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Historical Fiction April 2020 |
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Daughter of the Reich : a novel
by Louise Fein
WWII, Nazi Germany: Hetty Heinrich, the dutiful daughter of a high-ranking Nazi officer, is keen to play her part in the glorious new Thousand Year Reich. Then she encounters Walter, a Jewish friend from the past, who stirs dangerous feelings in her. Together, they dream about when the war will be over and plan for their future. But as the rising tide of anti-Semitism threatens to engulf them, Hetty and Walter will be forced to take extreme measures.
Inspired by the author's family history.
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Exile music
by Jennifer Steil
WWII, La Paz, Bolivia: Orly, a young Jewish girl growing up in Vienna in the 1930s, has an idyllic childhood filled with music and culture. She spends her days immersed in play with her best friend and upstairs neighbor, Anneliese.
What happens: In 1938, when the Germans arrive, the family flees to Bolivia. Years pass, the war ends, and Orly must decide if home is in the city high up in the Bolivian Andes, or in the Vienna left behind.
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Katheryn Howard, the scandalous queen : a novel
by Alison Weir
1540, England: The story of the tragic fifth wife of Henry VIII, Katheryn Howard, a teenage beauty who succumbs to the courtship of the ailing king and tries to bear him a son.
Her dangerous secret: What is in Katheryn's past, that not only is affecting her current decisions but, also her safety. What happens next to this naïve and much-wronged girl is one of the saddest chapters in English history.
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The Paris hours : a novel
by Alex George
1927, Paris, France: Paris between the wars teems with artists, writers, and musicians, a glittering crucible of genius. But, amidst the dazzling creativity of the city’s most famous citizens, four regular people are each searching for something they’ve lost.
Told over the course of a single day: Camille the maid of Marcel Proust; Souren, an Armenian refugee; lovesick artist Guillaume; and Jean-Paul, a journalist cross paths in an unforgettable climax.
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To Wake the Giant : A Novel of Pearl Harbor
by Jeff Shaara
1941, United States: the mysteries of just how Japan, a small, deeply militarist nation, could launch one of history's most devastating surprise attacks. Told through the eyes of widely diverse characters, this story looks at all sides of the drama and puts the reader squarely in the middle.
This is a story of innocence, heroism, sacrifice, and unfathomable blindness.
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| Grace by Paul LynchWhat it is: a heartwrenching coming-of age story set during the devastation of the Irish Potato Famine.
Starring: Fourteen-year-old Grace Coyle, who is forced to leave home to improve her chances of survival and tries to pass as a boy for safety; her younger brother Colly, who gets separated from her early in their journey.
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| A Long Way from Home by Peter CareyWhat it is: a character-driven and engaging road trip through 1950s Australia, in which three white Australians competing in the Redex Trial car race take a wrong turn and come face to face with their country's bloody colonial past and continued oppression of Aboriginal people.
Read it for: the strong sense of place; the competing motivations of the racers, which are revealed through alternating perspectives; the exploration of personal vs. collective history and culpability. |
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| News of the World by Paulette JilesStarring: former Confederate Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, who earns his postwar living traveling through Texas and reading the news to rural communities; ten-year-old Johanna Leonberger, a white child kidnapped by the Kiowa, whom Captain Kidd is paid to escort back home.
Read it for: the captain's attempts to connect with Johanna, who has forgotten how to speak English and tries to escape every time she can.
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| This Tender Land by William Kent Kruegerto What it's about: the escape of four children being held at the abusive Lincoln Indian Training School in Minnesota, a place designed to force them into conformity and rob them of their identities.
Why you might like it: It has the feel of a 1930s Huckleberry Finn, with a long journey downriver and lots of colorful characters that the kids meet along the way.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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