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Historical Fiction February 2026 |
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| The Bookbinder's Secret by A.D. BellEngland, 1901: Lilian ("Lily") Delaney, apprentice to a master bookbinder in Oxford, chafes at the confines of her life. She is trapped between the oppressiveness of her father’s failing bookshop and still being an apprentice in a man’s profession. But when she’s given a burned book during a visit to a collector, she finds, hidden beneath the binding, a fifty-year-old letter speaking of love, fortune, and murder.
Story of forbidden love: Lily is pulled into the mystery of the young lovers and discovers there are more books and more hidden pages telling their story. Lilian becomes obsessed with the story, but she is not the only one looking for the remaining books. What began as a diverting intrigue quickly becomes a very dangerous pursuit. |
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| The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie GodfreyEngland, 1979: 12-year-old Miv lives with her lonely father, her opinionated Aunty Jean, and her mother, who had a breakdown and no longer speaks. With the (real-life) Yorkshire Ripper terrorizing the area, curious Miv investigates with her loyal best friend.
A plan: How would we catch him? We need a way of gathering clues and putting them into order. I thought about what the policeman had said about structure, and then about Aunty Jean and her notebook, and the idea I had hardened like toffee. I knew exactly what we needed to do. 'We'll make a list,' I said. 'A list of the people and things we see that are suspicious. And then we'll investigate them.' |
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Midnight at the Cinema Palace
by Christopher Tradowsky
California, 1990s: Walter Simmering is searching for love and purpose in a city he doesn't realize is fading away--San Francisco, at the height of the AIDS epidemic and the dawn of the tech revolution. Out of college, out of the closet, and transplanted from the Midwest, Walter is irresistibly drawn from his shell when he meets Cary Menuhin and Sasha Stravinsky, a dynamic couple who live blithely beyond the boundaries of gender and sexuality.
Film lovers: When Walter befriends Lawrence, a filmmaker and former child actor living with HIV, they pursue a film project of their own, with hilarious and tragic results.
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| Rules of the Heart by Janice HadlowEngland, 1794. Now in her thirties, Lady Henrietta Bessborough is no stranger to the affections of a younger man. For married women of the Ton, a young lover is encouraged, provided you know how to play - don’t embarrass your husband, maintain complete discretion at all times and, most importantly, never fall in love.
Lord Granville: He's brilliantly handsome, rich, twelve years younger than Henrietta, and appears the perfect candidate for an affair. Then she falls uncontrollably under his spell. As she’s plunged into an all-consuming passion, all the wisdom and sophistication Henrietta thought she had deserts her. And, with their relationship drawing the attention of wider society, each anxious but besotted step she takes leads her further into scandal and ruin . . . |
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| Sharpe's Storm by Bernard CornwellFrance, 1813: War against Napoleon rages across Europe. As Britain prepares to invade France for the first time, the formidable Major Richard Sharpe and his men brace themselves for a cold, hard winter.
Battle: Sharpe is ordered to keep Rear Admiral Sir Joel Chase safe, as Chase has plans that may finally defeat Napoleon. But Sharpe's task is made difficult by Chase's extreme confidence and thirst for battle. Before them, across flooded rivers and fortified bridges, lies the fiercest French army they have ever encountered. There is only one way forward for Wellington's army, and it will be bloody. . . . |
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These Heathens
by Mia McKenzie
Georgia, 1960: Seventeen-year-old Doris Steele is pregnant and does not want to have the baby. She can't talk to her small town's midwife who goes to the same church as your parents. Her favorite teacher, Mrs. Lucas, calls upon her brash, wealthy childhood best friend, Sylvia, for help.
Atlanta: While waiting to hear from the doctor who has agreed to do the procedure, Doris spends the weekend scandalized by, but drawn to, the people who move in and out of Sylvia's orbit: celebrities whom Doris has seen in the pages of Jet and Ebony, civil rights leaders such as Coretta Scott King and Diane Nash, women who dance close together, boys who flirt too hard and talk too much, atheists. Mrs. Lucas seems right at home. And everyone seems to know exactly who or what they want. Doris knows she doesn't want a baby, but what does she want? Will this trip help her find out?
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This Is the Only Kingdom
by Jaquira Díaz
Puerto Rico, 1970s: When Maricarmen meets Rey el Cantante, beloved small-time Robin Hood and local musician on the rise, she begins to envision a life beyond the tight-knit community of el Caserâio - beyond cleaning houses, beyond waiting tables, beyond the constant tug of war between the street hustlers and los camarones. But breaking free proves more difficult than she imagined.
Miami, Fifteen years later: Maricarmen and her daughter Nena find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation, as the community that once rallied to support Rey turns against them. Now Nena, a teenager haunted by loss and betrayal and exploring her sexual identity, must learn to fight for herself and her family in a world not always welcoming...
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The Women on Platform Two
by Laura Anthony
Dublin, Ireland, 1969: Maura has just married Dr. Christy Davenport and they look forward to growing their family. But as her husband's vicious temper emerges, Maura worries that her home might never be safe for a child. Meanwhile, her close friend Bernie, a mother of three, learns the devastating news that another pregnancy could prove fatal.
Dublin, 2023: Saoirse has come to the realization that she may never want to be a mother. Then she meets an older woman on a train platform, who shares her experiences as a young woman - of a time when all forms of contraception are strictly forbidden, and a group of women fight for change.
Inspired by a little-known true story.
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The First Witch of Boston
by Andrea Catalano
Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1646: Thomas and Margaret Jones arrive from England to build a life in the New World. Though of differing temperaments, cautious Thomas and fiery Margaret, a healer, are bound by a love that has lasted decades. With a child on the way, their new beginning promises only blessings.
Hidden Danger: But in this austere Puritan community, comely faces hide malicious intent. Wrong moves or words are met with suspicion, and Margaret's bold and unguarded nature draws scorn. Soon, Margaret is mistrusted as more cunning woman than kind caregiver. And when personal tragedies, religious hysteria, and wariness of the unknown turn most against her, even the devotion Margaret and her husband share is at risk.
Inspired by actual diary entries and court records.
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The Hounding
by Xenobe Purvis
England, 1700: Even before the rumors about the Mansfield girls begin, Little Nettlebed is a village steeped in the uncanny, from strange creatures that wash up on the riverbank to portentous ravens gathering on the roofs of people about to die. But when the villagers start to hear barking, and one claims to see the Mansfield sisters transform before his very eyes, the allegations spark fascination and fear like nothing has before.
Who's to blame: Soon villagers blame the sisters, aged between six and 19, for the terrible heat, failing crops, and the dead body at the edge of the Thames River. Even if local belief in witchcraft is waning, an aversion to difference is as widespread as ever, and the town agrees that something isn’t right in Little Nettlebed, and the sisters will be the ones to pay for it.
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The Last Witch
by C. J. Cooke
Austria, 1485: Helena Scheuberin should be doing what every other young wife in Innsbruck is doing - keeping house, supporting her husband, bearing his children. But when her husband's footman, Leopold, with whom she was having an affair, is found dead, Helena is accused of killing him. Worse, she is accused of being a witch.
Imprisoned with six other women: Helena is plunged from her life of comfort into a world of terror. When a cursed witch totem is smuggled into the prison, the prisoners attempt to use it to conjure escape. But the totem is the severed hand of a murdered woman, and Helena's life is in danger both inside and outside the dungeon.
Based on the incredible true story of a woman who challenged a man who went on to become one of Europe's most notorious and cruel witchfinders.
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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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