Historical Fiction at the Springfield City Library |
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- Bahr, Howard The Year of Jubilo
- A Civil War veteran returns to Mississippi to find his hometown embittered by defeat, his sweetheart ambivalent, and his own moral beliefs challenged when a cruel wartime crime comes to light.
- Chevalier, Tracy Girl with a Pearl Earring
- When she sits for a portrait by Vermeer, a young domestic servant becomes deeply entangled with the artist and his world.
- Connell, Evan S. Deus lo Volt!: Chronicle of the Crusades
- Drawn from an eyewitness account of the 1200s, this stirring work recounts such events as the disastrous Children's Crusade and the sacking of Constantinople in the best tradition of the historical epic.
- Harrigan, Stephen The Gates of the Alamo
- This sparely told, but historically rich, novel weaves the love story of a frontier widow and a botanist into a retelling of the siege and fall of the Alamo. Against a backdrop of crisis and bloodshed, the widow's son faces a harrowing coming of age.
- Harrison, Kathryn The Binding Chair
- This story of a former prostitute who has survived both the ancient ritual of foot-binding and an abusive arranged marriage unfolds in exotic settings of late-19th century Shanghai, London and Siberia.
- Holman, Sheri The Dress Lodger
- When cholera invades the already-bleak landscape of northern England in 1831, a doctor becomes involved in the black market in cadavers. His friendship with a prostitute and her child, the victim of a rare disease, is the heart of this thoughtful, unusual novel.
- Lent, Jeffrey In the Fall
- A moving saga of three generations of an interracial North Carolina family, the offspring of a stoic Confederate veteran and a runaway slave, this novel may bring to mind Faulkner or Cold Mountain.
- Liss, David A Conspiracy of Paper
- A Jewish prizefighter turned detective pursues his father's murderer among 18th-century London's scheming financiers.
- Mallon, Thomas Two Moons
- The engaging heroine of this novel set in Reconstruction Washington is a freethinking war widow who works as a mathematician at an observatory.
- Moggach, Deborah Tulip Fever
- In 17th-century Amsterdam, a merchant's wife and her artist lover seek to escape society's expectations. Passion makes them both reckless and ruthless as they seek to fund their future through speculation in the runaway tulip market.
- Rossi, Agnes The Houseguest
- Leaving his young child behind in Ireland, a widower takes up a new life as the protégé of a powerful businessman in Paterson, New Jersey. Father and daughter must come to terms in this tale of the Irish-American experience.
- Shrake, Edwin The Borderland
- During the racially-charged struggle to establish a republic in the Texas territory of the 1830s, a captain of the Texas Rangers clashes with a physician of mixed heritage. This work of serious fiction nonetheless provides plenty of intrigue, romance and action for those who enjoy Western stories.
- Slotkin, Richard Abe
- An engaging retelling of the childhood and young manhood of Abraham Lincoln, Abe recreates the settings and speech of the early Midwestern frontier convincingly.
- Tremain, Rose Music and Silence
- The court of Danish King Christian IV is the setting for this lyrical novel of a lute player, his lady, and the power of love and music over darkness in the human soul.
For much more on historical fiction, including author lists, guides, reviews and other sources, visit Soon's Historical Fiction Site.
Call the Reference Desk at 413-263-6828 ext. 213, your branch library, or use our Askalibrarian service to reserve a book today! |
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