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Historical Fiction February 2023 |
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| Picture in the Sand by Peter BlaunerWhat it's about: Hoping to convince his radicalized grandson to avoid the mistakes of his own youth, businessman Ali Hassan shares long-held secrets about his activities during a politically tumultuous period of Egyptian history.
Ready for his close-up: the story takes place against the backdrop of the production of Cecil B. DeMille’s epic The Ten Commandments while a young Ali worked on set as the director’s assistant.
Reviewers say: Picture in the Sand is “historical fiction at its absolute best -- heartfelt, anchored in real events, and extremely well told” (Publishers Weekly). |
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| All the Blood We Share by Camilla BruceWhat it is: a gritty and atmospheric tale of murder, money, and family ties in 19th-century Kansas.
Inspired by: the true story of the Bender family, who are believed to have killed a least a dozen people while operating a roadside inn from 1871-1873.
Did you know? There's no consensus on the fate of the “Bloody Benders,” who fled the area after a well-connected politician began to look for his missing brother (whose body was later found on their property). |
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| The Book of Everlasting Things by Aanchal MalhotraStarring: Samir, a Hindu perfumer, and Firdaus, a Muslim calligrapher, whose forbidden love story sweeps readers from the early 20th century to the present day.
Read it for: a lush, atmospheric story of cultural, political and personal turmoil surrounding the 1947 Partition of India.
For fans of: Elif Shafak's The Island of Missing Trees, Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, or All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. |
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| The Wintering Place by Kevin McCarthySequel alert: The Wintering Place follows Irish immigrants Thomas and Michael O’Driscoll, who readers first met in Wolves of Eden.
This time: 1867 finds the brothers on the run after deserting the army, struggling to eke out an existence during a harsh winter and avoid more trouble among the other outlaws who cross their path.
Is it for you? The novel’s visceral details are compelling, evocative, and do much to underline the characters’ traumatic experiences, but they may also be off-putting to some readers. |
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| The Seamstress of Sardinia by Bianca PitzornoWhat it is: a moving and engaging coming-of-age story about a determined Sardinian orphan striving to maintain her dignity and independence under circumstances that seem designed to rob her of both.
Read it for: the large cast of well-developed characters; the earnest resolve with which the novels unnamed heroine pursues her goals, interests, and dreams.
About the author: Hans Christian Anderson Award nominee Bianca Pitzorno is an Italian writer best known for her books for children and young adults, and for her translations of authors like J.R.R. Tolkien. |
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| When Franny Stands Up by Eden RobinsWhat it's about: Franny Steinberg may feel out of place in the suburbs of postwar Chicago but she feels right at home in the city's comedy clubs. After an unforgettable experience at a female comedian's show, Franny decides to try stand-up for herself, discovering a new world of people and possibilities in the process.
For fans of: series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; authors such as Laura Esquivel and Anita Diamant. |
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| Defending Alice by Richard StrattonWhat it is: a dramatic and character-driven story of love, marriage, and divorce across race and class lines in Roaring Twenties New York.
Inspired by: the sensationalized 1925 Rhinelander v. Rhinelander trial, in which a white man from an old money family accused his mixed-race wife of lying about her background before their marriage.
For the record: A jury ruled in his wife's favor and the two later came to a divorce settlement. Neither ever married again. |
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| Lost in the Long March by Michael X. WangWhat it's about: Amidst the chaos of the 1930s Communist uprising in China, a young couple makes a desperate choice to leave their baby in the relative safety of a mountain community. Years later, another war sends their child in search of them, enlisting in the occupying Japanese army in pursuit of information about his parents and their fates.
Read it for: author Michael X. Wang’s “simple, elegant prose” and “finely drawn details” (Booklist); the character-driven storyline and thought-provoking tone.
Try this next: Wuhan by John Fletcher. |
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| The Dressmakers of Prospect Heights by Kitty ZeldisWhat it is: the lyrical and richly detailed story of the complex, overlapping, volatile bonds between three strong women in 1920s Brooklyn.
Starring: Beatrice, a Russian-born Jewish dress shop proprietor newly arrived from New Orleans; Beatrice's protégé Alice, who came north with her mentor; newlywed Catherine, a regular customer of the dress shop whose increasingly close friendship with Beatrice could change things for all three of them forever.
For fans of: The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis; The Lost Summers of Newport by Beatriz Williams. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Atlantic County Library System | 40 Farragut Avenue, Mays Landing, NJ 08330
Phone: (609) 625-2776 | www.atlanticlibrary.org
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|  | Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson
Atlantic County Board of Commissioners, Maureen Kern, Chairwoman |
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