historicalfiction | The Bossy Bookworm

Nov 9, 2021

Review of The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck

ICYMI: Shattuck offers faulted protagonists and a fascinating, complicated set of factors in her World War II historical fiction. Jessica...

Oct 14, 2021

Review of So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell

So Long, See You Tomorrow is gorgeous, heartbreaking, and feels timeless. I loved it. My friend James mentioned this book as a favorite...

Oct 13, 2021

Review of The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz

ICYMI: This young adult historical fiction story was a five-star read for me. I adored it. “My books promised me that life wasn’t just...

Oct 1, 2021

Review of The Last Ballad by Wiley Cash

ICYMI: Wiley Cash's The Last Ballad explores race relations and the fight for dignity in a 1929 North Carolina mill camp community....

Aug 31, 2021

August Wrap-Up: My Favorite Reads of the Month

My very favorite books from August! These are the books I most loved reading during the past month. The list skews toward light fiction,...

Aug 24, 2021

Review of The Manningtree Witches by A.K. Blakemore

Blakemore's book--which is based upon witch hunts during the seventeenth-century English Civil War--is smart, shadowy and gothic, often...

Aug 20, 2021

Review of Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy

The Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, atmosphere of Shoulder Season was a standout element, but the characters' interactions and some of the...

Aug 18, 2021

Three Books I'm Reading Now, 8/18/21 Edition

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Shoulder Season, Christina Clancy's novel set in 1981 Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, at a Playboy resort;...

Aug 12, 2021

Review of The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

The Invention of Wings is historical fiction that tracks the characters of (the real-life) Sarah Grimke and her enslaved maid Handful...

Aug 11, 2021

Three Books I'm Reading Now, 8/11/21 Edition

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Paper & Blood, Kevin Hearne's second and final book in his quirky Ink & Sigil fantasy duology; The...

Aug 4, 2021

Three Books I'm Reading Now, 8/4/21 Edition

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading People We Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry's newest light fiction novel about best friends and polar...

Jul 20, 2021

Review of Black Bottom Saints by Alice Randall

I appreciated learning about various key players in Black Bottom life, and I absolutely adored the vivid details Randall offered about...

Jun 25, 2021

Review of The Great Mistake by Jonathan Lee

Lee shapes a lovely, tragic, wonderfully detailed story around the forgotten, real-life figure of Andrew Green and his essential...

Jun 23, 2021

Three Books I'm Reading Now, 6/23/21 Edition

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading a romantic book about aspiring musicians with intertwined pasts; the rich fictional history of an...

Jun 16, 2021

Review of The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati

ICYMI: This is excellent, layered historical fiction with memorable characters and a great big story to dive into on a hot summer's day....

May 26, 2021

Review of The Forgotten Kingdom by Signe Pike

This is captivating without being melodramatic, romantic without any overdone elements, and wonderfully steeped in legend. This is Pike's...

May 21, 2021

Review of Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian

There's enough strength, redemption, and beauty amid the World War II suffering to give you warm fuzzies. After recently pulling together...

May 17, 2021

Review of Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian

Hour of the Witch is a thoroughly researched, witchy, historical thriller with fantastic details of the time. Bohjalian's newest book,...

May 14, 2021

Six Great Historical Fiction Stories about the Civil War

The Civil War Books This painful, terrible time in our nation's history makes for some poignant, brutal, often beautiful storytelling....

May 13, 2021

Review of The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Coates took his time building the story, and I felt as though he deliberately kept us in a plodding pace to emphasize the unwavering,...

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