 Supporting COMMUNITY. Inspiring DISCOVERY. Promoting LITERACY. |
|
Historical Fiction March 2025 |
|
|
|
|
| Babylonia by Costanza CasatiMixing mythology with ancient history, this second novel by the author of Clytemnestra traces the path of Semiramis from poor orphan to Queen of Assyria. Raised by an abusive shepherd after her mother ran afoul of Aphrodite, clever Semiramis navigates her way to the city, where court intrigue and a love triangle don't stop her ambition in this evocative, gripping tale. Read-alike: A.D. Rhine's Horses of Fire. |
|
|
|
The Medici return
by Steve Berry
The search for a 16th-century Vatican debt known as the Pledge of Christ leads Cotton Malone into a high-stakes quest involving the lost Medici lineage, while the future of Italy's prime minister and the papacy hang in the balance, all depending on the Medici's possible return.
|
|
| The Queen of Fives by Alex HayDestitute con artist Quinn Le Blanc, the current Queen of Fives, follows the old group's rulebook dictating she has five days to pull off five specific moves to complete a successful con. In 1898 London, she's impersonating an heiress to lure a wealthy duke into marriage, but she only has one helper left and there are mysterious plots against her. For fans of: Ashley Weaver's Electra McDonnell mysteries. |
|
|
|
Saint of the Narrows Street
by William Boyle
In Gravesend, Brooklyn, 1986, Risa Franzone lives with her bad-seed husband, Saverio, and their eight-month-old baby, Fabrizio, and when she hits and kills Sav after an accident occurs with Risa's younger sister, Giulia, the girls call Sav's friend Chooch to help them and hide their secret.
|
|
|
|
The Stolen Queen
by Fiona Davis
In 1937, Charlotte Cross studies anthropology in the Valley of the Kings, but there are odd goings-on. In 1978 New York, she's a Met curator when a priceless artifact disappears during the Met Gala. Along with 18-year-old Annie Jenkins, Gala organizer Diana Vreeland's assistant, Charlotte goes to Egypt to face her past and retrieve the item. Read-alikes: Bryn Turnbull's The Paris Deception; Gill Paul's The Collector's Daughter.
|
|
| The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher MurrayIn 1905, Belle de Costa Greene is hired away from Princeton University to curate and run the personal library of banker J.P. Morgan. She shrewdly expands his collection of manuscripts, books, and artwork and becomes a powerful part of New York society, all the while hiding her Black family history. Read-alikes: Fiona Davis' The Lions of Fifth Avenue; Kuchenga Shenjé's The Library Thief. |
|
| The Women's March by Jennifer ChiaveriniIn 1913, not all American women have a right to vote. Determined to change that, suffragists such as Alice Paul, Maud Malone, and Ida B. Wells take part in a March on Washington, D.C., where angry men block their path. Blending fact and fiction, this powerful novel thoughtfully depicts the women's struggles and courage. For fans of: Stories from Suffragette City, edited by M.J. Rose and Fiona Davis. |
|
| Diva by Daisy GoodwinWell-researched and richly detailed, Diva fictionalizes the complex and scandalous extramarital affair between legendary opera singer Maria Callas and Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis. For fans of: An Unofficial Marriage by Joie Davidow; the 2024 Angelina Jolie film Maria. |
|
| Island Queen by Vanessa RileyBorn enslaved, Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, a real-life 18th- and 19th-century Caribbean woman, builds a business empire to buy freedom for herself and her family and rubs shoulders with the rich and powerful, including England's future King William IV. If you enjoyed Edward P. Jones' Pulitzer Prize-winning The Known World, try this engaging and richly detailed story. |
|
| The Engineer's Wife by Tracey Enerson WoodAfter her chief engineer husband becomes sick while working on his late father's massive Brooklyn Bridge project, Emily Warren Roebling becomes his messenger and then takes on ever more responsibilities. Despite political corruption and people from all levels of society underestimating her, she ushers the bridge to completion in 1883. For fans of: Beatrice Colin's To Capture What We Cannot Keep. |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
Mary Riley Styles Public Library
120 N. Virginia Ave, Falls Church, Virginia 22046 703-248-5030 (TTY 711) www.mrspl.org
|
|
|
|