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Historical Fiction October 2026 |
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Agrippa: A Novel of Ancient Rome's Descent Into Dictatorship
by Robert Harris
Ancient Rome: He was born feet first, a dangerous way to enter the world. His mother did not survive, and the nickname Agrippa--mother killer--stuck. But the schoolyard taunting only served to harden his resolve and hone his predilection for aggression. In time, the name lost its sting and became instead a mark of his invincibility. It came to shape his destiny.
A mere commoner: Agrippa defended a bullied young boy, Octavius, who turned out to be the nephew of Julius Caesar himself. Caesar took a liking to the young Agrippa and relied on him to protect Octavius. When Caesar was murdered in the Senate, the fate of the Republic hung in the balance. Octavius inherited the empire in name only. To assume the mantle, he would have to fight for it. Agrippa was the brawn and Octavius was the guile. Together, they would be unstoppable.
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| The Barman of the Ritz by Philippe CollinParis, 1940: The Nazis have descended on Paris and the Occupation has begun. Businesses across the city have shuttered, but the legendary Ritz Hotel remains open - its dazzling lights still burning bright on the Place Vendôme. When it becomes the favorite watering hole of the occupying forces, it's barman Frank Meier, is forced to adapt to a new clientele. But Frank has a secret: he is Jewish.
Tensions rise as the war progresses: Frank refuses to leave his post behind the bar. Unbeknownst to the Nazi officers he serves night after night, Frank forms precarious alliances with unlikely accomplices in order to save other Jewish families in the city and keep his loved ones alive.
Inspired by real events. |
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Cool Machine
by Colson Whitehead
Harlem, 1981: New York City is beginning to emerge from financial ruin and decline. Up in Harlem, successful business owner/master fence Ray Carney has just been named Sterling Furniture's Dealer of the Month. When the banks won't give his wife Elizabeth a loan he gambles on one last heist, and finds himself entangled with a legendary criminal mastermind.
1983: Carney's friend and partner in crime, Pepper, is either a stone-cold sociopath, or a top thief with questionable people skills. Either way, he's feeling his age. When he takes on a bodyguard gig as a favor to Elizabeth, he's plunged into the alien territory of the East Village art and club scene.
1986: Carney has always been haunted by his inability to save his cousin Freddie. Now, twenty years after Freddie's death, he has a chance to rescue Freddie's son from the violent forces of the city. But coming out of retirement and teaming up with Pepper again will mean risking the safety and security he's spent decades building for his family.
Final volume of the Harlem Trilogy.
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| The Library of Leaving by Emily DunlaySwitzerland, 1920s: In the wake of the Great War, American Helen Fox lives a solitary life in Switzerland as a librarian, cataloguing books left as bequests by diplomats and other expatriates. Bookish and buttoned up, Helen is shocked when she receives a package that hints at her far more colorful past.
Former lover and spy: It’s a draft chapter of a novel written by a man she knew intimately during the war—a soldier she nursed at a camp in the Alps for wounded Allied troops. Though he claims his book is fiction, Helen is afraid of what it might reveal about who she used to be and the decisions she made to survive during the war. |
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| The Pirate Queen by Ariel LawhonIreland, 16th-century: Grace O'Malley dreams of a life at sea, but despite her natural skill on the water, Grace learns early that her dreams of a life at the helm are not compatible with the expectations of her noble family. As the only daughter of a powerful chieftain, her role is to secure a strong alliance and bear children.
Maiden, Mother, and Matriarch: Married off against her will to a brutal warrior, Grace performs her duty, all the while gathering followers loyal to her, and consolidating her husband’s power, only to be ousted from his lands. But this betrayal offers Grace the opportunity to return to sea, finally leading clan O’Malley’s mighty fleet. Just as she finds true independence, Queen Elizabeth’s incursions into Ireland grow bolder and Grace must fight to defend her land, her ships, and the people she loves.
Inspired by the life of Grace O’Malley, the legendary Irish folk heroine who risked everything to defend her people. |
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The Undercover Bookshop
by Katherine Reay
England, 1950: Gemma Brown has recently moved to the Cotswolds. She desperately wants to create the kind of idyllic life she’s read about in her favorite mystery novels, with herself as the leading lady. But fitting in proves difficult as Gemma is more adept at solving mysteries and setting up the village’s first bookstore than she is at baking cakes or grasping social niceties.
Friends: Gemma befriends Peggy, a young woman who has recently moved to town herself, and Ursula Beurton, who is not only the village’s best baker but an enigmatic figure who sparks controversy in the small-town gossip network. As Gemma spends more time with Ursula, she begins to suspect all those novels are affecting her thinking. The oddities she starts to notice must be her imagination because, if not, they point to something far more dangerous than winning the local baking contest or being placed on the church committee. Could her neighbor be a real spy?
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| The Witches of Cambridge by Alice HoffmanCambridge, Massachusetts, 1950s: Ava, a bright young woman from a small town in Maine, arrives for her first year at Radcliffe College. There, she meets Lauren, her opposite in every way—the wild and brazen daughter of a wealthy and well-established Cambridge family. But the two have more in common than they think.
The Lilith Society: Ava and Lauren are both recruited to a secret organization of witches at Radcliffe dating back to colonial times. While Radcliffe seems like a safe haven, the shadow of McCarthyism looms large, an ever-present threat to the flourishing creative and intellectual life in Cambridge. And as girls from the Lilith Society begin to go missing, Ava and Lauren realize the witch trials of the past may not be as deeply buried as they once believed. |
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Exploitation in the Circus
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| The Chinese Lady by Bo WangChina, early 1800s: Afong Moy, the first known Chinese woman to enter the United States, is born to a concubine in Canton Province. At 14, she is sold to two merchants who bring her to New York as a live exhibit, where people marvel at the her astonishing little feet, broken and bound to resemble lotuses.
Known by different names: Three women introduce us to her many names. Her mother calls her Little Sparrow, the captain’s wife names her Julia and “graciously” treats her as her own. And when she is shunted off to P.T Barnum, her fellow human exhibitions call her China. Eventually arriving in San Francisco's Chinatown, she will at long last claim her name and her own story.
Based on a real person. |
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| Hocus Pocus by Brinda CharryIndia, 1816: 25-year-old Samuel Thomas, is a young magician who was born in Madras, India, and raised in an orphanage there. Convinced that he is destined for greatness in a far-off land, he journeys across the globe—from India to London to the fog-shrouded streets of Boston, in the infamous Year Without a Summer. In this season of unrelenting cold, Samuel arrives in a city alive with ambition, contradiction, and tension.
Walter Mepham’s New Boston Museum: Nathaniel is the proprietor of the museum which is on the brink of bankruptcy. He is desperate to find ways to keep it open—and Samuel is the ideal fit for the first live addition to the collection. As Samuel becomes subsumed within the museum and dependent on Nathaniel, he must reckon with just how much he’s willing to give up to achieve success. |
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The Life She Was Given
by Ellen Marie Wiseman
New York, 1931: On a summer evening in 1931, Lilly Blackwood glimpses circus lights from the grimy window of her attic bedroom. Lilly isn't allowed to explore the meadows around Blackwood Manor. She's never even ventured beyond her narrow room. Momma insists it's for Lilly's own protection, that people would be afraid if they saw her. But on this unforgettable night, Lilly is taken outside for the first time--and sold to the circus sideshow.
1956: Nineteen-year-old Julia Blackwood has inherited her parents' estate and horse farm. For Julia, home was an unhappy place full of strict rules and forbidden rooms, and she hopes that returning might erase those painful memories. Instead, she becomes immersed in a mystery involving a hidden attic room and photos of circus scenes featuring a striking young girl.
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Contact your librarian for more great books! |
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Longwood Public Library800 Middle Country RoadMiddle Island, New York 11953
(631) 924-6400
longwoodlibrary.org |
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