standout.<br /><br /><i>We Must Not Think of Ourselves</i> was published by Algonquin Books this week. I reviewed it from an Edelweiss e-copy for the <i>Historical Novels Review</i>. The novel, the author's first work of historical fiction, is the December 2023 pick for the Read with Jenna book club on the TODAY show.<br /><br />Read and view more about the <a href="https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/ringelblum/index.asp" target="_blank">Oneg Shabbat underground archive at Yad Vashem</a>.Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-47868195930522351372023-11-25T09:18:00.001-06:002023-11-25T09:18:06.395-06:00Experience a courageous woman's life in early Maine with Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQjfIMQKRuP7zkATzwICA5yQMdluaEHYOLIPMieyqXKTC_6OSfAk_0XkIJ5GtQunGp009Bf3QwQ_2u4RjtqrQNhAaQvrA6Fu-Cuskg6V0KgWjUlxudRJqsDY57wBRo94V4wXtxF1086tAq1ux0xlfGkhZWGMlANorQfvVo9haOAIiHigYoqWzV/s266/frozen-river.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="175" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQjfIMQKRuP7zkATzwICA5yQMdluaEHYOLIPMieyqXKTC_6OSfAk_0XkIJ5GtQunGp009Bf3QwQ_2u4RjtqrQNhAaQvrA6Fu-Cuskg6V0KgWjUlxudRJqsDY57wBRo94V4wXtxF1086tAq1ux0xlfGkhZWGMlANorQfvVo9haOAIiHigYoqWzV/s1600/frozen-river.jpg" width="175" /></a></div>Spanning the winter of 1789–90 in Hallowell, Maine, from the freezing of the Kennebec River to its late thaw, Lawhon’s outstanding sixth novel is based on the actual life of frontier midwife Martha Ballard, who recorded daily diary entries about her household and career. <br /><br />Called to examine the body of Joshua Burgess after it was retrieved from icy waters, Martha recognizes the telltale signs of hanging. Burgess and another man, a local judge, had been accused of raping a young pastor’s wife four months earlier, and Martha believes her account unquestioningly. She also guesses the two crimes are connected. <br /><br />A sage, strong presence at 54, Martha is an extraordinary character. Devoted to her patients and her six surviving children, mostly young adults with complicated love lives, she battles subjugation by a Harvard-educated doctor who dares to think her incapable. <div><br />Although this isn’t a traditional detective story, Martha’s narrative will capture historical mystery fans’ attention with its dramatic courtroom scenes and emphasis on justice, particularly for women. Flashbacks to Martha’s past add context and generate additional suspense. <br /><br />Martha’s enduring romance with her supportive husband, Ephraim, is beautifully evoked, and details about the lives of the townspeople make the post-American Revolutionary atmosphere feel fully lived-in. Lawhon’s first-rate tale should entrance readers passionate about early America and women’s history.<br /><br /><i>The Frozen River</i> will be published on December 5th by Doubleday in the US and Canada. I wrote this review originally for <i>Booklist</i>.<br /><br /><b>Some other notes:</b></div><div><br /></div><div>- Martha Ballard is also the subject of Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction history book, <i>A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812</i> (1990). </div><div><br /></div><div>- The sexual assault of the young pastor's wife, Rebecca Foster, is based in history, and the real Martha recorded details about it in her diary. I won't say more so as not to give spoilers about the novel's plot.</div><div><br /></div><div>- Martha and I are about the same age, and it's nice to see an older heroine in historical fiction for a change!<br /><br />- I've previously read and reviewed two of the author's previous novels, <i><a href="https://readingthepast.blogspot.com/2020/03/code-name-helene-by-ariel-lawhon-novel.html" target="_blank">Code Name Hélène</a></i> (2020) and <i><a href="https://readingthepast.blogspot.com/2018/05/i-was-anastasia-novel-of-identity-hope.html" target="_blank">I Was Anastasia</a></i> (2018). I loved <i>Code Name Hélène</i> and think this latest book is even better.<br /></div>Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-18839309104939429922023-11-21T16:32:00.005-06:002023-11-21T16:33:56.759-06:00Daniel Mason's epic North Woods reveals the interconnectedness of humanity and nature over centuries<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYKLlJ00N_7cLIHIxnpsuPBKuw22eWXPeZOYfu3LcHEo6f69glcvN_08WCFSgXnVgHHeMV7CRR8sMI4QqG2uaihohRdDKf8SdiOHtX4xPXuOaI-uKMEKU7UBcoiBoEhHwM-bPn6AwZVrhJSD27PzLzS6VY8DfDHByaKHC2DApNsZhicZ8FAnpk/s300/north%20woods.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYKLlJ00N_7cLIHIxnpsuPBKuw22eWXPeZOYfu3LcHEo6f69glcvN_08WCFSgXnVgHHeMV7CRR8sMI4QqG2uaihohRdDKf8SdiOHtX4xPXuOaI-uKMEKU7UBcoiBoEhHwM-bPn6AwZVrhJSD27PzLzS6VY8DfDHByaKHC2DApNsZhicZ8FAnpk/s1600/north%20woods.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>From the moment two forbidden lovers – the prospective wife of an abusive minister and a reported troublemaker she ironically met at church – flee their repressive Puritan colony for the remote woods of western Massachusetts, the cabin they build in a mountain clearing becomes the setting for an astonishing collection of events across the centuries. <br /><br />In twelve chapters that press forward in time and evoke the different seasons, Mason reveals the transformative magic inherent in an ordinary place. Humanity and nature intermix, spurring small and large changes, and the layers of the past remain with us, albeit occasionally taking surprising forms.
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While the time periods aren’t formally signposted, each can be determined through the reading, and the chapters show impressive virtuosity in terms of period-suitable language, format, and characterization. In the anonymous “Nightmaids Letter,” a young wife who survives an Indian attack describes a scene of attempted vengeance and the shocking aftermath. An English veteran of the French and Indian War dedicates his life to his apple orchard; his twin daughters grow old while attempting to continue his legacy. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8WBnbs9zODSkbJOdS_M5pUT0xNbKZfBF_snBqs1B6a6VJKs8OPdhi1_dXJOXjhaI_vzUIZhixF_yRAjv2UTN7-NQ68Ix6fgPfSdSNlnBS3njMFz8i3s7b5WSu-Jv11Hf3tkNIkSlRKZLHVd4b07WjAu5WavCyd8xApoYAHcmu_-DM11lr_QSJ/s307/north%20woods%20uk.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="307" data-original-width="200" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8WBnbs9zODSkbJOdS_M5pUT0xNbKZfBF_snBqs1B6a6VJKs8OPdhi1_dXJOXjhaI_vzUIZhixF_yRAjv2UTN7-NQ68Ix6fgPfSdSNlnBS3njMFz8i3s7b5WSu-Jv11Hf3tkNIkSlRKZLHVd4b07WjAu5WavCyd8xApoYAHcmu_-DM11lr_QSJ/s1600/north%20woods%20uk.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Deep human emotion winds through the pages: loneliness, jealousy, passion, family ties, concealed and thwarted desire, along with beautiful reflections on the natural world, from the echo of songbirds to death and decay. A painter’s ongoing letters to his writer friend are among the most poignant sections.
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Over the novel’s course, it feels especially rewarding (with some great “aha” moments for the reader) to see earlier episodes reappear as historical artifacts or tales down the road. Just like in life, the process of historical discovery can be incredible or frustrating, since mysteries from the past sometimes stay that way. <br /><br />The last two chapters, full of revelation, put the entire story-landscape into greater and more wondrous perspective. This wisely compassionate and refreshingly different literary epic is an excellent read.<br /><br /><i>North Woods</i> was published by Random House in the US and Canada, and John Murray in the UK. I reviewed it for November's <i>Historical Novels Review</i> from a NetGalley copy. I'm already seeing this novel on many "best of" lists for 2023. The North American cover, top left, reflects one aspect of the story, but I'm not fond of it. The UK cover is somewhat better. I look forward to seeing what the paperback edition will look like.Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19307003.post-19237972934529794432023-11-16T17:00:00.002-06:002023-11-16T17:23:50.728-06:00The 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards historical fiction nominees are up – but look in other categories, tooThe initial round of the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards is open for voting through Sunday, November 26th. Have you made your selections yet?<br /><br />I always participate, even though I agree with the sentiment that it's primarily a popularity contest (which Goodreads itself says; they include in their guidelines that "<a href="https://help.goodreads.com/s/announcements/a038V00000U4O5zQAF/goodreads-choice-awards-updates" target="_blank">our goal is to have the Goodreads Choice Awards reflect the books that are most popular with our members</a>"). There's no longer an option to provide write-in votes, so what you see within the categories are the nominees.<br /><br />It is nice that they always include a <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-historical-fiction-books-2023">historical fiction category</a>. I've only read three of them and would like to read the others. This year, there seems less of an issue with novels that seemed a <i>stretch</i> too late for historical fiction (like, set primarily in the 1980s or 1990s) being included in this category.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAszWpBEqMc_OXQVLdYiR98PR5DmvYZZuoluvs_-smHdE7zuUBp3KSrAnAFNwhVfNFDDZrHA_D8KaD693MS2c-ldQVWbZtB5xtMEnkennsRfaKUG9IIfbAqhR-4n7rhbLw7AHNu5bRuuYgquVlpYPnhTtRa5gLBAfFMBIE0UPBKvokeUu1Ti28/s725/opening%20round%20hf.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Goodreads Choice historical fiction nominees" border="0" data-original-height="725" data-original-width="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAszWpBEqMc_OXQVLdYiR98PR5DmvYZZuoluvs_-smHdE7zuUBp3KSrAnAFNwhVfNFDDZrHA_D8KaD693MS2c-ldQVWbZtB5xtMEnkennsRfaKUG9IIfbAqhR-4n7rhbLw7AHNu5bRuuYgquVlpYPnhTtRa5gLBAfFMBIE0UPBKvokeUu1Ti28/s16000/opening%20round%20hf.png" /></a></div><br />A note, though, that if you want to cast your votes for historical fiction, you should make sure to scan the other fiction categories to see what's there. For the novels above which are debuts, you'll find most within the Debut Novel category as well.<br /><br />Historical fiction frequently overlaps with other genres, creating genre-blends. I nearly missed that Kate Morton's <i>Homecoming</i> was in the Mystery category, for instance. Within Horror, you'll find Victor Lavalle's <i>Lone Women</i>, which is a great example of that genre as well as historical fiction (an excellent, original, very strange novel I may review later), as well as <i>Vampires of El Norte</i> by Isabel Cañas and <i>The Reformatory</i> by Tananarive Due. I also noticed that Isabel Allende's <i>The Wind Knows My Name</i>, another dual-time novel but set mostly in the '80s and after, is placed with Historical Fiction rather than in the general Fiction category. <br /><br /><div>If you're looking to find the ancient myth retellings so popular in historical fiction lately, you won't find them in that category; instead, you'll find them <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-fantasy-books-2023">under Fantasy</a>. This makes sense for Natalie Haynes' <i>Stone Blind</i>, about Medusa, but one could argue that Jennifer Saint's <i>Atalanta</i> and Costanza Casati's <i>Clytemnestra</i> fit better as historical fiction, if you had to choose one and only one category for them. For me, the decision hinges on whether the author has made the effort to re-create a realistic historical atmosphere of ancient Greece, or whether the novel is primarily set in the realm of myth.</div><div><br /></div><div>I always find it interesting to see how others choose to categorize novels. Voting for the final round for the awards will begin on November 28th.</div>Sarah Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340312953393474963noreply@blogger.com2