Saunders's strange, fascinating novel involves griping, sniping characters in limbo between life and death near the start of the Civil War, often in denial about their circumstances, with Abraham Lincoln's young son Willie at the center of a struggle for control of his soul. “Only then (nearly out the door, so to speak) did I realize how unspeakably beautiful all of this was, how precisely engineered for our pleasure, and saw that I was on the brink of squandering a wondrous

Grossman's reimagined Arthurian legend gives center stage to a ragtag band of misfits, celebrates diversity, and builds a patchwork of adventures, discovery, and widened horizons culminating in a satisfying new, reimagined path forward. Collum is an instinctually gifted, strong knight who has literally fought for sword training as a lowly ward; his family has little use for him; and his heart is set upon joining King Arthur's court. But when he finally makes his way to the Ro

The Everlasting involves jaunts through multiple versions of the same story, as our fantastic main protagonists shift and change, bravely outsmart those who would control them, dare to hope for a future together, and fight dark forces until the bitter end. This is adventure-heavy, sometimes tender, and always intriguing. I loved it. Sir Una Everlasting was a legendary knight in the kingdom of Dominion, an orphan who rose to greatness and died in service to her queen. Her bra

This faerie-centric reimagining of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities offered a compelling story of redemption and self-sacrifice with a significant fantasy undercurrent that is key to the plot. I felt bogged down by the explanations of the workings of the faerie system, its punishments, and its policies. I feared this was the best of times; I hoped it could not get any worse. H. G. Parry's novel A Far Better Thing  is a twist on Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities , and Parr

Smith was inspired by the real-life Victorian England case of a cockney impostor attempting to wrest an inheritance from the nobility,...

Patrick Ryan's literary fiction traces decades of the messy, poignant lives of two families shaped by uncompromising societal...

Allision Epstein shapes Charles Dickens's greedy criminal mastermind Jacob Fagin into a character with a rich backstory, showing him to...

Just a Few of My Many Historical Fiction Favorites These were just a few of my favorite historical fiction reads during Bossy Bookworm's...

This wonderfully creepy lesbian vampire story is largely about female empowerment, but also about love, discovery, reinvention, and...

While Veronica and Stoker stay close to home while entering into danger and solving the mysteries in book six of this series, Raybourn...

Galland offers a detailed peek into the London of Shakespeare's company and the life of starring "boy player" Alexander Cooke, his best...

Davies's slim, luminous, heartbreaking novel sets a story of isolation and human connection against the brutal removal of impoverished...

Favorite Bossy Historical Fiction Reads of the Year I loved reading so many historical fiction books last year, this is my fourth list of...

All the Broken Places is a novel that is linked to Boyne's novel The Boy in the Striped Pajamas . The exploration of gray areas between...

Stephen Graham Jones offers an intriguing premise--an Indigenous man with supernatural abilities enacts brutal justice--but I found the...

The deep bond that builds between an injured Union soldier and the Virginia woman who secretly takes him in is touching and complicated,...

Six More Great Bossy Historical Fiction Reads I love to spend Fridays obsessing over my favorite reads, and I loved reading so many...

Henry's story-within-a-story adds a historical fiction element to her signature big-hearted, banter-driven, steamy, intriguingly...

Six More Great Bossy Historical Fiction Reads It's March, and I'm still spending Fridays obsessing over my favorite reads of the past...

Whitehead, inspired by a real-life reform school that abused and terrorized boys for over a century, shares a tale of racial injustice,...