|
|
Historical Fiction December 2024 |
|
|
|
|
| Bright I Burn by Molly AitkenAlice Kyteler grows up in medieval Ireland, where, despite being a woman, she inherits and grows her father's businesses...and then marries and buries multiple husbands (some in suspicious circumstances). Savvy Alice, who's based on the first person to be tried for witchcraft in Ireland, narrates this lyrical tale. Read-alikes: Tidelands by Philippa Gregory; Eleanore of Avignon by Elizabeth DeLozier. |
|
| The Sunflower House by Adriana AllegriAfter the dying uncle who raised her shares that her mother was Jewish, Allina Gottlieb hides her heritage to survive. Even so, she's assaulted by an SS officer and forced to work as a nurse in a Nazi eugenics program, where she meets and grows close to another SS officer, one with his own deadly secret. This debut will please fans of well-researched, immersive World War II novels like those by Jennifer Chiaverini and Heather Morris. |
|
| Pearly Everlasting by Tammy ArmstrongIn a 1920 Canadian logging camp, Pearly Everlasting is born, and her parents also take in an orphaned bear cub, Bruno, raising the duo as siblings. In the 1930s, a new camp boss causes trouble for Bruno, and he's sold off. But Pearly goes after him, even though it means heading alone to places she's never been. This atmospheric novel by an award-winning poet is "warmly enchanting" (Kirkus Reviews). |
|
| The Fabled Earth by Kimberly BrockSet on Georgia's Cumberland Island, this evocative dual-timeline tale takes place in 1932, when a society party ends with two dead, and in 1959, when painter Cleo Woodbine, an attendee at the earlier gala, is pulled out of her shell by two women, including the daughter of the outsider socialite who was once her rival. Fans of sweeping stories with coastal settings and bits of mystery and magical realism will like this. |
|
| A Kid from Marlboro Road by Edward BurnsIn 1970s Long Island, 12-year-old aspiring writer Kneeney's summer involves fishing, speaking at his beloved grandfather's wake, and worrying about his sad mother. This debut novel from actor-filmmaker Edward Burns mines his Irish Catholic upbringing to produce "an endearing and insightful coming-of-age story" (Kirkus Reviews). Read-alikes: Jacqueline Woodson's Another Brooklyn; Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. |
|
| The Booklover's Library by Madeline MartinIn World War II-era Nottingham, England, widowed Emma needs money and manages to find a job at Boots' Booklover's Library. Due to rules about widows and married women working, she pretends to be single and acts as if her beloved daughter is her sister. As the Blitz worsens, she sends her daughter to the country and finds hope in friends and the power of books and reading. Read-alikes: Jennifer Ryan's The Underground Library; Annie Lyons' The Air Raid Book Club. |
|
| Queen Macbeth by Val McDermidThis "love letter to Scotland" (Kirkus Reviews) reimagines Shakespeare's Macbeth through the eyes of Lady Macbeth. As she and her ladies-in-waiting are on the run from rivals, she recalls her marriages, her time as queen, and her son's rise to power. At less than 150 pages, this novel is perfect for fans of historical fiction retellings who like quick reads. Read-alikes: Ava Reid's Lady Macbeth or Joel H. Morris' All Our Yesterdays. |
|
| The Stone Witch of Florence by Anna RascheGinevra di Gasparo uses ancient gemstone magic to heal others but is accused of witchcraft and expelled from medieval Florence. But when a thief steals precious church relics during the Black Plague, she's asked to return and help solve the crimes. Written by a gemologist and jewelry historian, this debut blends historical fiction and fantasy and will appeal to fans of Leigh Bardugo's The Familiar and M.T. Anderson's Nicked. |
|
| The Restless Wave by James StavridisWorking-class Floridian Scott Bradley James loves the ocean and graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1941. He survives Pearl Harbor and plays roles in other battles, including Midway, while navigating ambition, romance, and guilt. Anchored with real people (Ernest Hemingway, Lt. Cmdr. Wade McClusky, and others), this coming-of-age novel by a retired admiral is a gripping series starter. |
|
| Polostan by Neal StephensonBorn in 1916, Dawn Rae Bjornberg is raised in Montana by anarchist cowboy relatives and in Russia, where her Leninist father lives. Making her own way as a teen, she sees Depression-era America, the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, the beginnings of the Soviet Union, and then gets mixed up with the KGB. Intricately plotted, this 1st Bomb Light novel is "tremendously entertaining...a glorious achievement from a unique and compelling writer" (Booklist). |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
Atlantic County Library System | 40 Farragut Avenue, Mays Landing, NJ 08330
Phone: (609) 625-2776 | www.atlanticlibrary.org
   |
|  | Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson
Atlantic County Board of Commissioners, Maureen Kern, Chairwoman |
|
|
|