Book Reviews of Historical Fiction books
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Summary taken from the book jacket) “Narrated by Death, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young foster girl living outside of Munich in Nazi Germany. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she discovers something she can’t resist–books. Soon …
Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran (Summary taken from the inside book jacket) “The marriage of Marc Antony and Cleopatra is one of the greatest love stories of all time, a tale of unbridled passion with earth-shaking political consequences. Feared and hunted by the powers in Rome, the lovers choose to die by their own hands …
The Wampum Exchange by Rosemary McKinley (Summary taken from an email the author sent me.) “Long Island author, Rosemary McKinley has written a young adult historical novella, The Wampum Exchange, set in 1650, Southold, New York. A twelve-year-old boy has a chance meeting with a Native American boy and their worlds connect in a most …
Paper Children by Marcia Fine (Summary taken from the back book cover) “Driven by cataclysmic world events, the story encompasses the lives of three generations of women. In Book One, Paulina, the privileged daughter of aristocratic parents, reluctantly follows her driven businessman husband to America in 1929. From a vantage point in New York she …
A Woman’s Place by Lynn Austin (Summary taken from the inside book jacket) “Virginia Mitchell watched her husband carve the Sunday pot roast and wondered if he was having an affair. He showed more interest in the way the meat was cooked than he did in her. But maybe it was better if she didn’t …
These is my Words (The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901) by Nancy E. Turner (Summary taken from the back book cover) “A moving, exciting, and heartfelt American saga inspired by the author’s own family memoirs, these words belong to Sarah Prine, a woman of spirit and fire who forges a full and remarkable existence …
The Last Confederate Battle by John J. Cline (Summary taken from the back of the book.) “The Last Confederate Battle is a fictional take of how the Civil War affected the lives of three brothers who were raised and who fought for the South in an unconventional war. Meanwhile, President Lincoln, vexed by war-profiteering and …
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Summary taken from the inside book jacket) “January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in …
Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult (Summary taken from inside the book jacket) “The discovery of a dead infant shakes Lancaster County to its core. But the police investigation leads to a more shocking disclosure: Circumstantial evidence suggests that 18-year-old Katie Fisher, an unmarried Amish woman believed to be the mother, took the newborn’s life. When …
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (Summary taken from the back cover) “Falsely accused of treason, the young sailor Edmond Dantes is arrested on his wedding day and imprisoned in the island fortress of the Chateau d’If. After staging a dramatic escape, he sets out to discover the fabulous treasure of Monte Cristo …
