Historical Fiction
February 2026

Recent Releases
The Bookbinder's Secret
by A.D. Bell

In 1901 Oxford, apprentice bookbinder Lily Delaney feels trapped by her father’s failing shop and a male-dominated profession. When she discovers a burned book hiding a decades-old letter about love, fortune, and murder, she’s drawn into a dangerous mystery. Her search for the truth leads through eccentric booksellers, secret archives, and ruthless collectors. As sinister forces close in, Lily must decide if solving the mystery is worth risking her life.
Sharpe's Storm
by Bernard Cornwell

Amid 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. This is the latest in the long-running Sharpe series, which started in the 1980s and spawned the popular TV series starring Sean Bean. For fans of: thrilling adventures that beautifully blend history and fiction.
The Unworthy by Roy Jacobsen
The Unworthy
by Roy Jacobsen

They're a gang without a name - Olav, Carl, Roar, Jan and Vidar - teenage boys growing up in a working-class area of Oslo under the shadow of Nazi occupation. They live in poverty but earn a crust by creatively swindling their fellow citizens, falsifying documents and stealing like magpies. And they don't shy away from targeting the Enemy, either. But everything changes when Carl's father hands him a secret map and a German password, just hours before he's taken away by the Quisling police - only to return in a coffin. And when Olav's father also disappears, the gang come to see that they are caught up in something far more serious than their usual petty crimes.
Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon
Shadow Ticket
by Thomas Pynchon

Milwaukee 1932, the Great Depression going full blast, repeal of Prohibition just around the corner, Al Capone in the federal pen, the private investigation business shifting from labor-management relations to the more domestic kind. Hicks McTaggart, a one-time strikebreaker turned private eye, thinks he's found job security until he gets sent out on what should be a routine case, locating and bringing back the heiress of a Wisconsin cheese fortune who's taken a mind to go wandering. By the time Hicks catches up with her he will find himself entangled with Nazis, Soviet agents, British counterspies, swing musicians, practitioners of the paranormal, outlaw motorcyclists, and the troubles that come with each of them.
The Spirit of Scatarie by Lesley Crewe
The Spirit of Scatarie
by Lesley Crewe

Christmas Day, 1922: three babies are born on Scatarie Island. Hardy, Sam, and Mary Alice grow up together in their wild homeplace. But change is lapping at the shores of this isolated island, the Second World War the biggest change of all. One leaves to fight, one tends the light, and one struggles to understand how a place where wealth is measured in fish and family can possibly survive this outmigration. Only one of them knows about Cara. A girl who fell in love with the tight community of Scatarie, and remains as a spirit. A girl who keeps watch, nudging the three friends towards their destinies.
World Pacific by Peter Mann
World Pacific
by Peter Mann

In 1939, the clouds of war are gathering. Richard Halifax-a man of much bravado, master of misadventure, and writer of the breeziest of prose styles, vanishes in the Pacific. Halifax was attempting to sail a Chinese junk from Hong Kong to San Francisco as part of the World's Fair festivities on Treasure Island. But from the moment he is declared dead, his machinations live on, upending the lives of those left in his wake back home.
The Three Partisans by Jean-Yves Pitoun
The Three Partisans
by Jean-Yves Pitoun

This is the gripping saga of three World War II freedom fighters: Robert, an Algerian Jew, who runs away from home to join the army in Algiers; Mike, a cocky American pilot who enlisted in the Royal Air Force at the outset of the war; and Janine, a passionate and determined Frenchwoman leading missions to smuggle Allied airmen over the Pyrenees, out of France, and to safety. When fate forces the trio together, an easy friendship forms, one that soon blossoms into a fragile love triangle. With dangers mounting and SS operatives closing in, one of them is captured and must be rescued at all costs. the bravery and compassion that fueled the Resistance and helped win the war.
Starry Starry Night by Shani Mootoo
Starry Starry Night
by Shani Mootoo

Through Anju's innocent and clear-eyed observations, the reader becomes both a witness to and a participant in her negotiations of an unexpectedly new and complex life, spanning from the ages of four to twelve. Set against the backdrop of a politically exciting time in Trinidad's history, just before and after it gained independence, we meet Anju's beloved Ma and Pa and her socially advancing family. While preoccupied with their own dramas, the adults around her often fail to recognize the needs of the children who depend on them.
Sonora by Jenni L. Walsh
Sonora
by Jenni L. Walsh

Inspired by a true story of one of the first female horse divers, Sonora explores a world of daring feats and extraordinary adventures set in the heyday of the American carnival scene. This book vividly captures the spirit of a brave woman who defied societal norms to follow her dreams, diving into the unknown with courage and resilience.
 
The French Kitchen: USA Today Bestselling Historical Romance Set in WWII France, Post-War Paris, and the World of Julia Child by Kristy Cambron
The French Kitchen
by Kristy Cambron

As Paris rebuilds in the aftermath of World War II, Kat Fontaine never expected the skills she learned in a French château kitchen to be the key that unlocks the secrets swirling in her new post-war life.
The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey
The Book of Guilt
by Catherine Chidgey

England, 1979. Vincent, Lawrence and William are the last remaining residents of a secluded New Forest home, part of the government's Sycamore Scheme. Every day, the triplets do their chores, play their games and take their medicine, under the watchful eyes of three mothers: Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night. Their nightmares are recorded in The Book of Dreams. Their lessons are taken from The Book of Knowledge. And their sins are reported in The Book of Guilt. All the boys want is to be sent to the Big House in Margate, where they imagine a life of sun, sea and fairground rides. But, as the government looks to shut down the Sycamore Homes, the triplets begin to question everything they have been told.
The Kaboom Boys by Don Keith
The Kaboom Boys
by Don Keith

With the specter of the Great Depression behind him and the horrors of Nazi-occupied Europe ahead, Edward Hume leaves his Pennsylvania coal mining town to volunteer as one of the first US Army bomb demolition captains in the Second World War. Trained alongside the RAF in the English countryside, Hume takes command of an eclectic team of misfits, tasked with the perilous job of defuzing unexploded bombs in the heart of Europe’s fiercest battlegrounds.
Queen Esther by John Irving
Queen Esther
by John Irving

Dr. Wilbur Larch takes in Esther Nacht - a Viennese-born Jew whose life is shaped by anti-Semitism. Orphaned after arriving in Maine, Dr. Larch knows it won’t be easy to find a Jewish family to adopt Esther. When she is 14, soon to be a ward of the state, Dr. Larch meets the Winslows, a New England family with a history of providing foster care for unadopted orphans. Thought not Jewish, they despise anti-Semitism. Esther’s gratitude for the Winslows is unending; even as she retraces her roots back to Vienna, she never stops loving and protecting the Winslows.
The Ruins in Which We Bleed: Inspired by the Most Heartbreaking Holocaust True Story Ever Uncovered by Steve N. Lee
The Ruins in Which We Bleed
by Steve N. Lee

Following the Nazi invasion of Poland, 13-year-old Helena is imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto, and finds strength and courage to survive because of the love for her family.
The Last Lullaby: An Utterly Heartbreaking and Unforgettable Historical Fiction Novel by Roberta Kagan
The Last Lullaby
by Roberta Kagan

Paris, 1923. Lily Levin boards a train with her baby daughter Mimi and American husband, leaving behind her beloved mother Chloe for a new life across the ocean. Carrying her mother's precious diamond pin and the Yiddish lullabies she sings to Mimi, Lily faces an uncertain future in a country she’s never seen. In New York, as Lily struggles to fit in, she finds an unexpected ally in Gloria, a young mother hired to care for Mimi. The two women forge a friendship deeper than blood as they share dreams, fears, and their fierce love for their children. Then tragedy shatters their world. One brave mother must make an impossible choice that sends her and two children on a voyage -- to a Europe where Hitler's Nazi Party is gaining power and darkness is rising.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Côte Saint-Luc Public Library
5851 Cavendish Blvd.
Côte Saint-Luc, Quebec H4W 2X8
514-485-6900

csllibrary.org/