Historical Fiction
The great divide : a novel
Henríquez, Cristina, 1977-, author
2024
All We Were Promised : A Novel.
Lattimore, Ashton.
2024
Philadelphia, 1837. Charlotte expected freedom to feel different from her former life as an enslaved housemaid. Instead, she's locked away playing servant to her white-passing father. Longing to break away, Charlotte befriends Nell, a budding abolitionist from one of Philadelphia's wealthiest Black families. As Charlotte starts to envision a future, a familiar face from her past reappears: Evie - and she's desperate to escape. In a city engulfed by race riots and attacks on abolitionists, Charlotte and Nell soon discover that fighting for Evie's freedom may cost them their own. Print run 100,000.
Becoming Madam Secretary
Dray, Stephanie, author
2024
When Frances Perkins meets a young lawyer named Franklin Delano Roosevelt, sparks fly in all the wrong directions. Neither knows it yet, but over the next twenty years, they will form a historic partnership that will carry them both to the White House. When vicious political attacks mount and personal tragedies threaten to derail her ambitions, she must decide what she's willing to do - and what she's willing to sacrifice - to save a nation.
The Djinn waits a hundred years
Khan, Shubnum, author.
2024
Akbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa. Now, nearly a century since it was built, it stands in ruins. Sana and her father are the latest of Akbar Manzil's long list of tenants. Unlike the others, who choose not to look too closely at the mansion's unsettling qualities, Sana is irresistibly drawn to the history of the mansion. As Sana digs into the past, awakening the memories of the house itself - and dredging up old and terrible secrets that will change the lives of everyone living and dead at Akbar Manzil.
Finding Margaret Fuller A Novel.
Pataki, Allison.
An epic imagining of the life of Margaret Fuller—America’s forgotten leading lady and the central figure of a movement that defined a nation—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post
Young, brazen, beautiful, and unapologetically brilliant, Margaret Fuller accepts an invitation from Ralph Waldo Emerson, the celebrated Sage of Concord, to meet his coterie of enlightened friends. There she becomes “the radiant genius and fiery heart” of the Transcendentalists, a role model to a young Louisa May Alcott, an inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne and the scandalous Scarlet Letter, a friend to Henry David Thoreau as he ventures out to Walden Pond . . . and a muse to Emerson. But Margaret craves more than poetry and interpersonal drama, and her restless soul needs new challenges and adventures.
And so she charts a singular course against a backdrop of dizzying historical drama: From Boston, where she hosts a salon for students like Elizabeth Cady Stanton; to the editorial meetings of The Dial magazine, where she hones her pen as its co-founder; to Harvard’s library, where she is the first woman permitted entry; to the gritty New York streets where she spars with Edgar Allan Poe and reports on Frederick Douglass. Margaret defies conventions time and again as an activist for women and an advocate for humanity, earning admirers and critics alike.
When the legendary editor Horace Greeley offers her an assignment in Europe, Margaret again makes history as the first female foreign news correspondent, mingling with luminaries like Frédéric Chopin, William Wordsworth, George Sand and more. But it is in Rome that she finds a world of passion, romance, and revolution, taking a Roman count as a lover—and sparking an international scandal. Evolving yet again into the roles of mother and countess,
The frozen river : a novel
Lawhon, Ariel, author
2023
Maine, 1789. As the local midwife and healer, Martha Ballard has documented the details of an alleged rape that occurred four months earlier. Now, one of the men accused of that heinous attack has been found dead in ice. While Martha is certain she knows what happened the night of the assault, she suspects that the two crimes are linked, and that there is more to both cases than meets the eye. Over the course of one long, hard winter, Martha lands at the centre of the scandal and threatens to tear both her family and her community apart.
The Heaven & Earth grocery store
McBride, James, 1957- author
2023
In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows.
The Last Secret of Lily Adams
Blaydes, Sara.
The death of a legendary actress reveals a wealth of Hollywood secrets in a breathtaking novel about betrayal, rivalry, and the punishing brutality of fame.
One of the brightest stars of Hollywood?́?s golden age was Lily Adams, the beloved picture of all-American innocence. Why she suddenly vanished from the spotlight was a mystery even to those closest to her.
Upon Lily?́?s death seventy years later, her granddaughter, Carolyn Prior, struggles to understand a woman she loved but never really knew. Then, sifting through the memorabilia of a once-glamorous career, Carolyn comes across a letter from her grandmother. It?́?s the trembling admission of a secret life and a story that begins and ends with superstar Stella Lane, Lily?́?s archrival of the silver screen?́?a bombshell who was brutally murdered.
As Carolyn unearths her grandmother?́?s connection to the notorious unsolved slaying, her life collides with Lily?́?s in the most shocking ways. And with each stunning new revelation, Carolyn must decide how much she is willing to risk to unlock the truth.
The lost dresses of Italy : a novel
McLaughlin, M. A., author
2024
"In this rich, atmospheric historical novel, perfect for fans of Brenda Janowitz and Adriana Trigiani, two stories of love and deceit intertwine nearly a hundred years apart in Verona, Italy" - Amazon.ca
Picasso's lovers : a novel
Mackin, Jeanne, author.
2024
"A lushly drawn drama of Pablo Picasso's muses, the secret love affairs that inspired some of his greatest works, and the enduring influence of love and art Alana Olson always felt connected to Pablo Picasso. Sure, as a recently graduated art historian and aspiring writer in 1950s New York, Alana was bound to encounter the most renowned artist of the era, but it was her late Italian mother's particular fascination with the man that inspired Alana's doctoral thesis on his work. An assignment for a profile on Picasso from her dream publication leads Alana to intimate interviews with Sara Murphy and Irene Legut-women from a once-vibrant social circle that included the artist. Through their conversations, the women paint a luxurious picture of their time along the French Riviera in 1923, revealing to Alana not only an intimate glimpse into the life and work of the genius, but also unseen works of art, memories of a whirlwind romance, and hidden details that bring Alana closer to Picasso then she ever imagined. Desperate to know the man who influenced so many parts of her life, Alana dives into the glamorous lives of the past. But to do so she must contend with her own reality, including a strained engagement, the male-dominated world of art journalism, and the rising threat to communists in America"-- Provided by publisher.
The tower : a novel
Carr, Flora, author
2024
Scotland, 1567. A pregnant Mary, Queen of Scots is dragged out of her palace and imprisoned in an isolated Castle along with two servants. Her infant son and heir, James, has been captured by her enemies. After Mary reluctantly surrenders her throne, her closest friend, Lady Seton, is permitted to join the captive women. Against the odds, as they hatch a perilous getaway plan, the four women form a bond that transcends class and religion.
The underground library : a novel
Ryan, Jennifer (Jennifer L.), author
2024
On the day Juliet Lansdown reports to work for the first time at Bethnal Green Library, it isn't the bustling hub she's been expecting. But in the face of German attacks, she's determined to make it a place where all of their neighbors feel safe and welcome. Katie Upwood is thrilled to be working at the library too, though she's only there until she heads off to university in the fall. But after the death of her beau on the front lines and unexpected family strife, she's more in need of support than ever. Sofie Baumann, a Jewish refugee without any family to lean on, finds comfort and friendship in Bethnal Green's quickly growing literary community and escapes to the library every chance she gets. But her asylum in London is tied to a domestic work visa issued by an unscrupulous employer, leaving her vulnerable and uncertain where to turn when her work environment becomes unbearable. So when a slew of bombs damage the library, Juliet can't bear to give up on her safe haven of books and relocates the stacks into an Underground station where the city's residents shelter nightly, determined to keep lending out stories that will keep spirits up. But tragedy after tragedy strikes, threatening to unmoor the women and sever the ties of their community. Will Juliet, Kate, and Sofie be able to overcome their own troubles to save the library?
The warm hands of ghosts : a novel
Arden, Katherine, author
2024
"During the Great War, a combat nurse searches for her brother, believed dead in the trenches despite eerie signs that suggest otherwise, in this historical novel with a speculative twist"--provided by publisher.
What They Said About Luisa A Novel.
Rummel, Erika.
Luisa Abrego, an enslaved woman in Seville, is impregnated by her master, then set free upon his death. With limited options for her future, Luisa agrees to marry a white man who wants to take her with him to Mexico, even though it means leaving her infant son behind in the care of nuns. Years later, still wracked with guilt and convinced she must atone for her sin, Luisa confesses to having made a promise of marriage to another man long before, in Spain. By the laws of the church this makes her a bigamist, a criminal who must be tried by the fearsome Inquisition. Author of "The Loneliness of the Time Traveller." Residence: Toronto, ON.
A wild and heavenly place : a novel
Oliveira, Robin, author.
2024
Hailey MacIntyre seems conjured from the depths of Samuel Fiddes' loneliness. Through secret meetings and stolen moments, they learn the topography of one another's innermost thoughts. Then the City of Glasgow Bank fails in 1878, destroying the only life Hailey has known. Armed only with his wits, he determines to follow her, leaving behind everything he has ever known in search of Hailey and a chance to make a better life for his sister. But the fledgling town barely cut out of the wilderness will test them all in ways unimaginable.
You dreamed of empires
Enrigue, Alvaro, 1969- author
2024
"From a visionary Mexican author, a hallucinatory, revelatory, colonial revenge story that reimagines the fall of Tenochtitlan. One morning in 1519, conquistador Hernán Cortés entered the city of Tenochtitlan - today's Mexico City. Later that day, he would meet the emperor Moctezuma in a collision of two worlds, two empires, two languages, two possible futures. Cortés was accompanied by his nine captains, his troops, and his two translators: Friar Aguilar, a taciturn, former slave, and Malinalli, a strategic, former princess. Greeted at a ceremonial welcome meal by the steely princess Atotoxli, sister and wife of Moctezuma, the Spanish nearly bungle their entrance to the city. As they await their meeting with Moctezuma - who is at a political, spiritual, and physical crossroads, and relies on hallucinogens to get himself through the day and in quest for any kind of answer from the gods - the Spanish are ensconced in the labyrinthine palace. Soon, one of Cortés's captains, Jazmín Caldera, overwhelmed by the grandeur of the city, begins to question the ease with which they were welcomed into the city, and wonders at the risks of getting out alive, much less conquering the empire. You Dreamed of Empires brings to life Tenochtitlan at its height, and reimagines its destiny. The incomparably original Alvaro Enrigue sets afire the moment of conquest and turns it into a moment of revolution, a restitutive, fantastical counter-attack, in a novel so electric and so unique that it feels like a dream"-- Provided by publisher.