Historical Fiction
December 2025

Recent Releases
Boleyn Traitor
by Philippa Gregory

Set during the turbulent reign of Henry VIII, this latest from bestselling British author Philippa Gregory explores the life of Jane Boleyn, the wife of Anne Boleyn's brother. Jane serves five of Henry’s wives as lady-in-waiting and works with Thomas Cromwell as a spy in this atmospheric novel full of court intrigue. Fans of Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl and The Boleyn Inheritance will be glad to revisit the family here. Read-alike: Oliver Clements’ The Eyes of the Queen.
Bones of a Giant by Brian Thomas Isaac
Bones of a Giant
by Brian Thomas Isaac

From the award-winning, bestselling author of All the Quiet Places, comes Brian Thomas Isaac's highly anticipated, haunting and tender return to the Okanagan Indian Reserve and a teenager's struggle to become a man in a world of racism and hardship. Summer, 1968. For the first time since his big brother, Eddie, disappeared two years earlier--either a runaway or dead by his own hand--sixteen-year-old Lewis Toma has shaken off some of his grief. His mother, Grace, and her friend Isabel have gone south to the United States to pack fruit to earn the cash Grace needs to put a bathroom and running water into the three-room shack they share on the reserve, leaving Lewis to spend the summer with his cousins, his Uncle Ned and his Aunt Jean in the new house they've built on their farm along the Salmon River.  Everywhere he looks, women are left to carry the load, sometimes with kindness, but often with the bitterness, anger and ferocity of his own mother, who kicked Lewis's lowlife father, Jimmy, to the curb long ago. Lewis has vowed never to be like his father--but an encounter with a predatory older woman tests him and he suffers the consequences. Worse, his dad is back in town and scheming on how to use the Indian Act to steal the land Lewis and his mom have been living on. And then, at summer's end, more shocking revelations shake the family, unleashing a deadly force of anger and frustration. With so many traps laid around him, how will Lewis find a path to a different future?
Harlem rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray
Harlem rhapsody
by Victoria Christopher Murray

In 1919 Harlem, literary editor Jessie Redmon Fauset is at the forefront of a Black cultural renaissance, discovering talents like Langston Hughes and Nella Larsen, but her ambition and a secret affair with W.E.B. Du Bois threaten her legacy.
Good dirt : a novel by Charmaine Wilkerson
Good dirt : a novel
by Charmaine Wilkerson

"The daughter of an affluent Black family pieces together the connection between a childhood tragedy and a beloved heirloom in this moving novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake, a Read with Jenna Book Club Pick"
The queens of crime : a novel by Marie Benedict
The queens of crime : a novel
by Marie Benedict

In 1930 London, the Queens of Crime, a secret society of renowned women writers led by Dorothy L. Sayers investigates the murder of nurse May Daniels, found strangled in a park, and must navigate a web of intrigue and danger as they challenge societal norms.
Six days in Bombay by Alka Joshi
Six days in Bombay
by Alka Joshi

This sweeping novel follows young Anglo-Indian nurse Sona as she embarks on a journey from her home in Bombay, through Prague, Florence, Paris and London, to uncover a mystery and prove her innocence after famous painter Mira Novak dies in her care.
The Palace at the End of the Sea by Simon Tolkien
The Palace at the End of the Sea
by Simon Tolkien

New York City, 1929. Young Theo Sterling's world begins to unravel as the Great Depression exerts its icy grip. He finds it hard to relate to his parents: His father, a Jewish self-made businessman, refuses to give up on the American dream, and his mother, a refugee from religious persecution in Mexico, holds fast to her Catholic faith. When disaster strikes the family, Theo must learn who he is. A charismatic school friend and a firebrand girl inspire him to believe he can fight Fascism and change the world, but each rebellion comes at a higher price, forcing Theo to question these ideologies too.
The Hitchhikers
by Chevy Stevens

After a loss, Tom and Alice try to save their marriage and heal by taking an RV trip across Canada in 1976. But giving a ride to a young couple who are far more dangerous than they appear leads to stunning consequences in this gritty, slow-burn historical thriller that’ll please fans of twisty plotting and memorable characters. For fans of: Simone St. James’ Murder Road.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Cobourg Public Library
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Cobourg, Ontario K9A 5P4
905-372-9271

www.cobourg.library.on.ca