Traveling to different periods in time — the descriptions of the physical environs, the windows into the thoughts, desires and concerns of the characters, and the culture of a time in history – all pull me in when I read Historical Fiction. I’ve described my love of this genre in previous blogs (Blog # 8 – Back in Time and Blog # 53 -Time Travel) so I have several more to share with you in this blog.
Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton is a beautiful book told in two narratives, one of present-day Marisol who travels to Cuba to fulfill her late grandmother Elisa’s wish to have her ashes scattered in her homeland and the other of Elisa’s youth in Cuba before her wealthy family was exiled to Florida after Batista’s fall. The vivid descriptions of Cuba made me want to visit, the historical truths broke my heart, and the parallel love stories were engaging. I was completely captivated for the entirety of a long cross-country flight.
After enjoying my first Cleeton novel so much, I followed with two of her subsequent books. When We Left Cuba was both a thriller and a love story in which the protagonist, Beatriz, is recruited by the CIA to infiltrate Castro’s inner circle. The Last Train to Key West was set during the devastating 1935 Labor Day hurricane in the Florida Keys and follows three women’s experiences. I was captivated by all their stories and intrigued by the history of this Cat 5 hurricane. Both were very enjoyable and engaging.
In The Editor by Steven Rowley, a struggling author finally sells a book and the editor is Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis. I was hooked before I ever started the book. I was a child during Kennedy’s presidency and enjoyed revisiting that time in history, as did the protagonist, James. As he develops a relationship with “Mrs. Onassis,” she pushes him to dig deeper into his relationship with his mother to write a more authentic conclusion to his book. A fun and poignant read.
The Lions of Fifth Avenue was another enjoyable historical fiction from Fiona Davis. Traversing two timelines, from the early 1900’s to eighty years later, the book tells the stories of two related woman. Laura Lyons was an essayist who lived with her family in an apartment in the New York Public Library. Sadie Donovan, her granddaughter, is a curator at the library and in search of clues to the mystery surrounding her grandmother’s family and their connection to missing books while they lived on site. When valuable books begin missing in the present, Sadie herself comes under suspicion.
The Key was another great albeit heart wrenching book by Kathryn Hughes. She takes us inside the “asylums” of the not too distant past when women were often committed unjustly. Wonderful characters and story with a great twist.
I was late in coming to Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, but glad I finally made it. The protagonist’s circumstances are heartbreaking, but her resilience and connection to the natural world, as well as the few human connections she is able to form, help her to rise above and not only survive but thrive. Great characters who will definitely stay with me for a while!
I have several Historical Fiction books on my TBR list, so I’m sure another blog will be coming at some point. Do you have any favorites? Let me know and I’ll add them to my ever-growing pile!
Leave A Comment