People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

The Basics
Book Info: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.  It’s a work of historical fiction in the sub-genre that I like to call “books about books”.  I was given this book as a review copy, although it was already on my “to be read” list.  I’ve also read her books Nine Parts of Desire [...]

The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory

The Basics
Book Info: The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory. In this novel, Gregory continues her work in the Tudor era.
Genre: Historical Fiction
Plot Overview: Mary, Queen of Scots, is often given a bad rap throughout history.  However, Gregory humanizes our perspective by giving us a view of her life during the years she spent in captivity [...]

The Wise Woman by Philippa Gregory

Philippa Gregory has been one of my favorite authors for years. That’s why I was excited to find a book by her that I hadn’t read yet just sitting on a bookshelf waiting for me to come along and buy it.  Only a few chapters in, I remarked to Matt that I thought I had [...]

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

The Basics
Book Info: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See.
Genre: Historical Fiction
Plot Overview: Lily and Snow Flower are sworn sisters for life in ancient China.  This book details their friendship- through young footbinding years, each of their betrothals, marriages, and eventually their old age.        
Jumping In:
Importance of the Title:  When Lily and Snow [...]

The Memoirs of Helen of Troy by Amanda Elyot

One of the things that any seasoned lover of historical fiction knows is that
the history of a tale holds just as much importance as the way the story itself
is told. In Amanda Elyot’s book “The Memoirs of Helen of Troy”, we get an
engaging tale right from the start. We also get a lot of history- [...]

Elizabeth by Tom McGregor

I have long been intrigued by Tudor England, and the story of Elizabeth I
remains one of my favorites in history. This book was based on the screenplay
of the popular film “Elizabeth” by Michael Hirst. I’m typically not a fan of
movie tie-in novels, but I am a fan of Queen Elizabeth. As someone who has read
several [...]

The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant

Best known for The Red Tent, Diament has recently come out with The Last Days of Dogtown- the story of the end of a hard-scrabble town. Set on Cape Ann, near Gloucester, MA, Dogtown was a barren New England settlement eventually filled with poverty stricken people forced to live a sad existence. While [...]

The Coffee Trader by David Liss

Our local library catalouged this book in the “mystery” section, so it was a little hard for me to find since I was searching in fiction, and not expecting a mystery. Once I figured out the issue, I picked it up with no problem and then began one of my “1 day reading marathons” [...]