Haven, by Emma Donoghue. Hachette Book Group, 2022.

In the 7th century, an admired scholar and holy man comes to visit a rural monastery. That night, he has a vision; he and two fellow monks sail down the river and out into the western ocean, seeking an isolated island to found a new monastery on. Brother Artt immediately acts on this vison; he ( Read more... )

The Devil’s Slave, by Tracy Borman. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2019This book continues the story of Frances Gorges, a real person, which was started in The King’s Witch. Now, in 1606, Frances finds herself pregnant by Thomas Wintour, who has been executed. She retreats to the estate she grew up on, which is now being run by her greedy brother, hoping ( Read more... )

Paris, 7 a.m., by Liza Wieland. Simon & Schuster, 2019In 1937, two years after graduating from Vassar, Elizabeth Bishop went with some college friends to France. During this time, there was a three week stretch in time where she did not write in her life-long journal. Wieland has taken a look back and imagined what might have happened in that time ( Read more... )

Tidelands, by Philippa Gregory. Atria Books, 2019I really enjoyed “The Other Boleyn Girl”, so I was very happy to get a pre-release copy of ‘Tidelands’. I was disappointed I read it; I felt it wasn’t nearly as well written as TOBG was. It’s the first in a series, so there is a lot of stage setting to be done, and it was done well and in detail. But ( Read more... )

The Song of the Jade Lily, by Kirsty Manning. William Morrow, 2019In 1938, on the day that will live in history as Kristallnacht, 12 year old Romy, her brothers, and her parents try to flee Austria as Nazi troops start rounding up Jews. One brother is shot for standing up for himself; the other is captured and taken away. Romy and her parents ( Read more... )

Death of a New American, by Mariah Fredericks. Minotaur Books, 2019In Fredericks second in this historical mystery series, it’s 1912, and ladies maid Jane Prescott is accompanying her charge, Louise, to the Long Island mansion of the Bentleys. Louise is marrying William Tyler at his aunt and uncle’s home, and they are going early to get everything ( Read more... )

Mistress of the Ritz, by Melanie Benjamin. Delacorte Press, 2019 Based on a real couple, Mistress of the Ritz tells the story of Blanche and Claude Auzello. In the early 1920, they meet in Paris, have a brief affair, and marry very quickly. Blanche is American, a brash, talkative, foul mouthed American flapper. Claude is French, and the manager of ( Read more... )

The Familiars, by Stacey Halls. Mira, 2019
It’s 1612, in the reign of King James I, and Fleetwood Shuttleworth (a real historic person) has not had an easy life. She’s 17 and enduring her 4th pregnancy, the first three having ended in miscarriages and a still birth. She’s found a letter from a doctor to her husband saying that she will not survive ( Read more... )

Josephine Baker’s Last Dance, by Sherry Jones. Gallery Books, 2018Josephine Baker, born in 1906 to a poor family in St. Louis, was used pretty much as a slave from the time she could walk. Her mother put her out to white families as a live in servant, with Josephine’s pay going to her. Josephine never saw anything of it. Worse, she was sexually ( Read more... )

The Woman in the White Kimono, by Ana Johns. Park Row Books, 2019Tori Kovac, in present day America, watches her father die right after he gives her a letter that was written by him to someone in Japan, and it was returned in the mail. Who is it to, and what does it mean ( Read more... )