#ReadUP! Ten recent historical novels from university presses

University Press Week, sponsored by the Association of  American University Presses, runs from November 14-19 this year.  It's been celebrated since 1978, and in acknowledgment of this year's event, I'm presenting ten recent historical novels from university presses.  While better known for publishing scholarly nonfiction, many university presses offer a selection of fiction titles, often focusing on topics set within their region.

The author fictionalizes her aunt's secret and courageous past as a science writer and lesbian during the Cold War years. University of Wisconsin Press, 2016.

A girl in small-town Arkansas in the 1960s has her eyes opened to the religious and racial tensions in her community.  University of Arkansas Press, 2016.

The author based his novel about three men in the free-fire zone known as the Arizona Territory in Vietnam's An Hoa Basin on his own wartime experiences.  Naval Institute Press, 2016.

A collection of interlinked stories about four generations of a Jewish family, moving from France to America starting during the WWII years. See the author's guest post.  BkMk Press of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2016.

Set in California's Great Central Valley in the '40s, the story of Bea Franco, who was fictionalized as "Terry, the Mexican girl" in Jack Kerouac's On the Road.   See my earlier review.  University of Arizona Press, 2016 (paperback).

Described as an East of Eden-type saga set in the Appalachian Mountains, this novel takes place in the 1940s and follows characters first mentioned in the author's earlier Black Mountain Saga books.  Mercer University Press, 2016.

In post-Civil War Texas, a teenage boy joins with two of his uncles, a black man, and a Texas ranger to rescue a young girl from violent renegades. TCU Press, 2016.

This debut novel focuses on two Catholic families, one white and one black, whose women work on segregated floors of the same cigar factory in Charleston, South Carolina, during the world wars.  University of South Carolina Press, 2016.

A multi-generational novel about the women of the Goode-Brown family, set in the rural black township of Opulence, Kentucky starting in the 1960s.  University Press of Kentucky, 2016.

Set in Sudan in the late 19th century, this prizewinning novel (Naguib Mahfouz Medal, 2014) tells the story of two lovers, a Sudanese man and a Greek woman, whose lives are torn apart during the Mahdi uprising.  American University in Cairo Press, 2016.