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Grey Dog begins as an immersive historical fiction story of a young teacher with a shocking past in 1900s It's 1901, and Ada Byrd has accepted a teaching position in a rural community following a scandal and You might also like my Bossy reviews of other historical fiction books set in the 1900s .

artists, women of color, and women of various social classes in San Francisco just before the Great 1906 In 1906 San Francisco, two very different women seek new beginnings: Gemma is a gifted soprano whose Yet I loved the rich early-1900s San Francisco setting, the focus on the arts, the strong women characters

The author build characters and events around some of her own ancestors in Colorado in the early 1900s Kate Manning's Gilded Mountain is set in early 1900s Colorado as Sylvie Pelletier leaves her family's

The second book in Marske's series is an irresistible queer magical mystery thriller with Edwardian England details, racy encounters, vulnerability and love, and witty banter on a ship bound for England. A Restless Truth is the second in Freya Marske's queer fantasy mystery Last Binding trilogy that began with A Marvellous Light. A Marvellous Light was full of details of life in Edwardian England, gay love, mystery, magic, wonderful dialogue, and plenty of heart. I adored it. In A Restless Truth, the character of Maud Blyth (Robin's sister, introduced in book one) expects adventure when she agrees to help save the magical world by serving as companion to an elderly magician on an ocean liner. By doing so, Maud aims to help her beloved older brother resolve a magical mystery that's been decades in the making. But when her charge drops dead on day one, Maud must identify the murderer, try to get her hands on a magical object essential to untangling the mystery at hand--and try to survive the voyage without being murdered herself. Maud and each of her unlikely allies are fantastic characters. The mystery element kept me hooked, and details of proper Edwardian etiquette and clothing were wonderful. Marske doesn't skimp on presenting multiple magical elements, which I loved--and she includes many detailed, saucy, passionate encounters between our main characters. I was struck by the drastic manner in which Violet attempted to free herself from the shackles of marriage and the subsummation of a woman to her husband that was expected at the time. (This reminded me of the measures taken by the main protagonist in another book I recently read, A Study of Scarlet Women, in order to secure freedom from a stifling marriage.) A Restless Truth is fun and quirky yet has depth, an appealingly complicated mystery, and a satisfying version of a resolution that sets up book three. I received a prepublication edition of this book courtesy of Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tordotcom, and NetGalley. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? The third book in the Last Binding series will be titled A Power Unbound. Its publication date has not been announced.

ICYMI: Towles's closed-door tale of a Russian aristocrat under house arrest in a grand Moscow hotel manages to be at times playful, poignant, and wonderfully subversive. Let us concede that the early thirties in Russia were unkind. It's 1922, and Count Alexander Rostov has been placed under house arrest by the Bolsheviks. He is to remain in a grand hotel across from the Kremlin called the Metropol, where he will live out the rest of his days. An aristocrat used to spending his life at leisure or bustling about for his own pleasure, he now lives in an attic room, able only to peer out at the upheaval taking place throughout Moscow and witness events from a distance. Thus, it is the opinion of this committee that you should be returned to that hotel of which you are so fond. But make no mistake: should you ever set foot outside of the Metropol again, you will be shot. Next matter. The time structure of the story is interesting; Towles moves the reader in time from the starting day of Rostov's confinement to one day later, then two days later, and four days later in a doubling pattern that ends sixteen years later, then presents events in halved time periods (eight years, four years, two years, and so on) until the end of the book. The gifted storyteller Towles manages to craft a tale of  a political prisoner's decades spent under house arrest in a bustling Moscow hotel without its' feeling claustrophobic, but instead, delightfully playful, richly wrought, and wonderfully subversive. Do you have any Bossy thoughts abou tthis book? Towles is also the author of Rules of Civility and The Lincoln Highway.

tales by the reclusive Victorian author Eliza Makepeace, who mysteriously disappeared in the early 1900s Garden (a book I was obsessed with as a child) for grown-ups, with intertwined, mysterious stories from 1900

I loved each of the story's two timelines--following a stewardess on board The Titanic as well as a British spy working with the WWII French Resistance--and the details of life in each time, but I found the ending's resolutions too easy. First, just look at this gorgeous cover! I love this so much. Unsinkable is historical fiction by Jenni L. Walsh that's set in two timelines. The book's past timeline is set in the early 20th century, as Violet, a young ship's stewardess bent on providing for her family after her father's death and mother's onset of illness, works aboard ships including, as the story sweeps along, The Titanic. I love a ship-life story, and I was taken with the details of Violet's caring for the elite passengers. The story's later timeline takes place in the time of World War II as Daphne, an intelligent and educated young woman who is emotionally closed off and desperately trying to impress her estranged, famous father, serves as a spy assisting the French Resistance. Sometimes in a dual-timeline story I feel far more invested in one story or the other. But while reading Unsinkable, I was equally interested in both timelines. I really enjoyed Violet's life on the ship and her foray into nursing, as well as Daphne's spy activity. The book is almost at its close by the time the two main protagonists are explicitly linked within the story, although the reader will know of their bond before the women themselves do. For me, this was a four-star read with a three-star ending. Throughout Unsinkable, Daphne and Violet fought through unimaginable difficulties, focused on their duties at the expense of their romantic happiness, witnessed various horrors, and yet recognized and cultivated an unlikely spark of hope for themselves and their futures that felt hard-won and intriguing. The final scenes felt oddly clean and neatly wrapped up with a bow as though according to a formulaic "happy ending" equation, and I found this shift from the appealingly messy, imperfect, wonderful, adventurous, tragic lives shown in the bulk of the book to a smooth, no-loose-ends set of outlandish coincidences and resolutions jarring rather than wholly satisfying. The Author's Note explains that the character of Violet and the arc of her life is somewhat loosely based upon a real person, while Daphne is an amalgamation of various special operations figures. I listened to Unsinkable as an audiobook, narrated by Barrie Kreinik and Alana Kerr Collins, courtesy of Libro.fm and Harper Muse. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Walsh is also the author of Becoming Bonnie, Side by Side, A Betting Woman, and The Call of the Wrens. You might like my Bossy reviews of other spy stories; you can find them here.

It was founded in the early 1900s by Arthur Ellingham, a tycoon who wanted to encourage bright young

to be published tomorrow), historical fiction about a strong young woman and her mining community in 1900s Gilded Mountain by Kate Manning Kate Manning's Gilded Mountain (to be published November 1) is set in 1900s

Grey Dog  begins as an immersive historical fiction story of a young teacher with a shocking past in 1900s It's 1901, and Ada Byrd has accepted a teaching position in a rural community following a scandal and you, you might also be interested in my Bossy reviews of other historical fiction books set in the 1900s

of Wings, which is on my to-read list (and was inspired by a historical figure of a slave in early 1900s

, widespread, deadly West Virginia Mine Wars and thousands-strong labor uprising that took place in 1920 In Rednecks, Taylor Brown presents a historical novel centering around the real-life events of the 1920

Sara Donati's historical fiction includes nods to Outlander and The Last of the Mohicans, considers the trials and adventures of a feminist woman in the 18th century wilderness of New York, and offers copious romance and lush description. In this first book of Donati's Wilderness series, it's 1792 and Elizabeth Middleton has traveled with her malcontent lush of a brother from a grand English estate to a wild New York settlement to meet up with her father, who has been building business connections there for years. She quickly realizes that her father's oblique promises that she could teach school in their new home may have been a ruse to get her to New York--and he then planned to push her into considering marriage in order to serve his business interests. But she's determined to follow her own path--and her strong-willed decisions fly in the face of rigid society's expectations concerning women, slavery, and appropriate marriage prospects. And Elizabeth can't fight her immediate attraction to the no-nonsense Nathaniel Bonner, a white man dressed in Mohawk gear. I've heard this called Outlander fan fiction (Jamie and Claire Fraser are mentioned in this novel), and have also heard that the Hawkeye character in the book (Nathaniel's father) is the same character as in James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. Regardless of its true origins, Into the Wilderness did scratch the itch of reading a combination of historical fiction, romance, and rich descriptions of taming the wild. Elizabeth is a feminist in a time in which independence and freedom are not encouraged in a woman. She finds clever ways to assert her strong will by working within and around the confines of the law and of social expectations. The Elizabeth-Nathaniel relationship is romantic and saucy and swoony. Richard is a powerful, vindictive, greedy third wheel (who, like Nathaniel, is white and has deep Indian roots; it often felt to me as though he played an over the top Evil Nathaniel Alternative here). Elizabeth's brother Julian is weak, easily tempted, shirks responsibility, and is set upon seeing others fail. I listened to this as an audiobook, and it ran 30 hours and 13 minutes. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Sara Donati is the pen name of Rosina Lippi. Lippi has primarily published academic works under her real name, as well as the novel Homecoming. Donati is also the author of the wonderful book The Gilded Hour as well as Where the Light Enters and ten other historical fiction novels.

Whalebone Theatre begins with offbeat children's performances on a lazy, decadent English estate in the 1920s Joanna Quinn's debut novel is a hefty 558 pages, and the story sweeps through time from the 1920s malaise

Lauren Goff's novel The Vaster Wilds begins in the Jamestown colony in the early 1600s.

The gothic story King Nyx offers haunting imagery, sinister mysteries, unreliable memories, resurfacing past trauma, missing persons, unexplained deaths, and a children's fairy tale gone awry. Anna Fort has many reservations about her husband's outlandish theories, but she dutifully assists him with his research into unexplained meteorological phenomena in the hopes that his in-progress book will eventually be publishable--and will allow them to drag themselves out of poverty. Once Charles's family's house maid, Anna knows she is the reason he gave up his inheritance and any relationship with his cruel father. So when a reclusive, wealthy man invites Charles to spend the winter of 1918 on his remote, cold, private island writing his book, Anna is supportive and accompanies him. But a strange feeling pervades everything on the island. Their host is absent, and while they understand being required to isolate and quarantine to prevent the spread of the deadly flu, many odd occurrences and sinister-feeling goings-on are making Anna wonder if they should ever have come--and if it's even possible to escape. Meanwhile, flashes of her past seem to be resurfacing on this strange island, the other couple staying nearby seem to have dark secrets, the rumors they had heard on the mainland of missing young girls seem to possibly be true, someone has turned up dead--and they still haven't even seen their host. The imagery of King Nyx is striking, with (oddly specific and elaborate) automatons, gas masks, looming, mysterious buildings, and more. The tie-in to King Nyx for Anna seems beyond possibility, and the other links to her past seem far-fetched, until she realizes that all of the events on the island seem to be the mastermind of an unhinged puppet master. Meanwhile mysteries from Anna's experiences in the Fort household seem held together by crucial gaps in memory, and the framework is beginning to fall apart. I found myself wishing the various aspects of the story had held together a little more cohesively, but I enjoyed the dark, gothic tale of King Nyx and each of its elements, including the caged-bird metaphors, as well as the denouement. I listened to King Nyx as an audiobook. I received an audiobook version of King Nyx courtesy of NetGalley and RB Media, Recorded Books. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Kirsten Bakis is also the author of Lives of the Monster Dogs, a book I'd like to read.

Donoghue's captivating historical fiction centers around two real-life young women in an early 1800s She grew up in a cold, strict British boarding school in the early 1800s.

In this narrative nonfiction, Egan explores the Klan's explosive growth and power in the 1920s in states

He holds vivid memories of life in 1900s London--and he holds a postcard a century old, sent to him from

Harrow has crafted a lovely adventure through different wonderfully imagined worlds (including the early 1900s

I loved the 1700s wintry Maine setting and the convictions of the historical fiction novel's strong midwife

Ron Rash's newest Appalachian-set novel explores a small town shaken by upended expectations, the Korean War, and selfish rigidity that threatens to undo them all. In Ron Rash's newest novel, The Caretaker, Blackburn Gant is the sole caretaker of a hilltop cemetery in 1951 Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Blackburn lives a quiet life, which is partially dictated by his physical limitations since suffering through polio as a child. When his best (and only) friend Jacob is sent to serve overseas in the Korean War, Blackburn promises to look after Jacob's wife, Naomi. The two had eloped just months after meeting, which led to Jacob's being disowned by his wealthy family. Blackburn and Naomi grow close as they anxiously await word of Jacob's fate halfway around the world. When an important telegram arrives, they fear the worst. A series of elaborate falsifications, outrageous subterfuge, and outright lies creates a tangled web for all involved--and the situation just begs for justice to be served to those blinded by selfish desire and rigid expectations. I loved the glimpses of rural life and of the specific place and time that Rash crafts so well. The writing is beautifully spare, and the ending is satisfying in multiple ways. I received a prepublication edition of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Doubleday Books. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I included the wonderful Ron Rash short story collection Nothing Gold Can Stay in my Greedy Reading List Six Short Story Collections to Wow You, and I loved his novel One Foot in Eden. North Carolina's Rash (he teaches at Western Carolina University) is also the author of other books set in Appalachia: Serena, The World Made Straight, Burning Bright, Above the Waterfall, The Risen, and The Cove.

In Blau's gleefully 1970s-set novel, Mary Jane doesn't merely shift from emotional innocence to young In Jessica Anya Blau's novel Mary Jane, we're in 1970s Baltimore (with all of the glorious, immersive

ICYMI: Taylor Brown's five-star, 1950s North Carolina-set novel offers mountain clans, whiskey runners He's running whiskey to juke joints, brothels, and other seedy spots in his 1940 Ford, driving fast,

Chakrabarti's A Play for the End of the World takes place in 1970s New York and in rural India, with

Atkinson's newest mystery is set in vivid Roaring Twenties London as Nellie Coker struggles to hold on to her empire of clubs while mysterious dark undercurrents threaten stability throughout the city. It's 1926 in London, and recovery from the Great War inspires many in the city to dive into the wild nightlife scene and revel in the frenzy of the Jazz Age. Nellie Coker is fresh out of jail and ready to jump back into the action, masterminding moves to increase her family's power, influence, and riches. But not everyone she's paying off can be trusted, some of her six children are undermining her, and goings-on in the dark undercurrents of Soho could shake Coker's hold on her empire--and upset her ambitious dreams. On the other side of the Shrines of Gaiety story line is Detective Frobisher, an upstanding outlier in the largely corrupt police force, and his unlikely assistant in investigating Ma Coker, former librarian Gwendolen Kelling. I was particularly hooked by the intersection of Gwendolyn and Ma Coker's golden child, her eldest son Niven--along with the mystery of missing girls across Roaring Twenties London, plus deadly high stakes, the dealings of various crooks, and significant double-crossing throughout the story. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Atkinson is also the author of Case Histories, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Life After Life, Human Croquet, When Will There Be Good News, and many more books. If you like historical fiction mysteries, you might like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Historical Fiction Mysteries Sure to Intrigue You.

Kevin Wilson's wonderfully odd 1990s coming-of-age novel centers around teens Frankie and Zeke, their Sixteen-year-old aspiring writer Frankie is just trying to get through a late 1990s summer in Coalfield

ICYMI: Geraldine Brooks crafts a historical fiction story of 1666, a year in which disease, fear, and loss make way for redemption, unexpected joys, and inspiration in a remote English village. I recently read Geraldine Brooks's newest book, Horse, and I realized that I haven't posted a Bossy review of another Brooks favorite of mine, Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague. In 17th century England, an infected bolt of cloth carries the plague from London to a small town. Anna Frith emerges as an unexpected healer when her isolated village faces the terrors of suffering, death, superstition, and suspicion as the plague decimates its population. But through the pain, witch-hunting, loss, and confusion of the year, the community finds unexpected surprises, joys, and inspiration. In Year of Wonders, Brooks shapes a vivid world that comes to life because of the author's painstaking research and the engrossing details she includes of life at the time. Brooks's story was inspired by the true story of Eyam, an isolated village in English hill country. I was fascinated by this one. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Brooks is also the author of Horse, People of the Book, March, Caleb's Crossing, and others. Other powerful books I've loved that have to do with plagues, disease, and pandemics include The Dog Stars, Station Eleven, Doctors and Friends, Lucy by the Sea, The Pull of the Stars, Hamnet, and How High We Go in the Dark.

Kim Michele Richardson's historical fiction offers a 1936 Appalachian setting, the magic and unassuming power of a rural librarian, and the exploration of a rare genetic condition. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek was a winning read for me. Appalachian setting? Check. Tough female protagonist? Check. Rural librarian? Check. Fascinating implications of a rare genetic condition? Check. I'm not sure why it took me so long to read Kim Michele Richardson's The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, except for pre-reading anxiety that it might not live up to my sky-high expectations. But this is a solid historical fiction story that I loved. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is set in 1936 in the rural Appalachians, centering around the character of Cussy Carter, nicknamed Bluet. In this tale, Bluet is one of the rare, real-life "Blue People" of Kentucky (those with the blood disorder methemoglobinemia, which causes the appearance of blue-tinted skin). Bluet is a librarian through the Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky (side note: there is nothing about the setup for this book that I don't absolutely adore), and she rides her mule Eugenia through all the hollers and up through the mountains, delivering sought-after newspapers and practical and fanciful books to families who rarely emerge from deep in the woods and for whom the written word is a window to the greater world. Bluet's natural independence, her love of books and reading, her eschewing of marriage, and her blue-tinged skin collectively draw the wrath and disgust of some in her small community--those who are suspicious of any break from tradition or anyone who questions the status quo. Bluet faces racial discrimination, misogyny, and some cruel and creepy handling in the name of scientific exploration and understanding of her skin color. This last element is smoothed over by a trade of food for her hungry household (and those of local schoolchildren) by the local doctor and his colleagues, initially so insistent about studying every possible aspect of Bluet's anatomy and blood, and so inappropriate in their methods, that it haunted me for the rest of the book and as I think about the story now. Richardson offers a satisfying ending that's not without an edge or imperfections, and I found narrator Katie Schorr's reading of the story wonderful. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? The book's sequel is The Book Woman's Daughter, published earlier this year. I can't wait to read that one as well. Kim Michele Richardson is also the author of Liar's Bench, The Sisters of Glass Ferry, and Godpretty in the Tobacco Field.

is trying to piece together the events surrounding the shooting of a man named Lloyd Wilson in his 1920s

characters sometimes feel like caricatures of evil villains, his young characters and the vivid setting of 1930s I listened to Krueger's This Tender Land as an audiobook, and I was satisfyingly immersed in 1930s life

fascinating, layered story about a strong-willed, whip-smart young Indigenous woman in a steampunk 1800s historical significance, and potential power of being linked to dragons, It's also a steampunk, mid-1800s

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 made up of workaday tasks and prosaic things.” Laura Amy Schlitz's book The Hired Girl is fantastic young adult historical fiction written in diary form. It's 1911, and fourteen-year-old Joan's life is far from the romantic, sweeping novels she loses herself in. She's living a hardscrabble life on her family's Pennsylvania farm, working ceaselessly for her rough father and brothers--and dreaming of escape. When she runs away to the big city of Baltimore, she presents herself as an eighteen-year-old named Janet, and she is delighted to be taken on as a hired girl for the refined Rosenbach family. “In my new life I’m not going to be vulgar. Even though I’m going to be a servant I’m going to cultivate my finer feelings. I will better myself and write with truth and refinement.” Joan is desperate for knowledge, and the Rosenbachs encourage her growth. Mr. Rosenbach explains anti-Semitism, charming young Mimi shows Joan how to pin her hair and carry herself, and David halfheartedly attempts to woo her (which leaves Joan breathless, imagining Jane Eyre-worthy drama and desperate for an upheaval of her life worthy of that book). Meanwhile Joan is exploring her Catholic faith and questioning and recognizing the existence of God. She's growing up and growing into a calm assurance, finding her place in the world. Schlitz's novel, inspired by her grandmother's journal, explores art, faith, challenge, transformation, imagination, romance, growth, and wonderful humor. Joan is a funny, heartbreaking, meddlesome, irresistible main protagonist. I could have read about her for a full series of books, and I devoured The Hired Girl in twenty-four hours--whereupon I immediately wished I'd savored it more slowly. I loved Joan and I loved this book! Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Laura Amy Schlitz has also written the children's book Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village as well as Splendors and Glooms, a Gothic mystery about puppeteers that was a Newbery Honor book, among others.

man is trying to piece together the events surrounding the shooting of a man named Lloyd Wilson in 1920s

A book I loved, in case you missed it: Wood's memoir is captivating and lovely, poignant, sweet without being overly sentimental, and just all-around wonderful. In 1963 the Woods were a typical Catholic immigrant family in Mexico, Maine. Dad worked for the local paper mill alongside countless other immigrants, and the family had a steady life. But when Monica's father died suddenly, Monica and her three sisters began to drift. Father Bob, their mother's brother, tried to be the ballast the family needed. Then Monica's mother became inspired after the tragic death of John F. Kennedy, and she insisted on a family road trip to Washington, D.C. The trip was an initial, unexpected step toward the healing Monica and her family desperately needed. When We Were the Kennedys is about grieving deeply, leaning on family and community in a crisis and in common suffering, and figuring out the impossible: how to move on after devastating tragedy. Wood gorgeously evokes the many characters and unfathomable events that changed her family's existence--as well as that of her community and the entire country--in 1963. Oh, how I loved this book! Wood's memoir is heartwarming and funny and tragic and vivid. This memoir is fantastic. I ate it up in a single day. ICYMI: A Book I Loved I had to post about this book in case you missed it when it was first published. I'm also going to admit here that in the notes I made with my five-star rating just after reading this in 2012, I said "This memoir is the bomb."

The book jumps between 1940, the beginning of the women's forays into their secret duties and responsibilities

Now Zott is a chemist in 1960s California on an otherwise all-male staff at Hastings Research Institute

and the fears and joys of seeking a new life in a new place. 01 Pachinko by Min Jin Lee In the early 1900s

This was like a Secret Garden for grown-ups, with intertwined, mysterious stories from 1900, 1975, and

He was stranded in the 1990s when a mission went wrong. Harrow has crafted a lovely adventure through different wonderfully imagined worlds (including the early 1900s

01 Pachinko by Min Jin Lee In the early 1900s, a teenager falls for a silver-tongued stranger on the

He was stranded in the 1990s when a mission went wrong. Harrow has crafted a lovely adventure through different wonderfully imagined worlds (including the early 1900s

Julia Fine's Maddalena and the Dark is a gothic story set in 1700s Venice in which two young women's It's early 1700s Venice at a prestigious music school for orphans, the Ospedale della Pietà.

I'm reading Maddalena and the Dark, Julia Fine's upcoming novel about young friends and musicians in 1700s 01 Maddalena and the Dark by Julia Fine It's early 1700s Vienna at a prestigious music school, the Ospedale

I'm Reading Now I'm reading Emma Donoghue's newest historical fiction, Learned by Heart, set at an 1800s orphan sent from India to England at age 6 and grew up in the cold, strict Manor School in the early 1800s

Now I'm reading Kate Quinn and Jamie Chang's historical fiction novel about two disparate women in 1906 01 The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang In 1906 San Francisco, two very different women seek As Lauren Grodstein's We Must Not Think of Ourselves begins, it's November 1940, and Adam Paskow is one

Lauren Goff's novel The Vaster Wilds begins in the Jamestown colony in the early 1600s. fascinating, layered story about a strong-willed, whip-smart young Indigenous woman in a steampunk 1800s historical significance, and potential power of being linked to dragons, It's also a steampunk, mid-1800s

British Isabella Bird explored the wild, rugged western United States in the late 1800s, and she journeyed

Women in the 1200s aren't given much freedom, and she must wrest her power from her father, her husbands

Lauren Goff's novel The Vaster Wilds begins in the Jamestown colony in the early 1600s. fascinating, layered story about a strong-willed, whip-smart young Indigenous woman in a steampunk 1800s It's also a steampunk, mid-1800s Nordic setting for some radical rethinking of nonsensical, destructive As Lauren Grodstein's We Must Not Think of Ourselves begins, it's November 1940, and Adam Paskow is one