|
|
Historical Fiction August 2025 |
|
|
|
|
| Typewriter Beach by Meg Waite ClaytonAmid McCarthyism in 1957, Isabella Giori dreams of being Alfred Hitchcock's favorite blonde actress. But while temporarily staying at a Carmel-by-the-Sea cottage, she becomes friends with blacklisted writer Leo, changing both of their lives. In 2018, Leo's granddaughter clears out his cottage after his death, meeting his neighbor Isabella and finding secrets in his safe. Read-alikes: Susan Meissner's A Map to Paradise; Sarah Jane Stratford's Red Letter Days. |
|
|
|
The Secret Book Society
by Madeline Martin
London, 1885: Trapped by oppressive marriages and societal expectations, three women receive a mysterious invitation to an afternoon tea at the home of the reclusive Lady Duxbury. Beneath the genteel facade of the gathering lies a secret book club--a sanctuary where they can discover freedom, sisterhood and the courage to rewrite their stories. Their courage is their only weapon in the oppressive world that has kept them silent, but when secrets are deadly, one misstep could cost them everything.
|
|
| The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau by Kristin HarmelIn Nazi-occupied France, Colette Marceau's mother is executed while her four-year-old sister disappears and is later found dead. Trained by her mother, Colette becomes a jewel thief, targeting the bad to give to the good, and in 2018 Boston, she's still working when a special bracelet linked to her sister appears in a museum. Elderly Colette seeks answers, hoping to finally learn what happened decades ago in this sweeping dual-timeline tale. Read-alike: Pam Jenoff's Last Twilight in Paris. |
|
| Days of Light by Megan HunterOn Easter Sunday, 1938, 19-year-old Ivy is questioning her path in life when her older brother goes missing while swimming at their English estate, reshaping her world. Taking place on this and five other significant days in Ivy's life, this thoughtful novel follows her as she grows close to her brother's fiancée, marries, has children, and makes changes in her later years. Read-alikes: Yael van der Wouden's The Safekeep; Virginia Woolf's novels. |
|
| Tyrant by Conn IgguldenIn 50 CE Rome, Agrippina has skillfully maneuvered her way to power by becoming Emperor Claudius' fourth wife and now works to ensure her position and that of her son, Nero, by manipulating Claudius into adopting him. This cinematic, action-packed 2nd in a trilogy follows last year's Nero; the final book, Inferno, is due April 2026. Read-alike: Margaret George's Nero novels; Steven Saylor's historical fiction. |
|
|
|
The Hounding
by Xenobe Purvis
Neighbors in a small village in 18th-century England are convinced five sisters are turning into dogs.
A richly atmospheric parable of the pleasures and perils of female defiance, The Hounding considers whether in any age it might be safer to be a dog than an unusual young girl.
|
|
|
|
Daikon
by Samuel Jay Hawley
In war-ravaged 1945 Tokyo, physicist Keizo Kan is forced to study a mysterious American uranium bomb in exchange for his imprisoned wife's freedom, facing harrowing moral choices as he's drawn into a desperate race to alter the course of history.
|
|
| The Lost Masterpiece by B.A. ShapiroIn late 1800s France, painters Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot meet and become lovers, resulting in Party on the Seine, a work featuring Berthe. In modern-day Boston, Morisot's lone descendent, executive Tamara Rubin, learns the Nazi-stolen work has been found, leading to legal challenges and romance in this suspenseful multi-timeline novel with hints of the supernatural. For fans of: Maureen Gibbon's The Lost Notebook of Édouard Manet; Robin Oliveira's I Always Loved You. |
|
| Wayward Girls by Susan WiggsThis moving novel of survival, friendship, and redemption follows six teenage girls at an abusive Catholic reform school in 1968 Buffalo, New York, who have been sent there due to pregnancy, lesbianism, or to protect them from family members. Based on a real place, this character-driven novel also revisits the girls in later years. For fans of: Claire Keegan's Small Things Like These; Colson Whitehead's The Nickel Boys; V.S. Alexander's The Magdalen Girls. |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|