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Historical Fiction July 2025 |
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The Phoenix Pencil Company : a novel
by Allison King
"Monica Tsai spends most days on her computer, journaling the details of her ordinary life and coding for a program that seeks to connect strangers online. A self-proclaimed recluse, she's always struggled to make friends and, as a college freshman, finds herself escaping into a digital world, counting the days until she can return home to her beloved grandparents. They are now in their nineties, and Monica worries about them constantly--especially her grandmother, Yun, who survived two wars in China before coming to the States, and whose memory has begun to fade. Though Yun rarely speaks of her past, Monica is determined to find the long-lost cousin she was separated from years ago. One day, the very program Monica is helping to build connects her to a young woman, whose gift of a single pencil holds a surprising clue. Monica's discovery of a hidden family history is exquisitely braided with Yun's own memories as she writes of her years in Shanghai, working at the Phoenix Pencil Company. As WWII rages outside their door, Yun and her cousin, Meng, learn of a special power the women in their family possess: the ability to reforge a pencil's words. But when the government uncovers their secret, they are forced into a life of espionage, betraying other people's stories to survive"
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Typewriter beach : a novel
by Meg Waite Clayton
"Set in Carmel-by-the-Sea and in 1950s Hollywood-in the days of the studio system and McCarthy-era scaremongering about an America "riddled with communists and homosexuals"-Typewriter Beach is the unforgettable story of an unlikely friendship between an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and a young actress hoping to be Alfred Hitchcock's new star. 1957. Isabella Giori is ten months into a standard 7-year studio contract when she auditions with Hitchcock. Just weeks later, she is sequestered by the studio's "fixer" in a charming little Carmel-by-the-Sea cottage for a secret rendezvous. There, she is awoken by the clack and ding of a typewriter at the cottage next door. Lâeon Chazan is annoyed as hell when Iz interrupts his work on yet another screenplay he won't be able to sell, because he's been blacklisted. But soon he's speeding down the fog-shrouded Carmel-San Simeon highway, headed for the isolated cliffs of Big Sur, with her in the passenger seat. 2018. Twenty-six-year-old screenwriter Gemma Chazan, in Carmel to sell her grandfather's cottage, finds a hidden safe with a World War II-era French passport, an old camera with film still in it, two movie scripts, and a writing Oscar that is not in her grandfather's name-raising questions about who the screenwriter known simply as Chazan really was. In its exploration of Hollywood and Carmel-by-the-Sea, Typewriter Beach is a heartwarming tale of long-buried secrets; sisterhood and sexism; the importance of free speech, story, and name; and what it means to be family"
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I'll be right here : a novel
by Amy Bloom
After immigrating to New York alone after World War II, Gazala builds an unbreakable bond with her brother and two spirited sisters, forming a fiercely loyal found family whose love, desires and unorthodox connections shape generations to come.
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The lilac people : a novel
by Milo Todd
Trans man Bertie and his girlfriend Sofie flee Nazi persecution in 1930s Berlin to live in hiding, later risking everything to protect a young trans Holocaust survivor from Allied arrest in a tale of resilience and the fight for queer survival.
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A bomb placed close to the heart : a novel
by Nishant Batsha
"An expansive and poignant novel of love, radical ambition, and intellectual rebirth set at the dawn of World War I. At a party near Stanford University's campus in 1917, Cora Trent, a graduate student raised in the rugged mining towns of the American West, meets Indra Mukherjee, an Indian revolutionary newly arrived in California. Indra is grieving the recent loss of a friend and unsure of the place violence has in the cause of national liberation, while Cora is seeking a new life that stays true to herambitions as a writer and an idealist. They spark an instant connection, and their passionate romance deepens as they attend protests alongside anticolonial dissidents and socialize with radical thinkers in Berkeley and Palo Alto. All the while, Indra awaits orders from a mysterious German spymaster. As the United States is drawn into the war in Europe, Cora and Indra quickly marry in a climate increasingly intolerant of dissent. When news of arrests threatens their future together, they are forced to flee to New York City with the hope that they can avoid the attention of the British and American authorities. Trying to find footing in their new life, Cora and Indra must reckon with divergent ambitions that challenge the foundations of their hasty marriage-and their freedom. Profound, immersive, tenderly written, and with finely wrought characters drawn from the forgotten archives of American history, A Bomb Placed Close to the Heart is an extraordinary story of a marriage caught at the intersection of radical politics and everyday life"
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| The Director by Daniel Kehlmann; translated by Ross BenjaminAustrian film director G.W. Pabst, who helped Greta Garbo and Louise Brooks become stars, goes to Hollywood but ends up back in 1930s Europe when his mother becomes ill. As the Nazis grow in power, he's forced to stay there and create films for them. This thought-provoking biographical novel melds art and history and serves up "a searing look at the mechanics of complicity" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| The Girls of Good Fortune by Kristina McMorrisFacing anti-Chinese sentiment in 1880s Oregon, biracial Celia hides her heritage and works as a maid for Portland's mayor. His son, who knows Celia’s secret, loves her and proposes. But with him away at school, her father murdered, and her unexpectedly pregnant, Celia ends up housekeeping at a brothel, before other dangers surface. Recipes and an author's note add to this compelling tale. Read-alike: Jenny Tinghui Zhang's Four Treasures of the Sky. |
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| The Red House by Mary MorrisLeaving New Jersey and her troubled marriage, middle-aged Laura goes to Italy, hoping to learn more about her mother, Viola, who disappeared when Laura was a kid. Interspersed with Laura's efforts, readers see Viola as a child during World War II, when Italian Jewish people were imprisoned in detention centers. Exploring intergenerational trauma, this evocative read presents an "unusual and satisfying tale of family secrets" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| Blonde Dust by Tatiana de RosnayAt Reno, Nevada's legendary Mapes Hotel, young maid Pauline is assigned to Suite 614 and it changes her life. A single mom with little free time, it takes her a bit to realize the sweet, fragile woman in 614 is Marilyn Monroe, in town filming The Misfits as her marriage to Arthur Miller is dying. Serving up a moving look at the Hollywood icon, Blonde Dust is also an ode to female friendship. Read-alike: Can't We Be Friends by Denny S. Bryce & Eliza Knight. |
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| The Listeners by Maggie StiefvaterIn January 1942, war comes to West Virginia when the United States government orders the luxury Avallon Hotel to house Axis Power diplomats. Balancing work, worry, and ethical questions, hotel manager June Porter Hudson also gets to know a handsome FBI agent. This atmospheric adult fiction debut by a bestselling YA fantasy novelist has hints of magic and is a "must-read for all historical fiction fans" (Library Journal). Read-alike: Melanie Benjamin's Mistress of the Ritz. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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