Tag Archives: Historical Fiction

Quintessence by David Walton

Posted on by
Reply

Synopsis:
In an alternate version of Europe during the pre-Elizabethan years, with the Inquisition raging in Spain, an alchemist and a scientist and a headstrong girl bonded to a magical creature travel to the edge of the world to find quintessence, a substance that can unlock the powers of the universe.

Review:
Quintessence was great fun, a novel that felt as deeply “researched” as any historical novel, and with a fully realized magical world that kept unfolding until the very last pages. Catherine, the girl whose magical bond with on of the creatures of Horizon triggers a cataclysm, did do some foot-stamping, but I forgave the author because of all the other wonderful elements of this story. The use of Spanish inquisitors brought a level of risk and theological complexity that put the book over the top for me. I really enjoyed it.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth E. Wein

Posted on by
Reply

Synopsis:
When her plane goes down in Nazi occupied France, a teenage Scottish spy known only as Verity has just one chance to write her confession before her captors send her off to a concentration camp.

Review:
Code Name Verity was the best read I have had all year. No contest. (Well, maybe The Devil in Silver.) I seriously just want everyone to feel how I feel when I think about “FLY THE PLANE MADDIE.” I am about to cry and I might just have to go back and re-read the book immediately.

The book is ostensibly the confession of Verity, a British spy (“I’M SCOTTISH”) who has been captured by the Gestapo. Asked to confess, she readily gives up 11 wireless codes and is eager to tell all that she can. She’s given paper and ink and begins to write–but instead of a dry listing of facts, she begins to tell the story of Maddie, a girl with a knack for mechanics and a dream of flying planes. Maddie’s dream came true when she’s enlisted to fly errands over England. There, she befriends a posh upper class girl named Queenie, and the two of them make a stupendous team.

I just can’t tell much more about the plot without revealing spoilers, so I’ll just tell you that if you’re at all interested in brave girls fighting Nazis in WWII, then you have to read this book.

“Kiss me, Hardy!”

Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims by Clyde Robert Bulla

Posted on by
Reply

Synopsis:
The story of Squanto, the Native American who helped the pilgrims and journeyed to England.

Review:
I read Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims, aloud to my almost 5-year-old, and I have to say I’m a little obsessed. First of all, I was prepared to stop if it veered into anything offensive, like a noble savage stereotype, and that never happened. All I felt like I needed to explain was that we don’t say “Indian” anymore, we say “Native American.” Bulla does give Squanto a stilted way of speaking when he’s meant to be speaking English, but it was not sterotypical dialect (and therefore laughable), but rather served to easily remind a young reader that Squanto is a fish out of water.

Apart from that I felt like the book was an age-appropriate introduction to an important part of American history and even presented some of the complex issues surrounding our nation’s origins without getting too didactic. You really do get a sense of the impact that the settlers had on the Native Americans through Squanto’s own journey, and personally I think that’s the best way to approach complicated issues.

Now, Squanto’s own story is just incredible! I had no idea what this man went through. He was fascinated by the first Englishmen who came over to trade, and decided to travel with them for a time. Then, he was invited to London and ended up staying there for years waiting for a ship home. He finally got a voyage back to Massachusetts, but before he could leave the English and look for his village, he was kidnapped and taken to Spain to be sold into slavery. He was rescued by some monks, then worked for them until he could get passage back to England. He then worked for several more years in England before finally getting another voyage home. Once home, he discovered that his village was gone because all of his people were wiped out by illness. Homeless and without a people, Squanto decided then to give the Puritans his help after seeing that they lacked essential survival skills. He had heard of them during his time in England and appreciated their desire to be free to practice their beliefs. What really shines through in this book is the importance of looking forward in hope no matter what your circumstances. Personally, I was very inspired!

The Casting by Joyce Shor Johnson

Posted on by
1

Synopsis:
In 4th Century Ireland, Robyn yearns to become a bronze caster, but family pressures and outside forces threaten to keep her from achieving her dream.

Review:
The Casting was a well-written story with a strong female protagonist that will definitely appeal to middle grade readers. My inner 12-year-old kind of fell in love with her. I wished that the secondary characters had had just a little more depth to them, but I don’t think it’s anything that the target audience for this book would really notice or be bothered by. I really loved the setting and the detail involved in creating this world, and I’m looking forward to recommending it to some of the tweens I know.

Many thanks to Pugalicious Press for the review copy.

Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton

Posted on by
2

Synopsis:
An aging schoolteacher reflects on half a century at a boys’ school in England, starting in the 19th Century and spanning past WWI.

Review:
I had heard of Goodbye, Mr. Chips but had never read it before, and I’m so sorry I waited so long! The book is just lovely, a gem where every word counts. I was moved beyond compare. It was described as “sentimental,” and I suppose it is, but not in the negative connotation of the word. It’s poignant and reflective and steeped in nostalgia, and it just totally works on every level.

Many thanks to Open Road Iconic Ebooks for the review copy.

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

Posted on by
2

Synopsis:
A present-day murder case in a fundamentalist Mormon enclave told alongside the story of Ann Eliza Young’s escape from Brigham Young’s polygamous harem.

Review:
I think the fact that I kept falling asleep while listening to The 19th Wife says it all–I was so primed to love this book, given my obsession with the FLDS, but I was just so disappointed with the execution. I finally gave up near the end when it devolved into a story-free lecture on stuff we’d already seen. I’m very bummed out about this.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Posted on by
Reply

Synopsis:
Against the backdrop of a dreamlike traveling circus, two magicians pit their powers against each other in a battle royale complicated by the transcendent love growing in spite of the rigid constraints of the game.

Review:
I had low-ish expectations for The Night Circus. I couldn’t wrap my brain around the weird plot description, and the glowing reviews had me suspicious that the book was all superficial charm.

I could not put the book down. I was utterly transported into the world of the circus, where every tent holds ethereal, poetic, supernatural wonders, like a labyrinth that keeps growing new rooms, or a chamber filled with vials that hold scents evoking specific times and places and memories.

The core of the book is a love story between Marco and Celia, two magicians bound in childhood in a mystical competition, trained to hide their powers in plain sight in a world that doesn’t know that magic is real. I totally fell for it, completely and utterly and heartbreakingly. I loved every detail, believed every nuance, and wished the book weren’t over quite so soon. I was reminded of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (and I don’t think I’m the only one), but this book had so much more heart and soul that I know I won’t soon forget it, the way I did with Jonathan Strange.

The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

Posted on by
Reply

Synopsis:
New York City in 1938 is all martinis and heartbreak for smart girl Katey Kontent and her impossibly sexy best friend Evie Ross, as they navigate the tricky waters of the uptown social scene.

Review:
I was utterly captivated by The Rules of Civility, from the tone to the characters to the plot to everything. It’s a pretty perfect book, as if Edith Wharton were resurrected to write a pre-Code Billy Wilder movie where the smart one got to be the lead. It makes me want to go back and re-read The Best of Everything and then treat myself to a double feature of The Apartment and Cabaret.

Speaking of all that awesome sauce, when is “Mad Men” coming back? I’m f@#$ing dying over here…

The Spirit Ring by Lois McMaster Bujold

Posted on by
Reply

Synopsis:
In a magical version of Renaissance Italy, the daughter of a sculptor/mage finds herself embroiled in a deadly political dispute as she struggles to free her father’s soul, which a wicked lord wants to imprison in a magic ring.

Review:
Lois McMaster Bujold crafts a suspenseful tale of intrigue, sorcery, and politics that really satisfied me. The Spirit Ring is grounded in the kinds of real squabblings that mark territorial disputes, and the magic serves that story, rather than being the sole purpose of the story. It’s also a love story, and quite an unconventionally romantic one. I definitely prefer McMaster’s fantasy to her scifi, and this is now one of my favorites of hers.

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

Posted on by
Reply

Synopsis:
When a reluctant farmer’s wife moves to a tin-roof shack in postwar rural Mississippi, her passion for her husband’s war hero brother becomes part of a web of tension that engulfs the town in hatred and violence.

Review:
Mudbound took me by surprise. Told from multiple points of view, the story manages to be inevitable without being predictable, with characters who all have very distinct voices. The casual, every day racism of even the most sympathetic characters is shocking to this 21st century Yankee girl. Hillary Jordan reminds readers of our hideous past without being preachy, and has written a book that adds to the discourse on the darkest part of American history. Best part–the last sentence made me cry.