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Historical Fiction March 2021 |
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| Find Me in Havana by Serena BurdickWhat it's about: the true story of the life, career, and untimely death of Cuban actress Estelita Rodriguez, best known for her roles in Westerns with Roy Rogers and John Wayne.
Read it for: the compelling relationship between Estelita and her daughter Nina; the stranger-than-fiction events of Nina's formative years, including surviving a kidnapping and witnessing the Cuban Revolution.
Try this next: Third Girl from the Left by Martha Southgate, which also chronicles the relationships between mothers and daughters who have close connections with the film industry. |
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Sunflower sisters : a novel
by Martha Hall Kelly
Union nurse Georgeanna Woolsey, an ancestor of Caroline Ferriday, travels with her sister to Gettysburg, where they cross paths with a slave-turned-army conscript and her cruel plantation mistress.
By the best-selling author of Lilac Girls.
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| Better Luck Next Time by Julia Claiborne JohnsonWhat it is: an amusing and dramatic story set in 1930s Nevada as Reno becomes the center of a burgeoning industry in quickie divorces.
Starring: Yale dropout Ward Bennett, who takes a desperately needed job at a dude ranch that hosts soon-to-be-divorcées; guest Emily Sommer, who shares an undeniable spark with Ward despite her cool veneer of patrician superiority; larger-than-life aviatrix Nina O'Malley, a guest who is on divorce number 3. |
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| Yellow Wife by Sadeqa JohnsonThe setup: Mixed-race Pheby Brown is anxiously awaiting her 18th birthday, when her white father (and owner) Jacob has promised to set her free.
What goes wrong: A carriage accident kills Pheby's mother and incapacitates her father, and Jacob's bitter and jealous wife seizes the chance to sell Pheby to a cruel jailer, whose treatment Pheby endures until an unexpected opportunity arrives.
Reviewers say: Yellow Wife is a "powerful, unflinching account of determination in the face of oppression" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr.What it is: a lyrical and heartwrenching story of the power of human connection under even the worst circumstances.
The premise: Enduring the horrors of slavery, two young men living on a Mississippi plantation find love and solace in each other. But when another slave becomes a preacher to gain favor with their master, they soon become a target of his sermons and their community begins to fracture.
You might also like: Edward P. Jones's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Known World, which also features arresting writing and centers on the complex relationships that develop in communities of enslaved people. |
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Books You Might Have Missed
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| The First Actress: A Novel of Sarah Bernhardt by C.W. GortnerStarring: legendary French actress Sarah Bernhardt the unwanted daughter of a courtesan who rose to a level of international stardom never seen before.
Why you might like it: Bernhardt's life -- both professionally and personally -- was a dramatic one, from having a child out of wedlock to working as a nurse during the Franco-Prussian war to her outrageous yet brilliant publicity stunts.
About the author: C.W. Gortner's other biographical novels include The Vatican Princess, The Romanov Empress, and Marlene. |
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A Long Petal of the Sea
by Isabel Allende
Sponsored by the poet Pablo Neruda to flee the violence of the Spanish Civil War, a pregnant widow and an army doctor unite in an arranged marriage only to be swept up by the early days of World War II.
"Both an intimate look at the relationship between one man and one woman and an epic story of love, war, family, and the search for home, this gorgeous novel, like all the best novels, transports the reader to another time and place, and also sheds light on the way we live now." Courtney Sullivan, author
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| The Henna Artist by Alka JoshiStarring: artistic Lakshmi Shastri, who has left behind her arranged marriage to make a new life for herself in 1950s Jaipur, India, where she works as a henna artist for wealthy women in the city.
The problem: Lakshmi's 13-year-old sister Radha arrives at her door with news that their parents have died, and in her grief Lakshmi must find a way to keep her own dreams alive while making room for her sister in her life.
Why you might like it: Lush writing evokes the sensory experience of hectic, beautiful Jaipur; Lakshmi's determination and adaptability, which make her easy to root for. |
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| An Elegant Woman by Martha McPheeWhat it is: a sweeping saga that chronicles four generations of women in the Stewart family, from a one-room Montana schoolhouse in the early 1900s to East Coast respectability a century later.
Read it for: the rich historical details; the complexity of its well-developed characters, including gutsy matriarch and suffragist Glenna, imaginative and wily chameleon Katherine.
Reviewers say: "Delicately rendered characters inform a richly textured family portrait" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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How Much of These Hills Is Gold
by C. Pam Zhang
What it is: a dramatic and compelling debut novel that follows two immigrant siblings as they search for a home in a Wild West where Chinese and American mythology meet.
All that glitters: Twelve-year-old Lucy and 11-year-old Sam are orphaned after the death of their miner father. Forced to leave the racist mining town they grew up in, the children set off into the hills with a stolen horse to find a way in the world.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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