Thanks to our friends at Booklist Magazine, here is a list of Top Historical Fiction - we own them all!
The Coral Thief by Rebecca StottStott effortlessly captures both the chaos of immediate post-Napoleonic Paris' changing social hierarchy and the exhilaration of intellectuals who have freed themselves from the tyranny of dogma.
Devil's Dreams by Madison Smartt BellBell returns from his celebrated Haitian trilogy to his native Tennessee, to tell the tale of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a feared Confederate general of profound contradictions, strategic brilliance and outrageous valor.
Four Freedoms by John Crowley
The author's detailed descriptions of sights, smellls and sounds in an American aircraft plant during WWII and his evocation of everyday life at home, make this a wonderful, unforgettable novel.
Doctorow creates a mythical tale of compulsion, alienation, and dark metamorphosis inspired by the wealthy and famously eccentric Collyer brothers, reclusive hoarders in early twentieth century New York City.
The Final volume in the author's WWII trilogy, a grand achievement, employs the same technique as the first two: focusing on individuals, both historical figures and anonymous GIs to tell the story.
Parrot & Olivier in America by Peter CareyCarey presents a brilliant and sly variation on the Frencharistocrat Alexis de Tocqueville, author of the indelible Democracy in America.
Pearl of China by Anchee MinMin's fresh and penetrating interpretation of American novelist Pearl S. Buck's extraordinary life delivers profound psychological, spiritual and historical insights.
The Puzzle King by Betsy Carter
In a series of unfolding stories, two young immigrants are bound to one another by loneliness and a desire to create family ties in New York City in the 1920's and 1930's; a poignant story of love, longing, and the truths of family connectedness.
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All Other Nights by Dara Horn
Horn both unearths a fascinating, relatively unexplored aspect of American history-the role of Jewish Americans in the Civil War-and delivers a novel rich in human emotion and ambiguity.Check our catalog
I would add, "The News From Paraguay," Lily Tuck's National Book Award-winning novel of the mistress of the emperor of the South American country.
ReplyDeleteGreat recommendation, Jim - a very gripping book!
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