20.1 Most Improved: Kai's Task- Onihei Jokei

[SRC Moderator, Moderator]

20.1 Most Improved: Kai's Task- Onihei Jokei

In Japan's Sumida City, the local government installed 16 historical markers called Onihei Jokei, dedicated to fictional events that took place in a popular series of novels written by Shotaro Ikenami. The markers point out the locations of the novels' events and the local history that inspired them, blurring the line between fiction and real life.

Read a book that combines a real historical event with fictional ones. For a historical event, we are looking for an event of limited scope (location, time, participants) that someone could put up a historical marker to memorialize. For example, D-Day not all of World War II. Or the building of the first Transcontinental Railroad, not all of the Industrial Revolution. Your choice must not be simply set during the same time period. The event must be featured or essential to the storyline, not simply mentioned or observed in a newspaper or on television by the characters.

Examples: A true crime book that includes fictionalized accounts from the killer or victim's perspective (In Cold Blood recounts the 1959 murder of the Clutter family using invented dialogue and scenes), or a novel where the fictional characters take part in a real historical event (Gone With the Wind would be okay because a plot point is Sherman's March to the Sea, but the American Civil War by itself would be too broad).

The Second Mrs. Astor- Titanic event
The Spectacular- New York Hotel Bombing
The First Hunt- The Green River Serial Killer
None Left to Tell - The Mountain Meadows Massacre
Required: State the event

[Kai]

APPROVED:

Horse by Geraldine Brooks
The Island by Victoria Hislop
Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman
A Sign of Her Own by Sarah Marsh
The Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers
The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
Love in Lockdown by Love in Lockdown
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue
Sonora by Jenni L. Walsh
The Tiffany Girls by Shelley Noble
The Yard by Alex Grecian
Any of the The Disaster Series books by Max Allan Collins
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

[Kai]

NOT APPROVED

Burntcoat by Sarah Hall

[Shelby]

Would Horse work? From the description "Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington"?

[Marie (UK)]

I have some options so do any work ?
The Island based on leper colony in Spinalonga
Einstein’s Dreams whilst creating relativity einstein imagines otheer world
A Sign of Her Own around Alexander Graham Bell's telephone invention
The Gallows Pole Coiner's march

[Kai]

Shelby wrote: "Would Horse work? From the description "Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington"?"

Yes, Horse is approved.

[Kai]

Marie (UK) wrote: "I have some options so do any work ?
The Island based on leper colony in Spinalonga
Einstein’s Dreams whilst creating relativity einstein imagines otheer world
[book:A Si..."

All of those would work.

[Marie (UK)]

Kai wrote: "Marie (UK) wrote: "I have some options so do any work ?
The Island based on leper colony in Spinalonga
Einstein’s Dreams whilst creating relativity einstein imagines othe..."

thanks

[Robin P]

Some Regency romances and mysteries, as well as sea stories, include details of the Napoleonic Wars. And a number of recent books include the 9/11 event or the covid pandemic. I just read The Hallmarked Man, which includes the day a car ran down multiple people on Westminster Bridge. It was just a small fraction of the story, but it was there.

[Kai]

Robin P wrote: "Some Regency romances and mysteries, as well as sea stories, include details of the Napoleonic Wars. And a number of recent books include the 9/11 event or the covid pandemic. I just read

As long as the event is specific enough and integral to the plot or featured in a way that affects the characters.

The Napoleonic Wars happening in the background of a Jane Austen novel, for example, would not really work, because you would not put up a historical marker that says "The Napoleonic Wars happened here" - too broad. However, a character being in a battle or campaign would.

Robin P's example of The Hallmarked Man is a good example - real incident, characters are involved. I'll add it to the approved list.

Covid is a bit tricky, because again, you would not put up a historical marker that says "Covid happened here" because it happened everywhere, but I could see how a lot of stories would fit. So I will say that as long as it is linked to a specific place and time, they will be accepted. Examples: The Sentence, Wish You Were Here, Love in Lockdown, Tom Lake. A novel like Burntcoat would NOT work because it takes place in an unnamed place.

[Shelby]

Kai wrote: "Shelby wrote: "Would Horse work? From the description "Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington"?"

Yes, Horse is approved."

Thanks!

[Rina]

Will this work?

The Paris Express - description: "a sweeping historical novel about an infamous 1895 disaster at the Paris Montparnasse train station."

[Dee]

I believe this works - Sonora

https://www.jennilwalsh.com/sonora.html

[Kai]

Rina wrote: "Will this work?

The Paris Express - description: "a sweeping historical novel about an infamous 1895 disaster at the Paris Montparnasse train station.""

Absolutely!

[Kai]

Dee wrote: "I believe this works - Sonora

https://www.jennilwalsh.com/sonora.html"

Yes! Reminded me of that movie - Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken. Was one of my favorites as a kid.

[Dee]

Kai wrote: "Dee wrote: "I believe this works - Sonora

https://www.jennilwalsh.com/sonora.html"

Yes! Reminded me of that movie - Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken. Was one of my favorites as a kid."

Loved that movie too!

[Michelle]

would this work?
The Tiffany Girls

[Kathy KS]

Would this fit? The Yard
from the GR description... (I added the bold)
"Created after the Metropolitan Police’s spectacular failure to capture Jack the Ripper, The Murder Squad suffers rampant public contempt. "
AND
"showcases the depravity of late Victorian London, the advent of criminology"...

[Trish]

Morning.

Would you accept the books from this series: https://www.goodreads.com/series/3270...

I'm specifically thinking of the London Blitz one: The London Blitz Murders, but all the books in the series are centred around historical events.

Thanks.

[Susan A]

adding on to Trish's question...The Titanic Murders from the same series?

[Kim, Moderator]

The way I'm reading this, A Tale of Two Cities, wouldn't work because it's too broad a time frame. Am I right?

[Kai]

Michelle wrote: "would this work?
The Tiffany Girls"

Yes, works great!

[Kai]

Kathy KS wrote: "Would this fit? The Yard
from the GR description... (I added the bold)
"Created after the Metropolitan Police’s spectacular failure to capture Jack the Ripper, The Murder Squad suff..."

Yes, approved

[Kai]

Trish wrote: "Morning.

Would you accept the books from this series: https://www.goodreads.com/series/3270...

I'm specifically thinking of the London Blitz one: The London Blitz Murders..."

It looks like all of the books in that series would work as they focus on specific incidents.

[Kai]

Susan A wrote: "adding on to Trish's question...The Titanic Murders from the same series?"

Yes, that one works as well.

[Kai]

Kim wrote: "The way I'm reading this, A Tale of Two Cities, wouldn't work because it's too broad a time frame. Am I right?"

If I remember correctly, although set against the backdrop of the French Revolution (too broad to work), some of the characters took part in the storming of the Bastille, so it would actually work.