Historical Fictionistas discussion
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2022 What Are You Reading?
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Rachel
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Nov 26, 2022 09:48PM
Keeper of the Light by Australian author Leanne Lovegrove is a sweet historical romance set in Tasmania in the 1950s. Esther, the lighthouse keeper’s daughter finds her isolated life on Bruny Island totally changed when handsome Italian Luca Moretti literally washes up on shore. Here is my review
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Melissa wrote: "I need something new."Tried The Thread Collectors or The Blackout Book Club? Both are good.
Can I be so bold as to suggest this is not one for the real historical fictionista, if like me you like a lot of historical facts and background in your HF, but it you like romance with a soft historical background you may enjoy this. 
We Fly Beneath the Stars by Suzanne Kelmanmy review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
There's something about reading a mystery novel in translation—assuming the translation is a good one. One gets swept up into a new culture and worldview as one gets swept up into the suspense and multiple leads of the plot.
Punishment of a Hunteris just such a book. Written by a contemporary Russian author, but set in 1930s Leningrad, Punishment of a Hunter follows a mystery that is simultaneously bizarre and mundane.My ***** review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finished and enjoyed Edda Mussolini: The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe
byCaroline MooreheadMy Revidew: www.goodreads.com/review/show/5106212918
The Invincible Miss Cust by Penny Haw
A book based on the life of Aleen Cust, Britain's first female veterinary surgeon. Enjoyed this historical fiction to a great extent. Definitely recommended to hist-fic fans.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Once, Only the Swallows Were Free by Romanian born Australian author Gabrielle Gouch is a gripping memoir of life in a Jewish family living in Transylvania, Romania under Communist rule and their struggle to escape to Israel and begun again there. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ here is my review
I finished The Winter Garden by Nicola Cornick. Highly recommend.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I just finished The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris and highly recommended ithttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
I had a typo in the link on my previous post of this one.Rook is a fictionalised account by Stephen G. Eoannou of ex-cons who teamed up to become an odd pair of "badfellows" and ended up on the FBI's most-wanted list.
3.5★ My review of Rook
The Really Wild Family series is a delightful introduction to wildlife for children. Great information and wonderful illustrations!Little Elephant: A Day in the Life of a Elephant Calf by Anna Brett is the latest one I've read.
My review of Little Elephant with several pictures
The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. I recently read one of those stories, Flowering Judas, which is also the title story of a later collection. It takes place in the early 1920s in revolutionary Mexico. I can see why it made an impression in 1965.
My review of the story Flowering Judas
Just finished The Many Daughters of Afong Moy. It combines the emerging field of epigentics with a little magical realism and a family saga. Definitely recommend it. Here's a link to my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Adventures of China Iron by Argentinian author Gabriela Cabezón Cámara is an exuberant queer retelling of the 1872 epic poem about gaucho Martín Fierro starring his young wife China Iron who runs away across the pampas with redheaded Scottish Liz on a series of adventures. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ here is my review
Frankly Feminist: Short Stories by Jewish Women from Lilith Magazine edited by Susan Weidman Schneider
An anthology of 44 stories with female Jewish protagonists. I was impressed by the range of genres and themes in this one, though it was a tad too long for my liking. This isn't strictly a historical book, but the stories have been written over a period of 45 years. So quite a few of them meet the historical criterion. Do try.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The New Life by Tom Crewe is a remarkable, engrossing first novel based on a late 18th Century legal case. Set in London in the era of Oscar Wilde's sodomy trial and conviction, it follows a diverse group of characters, all concerned with issues of gender and identity in one way or another. While Wilde's trial figures in the novel, the plot of The New Life focuses on two men who have chosen to write a defense of "inversion" and the wide-ranging effects of the novel's publication on them, their families, their friends, and their political allies. The writing is lovely. The plotting is wonderfully rich. This is a "grab-it-the-moment-you-can" book. My ***** review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Richard Flanagan is a favourite author of mine, a Tasmanian, and I can see why The Sound of One Hand Clapping was on the award lists in 1998. It's the story of a migrant family who came to Tasmania in the 1950s. Australia wasn't war-torn Europe, but life for them was no picnic.
4.5★ My review of The Sound of One Hand Clapping
Currently reading Morality Play that takes place during the Middle Ages. A first-person narrative with a cast of characters in an acting troupe looking to put on a play about a murder - quite risky and unusual for the time.
River of Fallen Angels by Laura Joh Rowland is #7 in a mystery series set in Victorian London. The main character is a crime photographer for a newspaper, her husband is a policeman and her housemates are fellow journalists so they find interesting crimes to investigate together. The mysteries are good but the historical atmosphere of Victorian London is not as strong as it could be, especially in this one, so this is likely to really annoy fellow HF fans.
my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Just finished Laura Joh Rowland's River of Fallen Angels
a fun mystery in what I would call the ahistorical-historical category.My **** review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Witch of Tin Mountain by Paulette Kennedy
An atmospheric gothic set in the Ozarks. Pretty interesting.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
C.P. Giuliani's
A Treasonous Path: Murder and double-dealings in Elizabethan England is an engaging, historically informed mystery set amid the religious conflicts of Elizabeth I's England. This is the second volume in a series I've quite quickly become attached to.My **** review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I am reading The Last Dance of the Debutante
by Julia Kelly. Set in the 1958 the last year of formal comming out process. Well written, but I tiring of hearing about dresses, drinks and parties.
Just finished Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, which was brilliant. Going lighter for a bit with the first St. Cyr novels by C. S. Harris, What Angels Fear; have been meaning to read this series forever.
The short story, Sweat, is from the American South. The acclaimed Harlem Renaissance writer, Zora Neale Hurston wrote wonderful, real dialogue. This is from 1926 - I loved it.
5★ My review of Sweat with links to the story online
I've been meaning to read Kent Haruf's much-loved Plainsong for years, and I'm glad I finally did. Wonderful people on the plains of Colorado. He wrote two more books about them, so I can see where they go.
4★ My review of Plainsong
Finished The Spymaster's Brother #6 Francis Bacon historical mystery by Anna Castle set in late 16th century England. Rated 4 stars. Lots of twists and red herrings. Well developed real life and fictional characters with witty dialogue and realistic historical details. Delightful audio narration by Philip Battley. One of my favorite series!
Diana: Her True Story by Andrew Morton
PattyMacDotComma wrote: "I've been meaning to read Kent Haruf's much-loved Plainsong for years, and I'm glad I finally did. Wonderful people on the plains of Colorado. He wrote two more books a..." I love Kent Haruf, and especially enjoyed Plainsong.
For those who enjoy well researched historical narrative non-fiction, this is an entertaining account of an extraordinary Icelandic woman and the society she lived in during the 19th century
by Margaret Willsonreview: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This cosy mystery
Last Seen in Santorini by Vivian Conroy has a gorgeous cover and plenty of 5★ reviews, but unfortunately I seem to be an outlier and found it quite tedious to read. review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I just finished Ashton Hall by Lauren Belfer. It’s contemporary fiction with lots of historical detail. I enjoyed the characters and the setting in an old manor house in England. Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I’m enjoying At Home by Bill Bryson. Full of very interesting historical insights and has led me to read Mrs Breton’s book of household management which also gives interesting insight into the British class system and the life of her times. Rotten in 1861 and still the foundation of many modern cook books. Fascinating
Kathryn wrote: "PattyMacDotComma wrote: "I've been meaning to read Kent Haruf's much-loved Plainsong for years, and I'm glad I finally did. Wonderful people on the plains of Colorado. H..I love Kent Haruf, and especially enjoyed Plainsong."
And now I can see why, Kathryn. I enjoyed Our Souls at Night even more. It's very different, but it was such a good look at older people as individuals.
5★ My review of Our Souls at Night
If it weren't for challenges, I might never have stumbled across this amazing story, just because I needed a UOusman Umar's memoir North to Paradise: My Journey Along the World's Most Dangerous Migrant Route, is unimagineable. It's amazing he survived his trek through Africa as a kid. Compelling story! (Lovely guy, too.)
4.5~5★ My review of North to Paradise
I'm listening to the audiobook version of "The Highland Witch" by Susan Fletcher.
In the late 1600s, Corrag, an orphaned herbalist is accused of being a witch. What I really love about this story is the technique the author used to weave the tale. Corrag has been imprisoned and is being interrogated by Charles Leslie, an Irishman seeking information to condem King William and restore James to the throne. Corrag's pov chapters do not have dialogue between the two of them but, instead, are a stream of thought and responses to his questions. The words and descriptions of her traumatic story show us her true character and a unique perspective on 17th century life in England and Scotland. Charles Leslie's pov chapters are actually letters to his wife. We see his perspective of her change drastically as she tells her story of courage and passion for the magic she finds in the natural world.
The narrator for this audio version is brilliant! This was originally published in hardback in 2010 as "Corrag: a novel".
I’ve been wanting to read that! Thanks for reminding me, Jules.
Jules wrote: "I'm listening to the audiobook version of "The Highland Witch" by Susan Fletcher. ..."I really enjoyed this one, too. Four stars in 2020.
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