A dozen new and upcoming historical novels featuring royalty

Novels about the personal lives of royalty, and those close to the throne, were among my first loves in historical fiction.  These books waxed and waned in popularity over the past few decades, but although they've never fallen out of favor, authors are continually in search of new approaches and different historical figures to write about. 

Presented here are twelve new and recent titles centering on royalty, ones I haven't featured here before (see also my posts for Women's History Month).  Their subjects span a wide range of times and places, but it's not surprising that English settings predominate.


An alternate history novel about the daughter of Queen Elizabeth I, first in a new series by Andersen (The Boleyn Trilogy).  Ballantine, May 2015.



The Sun King gets a lot of attention in historical fiction, but this debut centers on the court of his great-grandson, the "well-beloved" Louis XV, and the five Nesle sisters – four of whom became his mistresses.  Atria, September 2015.



Dunn is known for exploring Tudor women's lives from new angles.  Here her subjects are Lady Jane Grey, the nine-day Protestant queen, and Elizabeth Tilney, a young Catholic woman who is drawn into her circle toward the end of Jane's life.  Little Brown UK, May 2015. 



A new retelling of Empress Matilda, granddaughter of William the Conqueror and daughter of King Henry I, who was forced to fight for her crown.  Robert Hale, June 2015.



Gregory continues her Tudor Court series with her depiction of another female protagonist trapped in difficult circumstances: the independent-minded Kateryn Parr, last wife of Henry VIII.  Simon & Schuster, August 2015.


The life story of Zenobia, an ambitious Syrian woman in the 3rd century AD who dreams of becoming Queen of Palmyra and of bringing Rome to its knees.  Lake Union, December 2015.



British history writer Lisa Hilton imagines the story of Isabelle of Angouleme, future Queen of England and former betrothed of Hugh of Lusignan, whose family hopes to use her to re-establish the Old Religion in early 13th-century Europe.  Corvus, October 2015.



This is the 2nd action-packed volume of Iggulden's evocation of the Wars of the Roses, in which Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England, fiercely defends her son's birthright.  Michael Joseph UK (published as Wars of the Roses: Trinity), 2014; also Putnam, June 2015.



The timeless biblical tale of a young Jewish girl who rises to become Queen of Persia and is given the power to save her people is reinterpreted here by Kanner (The Sinners and the Sea).  Howard, November 2015. Look out also for novels by Angela Hunt (Esther: Royal Beauty) and India Edghill (Game of Queens, about Esther and her predecessor, Vashti). 



Limburg's debut novel delves into the life of Queen Anne, destined to be overshadowed by other members of her Stuart family, but here granted her proper place as a complex figure who endured considerable tragedy.  Atlantic, August 2015.



Through her novels, Purcell presents a convincing case that the Georgian monarchy was every bit as fascinating as those before and after.  Her latest recounts the story of Henrietta Howard, mistress of King George II.  Myrmidon, August 2015.



Randel's debut novel is about the intelligent concubine who rose to become China's first and only female ruler, the Empress Wu, in the 7th century; first in a two-book series.  Sourcebooks Landmark, March 2016.

The presentation: A quick journey through historical fiction covers and trends

For attendees at last weekend's Historical Novel Society conference who missed seeing the session on The Art of Book Cover Design for Historical Fiction, or for anyone else who's interested, here's a link to my part of the PowerPoint, which also includes my script (in the form of presentation notes).

Once you reach the linked page, click on Download to open the file.  It's 2 mb.

I don't usually work with a script, but since I was going first out of five and had a short time allotted to me, I practiced a few times to make sure it all fit.  Normally I'm used to giving hour-long presentations to students, so this helped.  Anyhow, enjoy!

The other four presenters were Jenny Quinlan of Historical Editorial (who talked about more trends and gave advice based on her cover design experience); Kris Waldherr (a novelist and designer who created beautiful covers for her own books and Sandra Gulland's ebooks, among others); Anna Michels of Sourcebooks (who provided an overview of the design process for Susan Higginbotham's upcoming novel Hanging Mary, including the covers that didn't make it); and Emily Victorson, publisher at Allium Press of Chicago (who showed how she uses period photographs and historical fonts to come up with their covers).

UPDATE, July 9th:  Jenny Quinlan's part of the presentation is now online at her blog.  It's a must-see if you're interested in cover design trends; she also provides insight into historical anachronisms.

A sidenote: while I was heading up the elevator at the conference hotel, another attendee saw my badge and speaker ribbon and asked what I was presenting about. I told her, and she asked me, "So, are you for or against headless women?"  This is the type of conference it was.  Everyone spoke the same language.

Cat Winters' The Uninvited, an atmospheric ghost story set at a terrifying time

Ivy Rowan sees ghosts. The women in her family all have this gift, or curse. Whenever they glimpse a “harbinger spirit,” they know someone close to them will die soon.

The heavy sense of dread that hangs over Cat Winters’ work of gothic suspense, her first novel for adults, derives as much from the historical milieu as from this unnatural ability.

Set in fictional Buchanan, Illinois, population 12,500 (although the infrastructure and sprawling layout appear to resemble a larger city like Peoria rather than the small-town setting where I live), The Uninvited hits to the heart of why the year 1918 was such a terrifying time. The threats are all too human.

Ivy has barely recovered from a nasty bout of flu when she learns her father and younger brother have gone out and killed a German man who co-owned a local furniture store – in a horribly misguided act of revenge, since Ivy’s older brother Billy had recently died while fighting overseas. Feeling intense guilt over the deadly results of their “superpatriotic” sentiments, Ivy leaves her family’s white farm house and trudges past the city limits, with its sign warning visitors about the dreaded influenza.

When she seeks out the victim’s surviving brother, Daniel Schendler, in an effort to somehow make amends, she stumbles into an unexpected mutual attraction. Ivy is also drawn toward the syncopated rhythms emanating from the jazz club that’s sprung up at the Masonic Lodge downtown. Interestingly, the scene there is one of the few places in the city that recognizes people as equals, regardless of color or ethnicity.

The novel is drenched in atmosphere, both the terrible paranoia that caused Americans to turn on so-called enemy aliens during wartime – a shameful practice that continues to occur – and the heady release found in music. For fans of The Thirteenth Tale and other novels of that ilk, The Uninvited has more than one daring twist. (I felt proud at predicting one of them, but another blindsided me.) And either paradoxically or fittingly, in this story saturated by death, it also evokes the intoxicating joy that comes with being young, vibrant, and free.  I recommend it as a shivery read this summer.

The Uninvited will be published by William Morrow in trade paperback in August (368pp, $14.99). Thanks to the publisher for approving my access via Edelweiss.

Hot topics and themes in historical fiction - with recommended titles

This will be a shortish post, as I'll be heading out soon to the Historical Novel Society's 6th North American conference, which is in Denver this coming weekend.  I'll be speaking on a panel, "The Art of Book Cover Design for Historical Fiction," on Saturday afternoon, and have been practicing the presentation in my office today to make sure that it's timed appropriately.  There are five of us speaking, so we have about seven minutes apiece.  I think I'm good to go.

It's actually been a busy summer presentation-wise, since last Tuesday evening I gave an introductory workshop on historical fiction for my university's Academy of Lifelong Learning, which provides continuing education for adults in the local community.  There were 24 people signed up – a larger crowd than expected.  It was great to see so much interest in the topic.  The attendees had some good questions at the end, about trends, anachronisms, subgenres, and so forth.

One of the handouts I gave the audience was a guide to current trends in historical fiction, with a list of titles and descriptions.  Since I promised to make it publicly available, it's linked above as a pdf.  There are plenty of titles I didn't include, since I wanted to keep it to a reasonable length... but if you have favorite titles on trendy topics you'd like to recommend, please leave them in the comments.

For those readers and authors who'll be at the conference, I look forward to seeing you there!

New & upcoming historical novels by authors previously reviewed here

I always look forward to new novels by authors whose earlier books I've read and enjoyed.  For my newest gallery of upcoming titles, here are 10 historical novels set to appear over the next year, with details.



Secrets from a century ago are uncovered when a woman travels to Ireland, to go through the things her late uncle left behind in his lakeside cottage, and finds a manuscript written by a woman named Eliza Drury.  The author's previous novel, Liberty Silk, was a multi-generational novel written with both style and warmth.  Transworld Ireland, July.



After hearing Geraldine Brooks speak with the Washington Post's "totally hip book reviewer" Ron Charles at BEA, I've been eager to read her upcoming novel, focusing on the life of King David.  An ARC appeared in my mail yesterday, and I'll be reading it shortly.  I had reviewed her previous novel Caleb's Crossing for the Globe & Mail and reposted it here shortly thereafter.  Viking, October.



The two wealthy Melville sisters see their lives upended during WWI and try to establish new roots in the new, resulting world.  Clark moves ahead into the trendy early 20th-century timeframe following a visit to colonial Louisiana with Savage Lands and Victorian London with Beautiful Lies.  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October.



Marina Fiorato's earlier novels are set in historic Italy, and at first Kit, which opens in 18th-century Dublin, seems not to follow that pattern - but wait and see where Kit Kavanagh's adventures lead her.  Daughter of Siena, which I reviewed a few years ago, centers on the Palio horse race in the 18th century.  Hodder & Stoughton, July.



This is my most anticipated novel of the fall season.  As one would expect from Kate Morton, it's a generational mystery filled with family secrets and suspense, this time surrounding a child's disappearance in Depression-era Cornwall and the repercussions decades later.  For my earlier reviews of Morton's novels, see The Secret Keeper and The Distant Hours. Atria, October.



The market town of Chesterfield in Derbyshire may not be as high-profile as other locales Nickson's written about, like Seattle or Leeds, but I appreciate the chance to spend time in lesser-known places - especially when I've been there in real-life.  Great title for this upcoming sequel to the medieval mystery The Crooked Spire, which I read on my way home from the UK last September.  The Mystery Press, March 2016.



With her new release, Raybourn begins a new Victorian-era mystery series, this time featuring world traveler Veronica Speedwell, another of the adventurous historical heroines she's known for.  I've previously reviewed Night of a Thousand Stars, set in the Middle East in the '20s, and interviewed her about her first Victorian mystery, Silent in the Grave, way back in 2007.  NAL, September.



In the vein of her breakout novel The House at Tyneford, Solomons' latest focuses on family, music, and moving beyond grief and takes place on an English country estate in the '40s and half a century later.  Plume, December.

The grandfather of Layla Roy from Patel's debut, Teatime for the Firefly, is the protagonist of Flame Tree Road, set in 1870s India.  After seeing how his mother is shamefully treated after his father's death, Biren Roy decides to fight for a brighter future for women.  I'll be reviewing this later on in the summer.  MIRA, June.



Three star authors team up for a mystery surrounding a Gilded Age mansion, a woman from an old portrait, and an expensive heirloom.  Williams' The Secret Life of Violet Grant was reviewed here earlier, as was Willig's The Ashford Affair - and a review of Karen White's new book will be forthcoming.  NAL, January 2016.

A grand and dangerous adventure: Gill Paul's No Place for a Lady

The front lines of battle may seem to be no place for a lady, but it’s where two estranged sisters find new levels of maturity, see their strength tested to its limits, and develop new understandings of themselves and those they love.

Gill Paul's latest novel takes place during the Crimean War, a conflict in which Britain, France, Sardinia, and Ottoman Turkey united to fight Russia over the latter’s imperial expansions in the mid-19th century. It’s a complex set of circumstances, which may be why it doesn’t feature much in fiction, but she does a good job explaining the historical background.

In London in 1854, Dorothea Gray is distraught when her younger sister Lucy, an outgoing 17-year-old with little experience of the world, marries Charlie Harvington after a short courtship. Although Charlie is a captain with the 8th Hussars – part of the Light Brigade – Dorothea does some checking around and learns his parents have disowned him, calling him a “scoundrel of low morals."  Lucy, however, remains smitten with him.

Dorothea, at 31, is a talented volunteer nurse; bright and sensible, she’s clearly better cut out for a trek to the Crimean Peninsula than the sister she helped raise, their mother having died at Lucy's birth. However, it’s Lucy who heads there, with her new husband, just as war with the Russians is looming.

The narrative switches between the viewpoints of Dorothea, who hopes to join Florence Nightingale’s cadre of nurses in the Turkish lands and watch over Lucy there; and Lucy, who quickly learns that the conditions she’s forced to endure as an officer’s wife are hardly what she expects. Her naiveté is shown via the feather pillows and heirloom silk bedspread she brings along – they’re hopelessly impractical in the tents where she and Charlie set up camp.

Food supplies and warm uniforms are hard to come by during the harsh winter, which lowers morale and weakens the soldiers further. Lucy finds it hard to forgive Dorothea for trying to prevent her wedding but, with disease running rampant, needs her advice more than ever. Maybe it’s my age showing, but while I felt I was intended to see Dorothea as overbearing, as Lucy did, I admired her for being concerned about her sister's future.

This is a grand epic in the best sense: it has enormous sweep and scope but doesn’t neglect the smaller details of life during wartime or of travel through new, unfamiliar lands, from the mosques and minarets of Constantinople at sunset, the “black silhouettes against an orange sky,” to the Barracks Hospital in Scutari, with its terrible stench and primitive conditions.

The famous Miss Nightingale is on the scene, of course, extremely competent as she fearlessly takes charge, but her formidable presence and rigid rules mean she’s more beloved by her patients than her staff.

One minor distracting element involves an episode when Lucy disappears from view for a time.  When her perspective is delayed, to increase the suspense about where she is and whether the sisters will ever reunite, the novel's rhythm feels a bit disrupted. 

Regretfully, there aren’t many novels like this around anymore, and I might be tempted to call it old-fashioned for that reason, but the writing is brisk and fresh, and its enlightened multicultural perspective gives it contemporary resonance. There’s a good dose of romance, plenty of grit and realism, and unpredictable twists and turns – this isn’t the type of novel whose path is telegraphed from the beginning.  Many new characters pass through the sisters’ lives along their journeys, and both are altered by their experiences.

All in all, it’s an exciting story recommended to readers in search of adventure, and who are prepared to travel wherever the novel may lead.

No Place for a Lady will be published on July 2nd in paperback by Avon UK (400pp, £7.99) and is currently available as an ebook (£0.99 or $1.99).  Thanks to the author's publicist for sending me a pdf file as part of the blog tour.

Growing up royal: Chantal Thomas' The Exchange of Princesses

Best known for Farewell, My Queen (2003), an intimate glimpse of Marie Antoinette’s last days, Thomas has crafted a pointed and witty novel that sheds light on two eighteenth-century princesses trapped by familial obligations and the capricious whims of the court.

On January 9, 1722, two cortèges unload and swap their passengers at Pheasant Island, a neutral point in the Pyrenees region. To ally their quarrelsome countries, 12-year-old Louise Élisabeth of Orléans, one of the many neglected daughters of France’s regent, will marry the Spanish heir, Luis, while Luis’ half-sister, Mariana Victoria, an adorable three-year-old who clings to her dolls, is sent to France to wed the adolescent Louis XV. “Could a more perfect symmetry be imagined?” Thomas ironically observes.

Writing in a formal style, she highlights the absurdity of royal ceremonies and the cruel circumstances that abandon these girls to their fates and deny them anything resembling a real childhood. Excerpts from authentic, little-known letters and documents add to the reading experience. 

Chantal Thomas' The Exchange of Princesses, ably translated into English by John Cullen, will be published by Other Press in July ($16.95, trade pb, 336pp). This review first appeared in Booklist's June issue.

An additional note: I've read many novels about royalty (they're a special interest), so it's rare for me to pick up a work of royal fiction without knowing how it will end, but this particular episode was entirely new. If you haven't heard of it either, avoid Wikipedia before beginning!

An early look at Landfalls by Naomi J. Williams, nautical adventure with a difference

Tracing the movements of France’s ill-fated Lapérouse maritime expedition in the late eighteenth century, Williams’ exceptional debut isn’t your traditional seafaring yarn and is all the stronger and more penetrating for it.

The plot moves confidently between views of the changing landscape—from a crisply evoked Georgian London, where a naval engineer travels to procure supplies, and then on to Tenerife, Chile, Alaska, California, Russia, and the South Seas islands—and its characters’ choices and inner lives.

The emphasis is not on fast-paced drama so much as on interactions among the two ship’s captains (Lapérouse and Langle), their crews, the numerous scientists on board, and the residents and natives at many stopping points.

Williams’ status as an acclaimed short story writer is evident in her craftsmanship of each perfectly encapsulated chapter, each recounted from a different viewpoint or viewpoints. The section set at Monterey in 1786, for instance, demonstrates masterful use of perspective, as one revelation after another about the Spanish mission there comes to light.

Full of period sensibilities, particularly the Enlightenment-era urge to go forth and explore new domains, the novel is alternately charming, invigorating, and heartbreaking, and always thoughtful and humane. Even readers who don’t seek out nautical adventures will find themselves drawn in, especially if they love high-quality literary fiction.

Landfalls will be published in early August by Farrar Straus & Giroux ($26, hardcover, 336pp) and, in the UK, by Little Brown in October.  This starred review first appeared in the April 15th issue of Booklist.

Some additional notes: This book was such a wonderful surprise!  I'm not the natural audience for a lot of historical adventure fiction, as I often find myself wading through jargon that other readers of the subgenre seem to crave, and I've read plenty of round-the-world-exploration novels and wondered if this one would stand out.  It absolutely did, and I'm grateful I got the chance to read it.

A few notes on the historical novels at BEA 2015

I returned home from NYC on Saturday night and am still getting caught up.  It was a very busy few days at BEA, a big contrast from my quiet university town during the summer.

Although I was thrown off balance by having to miss opening day (thanks to an allergic reaction to something I'd had the night before), I still managed to collect a decent number of historical ARCs.  However, I took it pretty easy at the show, doing more sitting than networking, since I wasn't quite up to par by Thursday.  Which means I didn't wait on many of the signing lines I intended to. 

Instead, I spent a lot of time attending panels at the Uptown and Downtown stages and had a few meetings with publishers and publicists.  Among the panels, I especially enjoyed "inside the mystery writer's studio" featuring five writers (all men!), including Brad Meltzer, whose new thriller The President's Shadow features an archivist and has a historical aspect to it.  I've added it to my wishlist.

The historical novels I took back with me were a very diverse bunch, time- and setting-wise.  Some are for me, and others will be sent out for review for the Historical Novels Review (I attended BEA as a member of the press, representing HNR).



Sourcebooks is putting a lot of effort into promoting Susan Higginbotham's Hanging Mary, which isn't out until next spring; it's the first US-set novel from an author better known for writing about medieval and Renaissance English history.

Captain in Calico, at the very top, is George MacDonald Fraser's first and previously unpublished novel, a pirate adventure about Captain Jack Rackham in the 18th-century Caribbean.

I started reading Emily Holleman's Cleopatra's Shadows on the plane home and regretfully had to set it aside temporarily since I have two other reviews due next week. It has two viewpoint characters: Arsinoe and Berenice, both siblings to Cleopatra whose stories are comparatively little-known.



I also like what they did with the cover art: like the book itself, it takes a familiar subject and looks at it from a new perspective.  The original painting has graced many covers, including the one below, but with Cleopatra always at the center.  The Holleman cover shifts the view slightly.



And below, the second pile of historical fiction.  Two are speculative literary time-slips dealing with past lives, Susan Barker's The Incarnations and Gwendolyn Womack's The Memory Painter.  Check out the book trailer for the latter; it's fantastic and does exactly what a trailer should do.  It's beautifully filmed, moves quickly, and piqued my interest in the book.



One title that's missing: Geraldine Brooks' The Secret Chord, as I didn't have the stamina to wait in an hour-long signing line.  I did, however, attend the discussion she had with Washington Post book reviewer Ron Charles at one of the BEA stages, and it was great, with insight into how she decided on and researched her upcoming novel of King David.

Look for reviews of many of the above titles later in 2015 or early in 2016.

Which fall books are you looking forward to the most?

Family, drama, revolution: Freda Lightfoot's The Amber Keeper

Best known for her sagas of historical British life, Lightfoot’s newest release fits with the popular dual-narratives trend, in which family secrets from an earlier generation spill forth in a later era with dramatic results. Here the plot centers on the surprising suicide of Abbie Myers’ mother, Kate, and how it relates to the time Abbie’s adored grandmother, Millie, spent in Russia in the early 20th century.

In 1963, Abbie returns home to the Lake District from Paris after splitting with her married lover. Most of Abbie’s family, a truly sour bunch, blames her for Kate’s death, claiming that Abbie and her illegitimate daughter made Kate feel ashamed and despondent. Abbie doesn’t buy it, though, and turns to Millie for answers. As Abbie attempts to revitalize the family’s jewelry business, one revelation follows another as Millie speaks about her years as governess to an aristocratic Russian family.

The easy prose style draws one in immediately, and the setting of the early segments offers much promise: glittering St. Petersburg during the lead-up to the Bolshevik Revolution. However, the story is let down by over-the-top characters whose rapid emotional about-faces are hard to tolerate. Abbie puts up with terrible treatment from her father, brother, and ex and veers between telling them off and forgiving them. Countess Olga, Millie’s employer, is the epitome of cruelty and selfishness, although guessing what she’ll do next provides some entertainment.

The mystery surrounding Millie’s adoption of the young Kate from a London orphanage, and how a piece of rare amber came to be found in Kate’s belongings, pulls the two story strands together well, but more subtlety in the telling would have gone a long way.

The Amber Keeper was published by Amazon's Lake Union imprint in late 2014 in trade paperback ($14.95, 384pp) and ebook (currently $1.99).  This review first appeared in May's Historical Novels Review.

The Blue Mile by Kim Kelly: Love and social change in Depression-era Sydney

The third novel from Australian writer Kelly (aka book editor Kim Swivel), set in Depression-era Sydney, excels at depicting the era’s social conditions and the swoony exuberance and thorny complications of cross-class romance. The story unfolds through the internal musings of Irish-born Catholic Eoghan O’Keenan, recently let go from his factory job, and ambitious designer Olivia Greene, daughter of a viscount who abandoned her and her mother.

After Eoghan (“Yo”) flees the grime and alcoholism of the slums with his seven-year-old sister, Agnes, he encounters Olivia by chance in the Royal Botanic Gardens. Although there’s an instantaneous mutual attraction, their relationship progresses at a realistically sedate pace. They remain separated for long periods, while Olivia attracts new clientele to her and her mother’s couturier business and Eoghan takes a dangerous job catching rivets 300 feet above water during the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The stream-of-consciousness style takes getting used to, for Olivia in particular. Her unfiltered thoughts, full of energy and interjections, follow wherever her mind rambles. The couple’s viewpoints and vocabularies reflect their personalities, though. Both are caring people, and the narrative technique makes their sentiments toward one another feel startlingly real and honest.

The historical setting, presented clearly, plays a significant role. With Britain demanding repayment of Australia’s war debts, unemployment runs high, and there are growing pockets of civil unrest. The “blue mile” of the title refers to the overcrowded waterway dividing the city and the immense distances in faith and class separating Eoghan and Olivia. The Sydney Harbour Bridge’s massive arch, its two halves joining together at last in 1932, becomes a symbol of hope, but both the city and couple undergo significant strain before they can move forward. All of the details on the broader social context enhance the telling of a beautiful love story.

The Blue Mile was published by Macmillan Australia in 2014 (trade pb, A$29.99, 464pp).  I had picked it up as a Kindle copy, which is currently for sale at US$9.99.  This review first appeared in May's Historical Novels Review and is my third entry for the Australian Women Writers Challenge.

A gallery of new & upcoming historical novels from Canada

This latest gallery (see the tag Visual Previews for more) covers a dozen new and upcoming historical novels from Canadian publishers. The novels themselves are set all over the place: Canada, certainly, in the 19th and 20th centuries, but also 16th-century Istanbul, medieval Scotland, WWII France, and colonial America.

As an American reader, I often find it difficult to find new HF offerings from Canada; they're hard to track down through online bookstore listings.  I discovered a few of these through the authors' social media posts, and others through newspaper reviews, browsing publishers' catalogs, or because of my work with the Historical Novels Review.  I welcome suggestions for other books in the comments.



The life story of Camille Claudel, sculptor and mistress of Rodin, intertwines with that of the nurse who cares for her in France's Montdevergues Asylum in 1943.  Cormorant, May 2015.



This literary cowboy novel tells the adventures of John Ware (1845–1905), a former slave from South Carolina who established a successful ranch in southern Alberta.  TouchWood Editions, May 2015.



"But then she buys a rifle, and everything changes." The tale of the intrepid Abigail Peacock and her adventures (and those of other Western notables) in the late 19th-century Canadian and American West.  I'll be reading it shortly.  Brindle & Glass, June 2015.



A literary novel of freedom and re-invention, centering on a young Finnish woman who takes a road trip across the Canadian prairie in the '30s with a stranger she meets at a dance.  McClelland & Stewart, Feb 2015.


An epic love story between a soldier from Nova Scotia and a young Frenchwoman during WWI, set in the French countryside and in Halifax.  Simon & Schuster Canada, April 2015.



A young piano prodigy's coming of age, and the redemptive power of music, set in Depression-era Montreal.  Cormorant, May 2015.



A literary tall tale exploring the full-bodied life of Daniel Boone, set during the American Revolution.  Love the title.  Knopf Canada, Feb 2015.



A British war widow and a Nova Scotian schoolteacher unexpectedly join forces in post-WWI Alberta to help combat the spread of VD in the province. The author is the wife of Canada's Governor General.  Dundurn, April 2014.



This sequel to the bestselling The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi is a story of faith and forbidden love set in the 16th-century Ottoman Empire.  Aged 89 when her latest was published, Park is currently writing volume three. House of Anansi, October 2014.



For her latest work of literary fiction, Powning (The Sea Captain's Wife, reviewed here in 2011) turns to the story of English-born Mary Dyer, who traveled to America in the 1630s and found the Puritan church of the Massachusetts Bay Colony horrifically intolerant. Knopf Canada, April 2015.



The "farmerettes" are six young woman, recent high school grads, who form bonds, find love, and face heartbreak as they work together on a family farm, taking the place of men off fighting overseas during the summer of 1943.  A YA novel.  Second Story, April 2015.



Somehow I missed that Jack Whyte had a new book out.  This newest in his Scottish series is subtitled "a tale of Andrew Murray," a military leader who became a Guardian of Scotland. Viking Canada, November 2014.

Dissolution, faith, and love: Roses in the Tempest by Jeri Westerson

Isabella Launder is a yeoman farmer's daughter living in a Staffordshire village in 1515. A tall, plain woman who strikes up a close friendship with Thomas Giffard, the son of her father's overlord, Isabella makes the surprising decision to join a nunnery rather than be forced to marry someone else.  As a novice, holy sister, and finally prioress of Blackladies, she finds joy in caring for the convent's roses as well as a new kind of family life, though she never forgets Thomas, nor he her.

True to their era and their class, both are refreshingly honest about why a marriage between them would never have worked.  Still, their love for one another – strong, unreciprocated at first, always chaste – endures over the years, through Thomas' troubled marriage to an heiress; Isabella's adjustment to convent life, including the envy and abrasiveness of a fellow nun; and Henry VIII's decision to proclaim himself head of the church.  Repercussions from the latter bring even an inconspicuous, poor convent like Blackladies to the notice of the king and his greedy advisers.

Told in the alternating voices of Thomas and Isabella, Roses in the Tempest is decidedly different fare from Jeri Westerson's previous release, Cup of Blood, a fast-moving and suspenseful medieval mystery with a sexy outcast hero and plenty of witty banter.  However, while less action-oriented, it's just as engaging, and the contrast in styles demonstrates her versatility as a writer. 

In keeping with his family's position, Thomas is often at court, while Isabella remains enclosed within her small priory. The changing scenes provide a varied view of Tudor life.  Both protagonists show wonderful growth over time, and unlike many other novels set in the period, they come to share a deep-rooted and abiding faith, one that refuses to be dislodged on a king's whims.  This isn't inspirational fiction, but the prose has a spiritual richness that meshes perfectly with their outlook on the world.  Here is Isabella:

"Raising my head to inhale the remnants of summer, the bells sounded again.  Listening, I reflected on their timbre, how they called each of us to that quiet house of God's, and even how they were part of the landscape, like a tree or a fence.  How natural they were to the environment, as natural as I in my garden."

Westerson states up front that the relationship she posits between Isabella and Thomas is fictional, although the larger historical events are true, and all of the characters once existed. According to the introduction, the novel was first written 14 years ago, before her mystery-writing career began.  If she has others like it sitting in a dusty old drawer, let's hope they'll also be pulled out and released.

Roses in the Tempest was published in April by Old London Press ($13.99 pb / $5.99 ebook, 280pp). This was a personal purchase.

Art, war, and secrets: Currawong Manor by Josephine Pennicott

With her previous novel, Poet’s Cottage, Josephine Pennicott proved that edgy bohemian glamour and gothic creepiness made a great combination. Here she continues these themes but ups her game further with her riveting dual-period novel, set in Australia’s Blue Mountains in 2000 and 1945, about dreadful family secrets, the interpretations of creative works, and the lasting impact of war on artists and their art.

The modern protagonist, photographer Elizabeth Thorrington, jumps at the chance to return to Currawong Manor, her grandparents’ remote estate, following a career scandal. In the course of preparing a coffee-table book about her grandfather, eccentric painter Rupert Partridge, and his three beautiful life-models called the “Flowers,” she hopes to learn about her family history. A wild, haunted place, with its fairytale garden, high towers, and mythological sculptures wreathed in mist, Currawong was once the scene for a trio of tragedies. “The locals have always called it the Ruins,” Elizabeth tells a friend, “not just because it’s fallen into ruins, but because it ruins lives.” Then there are the mysterious “dollmaker” and her daughter, who were allowed to remain on the property – why?

The writing is sharp throughout, with striking images of the house both in the modern segments and in its prime. The most memorable creation is Ginger Lawson, whose attitude is as fiery as her hair. A former “Flower” with lots of sex appeal even in her 70s, Ginger returns to Currawong to be depicted anew in Elizabeth’s book. Her recollections about Rupert drive the plot along.

There’s a lot of story packed into the nearly 400 pages, all perfectly paced, with secrets teased out bit by bit until the shocking denouement – which is worth staying up late to discover. Fans of Kate Morton should devour it, but Pennicott has a distinctive style all her own.

This review first appeared in the Historical Novels Review's May issue and is based on my own copy of the book.  Currawong Manor was published by Macmillan Australia in 2014 in trade paperback (Au$29.99) and as an ebook ($11.99 - update 5/14, as the price just dropped).  This review is my 2nd entry for the 2015 Australian Women Writers Challenge.

And for readers unfamiliar with what a currawong is, they're birds native to Australasia, and their presence plays a role in the story.

Charting the political waters of the Stuart era: Margaret Porter's A Pledge of Better Times

In Margaret Porter’s sparkling A Pledge for Better Times, the theme is constant change – political, religious, generational, and all of these intertwined.

Its setting is comparatively rare for historical fiction: the time between the end of Charles II’s reign and George I’s ascension, three decades and four monarchs later. The events within its pages will make readers wonder why that is, for they're historically significant: Monmouth’s rebellion, the Siege of Belgrade, and the Glorious Revolution that saw the Catholic James II ousted and his Protestant daughter and son-in-law, Mary and William, invited to rule.

Using the strength and intelligence they were born with, the novel’s characters weather the shifting political climate over time. Lady Diana de Vere and the man she weds, Charles Beauclerk, Duke of St. Albans, are both prominent at court. Born of parents who were hardly faithful to one another, Diana guards her virtue, and her loyalty endears her to the future Queen Mary. Diana’s “frankness and acuity of mind” is of great benefit throughout her life.

Meanwhile, Charles paves his own path, never able to forget that of all the illegitimate sons of Charles II, his mother, former orange seller and actress Nell Gwyn, was of low birth: “Royal blood and military heroics could not eradicate the indelible stain of bastardy or the stench of the stage.”

Diana and Charles come to love one another deeply, but their differing views on married life (he becomes an army officer, detesting the courtier’s life she was born to) creates occasional disharmony, as does a hidden deception about their engagement. Two additional viewpoints add further texture: that of Diana’s father, the Earl of Oxford, who makes plain his dislike of James II’s tyranny and religious intolerance; and Mary herself, a gentle, intelligent woman and devoted wife crushed by her husband’s infidelity. Hers is a clearly admiring portrait.

Fans of royal fiction of the juicier sort may find the approach sedate at first, but it’s actually refreshing in its lack of gaudiness. The historical background is well-defined and the characters genuine, and the author’s love for the finer details of upper-class life in the Stuart era, such as painting, architecture, and gardening, shines through. At these and other moments, reading the novel itself gives the feel of stepping into an English garden, one filled with light, plentiful color, and cultured elegance.

A Pledge of Better Times was published by Gallica Press in April in ebook and paperback ($5.99/$14.95, 400pp).  Thanks to the author for providing me with a copy for the virtual book tour.  See Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for additional stops.

Historical fiction picks at BEA 2015

As in previous years, I’m compiling a guide to the historical novels being promoted at the upcoming BookExpo America (BEA) show, to be held at the Javits Center in New York on May 27-29. The following list is based on BEA’s own list of traditional and in-booth autographing, Publishers Weekly’s “galleys to grab” list, Library Journal's 2015 galley guide, and announcements from publishers. I've added blurbs, booth numbers, etc., to make the list more user-friendly.  Good news: the HF picks are plentiful this year!

For authors with historical novels at BEA who aren't yet included, or to provide corrections, please leave a note in the comments or drop me an email. As always, I recommend cross-checking these dates/times with the BEA site or your program book beforehand to avoid possible disappointment.

This page will be updated as more information is made available.  New listings are indicated with ~new~.  I’ve tried not to cross-list titles, so if an author is doing a galley signing, it will be listed in the 2nd section below, under Author Signings.

Last updated: Sat 5/23, 1pm.

~Galleys to Grab~

Europa Editions (booth 3124):

Chantel Acevedo, The Distant Marvels - political and family saga set in 20th-c Cuba. Author signing TBA.

Graywolf Press (booth 3064):

Paul Kingsnorth, The Wake - resistance against the Norman invaders in 11th-c England; written in a re-created version of Old English.

~new~ Grove Atlantic (booth 939A):

George MacDonald Fraser, Captain in Calico - standalone novel (his first, per the LJ guide) from the late author of the Flashman series, starring 18th-c Caribbean pirate Captain Jack Rackham.

Hachette (booth 2918-9):

Oscar Hijuelos, Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise - lengthy posthumous novel about the friendship between Mark Twain and explorer Henry Morton Stanley.

HarperCollins (booth 2038):

Parnaz Foroutan, The Girl from the Garden - family saga of Persian Jews in early 20th-c Iran.

Adriana Trigiani, All the Stars in the Heavens - Loretta Young in ‘30s Hollywood. Excerpt galleys, also signing on Fri 5/29 at 2pm.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (booth 2541):

~new~ Alexander Chee, The Queen of the Night - a woman "from courtesan to diva" in Paris during the Second Empire

Clare Clark, We That Are Left - two sisters during WWI.

Macmillan (booth 3056):

H. S. Cross, Wilberforce (galley giveaway 5/29, 9am) - adolescent longing in 1926 England.

Elsa Hart, Jade Dragon Mountain (galley giveaway 5/27, 4:30pm) - an exiled Chinese librarian investigates a murder in the 18th century.

Benjamin Johncock, The Last Pilot (galley giveaway 5/28, 10:30am) - marriage and family life at the time of the Space Race.

Penguin Random House (booth 3119):

Alexandra Curry, The Courtesan - Qing dynasty courtesan Sai Jinhua in the late 19th century.

Ottessa Moshfegh, Eileen - crime in early ‘60s Boston area.

Natasha Solomons, The Song of Hartgrove Hall - love, grief, and treachery on an English estate, 1946 and 50 years later.

Simon & Schuster (booth 2620-1):

~new~ Susan Barker, Incarnations - literary speculative fiction; a Beijing taxi driver revisits his past lives, set at various periods in Chinese history.

Lynn Cullen, Twain’s End - the personal life of the famous author.

~new~ Soho Press (booth 3240):
David Downing, One Man's Rag - WWI spy novel featuring Jack McColl

Ruth Galm, Into the Valley - poetic novel about a woman caught between generations in California's Central Valley in the '60s

Sourcebooks (booth 3039):

Kelli Estes, The Girl Who Wrote in Silk (galley giveaway 5/28, 11am) - a modern woman, a Chinese girl from 100 years earlier, and a silk scarf that links them.

Susan Higginbotham, Hanging Mary (galley giveaway 5/28, 2pm) - Mary Surratt and a scheme to save the dying Confederacy.


~Author Signings~

Wednesday, May 27th (exhibit floor opens at 1pm)

~new~1:15-1:45pm, booth 2657 (Mystery Writers of America)
Lori Roy (author of Let Me Die in His Footsteps; title to be signed not given)

2:30-3:30pm, booth 1039 (Algonquin):
B. A. Shapiro, The Muralist - dual-period novel surrounding an artist’s disappearance on the eve of WWII.

2:30-3:30pm, booth 2541 (HMH):
Amy Stewart, Girl Waits with Gun - one of America’s first female deputy sheriffs, set in 1914.

Thursday, May 28th

~new~ 9-10am, booth 3119 (Random House)
Melanie Benjamin, The Swans of Fifth Avenue - friendship between Truman Capote and Babe Paley in '50s NYC.
 
~new~ 10-10:30am, booth 2657 (Mystery Writers of America)
Lyndsay Faye (author of The Fatal Flame and other thrillers of 1840s NYC; specific titles to be signed not given)

10:30am, booth 3039 (Sourcebooks):
Charles Belfoure, House of Thieves - thriller set in Gilded Age NYC.

10:30-11am, booth 1921 (Norton):
Matthew Guinn, The Scribe - serial murderer in 1881 Atlanta.

10:45am, booth 2657 (Mystery Writers of America):
James R. Benn, The White Ghost - historical mystery, JFK and Billy Boyle in the South Pacific.

~new~ 11-11:30am, booth 3126 (Other Press)
Bruce Bauman, Broken Sleep - "Pynchonesque saga" about rock music, art, politics, and love between the '40s and the year 2020

11am-noon, table 12:
Emily Holleman, Cleopatra’s Shadows - Arsinoe, Cleopatra’s little-known younger sister.

~new~ 11:30-noon, booth 2657 (Mystery Writers of America)
Nancy Bilyeau, The Tapestry - historical thriller about Joanna Stafford, a Dominican novice in the turbulent court of Henry VIII; 3rd in series after The Crown and The Chalice.

Noon, booth 3240 (Soho Press):
James R. Benn, The White Ghost - see above at 10:45am.

1:30-2:30pm, booth 3319 (Penguin Random House):
Geraldine Brooks, The Secret Chord - the story of King David.

~new~ 2-3pm, table 6:
Julianna Baggott, Harriet Wolf's Seventh Book of Wonders -narrative of three women and a lost masterpiece that spans 20th-century history.

2:15pm, booth 649A (Akashic):
~new~ Barbara J. Taylor, Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night - debut novel about the aftermath of a family tragedy, set in an early 20th-c Pennsylvania mining community; wonderful book!

3-4pm, booth 3019 (Hachette):
Jami Attenberg, Saint Mazie - Mazie Phillips and her life in Jazz Age NYC.

~new~ 3-4pm, table 6:
Virginia Baily, Early One Morning - two women save a child during WWII, an action which reverberates even years later.

3:30-4:30pm, booth 3119 (Penguin Random House):
Rebecca Makkai, The Hundred-Year House - quirky “generational saga in reverse.”

3:30-4:30pm, booth 2908 (Harlequin):
Pam Jenoff, The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach - a young Italian woman’s journey and choices during the WWII years.

Friday, May 29th

10-11am, booth 2620-21 (Simon & Schuster):
Alice Hoffman, The Marriage of Opposites - impressionist painter Camille Pissarro’s Jewish mother, Rachel, set on St. Thomas in the 1800s.  Note conflicting info:  the LJ guide indicates Hoffman will be signing The Dovekeepers and Museum of Extraordinary Things instead.

~new~ 10-10:30am, booth 2657 (Mystery Writers of America):
Annamaria Alfieri (specific title to be signed not given)
M. J. Rose, The Witch of Painted Sorrows - art and gothic suspense in 1890s Belle Époque Paris.

10:45-11:45am, booth 3156 (Bloomsbury):
William Boyd, Sweet Caress - life of a modern woman in England, from WWI through her time as a war photographer in WWII France.

~new~ 11:30am-noon, booth 2657 (Mystery Writers of America)
Laura Joh Rowland, author of mysteries of historical Japan (specific title not given)

11:30am-12:30pm, booth 3119 (Penguin Random House):
Annie Barrows, The Truth According to Us - family secrets are discovered while a young debutante works for the Federal Writers Project in '30s West Virginia.

12-12:30pm, table 15:
Kim van Alkemade, Orphan #8 - a girl is subjected to medical experiments in 1919 NYC; her choice between revenge and mercy years later.

2pm-3pm, booth 3119 (Penguin Random House):
Paula McLain, Circling the Sun - the life of aviator and memoirist Beryl Markham.

~new~ 2pm, booth 640A (Feminist Press at CUNY):
Sarah Schulman, The Cosmopolitans - "remake of Balzac's Cousin Bette" (per an author interview) set in 1958 Greenwich Village.

~new~  3-3:30, table 14:
Daniel Melnick, The Ash Tree - the marriage between an American woman and an Armenian genocide survivor.

3:30-4:30pm, booth 3119 (Penguin Random House):
Sara Donati, The Gilded Hour - epic of two women doctors in Gilded Age NYC.

When tolerance fails, can hearts prevail? An essay by Pamela Schoenewaldt

Novelist Pamela Schoenewaldt is here today with a post about her latest novel's historical backdrop, and the subject is very relevant for today as well. 

 ~

When tolerance fails, can hearts prevail? 

By Pamela Schoenewaldt

My research for Under the Same Blue Sky opened for me a fascinating look at my own German-American heritage, our national immigration debate, and a sobering reminder of how thin the veil of tolerance can be. A few facts. German-Americans are, even today, our largest self-reported minority. Between 1820 and World War I, six million Germans came to America, entering every profession and social strata, profoundly shaping our culture. By 1900, cities like Cleveland, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, and Hoboken were more than 40% German-American.

Many came to escape the draft (terms up to 25 years were common), poverty, and crushing debt. For my great-grandmother, Germany was a door that closed behind her. She learned English quickly and never looked back. Another ancestor, a cabinetmaker, found his place in a cozy German enclave of Manhattan called Harlem.

Other immigrants, like Johannes Renner of my novel, lived with the ache of loss, a deep well of memories and constant communication with friends and family back home. The stunning scale of horrors in World War I, both civilian and military, plunged him into what now would be diagnosed as “vicarious trauma,” a crippling manifestation of PTSD.

As America inched towards war, the predicament of German-Americans grew more complex and anguished. In fact, public suspicion and media railings against all “hyphenates” intensified. German-Americans, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, and Russian-Americans were suspect. Scrambling, German-Americans invented a pacifying phrase: "Germany our Mother, Columbia [America] Our Bride." Pretty words, said “real” Americans. But what happens when the mother and wife take up arms?

That day came, of course, on April 6, 1917. “Once lead this people into war,” President Woodrow Wilson warned, “and they'll forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance.” He was right. Overnight, as soldiers were rapidly enlisted, another army was being created of graphic artists, cartoonists, musicians, speechwriters, journalists, and teachers. Their job was to whip up hatred against the Kaiser. Naturally there was spill-over. Suddenly, long-time neighbors, friends, and colleagues were suspect. English itself must be purged of “Hun” words like hamburger, sauerkraut, frankfurters, dachshund, German Shepherd. Speaking German in public was forbidden. Books were burned. Freedom of speech, press, and assembly were choked off. German-Americans were forced to buy war bonds in great quantities to “prove” loyalty. Jobs were lost, homes destroyed, thousands imprisoned on suspect charges. Employees in some factories were forced to crawl across the floor and kiss the American flag. There were lynchings.

So quickly all this happened. That was the stunner for me. Communities shredded. Tolerance forgotten. This has happened over and over in history, and often, of course, on a hugely larger scale. Yet within the madness, there were those who struggled for understanding, for separating politics from people, weaving hearts together despite differences and the deep wounds of war. That’s what Under the Same Blue Sky is about.

~

Pamela Schoenewaldt's Under the Same Blue Sky is published today in trade paperback by William Morrow (318pp, $14.99/Can$18.50).

credit: Kelly Norrell

Pamela’s first novel, When We Were Strangers (HarperCollins, 2011), was a USA Today Bestseller, a major book club pick, a Barnes & Noble Great Discovery, short-listed for the Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction, and has been translated into Polish, Dutch, and Russian. Swimming in the Moon (HarperCollins, 2013) was cited by the Pittsburgh Examiner as a “a must read for anyone who enjoys beautiful, richly drawn characters, and a historical setting so realistic that one would believe they had been transported to another time. A glorious, unforgettable novel, A+.” It was a runner-up for the Langum Prize and connects powerfully with those who struggle with the impacts of mental illness in their families.

Pamela lived for ten years in a small town outside Naples, Italy. Her short stories have appeared in literary magazines in England, France, Italy and the United States. Her play, “Espresso con mia madre” (Espresso with my mother) was performed at Teatro Cilea in Naples. She taught writing for the University of Maryland, European Division and the University of Tennessee. Her interactive writing workshops inspire writers of all genre and stages. She now lives in Knoxville, Tennessee with her husband, Maurizio Conti, a medical physicist, and their dog Jesse, a philosopher.