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Historical Fiction November 2025 |
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| Venetian Vespers by John BanvilleIn Booker Prize winner John Banville's atmospheric latest, newlyweds Evelyn and Laura, who don't know each other very well, visit 1899 Venice. Struggling British writer Evelyn, who narrates, has been pulled to the city by his recently disinherited American wife, and there he meets a man claiming to know him. Though Evelyn doesn't remember the man, he quickly falls for his sister, which leads to violence and a disappearance. For another view of Venice, try: Alyssa Palombo's The Assassin of Venice. |
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Before Dorothy
by Hazel Gaynor
1932: Emily and Henry have established a new home in Kansas. Their lives hold a precarious and hopeful purpose, until tragedy strikes and their orphaned niece, Dorothy, lands on their doorstep. Drought and devastating dust storms threaten to destroy everything, and Emily's much-loved home becomes a place of uncertainty and danger. When the past catches up with the present and old secrets are exposed, Emily fears she will lose the most cherished thing of all: Dorothy. Bursting with courage and heart, Before Dorothy tells the story of the woman who raised a beloved heroine, and ponders the question: what is the true meaning of home?
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The Moonlit Piazza
by Annabelle Thorpe
Hidden loves and dangerous secrets may be uncovered as suspicion and lies swirl around trattoria Casa Maria and the Nazis tighten their grip on power in Italy.
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| Circle of Days by Ken FollettExploring the creation of Stonehenge, Circle of Days follows Seft, a flint miner who's physically abused by his widowed father. Falling for Neen, he's embraced by her herding family and ends up helping Neen's priestess sister bring her vision for a massive stone circle to life while facing weather issues, tribal conflicts, and logistical problems in this intricately plotted epic with a large cast of characters. Try this next: Conn Iggulden's The Abbot's Tale. |
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Last Stop Union Station
by Sarah James
Jacqueline Love’s acting career is tanking. At forty, roles are scarce, directors call her “difficult,” and even Humphrey Bogart won’t return her calls. Desperate to stay relevant, Jackie joins the Hollywood Victory Caravan—a train of movie stars touring the country to raise funds for the war. She’s no patriot, but she needs the work. When a fellow actor dies aboard, everyone calls it an accident -- but Jackie suspects otherwise. Stranded in Chicago, she teams up with Grace, one of the few women on the police force, to dig deeper. Their investigation uncovers a homegrown Nazi plot, forcing Jackie to decide what matters more: her career -- or her country.
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| Amity by Nathan HarrisIn 1866 Louisiana, formerly enslaved siblings Coleman and June continue to work for the Harper family after the war. When Mr. Harper heads to Mexico hoping to get rich via silver mines, he takes June with him. Soon Mrs. Harper, her adult daughter, bookish Coleman, and a dog follow them, but no one's journey is smooth in this incisive, intricately plotted western. For fans of: Paulette Jiles' Chenneville; Chris Bohjalian's The Jackal's Mistress. |
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| Whatever Happened to Lori Lovely? by Sarah McCoyIn 1991, college student Lu Tibbott writes her senior thesis about her Aunt Lori, a 1960s movie starlet who left Hollywood to become a nun. While Lori has never discussed her abrupt decision before, she agrees to be interviewed by Lu. This compelling dual timeline novel puts the spotlight on ambition, love, faith, and secrets as readers follow Lu and Lori's paths. For fans of: Taylor Jenkins Reid's The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo; or Meg Waite Clayton's Typewriter Beach. |
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The Righteous
by Ronald H. Balson
During the throes of World War II and the Holocaust, Theresa Weissbach, a professor at the University of Michigan, hasn’t heard from her parents in Budapest for over a year; and her best friend, Julia Powers, recently awarded a Distinguished Service Medal for her OSS service in occupied Holland, joins with her to locate and rescue Theresa’s family. While there, they become involved in a much larger cause, trying to save as many people as they can.
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Our Last Vineyard Summer
by Brooke Lea Foster
After suffering through her first year of graduate school at Columbia following her senator father’s death, Betsy Whiting is hoping to spend the summer with her boyfriend…and hopefully end the summer as his fiancée. Instead, her mother -- a longtime feminist and leader in the women’s movement -- calls Betsy and her sisters back home to Martha’s Vineyard, announcing that they need to sell their beloved summer house to pay off their father’s debts. When Betsy arrives on the island a week later, she must reckon with her strained familial relationships, a long-ago forbidden romance, and the complicated legacy of her parents, who divided the family even as they did good for the world.
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The Letter Carrier
by Francesca Giannone
A woman arrives at a small Italian town in the 1930s, with her husband and baby, and is the permanent outsider. She decides to become the town postmistress, the first female to hold that position.
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Cheesecake
by Mark Kurlansky
West 86th Street knows its desserts. In 1970s Manhattan, poppyseed strudel and New York cheesecake are neighborhood staples -- until Cato the Elder arrives. The Roman statesman’s ancient cheesecake recipe, rediscovered by the Katsikases, a Greek cheesemaking family, becomes an unlikely hit after a glowing New York Times review. As their business grows, Cato’s cheesecake seeps into the lives of the locals: a frazzled bat mitzvah planner, a secretive muse, and an art collector bent on revenge. Savory or sweet, the cheesecake transforms them all -- and the block itself -- forever.
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The Threads Remain
by Glenn Shapiro
Lives are torn apart. Lives are woven together... As war approaches Young Jewish couple Max and Gerda are running their treasured family toyshop, but impending danger will force them to make unimaginable choices to stay alive. There are decisions to be made Just fifteen and drafted into the SS, Josef is unprepared for war. Serving his country will force Josef to question all he knows about himself. Can he do everything that's asked of him - and should he? What will be their legacy? A decade after the war's end, a death in sixteen-year-old Friedrich's family propels him to investigate the past and uncover the truth about who he really is. As they battle to survive World War II and life in Nazi Germany, Max and Gerda, Josef and Friedrich's lives intersect in unexpected and profound ways.
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The Lost Baker of Vienna
by Sharon Kurtzman
In 2018, Zoe Rosenzweig is reeling after the loss of her beloved grandfather, a Holocaust survivor. She becomes obsessed with finding out what really happened to her family during the war. Vienna, 1946: Chana Rosenzweig has endured the horrors of war to find herself, her mother, and younger brother finally free in Vienna. But freedom doesn't look like they imagined it would, as they struggle to make a living and stay safe.
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Angel Down
by Daniel Kraus
Private Cyril Bagger has managed to survive the unspeakable horrors of the Great War through his wits and deception, swindling fellow soldiers at every opportunity. But his survival instincts are put to the ultimate test when he and four other grunts are given a deadly mission: venture into the perilous No Man’s Land to euthanize a wounded comrade. What they find amid the ruined battlefield, however, is not a man in need of mercy but a fallen angel, seemingly struck down by artillery fire. This celestial being may hold the key to ending the brutal conflict, but only if the soldiers can suppress their individual desires and work together.
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The Dreams We Knew
by Rachel Scott McDaniel
In the glitz and glam of New York City's elite circles, Delvina Salvastano Kline sheds the smothering label of "society's misfit" by carving her own path as a private investigator. When a promising young fashion model is found dead, Delvina is hired to unmask the killer lurking behind the city's shimmering facade. She reluctantly teams up with detective Kent Brisbane, the man she once loved, who knows a secret that could shatter her carefully crafted persona. As they plunge deep into the shadows of New York's underbelly, they discover the stakes are higher than they'd thought.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Côte Saint-Luc Public Library
5851 Cavendish Blvd.
Côte Saint-Luc, Quebec H4W 2X8
514-485-6900csllibrary.org/ |
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