Forsyth County Public Library: Historical Fiction: March 2026

Recent Releases

Frida's Cook
by Florencia Etcheves

Mexico City, 1939: Young and determined Nayeli Cruz flees from her Oaxaca home to arrive in Mexico City with neither friends nor prospects. Alone and armed only with her sharp wit and extraordinary talent in the kitchen, she finds herself in front of La Caza Azul, the home of Frida Kahlo. As she begins work as the artist's cook, Nayeli is pulled into Frida's world of pain, passion, and defiance. But it isn't long before amid the vibrant tapestry of flavors, scents, and colors, the two women form a deep bond--one that will shape the course of Nayeli's life and leave behind a secret buried in art.

A Far-Flung Life
by M. L. Stedman

Western Australia, 1958. A truck rumbles along a lonely outback road. A moment’s inattention, and in a few muddled seconds the lives of the MacBride family are shattered. Instead of leaving them to heal, fate comes back for them in a twist of consequences that will cause one of them to lose their life, and another to sacrifice theirs for the sake of an innocent child. From the author of The Light Between Oceans.

The Sea Child
by Linda Wilgus

England, early 1800s: Destitute and forced to leave her home in London, Isabel, a young widow of the Napoleonic Wars, returns to the village on the rugged Cornish coast where she was found as a small child, dripping wet and alone. Hoping to learn more about her enigmatic origins, she's shocked to find herself at the center of a local legend claiming that she is the daughter of a sea spirit. From the coves of Cornwall to the wild coast of Brittany, during perilous raids at sea and society dinner parties, Isabel fights to understand her kinship with the ocean while seeking answers about her past.

This Is Where the Serpent Lives
by Daniyal Mueenuddin

1950s Pakistan: Moving from Pakistan's dazzling chaotic cities to its lawless feudal countryside, This Is Where the Serpent Lives follows the destinies of a dozen unforgettable characters whose lives are linked through violence and tragedy, triumph, and love. This is the first novel from universally acclaimed Daniyal Mueenuddin, whose debut short story collection won the Story Prize and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Book Prize, the National Book Award, and the Pulitzer Prize.

The Pohaku
by Jasmin Iolani Hakes

18th century Hawaii: When the explorer James Cook becomes the first European to visit the Hawaiian Islands, he soon intersects with Kamehameha, the first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii. This begins a thrilling family saga, as each generation is put in charge of the pohaku, a stone with seemingly magical powers, bringing fortune to the good and misfortune to the bad. But with each successive generation, its powers grow, and those who carry it in their lineage—especially the women of the family—are able to channel its powers for good in this immersive and bold novel about the history, perseverance, and resilience of the Hawaiian people.

The Beheading Game
by Rebecca Lehmann

The Beheading Game begins in the hours after Anne Boleyn’s beheading, when she wakes to find herself unceremoniously in an arrow chest, her head wrapped in linen at her knees. Discarded by King Henry VIII for not being able to give him a male heir, reviled by Cromwell for being too smart for her own good, and executed based on trumped-up charges, Anne escapes the tower, sews her head back on, and sets out on a quest for vengeance.

The Geomagician
by Jennifer Mandula

When a Victorian fossil hunter discovers a baby pterodactyl, she vows to protect him, with the help of a fellow scholar--her former fiance --in this enchanting and transporting historical fantasy. "Scholarly and clever but still full of heart . . . Five baby pterodactyls out of five." -- Heather Fawcett, New York Times bestselling author of the Emily Wilde series.

It Girl
by Allison Pataki

At the dawn of the twentieth century, New York's streets teem with change: electricity, automobiles, the brash young President Teddy Roosevelt--and the It Girls. As artists' muses and working models, these independent young women soar to stardom not because of their pedigrees or inherited wealth, but because of their talent, charisma, and irresistible beauty. Pop culture is born, and in a world alight with Mr. Edison's new bulbs, no one shines brighter than America's sweetheart, Evelyn Talbot. But the journey to stardom is not simple or straight. When Evelyn finds herself at the center of a murder of passion declared the Crime of the Century, she is blamed for the acts of the men in her life. In the media frenzy that spirals around her, Evelyn realizes that to survive, she will have to write her own ending.

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