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Historical Fiction February 2026 |
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The Shark House
by Sara Ackerman
The Kohala coast has seen a series of shark attacks in less than a week, setting the island community on edge. Biologist and shark whisperer Minnow Gray arrives on the scene to better understand what may have provoked the attacks, and if the same great white shark is still haunting the area. But as she descends into the blue Hawaiian depths, she soon learns there is far more going on than meets the eye.
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The Last of Earth
by Deepa Anappara
A novel set in nineteenth-century Tibet that follows two outsiders--an Indian schoolteacher spying for the British Empire and an English lady explorer--as they venture into a forbidden kingdom.
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If I Ruled the World
by Amy DuBois Barnett
It's 1999, and Nikki Rose is the only Black editor on the staff of a prestigious fashion magazine she once thought would be her ticket to becoming a respected editor-in-chief. But after being told one too many times by her boss that 'Black girls don't sell magazines,' she walks away to take over Sugar, a struggling hip-hop music and lifestyle magazine with untapped potential. Thrown into an entirely new world of wealth, decadence, and debauchery, Nikki has just six months to save Sugar--and her own dreams. As she pulls all-nighters at the office and parties with the era's most influential bad boys, Nikki must prove she has what it takes to lead.
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| The Bookbinder's Secret by A.D. BellApprentice bookbinder Lily Delaney works at her widowed father's failing bookshop in 1901 Oxford, England. After a customer gives her a burned book, she finds a cryptic 50-year-old love letter hidden in the binding that speaks of murder. Drawn into the mystery, Lily looks for other books by the obscure author, discovering she's not the only one after them. Read-alike: Jess Armstrong's Ruby Vaughn mysteries, starting with The Curse of Penryth Hall. |
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Babylonia
by Costanza Casati
Mixing mythology with ancient history, this second novel by the author of Clytemnestra traces the path of Semiramis from poor orphan to Queen of Assyria. Raised by an abusive shepherd after her mother ran afoul of Aphrodite, clever Semiramis navigates her way to the city, where court intrigue and a love triangle don't stop her ambition in this evocative, gripping tale. Read-alike: A.D. Rhine's Horses of Fire.
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The Winter Witch
by Jennifer Chevalier
Two sisters set sail on a bride ship from Normandy hoping to leave a curse behind them and find better lives in the wilds of 17th-century Quebec, only to meet a mysterious witch who forces them to confront the truth about magic--and their past.
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| Sharpe's Storm by Bernard CornwellAmid brutal winter conditions in 1813 France, Major Richard Sharpe is ordered to keep Rear Admiral Sir Joel Chase safe, as Chase has plans that may finally defeat Napoleon. But Sharpe's task is made difficult by Chase's extreme confidence and thirst for battle. |
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When We Were Brilliant
by Lynn Cullen
They were an unlikely pair--a blond bombshell and a photographer determined to be taken seriously--but Marilyn Monroe and Eve Arnold would make a deal that would change their lives.
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Daughter of Genoa
by Kat Devereaux
Alone and with her home destroyed, Anna is helped by Father Vittorio, a Jesuit priest who is part of a secret group helping Jewish people escape World War II-era Italy. A talented forger, Anna, who's Jewish, makes fake documents and meets the group's leader, whom she falls for. For fans of: Joseph O'Connor's My Father's House.
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| Canticle by Janet Rich EdwardsSet in medieval Bruges, this atmospheric debut follows devout teenager Aleys as she runs away from home to avoid an arranged marriage and joins a group of secular women supporting the church. Her time there isn't without incident, however, as corrupt religious officials abound and others are suspicious of her ability to read books and her supernatural healing talent. For fans of: Bright I Burn by Molly Aitken; Matrix by Lauren Groff. |
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The Jilted Countess
by Loretta Ellsworth
In the aftermath of World War II, a young Hungarian émigré jilted by a G.I. persuades a Midwestern newspaper editor to help her find an American husband in this poignant novel, based on a true story.
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Women of a Promiscuous Nature
by Donna Everhart
Based on the long-buried history of the American Plan, this powerful and shockingly timely story of resistance and resilience exposes the real government program designed to regulate women's bodies and sexuality throughout the first half of the 20th century.
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| Call Me Ishmaelle by Xiaolu GuoAfter her family dies, young Ishmaelle dresses as a cabin boy, leaving Kent, England, to travel the world. In the 1860s, she joins a whaling ship led by the obsessive Captain Seneca, a Black free man haunted by the past. Amidst the violence of whaling, she finds friends and discovers a strange bond between herself and the white whale who claimed Seneca's leg. |
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| Rules of the Heart by Janice HadlowAt 33, Lady Harriet Bessborough is unhappily married and the mother of four. So when she's pursued by a charming younger man, she begins an affair. This isn't unusual in her circle, but she must follow the rules: don't embarrass your husband, be discrete, and don't fall in love. The affair lasts for years, but Harriet doesn't follow the last rule, resulting in heartbreak. |
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The Architect of New York
by Javier Moro
A transportive work of historical fiction chronicling the life, loves, and iconic successes of Rafael Guastavino, the influential yet largely forgotten Spanish architect of New York's Gilded Age.
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Fire Sword and Sea
by Vanessa Riley
From Vanessa Riley, acclaimed author of Queen of Exiles, comes a dual-timeline saga based on the life of the legendary pirate Jacquotte Delehaye, a fearless woman of mixed parentage who forged her own life plundering wealth and battling slavers on the treacherous Caribbean seas of the 17th century.
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A Great Act of Love
by Heather Rose
Van Diemen's Land, 1839. A young woman of means arrives in Hobart, Australia, with a boy in her care. Leasing an old cottage next to an abandoned vineyard, Caroline Douglas must navigate an insular colony of exiles and opportunists and invent a new life on this island of extreme seasons and wild beauty. But Caroline is carrying a secret of such magnitude that it has led her to cross the world. It will take all she is made of to bring it into the light.
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| With Love from Harlem by ReShonda TateIn 1943 Harlem, beloved jazz pianist Hazel Scott is at the top of her game, performing in front of Langston Hughes and others, when she meets married pastor and councilman Adam Clayton Powell Jr., leading to an exhilarating and tumultuous relationship that changes the course of her life. |
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The Seven Daughters of Dupree
by Nikesha Elise Williams
It's 1995, and fourteen-year-old Tati is determined to uncover the identity of her father. But her mother, Nadia, keeps her secrets close, while her grandmother Gladys remains silent about the family's past, including why she left Land's End, Alabama, in 1953. As Tati digs deeper, she uncovers a legacy of family secrets, where every generation of Dupree women has posed more questions than answers. From Jubi in 1917, whose attempt to pass for white ends when she gives birth to Ruby; to Ruby's fiery lust for Sampson in 1934 that leads to a baby of her own; to the night in 1980 that changed Nadia's future forever, the Dupree women carry the weight of their heritage. Bound by a mysterious malediction that means they will only give birth to daughters, the Dupree women confront a legacy of pain, resilience, and survival that began with an enslaved ancestor who risked everything for freedom.
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A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing
by Alice Evelyn Yang
A devastating yet hopeful family saga set during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, the Cultural Revolution, and the present day that explores the effects of intergenerational trauma, the legacy of colonialism, and the inescapability of fate through the prism of Chinese and Japanese folklore.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Centerville Library
111 W. Spring Valley Rd
Centerville, OH 45458
(937) 433-8091
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Woodbourne Library
6060 Far Hills Ave Centerville, OH 45459
(937) 435-3700
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Creativity Commons
895 Miamisburg Centerville Rd
Centerville, OH 45459
(937) 610-4425
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