Category: Historical Fiction (Page 2 of 4)

The pretty gold specks on the inside covers of The Four Winds.

KRISTIN HANNAH DOES IT AGAIN!

March 7, 2021 /

Once again Kristin Hannah has written an engrossing book that takes us to a difficult place and time alongside a strong female character. This new book may actually be my favorite by her:

The Four Winds: A Novel by Kristin Hannah

The initial setting is Texas during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. But when this environment truly becomes unsafe for her family, Elsa takes her kids to California looking for a better life. But so is everyone else! As refugees pour into California, their life is not much better there with the rough conditions, low wages, and prejudices against them.

HISTORICAL FICTION ABOUT THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE

February 18, 2021 /

I raced through this new book set before and after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake:

The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meiessner

The location and topic were new to me within historical fiction. And I love San Francisco.

MY FAVORITE BOOK SO FAR THIS YEAR

February 6, 2021 /

I am making my way through my reading list for early 2021 and can already enthusiastically recommend this new historical fiction about the city of Savannah and the “Titanic of the South”:

Surviving Savannah by Patti Callahan

In a dual timeline, Callahan tells the story of the doomed steam ship Pulaski, which set sail from Savannah in 1838. Many of the city’s most prestigious families were on board to sail to Baltimore for the summer. But during the second night, a boiler exploded, and the ship sank. Many perished and those who did survive waited several days for rescue in the open sea or faced a harrowing journey in a lifeboat. Families were broken, assets (many took their gold, silver, china with them) were at the bottom of the ocean; this tragedy affected Savannah for years to come. But until reading this book, I knew nothing of this disaster!

The present day timeline follows Everly who is curating a museum’s exhibit on the disaster while recovering from her own personal tragedy.

BOOKS INSPIRED BY HEMINGWAY AND HIS WIVES

September 10, 2020 /

I just finished a really good book about Hemingway in Key West from the perspective of a fictional maid/girlfriend while he was married to Pauline:

Hemingway’s Girl by Erika Robuck

The story also covered the 1935 hurricane that I learned about recently in another book.

I love the setting of Key West and the other places Hemingway lived, Cuba, Paris, etc., and with his four wives, there is plenty of drama to inspire historical fiction. I LOVED the Paula McLain books, one is about Hadley and the other about Martha, and I got to wondering if I have missed any other good books based on these lives.

So, I put together this list of historical fiction inspired by Hemingway and his wives, some of these I have read and some I am putting on my list now.

READING ‘CHESAPEAKE’ ON THE CHESAPEAKE – SUMMER VACATION PART 1

July 19, 2020 /

I’m back with some vacation and book recommendations after traveling to the East Coast during early July.

Earlier this year, we purchased an RV (motorhome) for travel and fun. It has been one of the best decision we’ve made, and even during the pandemic we have still been comfortable traveling because we can keep to ourselves both on the road and at campsites.

‘ANOTHER WOMAN’S HUSBAND’

May 13, 2020 /

I dislike the title of this book I’m going to recommend because (I feel) it incorrectly characterizes the genre and story. Though there is certainly infidelity in this book; it is based on two well-known scandals related to the British Monarchy:

Another Woman’s Husband: A Novel by Gill Paul

The book, in a dual timeline, ties together two women who “rocked the crown” in British history: Princess Diana (the modern day part of the story is based around her death) and the relationship between Wallis Simpson and the Prince of Wales that led to him abdicating the throne.

‘THE WORDS I NEVER WROTE’

May 2, 2020 /

This should not shock anyone who reads my posts regularly…I read and am recommending another WWII novel:

The Words I Never Wrote: A Novel by Jane Thynne

This book was featured on my early 2020 reading list.

In our standard dual timeline, it’s 2016 and Juno is looking for a typewriter as a prop for a photo shoot. She finds a Hermes 3000 that the seller says belonged to Cordelia Capel, a famous journalist. The timewriter case contains half of an unpublished novel.

Juno reads the novel which details Cordelia and her sister Irene’s lives before and during WWII, then the novel abruptly ends.

Cordelia works as a journalist in Paris and later for the British intelligence. Irene has married a German (in 1936) and is living in pre-war Berlin married to a highly respected man among the Nazi-party.

RE-READING A FAVORITE – ‘ATONEMENT’

April 2, 2020 /

I took the opportunity of “COVID-19 shelter in place” to re-read a favorite book that I was feeling called towards again:

Atonement: A Novel by Ian McEwan

I first read this book in a grad school class, “modern 20th century literature.” I loved that class!! And this book was my favorite of the class. I remember exactly where I was sitting when I finished this book – with my jaw dropped!

Time and experience make for a different experience with the same book.

‘MISTRESS OF THE RITZ’ & PARASITE

February 15, 2020 /

I haven’t posted about a book for awhile because I’ve haven’t read much since the new year. I’ve been pretty busy with other activities and also took the time to watch all the best picture nominations for the Academy Awards. I was so happy to see Parasite win best picture. If you haven’t seen Parasite (English Subtitled) you can watch on Amazon Prime (click on picture below). Even though I liked all the movies I saw, except Joker which I couldn’t finish, Parasite is the only one I am excited to experience again, and I will soon when I make my husband watch it!!

But I’m logging in today to tell you about the book I’ve been slowly reading since the new year. At first I thought that maybe I wasn’t liking this book so much because I was reading it very slowly. But after fully experiencing it and finding out it was inspired by real people and of course a real place, I am going to recommend it:

THE LIEUTENANT’S NURSE

October 26, 2019 /

I’m excited to tell you about yet another new work of WWII historical fiction, The Lieutenant’s Nurse by Sara Ackerman.

Previously I have recommended lots of this genre set in Germany, Poland, England, and France, but this is the first book I’ve read since From Here to Eternity that is set in Hawaii, right before and during the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

On November 28, 1941, Eva Cassidy travels to Hawaii aboard the SS Lurline to start a post as an Army Core nurse and meet her likely fiancé who is stationed there. But when she meets the dashing Lt. Clark Spencer on the ship and learns that the United States may be closer to war than she feared, her future becomes more complicated.