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with a rich backstory, showing him to be a man shaped by personal and societal circumstances in mid-1800s You might also be interested in these Bossy reads that are also set in the 1800s.

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.

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

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

Bird Isabella Bird was a British explorer of the western United States in the late 1800s, and she journeyed

Davies's slim, luminous, heartbreaking novel sets a story of isolation and human connection against the brutal removal of impoverished citizens from the land in mid-19th century Scotland. He found himself wishing he could go back and start again and do everything differently. But time was the worst thing; time, it seemed to him now, was the only thing you couldn't change; whatever you did, it kept coming. Davies sets her slim, stark, beautiful, and heartrending story Clear  against the backdrop of the Scottish Clearances of the 19th century, in which impoverished citizens were driven off their land. John Ferguson, a minister in need of funds for his new church accepts the job (against the advice of his wife) of evicting Ivar, the sole inhabitant of a remote island off the northern coast of Scotland in 1843. A series of events leads from disaster to recovery, to connection and secrets, to a surprising set of revelations. After a terrible fall on the cliffs of the island, John Ferguson wakes to find himself being tended by a gentle giant in Ivar. Specifically, he is knitting red replacement sleeves for John's ruined coat. The men have no common language, and John, at first fearful of his vulnerability, then overtaken with cowardice, does not attempt to explain why he is present on the island. Instead, John attempts to learn and document Ivar's language and to learn about the island, dreading the day the boat returns to pick him up--and, unbeknownst to Ivar, permanently remove him from the only home he has ever known. The men develop a tender, heartwarming friendship separate from class, background, intellect, and societal expectations. John, at a distance from worries about his congregation and the future of Presbyterianism, as well as from his kind wife, sinks into Ivar's daily rhythm of working on the land, caring for animals, and finding wonder in nature. I have the cliffs and the skerries and the birds. I have the white bill and the round bill and the peaked hill. I have the clear spring water and the rich good pasture that covers the tilted top of the island like a blanket. I have the old black cow and the sweet grass that grows between the rocks, I have my great chair and my sturdy house. I have my spinning wheel and I have the teapot and I have Pegi, and now, amazingly, I have John Ferguson too. This is a slim book that is beautifully balanced between the tension of John's secret, Ivar's misplaced trust (and of the looming time when explanations will be forced) and the paused push of the outside world's pressures, as weather and basic human needs take precedence. Time passes as though in a vacuum, and the men's need for human connection overshadows all else. By the time John's wife appears--fresh from a rough sea journey, inspired to travel by a sense that John was in danger--the resolution feels heartbreaking, heartwarming, and utterly surprising in its generosity and departure from societal norms. I listened to Clear as an audiobook. More about Carys Davies Carys Davies is also the author of the novels West  and The Mission House , as well as two collections of short stories,  Some New Ambush  and  The Redemption of Galen Pike .

with a rich backstory, showing him to be a man shaped by personal and societal circumstances in mid-1800s You might also be interested in these Bossy reads  that are also set in the 1800s.

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.

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

Pylväinen's novel explores the cooperation and conflict among cultures in a mid-nineteenth century community in the Arctic Circle, immersing the reader in a cold, unforgiving climate and in the long-held traditions of its varied characters. ...she wondered, was this what love was, to persist when you didn't want to, to try for patience another time.... In Hanna Pylväinen's The End of Drum-Time, it's 1851 in the Arctic Circle, and a small community of reindeer herders, a minister's family and his flock of followers, and a local shop owner whose greatest profit comes from liquor are all trying to get through the winter. In their remote location in the Scandinavian tundra, they're each carving out lives shaped by the unforgiving snow and cold. Their cultures are sometimes mysteries to each other, and at times conflict greatly with others' traditions. I was fascinated by Pylväinen's explorations of how the old ways and new ways pushed against each other, as did the Finn, Lapp, Sámi, Swedish, and Russian influences of the region. Religion is a particular conflict in the novel, with the Christian characters proving themselves to be naïve, rigid, judgmental, greedy, vain, and foolhardy. The men of the story are singularly focused on their livelihoods--they're capable of physical doggedness and of persistence. The reindeer herders, for example, hold immeasurable knowledge of the habits of their animals and of the weather and terrain around them. But the male characters are largely disappointments to the women, who wish they had actually earned the confidence they often exude; wish they were reliable and emotionally strong; and wish the men allowed for gray areas and were open to understanding nuances. The men abandon, bluster and condescend, are weak to temptation, plod along in the face of destruction, and wait too long to act. The women frequently see the clear way but are usually powerless to effect change, so the men's missteps and ineptitude are at the heart of each disaster in the book. The End of Drum-Time was intriguing and kept me interested throughout; it was brutal and frustrating (these men--!) but its setting was beautifully crafted. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I read The End of Drum-Time as my March book club book. For more cold-setting stories, check out my Greedy Reading List Six Books with Cold, Wintry Settings to Read by the Fire.

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

Smith's historical fiction story in two timelines equally powerfully evokes the bleak Dutch winters of the 17th century and grimy, volatile 1950s Brooklyn, along with fascinating details of art and art forgery and a tense undercurrent that kept me hooked. The painting referenced in Dominic Smith's novel title is a rare landscape by a female Dutch painter--the first woman admitted as a master painter to Holland's Guild of St. Luke's. At the Edge of a Wood is a stark, arresting winter landscape, and the painting hangs over the bed of the descendant of the first owner of the work. Ellie Shipley is a struggling Australian grad student when she agrees to paint a forgery of the painting--and she does a fine job, if she does say so herself. But an inheritor of the work in 1950s Manhattan wants to show it in an exhibit. Ellie, now a celebrated art historian, is potentially facing a disaster in which her forgery comes to light on the world stage. The Last Painting of Sara de Vos twists through betrayal, love, lots and lots of art, loss, fear of discovery, and exquisitely detailed restoration and forgery processes. These richly built elements form a backdrop to two women's linked journeys, separated by 300 years. Smith equally vividly captures the harsh beauty of both grimy 1950s Brooklyn and 17th century Dutch bleak winters. I was totally taken in by the winding paths of the women's expectations and limitations, and by their ultimate breaks from the traps in which they find themselves. For more novels I've read and reviewed that focus on art, please check out this link . I'd love to hear your thoughts on this book! Dominic Smith is also the author of Return to Valetto , The Electric Hotel , The Beautiful Miscellaneous , Bright and Distant Shores , and The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre .

Isola , based upon the story of a real-life sixteenth-century woman, shifts between details of a life of moneyed ease and an abandonment on an unforgiving, uninhabited island after our main protagonist falls in love with the wrong person. Marguerite is heir to a fortune, but after she is orphaned, she grows into a young lady while her guardian Roberval squanders her inheritance. The unfolding of this continued theft and this absurd man's greedy, gratuitous mishandling of funds--which he legally pursues as a male distantly related to her, ugh--was enough to make my blood boil, but things deteriorate much further from there. As Marguerite enters into her early teens, she begins to fear that her cousin views her as a creepy match for himself. At the very least it becomes clear that he will pay no dowry in order to make another match for her. Instead, in a somewhat shocking turn of events, he forces her to sail with him to New France. But on the way, Marguerite falls for her guardian's servant. When their relationship is discovered, Roberval cruelly punishes them by abandoning them on an uninhabited island to perish. Marguerite, once a privileged, protected child of wealth and opportunity, must learn to survive in the wild. Chapters are preceded by tips from Anne of France to her daughter (from Lessons for My Daughter ) urging constant preservation of reputation, exuding modesty, maintaining a paralyzing fear of making errors, and striving for perfection in the form of delicacy and beauty. These prescribed behaviors suggest a goal of women's disappearing into the background, serving as beautiful, silent, ghostlike creatures. The highly controlled, minutiae-filled advice contrasts more and more starkly with Marguerite's desperate situation on the island and her necessary rejection of even the most basic societal expectations for her status (wearing shoes, using utensils, living a life without work, not developing freckles in the sun, and not dirtying her hands, much less killing, skinning, and processing animals) in order to cling to life. Her slowly deteriorating social and financial standing early in the book gives way to a fascinating, unforgiving stretch of life lived on the rocky island in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, bounded in part by Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the Labrador Peninsula. As Marguerite taps into her inner strength, she builds a resolve to get home again. But if she is saved and delivered safely back, where will she make her home? How will she secure a future for herself? If her guardian is living, how will she remain safe from him? After a harsh winter, her guardian's ships sail by again, but veer away after spying her. But Marguerite won't give up hope. Now she knows she can see her way through any adversity. I was fascinated by each aspect of this tale, and Goodman transported me into the details and (often infuriating) dynamics of life at the time. Isola  is inspired by the story of the real-life sixteenth-century heroine, Marguerite de la Rocque de Roberval. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! I first read Allegra Goodman's work 25 years ago, when I enjoyed her novel Kaaterskill Falls . Since then she has published many more novels, including Sam . I received a prepublication edition of Isola courtesy of Random House and NetGalley.

Donoghue 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.

Grey Dog begins as an immersive historical fiction story of a young teacher with a shocking past in 1900s You might also like my Bossy reviews of other historical fiction books set in the 1900s .

Donoghue 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.

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

Talented needleworker Isobel and her husband leave Scotland for America in the early 1800s.

ICYMI: Daniel Mason's atmospheric, mysterious, languorous story is of a shy piano tuner's trip to Burma to get the piano of an eccentric army surgeon up and working. A good piano tuner must have knowledge not only of his instrument but of “Physics, Philosophy, and Poetics,” so that Edgar, although he never attended university, reached his twentieth birthday with more education than many who had. In 1886 England, middle-aged, shy piano tuner Edgar Drake is asked to do something unusual for the British War Office: travel to the jungles of Burma. There, Edgar is asked to repair a temperamental piano owned by an eccentric surgeon who has become essential to the war effort. The Piano Tuner is a strange, slowly paced adventure story but also an anti-imperialist, pro-music take on the world. The story's jungle setting and music focus mean that the languorous and sultry tone feels just right. Motivations aren't always clear, and characters seem enigmatic to Edgar and therefore to the reader. It would be lovely to read the book while listening to a playlist of the works mentioned throughout. This isn't my absolute favorite Mason book, and I didn't connect to the characters as I did in The Winter Solider, but the author's writing is gorgeous as always. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Daniel Mason is also the author of The Winter Soldier and North Woods.

Yet I loved the rich early-1900s San Francisco setting, the focus on the arts, the strong women characters

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

Hester, talented needleworker Isobel Gamble and her husband leave Scotland for America in the early 1800s

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 pacing of the the first 100 pages felt slow, but after that I was totally hooked on this very compelling

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.

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

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.

The two disparate stories intersect in an unlikely way in 1890s Arizona Territory, and fantastical elements some one of these but striving to be the other--striking out into the West in the first half of the 1800s

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

Talented needleworker Isobel and her husband leave Scotland for America in the early 1800s.

The two disparate stories intersect in an unlikely way in 1890s Arizona Territory, and fantastical elements some one of these but striving to be the other--striking out into the West in the first half of the 1800s

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

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

Newman's nonfiction book about motherhood, Waiting for Birdy. 02 Big Swiss by Jen Beagin Greta sits in her 1700s

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

Greta sits in her 1700s Dutch farmhouse in Hudson, New York transcribing sessions for a local New Age

and angers those around her by challenging the limitations of what women might do or say in the year 1400

In the mid-1600s, the family living in The Bridge is readying for a royal visit, but there seems to be

Plateau on foot, and making first ascents in Chad's Ennedi Desert and Antarctica's Queen Maud Land. 05 1000 perusal for the vinyl lover in your life. 06 The Only Woman by Immy Humes The Only Woman is made up of 100 In professional scenes, public life, and social situations ranging from 1860 to the present and from

full review, please see When We Were the Kennedys . 04 The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon I loved the 1700s

Greta sits in her 1700s Dutch farmhouse in Hudson, New York transcribing sessions for a local New Age

Greta sits in her 1700s Dutch farmhouse in Hudson, New York transcribing sessions for a local New Age The series takes place in 1870s London, and in book two as in book one, the immensely appealing, practical

issues of race across three timelines, linked by a special bond between an enslaved man and a horse in 1850s In Horse, Geraldine Brooks links three periods in time: 1850 Kentucky, where an enslaved groom and a Horse takes place primarily in the 1850s timeline, as we see Jarrett grow up enslaved and dedicated to and angers those around her by challenging the limitations of what women might do or say in the year 1400

and angers those around her by challenging the limitations of what women might do or say in the year 1400