Historical Fiction
February 2023

Recent Releases
Picture in the Sand
by Peter Blauner

What it's about: Hoping to convince his radicalized grandson to avoid the mistakes of his own youth, businessman Ali Hassan shares long-held secrets about his activities during a politically tumultuous period of Egyptian history.

Ready for his close-up: the story takes place against the backdrop of the production of Cecil B. DeMille’s epic The Ten Commandments while a young Ali worked on set as the director’s assistant.

Reviewers say: Picture in the Sand is “historical fiction at its absolute best -- heartfelt, anchored in real events, and extremely well told” (Publishers Weekly).
All the Blood We Share
by Camilla Bruce

What it is: a gritty and atmospheric tale of murder, money, and family ties in 19th-century Kansas.

Inspired by: the true story of the Bender family, who are believed to have killed a least a dozen people while operating a roadside inn from 1871-1873.

Did you know? There's no consensus on the fate of the “Bloody Benders,” who fled the area after a well-connected politician began to look for his missing brother (whose body was later found on their property).
The New Life : A Novel
by Tom Crewe

In late 19th-century London, after Oscar Wilde is arrested, two men, who have collaborated on a book in defense of homosexuality, must decide if publishing their project is bravery or foolishness as they risk ostracism, imprisonment, their safety and the safety of the people they love.
The Night Travelers : A Novel
by Armando Lucas Correa

Separated by time but united by sacrifice, four women experience love, loss, war and hope from the rise of Nazism to the fall of the Berlin Wall as they embark on journeys of self-discovery and find themselves to be living testaments to the power of maternal love.
The Sisters of Sea View
by Julie Klassen

"When their father's death leaves them impoverished, the Summers sisters open their home to guests to provide for their ailing mother. But instead of the elderly invalids they expect, they find themselves hosting eligible gentlemen. Sarah must confront her growing attraction to a mysterious widower, and Viola learns to heal her deep-hidden scars."
The Book of Everlasting Things
by Aanchal Malhotra

Starring: Samir, a Hindu perfumer, and Firdaus, a Muslim calligrapher, whose forbidden love story sweeps readers from the early 20th century to the present day.

Read it for: a lush, atmospheric story of cultural, political and personal turmoil surrounding the 1947 Partition of India.

For fans of: Elif Shafak's The Island of Missing Trees, Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, or All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.
The Wintering Place
by Kevin McCarthy

Sequel alert: The Wintering Place follows Irish immigrants Thomas and Michael O’Driscoll, who readers first met in Wolves of Eden.

This time: 1867 finds the brothers on the run after deserting the army, struggling to eke out an existence during a harsh winter and avoid more trouble among the other outlaws who cross their path.

Is it for you? The novel’s visceral details are compelling, evocative, and do much to underline the characters’ traumatic experiences, but they may also be off-putting to some readers.
Moonrise Over New Jessup
by Jamila Minnicks

In 1957, Alice Young arrives in the all-Black town of New Jessup, Alabama, a place of opposing viewpoints on desegregation at the beginning of the civil rights movement, where she falls in love with Raymond Campbell, whose clandestine organizing activities could expel them from the home they love.
Defending Alice
by Richard Stratton

What it is: a dramatic and character-driven story of love, marriage, and divorce across race and class lines in Roaring Twenties New York.

Inspired by: the sensationalized 1925 Rhinelander v. Rhinelander trial, in which a white man from an old money family accused his mixed-race wife of lying about her background before their marriage.

For the record: A jury ruled in his wife's favor and the two later came to a divorce settlement. Neither ever married again.
The Dressmakers of Prospect Heights
by Kitty Zeldis

What it is: the lyrical and richly detailed story of the complex, overlapping, volatile bonds between three strong women in 1920s Brooklyn.

Starring: Beatrice, a Russian-born Jewish dress shop proprietor newly arrived from New Orleans; Beatrice's protégé Alice, who came north with her mentor; newlywed Catherine, a regular customer of the dress shop whose increasingly close friendship with Beatrice could change things for all three of them forever.  

For fans of: The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis; The Lost Summers of Newport by Beatriz Williams.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Michigan City Public Library
100 E. 4th Street
Michigan City, Indiana 46360
219-873-3044mclib.org/