Tag Archives: Historical Fiction

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

American Literature December 17, 2011 Superfast Reader

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…

11/22/63 by Stephen King

American Literature December 12, 2011 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: A schoolteacher travels through a wormhole to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating JFK. Review: 11/22/63 started out really strong. I loved the premise and knew that Stephen King would do a lot more than just tell the A-story of Jake Epping, time traveler and would-be history changer. The historical aspects were really well done, particularly through the life Jake builds in small town Jodie, Texas, and the love story is poignant. However, I felt like the ending was a foregone conclusion, and I…

Taliesin by Stephen R. Lawhead (The Pendragon Cycle, Book 1)

British Literature November 25, 2011 Superfast Reader 1 Comment

Synopsis: A princess of Atlantis flees to ancient England where her paths cross with a mage-in-training whose parentage is unknown. Review: I was drawn to Taliesin (which I desperately want to be an anagram of Atlantis, but it’s not) because it’s a retelling of the King Arthur legend with historically accurate place names and details, and with the Christianity an important, unoppressive element. Several major characters are converted to Christianity in episodes that are emotionally and spiritually powerful, but Lawhead doesn’t make that the happy…

World Without End by Ken Follett

British Literature October 17, 2011 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: The intertwined lives of the inhabitants of the Kingsbridge priory and town, through the stories of four children who become keepers of a terrible secret. Review: I almost gave up on World Without End about halfway through. Ken Follett’s plotting is so mathematical that I felt like I could predict how all the story lines would resolve themselves. I am glad that a friend encouraged me to stick with it, because even though everything did tie itself up pretty neatly, I did find a…

The Luxe by Anna Godberson

American Literature October 15, 2011 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: The death of a society girl in 1899 New York City isn’t quite what it seems, thanks to an impossibly complex snarl of love triangles. Review: I guess you would call The Luxe “Gossip Girl” set in Edith Wharton territory, but that makes it sound dreadful when in fact it’s pretty enjoyable. I don’t think I’ll continue on in the series but it was a fun read.

The Midwife by Gay Courter

American Literature September 15, 2011 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: The tale of a Russian midwife who emigrates to America during the pogroms of the early 1900s. Review: The Midwife was a completely satisfying reading experience, not just because the plot and characters were so engaging, but because I loved the author’s perspective on birth. It’s as if Ina May Gaskin were writing historical fiction–it’s so rare to see birth treated like a normal event, not an emergency. I am not a birth junkie but I did have both my kids at home and…

Healing Paradise by Gay Courter

American Literature September 14, 2011 Superfast Reader 3 Comments

Synopsis: As WWII encroaches, Rozy braves judgment and trials, both personal and professional, to be one of only 4 women in her class at Cornell Medical School, finding passion for her work and a love that may not survive the rigors of her life as a doctor. Review: In Healing Paradise, Gay Courter has done a great job developing a most fascinating world, that of medical school in the late 1930s/early 1940s. I loved seeing the inner workings of medical school, and the ways in…

The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver PÃ¶tzsch

German Literature February 12, 2011 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: When a child turns up gruesomely murdered, the midwife is accused as a witch, and the local hangman must turn up the real culprit or else torture and execute his innocent friend. Review: The Hangman’s Daughter seems to be one of those books that everyone is talking about, probably because the price on Amazon is so low. I enjoyed the historical detail from 17th Century Germany but the plot really let me down. It became a rather run-of-the mill thriller of the kind that…

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

British Literature December 4, 2010 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: As she dies, a former lady’s maid reflects on the scandal that ended the family she served and reveals the truth that only she knew. Review: Kate Morton is rapidly becoming my latest favorite author. With her thrilling blend of Gothic melodrama and intricate plotting, she hits all my favorite buttons, much like her self-proclaimed influences Daphne DuMaurier and Barbara Vine. In The House at Riverton, Morton presents Grace, a lady’s maid who spent her youth in service with a titled family haunted by…

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Australian Literature November 8, 2010 Superfast Reader 2 Comments

Synopsis: A bereft Australian woman travels to Cornwall to uncover the mystery behind her grandmother’s mysterious appearance on a dock in Maryborough at the age of 4, her identity completely unknown. Review: While I had some minor quibbles with some of the stock characterizations in The Forgotten Garden, on the whole I was absolutely riveted by the storytelling. Morton expertly weaves together the stories of three women: Cassandra, a contemporary Australian woman who has received an unusual bequest from her grandmother Nell; that of Nell,…

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