Book reviews and more!

Posts tagged with ‘Historical Fiction’

THE SNOW CHILD, by Eowyn Ivey

April 23, 2012

HAUNTINGLY BEAUTIFUL MAGIC-REALIST tale of 1920s Alaskan settlers and their wild, enigmatic foster daughter.

Grade: A MINUS

THE SNOW CHILD
Hachette/Reagan Arthur Books
2012

Tags: , ,

THE FLIGHT OF GEMMA HARDY, by Margot Livesey

April 8, 2012

ENTHRALLING NOVEL TELLS the story of a 1950s Jane Eyre type, a brave and intellectually curious Scots orphan.

Grade: A MINUS

THE FLIGHT OF GEMMA HARDY
Harper
2012

Tags: , , ,

THE REEDUCATION OF CHERRY TRUONG, by Aimee Phan

March 24, 2012

THE GREAT VIETNAMESE-AMERICAN NOVEL may be this tale of a family fragmented by secrets as much as by diaspora.

Grade: A MINUS

THE REEDUCATION OF CHERRY TRUONG: A NOVEL
St. Martin's Press
2012

Tags: , , , , ,

GILLESPIE AND I, by Jane Harris

March 19, 2012

MARVELOUSLY CRAFTED, HAUNTING psychological mystery set in the art world of Victorian Scotland.

Grade: A MINUS

GILLESPIE AND I
Harper Perennial
2012

Tags: , , ,

RAN AWAY, by Barbara Hambly

March 9, 2012

19th CENTURY NEW ORLEANS is the setting for a well-crafted, complex mystery with a free man of color as sleuth.

Grade: B PLUS

RAN AWAY
Severn House
2012

Tags: , , ,

THE TIME IN BETWEEN, by María Dueñas

February 28, 2012

SWEEPING EPIC ADVENTURE follows a Spanish woman from poverty to success as a couturiere to wartime espionage.

Grade: B PLUS

THE TIME IN BETWEEN
Atria
2011

Tags: , , , , ,

BOHEMIAN GIRL, by Terese Svoboda

February 14, 2012

DARK AND DREAMLIKE novel follows a young girl’s harrowing 1861 journey across the US’s western frontiers.

Grade: SOLID B

BOHEMIAN GIRL
University of Nebraska Press
2011

Tags: , ,

THE GIRL IN THE POLKA DOT DRESS, by Beryl Bainbridge

February 3, 2012

THE GREAT BERYL BAINBRIDGE’S final novel is a haunting (if uneven) tale of two misfits caught up in history.

Grade: B PLUS

THE GIRL IN THE POLKA DOT DRESS
Europa Editions
2011

Tags: , ,

THE BOOK OF LIES, by Mary Horlock

January 21, 2012

GRIM, ATMOSPHERIC TALE traces the impact of Nazi occupation on the island of Guernsey, and on one girl’s family.

Grade: B PLUS

THE BOOK OF LIES
Harper Perennial
2011

Tags: , , ,

THE ASTOUNDING, THE AMAZING, AND THE UNKNOWN, by Paul Malmont

January 18, 2012

WORLD WAR II THRILLER with an all-star cast of science fiction writers and scientists; fun historical caper!

Grade: SOLID B

THE ASTOUNDING, THE AMAZING, AND THE UNKNOWN
Simon and Schuster
2011

Tags: , , , ,