Historical Fiction
July 2022

Recent Releases
Woman of Light
by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

What it is: a sweeping, thought-provoking family saga about the stories we tell each other and ourselves, and the powerful yet intangible nature of narrative.

Starring: Denver-based Chicana Luz Little Light, who is getting by during the Great Depression on what she earns from doing laundry and reading fortunes in tea leaves.

Why you might like it: Luz has a special connection with her family's indigenous roots, and her journey to come to grips with things will take readers through defining moments in the history of the Old West. 
Lessons in Chemistry
by Bonnie Garmus

Introducing:  Chemist Elizabeth Zott, host of the cooking show, Supper at Six, and a dazzling cast of supporting characters, including the love of Elizabeth's life, Calvin Evans, her daughter Madeline, neighbor Harriet, producer Walter, and her dog Six Thirty.
 
What it's about:  In the early 1960s, chemist and single mother Elizabeth Zott, the reluctant star of Americas most beloved cooking show due to her revolutionary skills in the kitchen, uses this opportunity to dare women to change the status quo.
 
Reviewers say: "Lessons in Chemistry, by former copywriter Bonnie Garmus, is that rare beast; a polished, funny, thought-provoking story, wearing its research lightly but confidently, and with sentences so stylishly turned it's hard to believe it's a debut" (Guardian UK); "Indefatigable and formidable, Elizabeth pushes the bounds of how women and their work are perceived in this thoroughly engaging debut novel" (Booklist).
The Mayfair Bookshop
by Eliza Knight

Where it begins: a tiny London bookshop, where a curious curator learns about her surprising connection to novelist Nancy Mitford. 

Cameos by: novelist Evelyn Waugh; Nancy's five younger sisters, who joined her in the society pages and each left their own marks on the world. 

For fans of: The Paris Wife by Paula McLain and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.
The Foundling
by Ann Leary

What it's about: In 1927 Mary Engle starts a job as a doctor's secretary at the Nettleton State Village for Feebleminded Women of Childbearing Age.  But her pride in her job and respect for her employer begin to crumble when she discovers that Lillian, her childhood best friend, was wrongfully incarcerated in the facility and begs Mary to help her escape.

Reviewers say: Author Ann Leary's wit "complements her serious approach to historical and psychological issues in this thoroughly satisfying novel" (Kirkus Reviews).

You might also like: The Mad Women's Ball by Victoria Mas; The Girls With No Names by Serena Burdick.
The Kew Gardens Girls at War
by Posy Lovell

Meet the Kew Gardens girls: Daisy Cooper, whose new husband joins the RAF to fight the Battle of Britain, and Beth Sanderson, an aspiring doctor looking to make a difference. 
 
What it's about: Inspired by real events, a touching novel about a new class of courageous women who worked at London's historic Kew Gardens during World War II.
 
Reviewers say: "The horrible reality of war is on full display in this engrossing story, which Lovell enhances with a visceral sense of bombs falling and terrible news arriving via telegrams. This has “movie option” written all over it" (Publishers Weekly).
The Colony
by Audrey Magee

What it is: a lyrical, atmospheric story about two outsiders who visit a small Irish island during the Troubles and the unintended consequences of their arrival.

The visitors: an English artist known only as Mr. Lloyd, who is drawn to the island out of a desire for something "primal" to paint; French linguist Jean-Pierre Masson, who hopes to study Gaelic away from outside influences on the dialect.

Read it for: the exploration of colonialism and how it intersects with the personal as much as it does the political.
Mustique Island
by Sarah McCoy

What it is: A sun-splashed romp with a rich divorcee and her two wayward daughters in 1970s Mustique, the world's most exclusive private island, where Princess Margaret and Mick Jagger were regulars, and scandals stayed hidden from the press.
 
What it's about: In 1972, Willy May, a wealthy divorcee from Texas, is drawn into the Mustique island's inner circle of aristocrats and celebrities until her daughters discover Mustique's dark side.  
 
Reviewers say: "Though sun-drenched and frequently frothy, McCoy’s (Marilla of Green Gables, 2018) underlying tale of women-in-crisis who claw their way back to strength carries sobering messages about the importance of family loyalty and resiliency" (Booklist).
The Lawless Land
by Boyd Morrison

Introducing: Ex-communicated knight Gerard Fox, a battle-hardened warrior whose ancestral home was unjustly taken from him. Now, he roams across the known world of Europe looking for work as a man-at-arms. Equipped with only his Damascus-steel sword and war bow, Fox takes out tyrannical and dishonorable men in a land still blighted by the Black Death.
 
What it's about: In his ongoing crusade to deliver justice, Fox comes to the aid of Lady Isabel, who is fleeing from her brutal betrothed. But she hasn't told him the whole story. Isabel is guarding a priceless holy relic. One many men would kill for. 
 
Series alert: The Lawless Land is the first book in the Lawless Land series.
Take My Hand
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

What it's about: Nursing school grad Civil Townsend starts a new job at a family planning clinic in Montgomery, Alabama, where she hopes to help the local Black community. But after noticing disturbing choices her white supervisors make about patient care, Civil puts her career on the line to protect two young girls from an unjust system. 

Why you should read it: Take My Hand is incredibly timely, beginning in 1973 before Roe v. Wade while also exploring the forced sterilization of Black people by government and and medical institutions.

Reviewers say: Take My Hand is "an exceptional read" and despite the heaviness of the topic, author Dolen Perkins-Valdes gives "nuance and dignity to her characters, along with glimmers of hope"  (Library Journal).
The Last Summer
by Karen Swan

What it is: Inspired by the true history of St Kilda and its small island community, opposites attract in this epic and spellbinding novel, which transports us from the untamed beauty of St Kilda to the glamour and intrigues of high society in the 1930s.
 
What it's about: When the residents of St Kilda ask to be evacuated from their remote island home in the summer of 1930, it's in search of a better life on the mainland rather than the scratch existence on their mountain in the sea. For 18-year old tomboy Effie Gillies, it's a bittersweet departure. She's the best young climber on the island, as skilled and brave as any of the men. But it is Effie's expansive knowledge of local bird life that leads her to taking up a position as curator of Dumfries House's ornithological collection - and back into the arms of Lord Dumfries' son and heir, Sholto. During her last summer on St Kilda, Effie had been Sholto's guide, and their attraction had seemed irresistible but, in the glamorous polite society of Ayrshire, it is clear they are worlds apart.  
 
Series alert: The Last Summer is the first book in the Wild Isle series.
Contact your librarian for more great books!