Review of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
Stephen Graham Jones offers an intriguing premise--an Indigenous man with supernatural abilities enacts brutal justice--but I found the...
May 6
Review of The Jackal's Mistress by Chris Bohjalian
The deep bond that builds between an injured Union soldier and the Virginia woman who secretly takes him in is touching and complicated,...
May 1
Another Six of My Favorite Historical Fiction Reads of the Year
Six More Great Bossy Historical Fiction Reads I love to spend Fridays obsessing over my favorite reads, and I loved reading so many...
Apr 18
Review of Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
In Hall's Broken Country , characters do their duties, find wondrous love, feel heartbreak, suffer tragedies, sometimes act impulsively,...
Apr 1
Review of The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Whitehead, inspired by a real-life reform school that abused and terrorized boys for over a century, shares a tale of racial injustice,...
Mar 13
Review of Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine
Erin Crosby Eckstine's richly detailed historical fiction explores the life of Junie, an enslaved young woman in rural Alabama haunted by...
Feb 25
Review of To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey
Eowyn Ivey is masterful at intertwining fantastical elements with the grounding of the vivid details of nature. To the Bright Edge of the...
Feb 20
Review of The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
This middle-grade writing collaboration inserts a clever young protagonist into the behind-the-scenes World War II British codebreaking...
Feb 6
Review of Isola by Allegra Goodman
Isola , based upon the story of a real-life sixteenth-century woman, shifts between details of a life of moneyed ease and an abandonment...
Feb 5
Review of There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
There Are Rivers in the Sky weaves together three stories set in three timelines, featuring disparate characters, to explore...
Feb 4
Review of Fallen Land by Taylor Brown
The debut novel from one of my favorite authors tracks a horse thief and an orphan who bond and find love amid the turmoil and...
Jan 23
Review of The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap
Dunlap's debut novel explores early Edinburgh surgical schools, questionable methods of obtaining study subjects, a main protagonist's...
Jan 14
Review of The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
Much of The Safekeep feels claustrophobic, quiet, and hopeless, but unexpected shifts late in the story turn accepted histories on their...
Jan 9
Review of Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst
Our Evenings explores a young, often cruel, existence at a British boys' boarding school; later fits and starts of exploring sexuality...
Dec 10, 2024
Review of A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang
I love Liang's books, and this departure from her romantic comedies is inspired by the Chinese legend of Xishi. It's full of danger,...
Dec 3, 2024
Review of Light to the Hills by Bonnie Blaylock
Blaylock's story centers around a packhorse librarian in 1930s Appalachian Kentucky and adds layers like a complicated past, second...
Nov 13, 2024
Review of Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
Kennedy writes poignantly about the Irish Troubles through the point of view of Cushla, a young adult stretching her wings despite her...
Oct 30, 2024
Six Fascinating 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....
Oct 11, 2024
Review of The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
ICYMI: My favorite Kate Quinn books center around strong young women proving their mettle during wartime crises, and The Alice Network ...
Oct 10, 2024
Review of Bright I Burn by Molly Aitken
Aitken's story of a strong, crafty, fearless woman in 1200s Ireland is based upon the real figure of Alice Kyteler, whose power and...
Oct 1, 2024