historical novels

 

Upcoming programs:

--Register for Smells Like Teen Spirit: Scents of the 90s (ages 18+)
https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/16262449

--Books & Beyond May 26^th – Location TBD – Topic: Paleontology
Visit the Shelf Care page of our website for suggestions on the topic! https://oneallibrary.org/adults---reading-recommendations

This week, the Books & Beyond discussion club met to chat about historical fiction.  Have a look!

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines

Member comment: “It was published in 1993 and won the National Book Award. This fictional story is based on the true story of a young black man who survived a failed execution by electrocution in Louisiana in 1946. The book focuses primarily on a young black teacher, Grant Wiggins, who is asked to speak to Jefferson, a young black man who has been sentenced to die in the electric chair in rural Louisiana. Grant’s task is to make Jefferson feel human before he goes to the chair. It’s an interesting contrast between Grant who feels trapped in his hometown and Jefferson who is actually trapped in his hometown.  The book is powerful but the last couple of chapters are truly incredible. The last chapter is written in the words of Jefferson and brought me to tears.”

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

A gripping novel about the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer, revealing the mystery behind their infamous breakup.

Daisy Jones and the Six (Rated TV-MA, 1 season, Amazon PrimeVideo)

In 1977, Daisy Jones & The Six were on top of the world; the band had risen from obscurity to fame, and then, after a sold-out show at Chicago's Soldier Field, they called it quits; now, decades later, the band members agree to reveal the truth.

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility—but also danger.

Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator. Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother’s position leading the divers in their village. Little do the two friends know that forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a brilliantly realistic journey back to an era of Chinese history that is as deeply moving as it is sorrowful. With the period detail and deep resonance of Memoirs of a Geisha, this lyrical and emotionally charged novel delves into one of the most mysterious of human relationships: female friendship.

A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing by Alice Evelyn Yang

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2026 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION – Qianze (member comment: this character Americanizes her name to Kenzie) has not seen her father in eleven years, since he walked out of her life the night of her fourteenth birthday and disappeared without a trace. But then she gets a call—there is a man on the porch of her childhood home, and he’s asking for her. This man isn’t the Ba Qianze remembers: he is much older, more fragile, and worst of all, haunted by a half-forgotten prophecy.

Spanning decades and continents, A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing employs a combination of stunningly rendered folklore and atmospheric prose to examine the legacy of colonialism through the eyes of three generations. Alice Evelyn Yang’s debut novel is a story of family and forgiveness, of folklore and fate, that will leave you unsettled and undone.

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sasha Lamb

Uriel the angel and Little Ash (short for Ashmedai) are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl (which is so tiny, it doesn't have a name other than Shtetl). The angel and the demon have been studying together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn all the young people from their village to America. When one of those young emigrants goes missing, Uriel and Little Ash set off to find her.

Stolen By the Wolves by Lyx Robinson (only available on eaudio on Hoopla)

It is the year 870. Hordes of Vikings sweep through the green lands of Northumbria and Ireland, raiding and pillaging. Soon, no kingdom will be safe from their bloodlust. Tamsin has always been safe behind the walls of her sanctuary. Safe enough to yearn for a glimpse of the world beyond. But with the Viking threat looming, even her secretive kingdom must open its gates to invite allies. And she gets far more than a glimpse. STOLEN BY THE WOLVES is a fantasy non-shifter omegaverse romance that is based loosely on real historical events. It is the first of a 6-book series, slow-burn with eventual Reverse Harem romance. 

The Quick by Lauren Owen

1892: James Norbury, a shy would-be poet newly down from Oxford, finds lodging with a charming young aristocrat. Through this new friendship, he is introduced to the drawing-rooms of high society and finds love in an unexpected quarter. Then, suddenly, he vanishes without a trace. Alarmed, his sister, Charlotte, sets out from their crumbling country estate determined to find him. In the sinister, labyrinthine London that greets her, she uncovers a hidden, supernatural city populated by unforgettable characters: a female rope walker turned vigilante, a street urchin with a deadly secret, and the chilling “Doctor Knife.” But the answer to her brother’s disappearance ultimately lies within the doors of the exclusive, secretive Aegolius Club, whose predatory members include the most ambitious, and most bloodthirsty, men in England.

Love & Other Monsters by Emily Franklin

During the dangerous storms of The Year Without Summer, a group of famous young writers gathered at a mansion on the shores of Lake Geneva, Switzerland. Brilliant Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, her fiery fiancé Percy Shelley, the famously promiscuous Lord Byron, and John Polidori, his sexually tormented personal physician. At the group’s center was Claire Clairmont, Mary’s impressionable, clever, and dangerously loyal stepsister. In this intense and propulsive story of love, lust, art and betrayal Claire tells her story, trying to solve the mystery of why she was all but erased from history.

The novels of Patrick O’Brian

In addition to twenty volumes in the highly respected Aubrey-Maturin series, Patrick O'Brian's many books include A Sea of Words: ALexicon and Companion to the Complete Seafaring Tales of Patrick O’Brian, and the novels Testimonies, The Golden Ocean, and The Unknown Shore. O'Brian also wrote acclaimed biographies of Pablo Picasso and Sir Joseph Banks and translated many works from the French, among them the novels and memoirs of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Lacouture's biographies of Charles de Gaulle. He was also the stepfather of Nikolai Tolstoy. He passed away in January 2000 at the age of 85. The Patrick O’Brian Appreciation Society on Facebook hosts discussions among avid fans who describe reading all of his books as completing a “circumnavigation!” 

The novels of Kenneth Roberts

Kenneth Lewis Roberts was an American author of historical novels. Roberts worked first as a journalist, becoming nationally known for his work with the Saturday Evening Post from 1919 to 1928, and then as a popular novelist. Born in Kennebunk, Maine, Roberts specialized in Regionalist historical fiction. He often wrote about his native state and its terrain, also depicting other upper New England states and scenes.

The novels of C. S. Forester

Cecil Scott Forester was the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith, an English novelist who rose to fame with tales of adventure and military crusades. His most notable works were the 11-book Horatio Hornblower series, about naval warfare during the Napoleonic era, and The African Queen (1935; filmed in 1951 by John Huston). His novels A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours were jointly awarded the 1938 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. Member recommendation: Brown on Resolution

Greyhound (Rated PG-13, 1h30m, 2020, Apple TV)

U.S. Navy Cmdr. Ernest Krause (Tom Hanks) is assigned to lead an Allied convoy across the Atlantic during World War II. His convoy, however, is pursued by German U-boats. Although this is Krause's first wartime mission, he finds himself embroiled in what would come to be known as the longest, largest and most complex naval battle in history: The Battle of the Atlantic. This is the adaptation of C. S. Forester’s novel titled The GoodShepherd.

The Temeraire series of fantasy novels by Naomi Novik

The first in the series is His Majesty's Dragon. Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors rise to Britain’s defense by taking to the skies . . . not aboard aircraft but atop the mighty backs of fighting dragons. When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes its precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Capt. Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future–and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature.

Call Your Daughter Home by Deb Sepra

It’s 1924 in Branchville, South Carolina and three women have come to a crossroads. Gertrude, a mother of four, must make an unconscionable decision to save her daughters. Retta, a first-generation freed slave, comes to Gertrude’s aid by watching her children, despite the gossip it causes in her community. Annie, the matriarch of the influential Coles family, offers Gertrude employment at her sewing circle, while facing problems of her own at home. These three women seemingly have nothing in common, yet as they unite to stand up to injustices that have long plagued the small town, they find strength in the bond that ties women together.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Originally published in 1937, Their Eyes Were Watching God has become one of the most important and enduring works of modern American literature. Written with Zora Neale Hurston’s singular wit and pathos, this Southern love story recounts Janie Crawford’s “ripening from a vibrant, but voiceless, teenage girl into a woman with her finger on the trigger of her own destiny.”

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

The unforgettable New York Times best seller begins with the story of two half-sisters, separated by forces beyond their control: one sold into slavery, the other married to a British slaver. Written with tremendous sweep and power, Homegoing traces the generations of family who follow, as their destinies lead them through two continents and three hundred years of history, each life indeliably drawn, as the legacy of slavery is fully revealed in light of the present day.

A Net for Small Fishes by Lucy Jago

…a gripping dark novel based on the true scandal of two women determined to create their own fates in the Jacobean court. When the beautiful, unhappy Frances Howard meets the astute, diminished Anne Turner, the two women strike up an unlikely yet powerful friendship. Frankie quickly pulls Anne into her close confidence, sweeping her new companion into an extravagant world of glamour and decadence. But navigating the Jacobean court is a dangerous game, and one misstep could mean losing everything - including their lives....

Wench by Dolan Perkins-Valdez

Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez is a startling and original debut novel that raises provocative questions of power and freedom, love and dependence. An enchanting and unforgettable novel based on little-known fact, it tells the story of four black enslaved women in the years preceding the Civil War. 

Bog Queen by Anna North

When a body is found in a bog in northwest England, Agnes, an American forensic anthropologist, is called to investigate. But this body is not like any she's ever seen. Though its bones prove it was buried more than two thousand years ago, it is almost completely preserved. As Agnes faces the deep history of what she has unearthed, she's also forced to question what she thought she knew about her talent, her self-reliance, and her place in the world.Flashing between the uncertainty of post-Brexit England and the druidic order of Celtic Europe at the dawn of the Roman era, Bog Queen brims with contemporary urgency and ancient wisdom as it connects across time two gifted, farsighted young women learning to harness their strange strengths in a landscape more mysterious and complex than either can imagine.

Ancient Bodies: Secrets Revealed (2024, 4 episodes, Nat Geo TV & Amazon Prime Video purchase) 

Ancient human remains reveal prehistoric murders and rituals. Archaeologists uncover clues about lives lost, uncovering tales of how these people lived and died.

The Murder at World’s End by Ross Montgomery

Knives Out meets Downton Abbey! Secrets, murder, and mayhem collide as this unlikely sleuthing duo—an under-butler and a foul-mouthed octogenarian—hunt a killer in a manor sealed against the end of the world, in this historical locked-room mystery set during the 1910 pass of Halley’s Comet.

Item descriptions by member comment, Amazon, IMDB, and Rotten Tomatoes.