Historical Fiction
April 2025
Recent Releases
The Umbrella Maker's Son
by Tod Lending

Nazi Germany invades Poland, forcing 17-year-old Reuven's family to give up their artisan umbrella shop, leave their home, and perform hard labor. Things get worse, but Reuven is always desperately seeking his missing girlfriend. Written by an award-winning filmmaker, this moving debut ponders the power of love but doesn't hide the horrors of the Holocaust. Read-alikes: historical fiction by Georgia Hunter and Heather Morris.
Harlem Rhapsody
by Victoria Christopher Murray

In 1919, Jessie Redmon Fauset becomes the first Black woman literary editor of The Crisis magazine, putting her at the forefront of Harlem's cultural renaissance, where she discovers talents such as Langston Hughes and Nella Larsen. But her ambitions and a secret affair with W.E.B. Du Bois threaten it all. Try these next: Piper Huguley's By Her Own Design; Tia Williams' A Love Song for Ricki Wilde.
Grace of the Empire State
by Emma Tizzard

The Great Depression has caused many to lose their jobs in 1930 New York, including dancer and former circus performer Grace O'Connell. Her Irish American family needs her income, especially when her twin breaks his arm working on the Empire State Building, so brave Grace impersonates her brother, taking his place on the job. Try these next: Ella by Diane Richards; We Came Here to Shine by Susie Orman Schnall. 
The Riveter
by Jack Wang

Barred from military service in 1942 due to his race, Chinese Canadian Josiah Chang works in a Vancouver shipyard where he meets white Poppy Miller, but her parents take exception to their relationship. Trying to prove himself, Josiah goes to Toronto, where he's allowed to join the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion headed to Europe. Read-alikes: Adriana Allegri's The Sunflower House; Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Byron, Illinois 61010
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