Historical Fiction Books

Book SynopsisBased on the life of Marie Dorion, the first mother to cross the Rocky Mountains and remain in the Northwest, A Name of Her Own is the fictionalized adventure account of a real woman?s fight to settle in a new landscape, survive in a nation at war, protect her sons and raise them well and, despite an abusive, alcoholic husband, keep her marriage together. With two rambunctious young sons to raise, Marie Dorion refuses to be left behind in St. Louis when her husband heads West with the Wilson Hunt Astoria expedition of 1811. Faced with hostile landscapes, an untried expedition leader, and her volatile husband, Marie finds that the daring act she hoped would bind her family together may in the end tear them apart. On the journey, Marie meets up with the famous Lewis and Clark interpreter, Sacagawea. Both are Indian women married to mixed-blood men of French Canadian and Indian descent, both are pregnant, both traveled with expeditions led by white men, and both are raising sons in a white world. Together, the women forge a friendship that will strengthen and uphold Marie long after they part, even as she faces the greatest crisis of her life, and as she fights for her family?s very survival with the courage and gritty determination that can only be fueled by a mother?s love.

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Book SynopsisDid photography replace an absence in her life or expose the truth of her heart’s emptiness? While growing in confidence as a photographer, eighteen-year-old Jessie Ann Gaebele’s personal life is at a crossroads. Hoping she’s put an unfortunate romantic longing behind her as “water under the bridge,” she exiles herself to Milwaukee to operate photographic studios for those owners who have fallen ill with mercury poisoning.   Jessie gains footing in her dream to one day operate her own studio and soon finds herself in other Midwest towns, pursuing her profession. But even a job she loves can’t keep painful memories from seeping into her heart when the shadows of a forbidden love threaten to darken the portrait of her life.

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Book SynopsisAs the sole daughter of the chief priest, Hannah is publicly shamed when the prophet of Israel refuses to heal her. Determined to restore her family’s honor, she escapes Jerusalem in hopes of finding the prophet and convincing him to restore her deformities. Gilead, a young Hebrew guard sympathetic to her plight, willingly accompanies her. On their way, they are captured by a band of raiders and Hannah is forced to serve in the household of the commander of the Aramean army, an officer who is in need of healing himself. Meanwhile, Gilead is being used as sword practice for the Aramean soldiers. Hannah must act fast to save Gilead and herself, but survival will mean coaxing the prophet of Israel to heal an enemy commander.

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Book SynopsisSociety said they were insane, and in 1954, that was enough to put someone away in an asylum and separate them from the world. Even here, though, it was possible for souls to flourish.Jakie was one such soul. He was all but lost until he met the girl. She is locked away in a cellar room, but he can feel her presence by imagining he is a small bird visiting her through a hole he has made in a stone wall. He spends hours whistling a cardinal's song to her and she learns to whistle it back to him. She doesn't even know that Jakie exists, only the bird, but their communication is changing her. And the overwhelming, protective love that Jakie feels for the girl will compel him to find more of himself than he ever knew there was - and through this, he will alter their worlds profoundly.A remarkable exploration of the spirit, a sharp indictment of our blindness to what makes us human, and an unforgettable portrait of the power of the will, The Bird Box will move you in ways you never anticipated.Trade ReviewPraise for K.J. Steele's previous novel, No Story to Tell: "Every once in a while a book comes along with the 'wow' factor. This book totally met all of my criteria for that. From the opening page, I was struck by the sheer beauty of the writing... This is a definite book for anyone. I guarantee that there's a character you can identify with. Hopefully, it'll help you learn a little something about yourself as well. Join Vic on her journey towards self-discovery and allow yourself to be swept up." -- Minding Spot "No Story to Tell tells a terrific story of a survivor finally taking a risk that will shake her world." -- Midwest Book Review "This was a 'no holds barred' kind of read with a delicate touch that I definitely recommend!" -- Bookin' It Up "No Story To Tell is about recreating one's world -- something to tell one's self more than other dreamers and idlers! Fascinating read, Ms. Steele!" -- Crystal Book Reviews "This intriguing story of self-discovery should be on every readers' to-be-read list, it will have you questioning how you are living your life." -- Jersey Girl Book Reviews "No Story To Tell by KJ Steele is intense and thought-provoking. In many ways it defies description. It has to be experienced and it is an experience not to be missed." -- Single Titles

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Book SynopsisLum has always been on the outside. At eight, she was diagnosed with what we now call an intersex condition and is told she can't expect to marry. Now, at thirty-three, she has no home of her own but is shuttled from one relative's house to another—valued for her skills, but never treated like a true member of the family. Everything is turned upside down, however, when the Blue Ridge Parkway is slated to come through her family’s farmland. As people take sides in the fight, the community begins to tear apart—culminating in an act of violence and subsequent betrayal by opponents of the new road. However, the Parkway brings opportunities as well as loss.Trade Review“Lum is an engaging portrait of a village in the Virginia Blue Ridge during the Great Depression. Lum’s courageous journey to selfhood is profound and moving, and a metaphor for the process of self-acceptance necessary for anyone who doesn’t fit into traditional social norms.” —Lisa Alther, author of Kinfolks “Libby Ware has written with a rich new southern voice and captured the dying art of storytelling in her debut novel.” —Ann Hite, author of the award-winning Ghost On Black Mountain and Georgia Author of the Year, 2011 " . . .a startlingly good debut novel.” —Atlanta Magazine “ . . . captivating . . . Ware writes with a charismatic Southern voice that will appeal to readers of Ron Rash, Lee Smith, and Wiley Cash. I read Lum from start to finish in one day and relished its fresh characters and take on history… Select if for your book club, and get ready for a rip-roaring discussion.” —Hungry for Good Books “ . . . a treat for those who appreciate character-centered historical fiction. Lum’s courageous journey toward independence makes her a heroine worth fighting for, and readers will find themselves missing her company after the final page turns.” —Historical Novels Review

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Book SynopsisBroken by their unorthodox Midwestern childhood, sisters Catherine, Anne, and Jessica Mathers search for love, acceptance, and worth—often in the most unlikely places. Catherine, the oldest of the Mathers sisters, is an English professor battling breast cancer with Cytoxan, red wine, and profanity. Anne is a wife and stay-at-home mother of two struggling to make ends meet in a suburban existence that both suffocates and confounds her. Jessica, the youngest by ten years and estranged—by choice—from her family, is an exotic dancer who feels safer on stage than in a relationship. But when the sisters are faced with an incomprehensible loss, they are forced to reevaluate themselves, their damaged bonds, and their fragile future. Parting Gifts illuminates one highly dysfunctional family’s tentative, desperate crawl toward a life of meaning and worth.Trade Review2016 USA Best Book Awards: General Fiction, Finalist 2016 USA Best Book Awards: Literary Fiction, Finalist “Katrina Willis can take a painful experience and offer enlightenment. She can take a hardship and reveal opportunity. She can describe deep despair and make you feel hopeful. How? Through her extraordinary gift of detail and language . . . through her brave willingness to go where others dare not go . . . through her heart that feels deeply and fully. Unlike any author I've ever read, Willis transports me into a moment so I can see, hear, taste, and feel it as if I am there. And when I am lost in one of her stories, I don't want to come back. Because through her stories, I am healed. I am understood. I am fully alive.” —Rachel Macy Stafford, New York Times best-selling author of Hands Free Mama "In Parting Gifts, Willis paints the portrait of three sisters with careful and exacting strokes. All three women are seeking to overcome their own personal and shared tragedies, and you will become attached to each one of them as they make their way back home to each other." —T. Greenwood, author of Two Rivers, Bodies of Water, and The Forever Bridge "Parting Gifts is a rare treasure, the sort of book that leaves the reader attached to the characters long after finishing the final page. Katrina Anne Willis has painted a family portrait, intricate, and real, capturing what it means to be family, what it means to struggle with both our need to belong, and our need to be set free. Parting Gifts cracked my heart open, and reminded me of what it means to be human. I loved this book." —Karen Lynch, author of Good Cop, Bad Daughter: Memoirs of an Unlikely Police Officer

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Book SynopsisGold Medal IPPY Winner in Religious Fiction Finalist in the novel/fiction category of the Next Generation Indie Book Award Winner: Best Religious Fiction, International Book Award 2017 2017 USA Best Book Awards Finalist in Fiction: Religious 2017 International Book Awards Winner in Fiction: Religious The Divine Shekinah seeks deliverance from exile to heal a world desperately in need of Her wisdom. Her chosen mission keeper, three generations of kabbalists from places as diverse as a 19th century shtetl and modern day Israel/Palestine, must grapple with profound injustices and the shadows of humanity. If they choose the path of righteousness, love, and forgiveness, Her light can return to the world. Will the mission succeed? Will the divine feminine return to the world? The Shekinah calls to all of us to find our own way to ‘knit the world back together.’Trade Review"Leah Chyten’s Light Radiance Splendor is at its essence a beautiful love story between humanity and the Shekinah, the feminine aspect of the divine. Unrelenting in its depiction of the human drama, it begs each character to respond with forgiveness and love in order that She may return, and offer Her much needed guidance to a world in desperate need of healing. The book is masterful in presenting universal themes in a deeply personal way. Reading Light Radiance Splendor is a consciousness-changing experience." —Linda Carleton, author of

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Book SynopsisWhat happens when a troubled young woman dares to follow the stirrings of her soul in turbulent times? Elmina begins life with a troubled childhood in a medieval French town—a childhood that turns her into a spiritually seeking young woman who dares to follow the stirrings of her soul. Her idealism and love lead her to leave a Cathar school and follow the man who will become Saint Dominic. As the world around her erupts into the Albigensian Crusade, Elmina finds herself complicit in its horror, and her spiritual and emotional life begins to unravel. With the aid of the counsel of her wise prior, Brother Noel, Elmina learns to paint her experiences within a sacred circle—a practice that helps her discover the origins of her lifelong fears and wrestle with questions that are as divisive today as they were eight centuries ago: the nature of God, the purpose of creation, the nature of evil, and the possibility of reincarnation.Trade Review“Elmina’s Fire grabbed me from the start and held on. This is the story of a young woman’s search for spiritual truth. When she leaves her Cathar family to follow the man who would become St. Dominic, she must confront not only her internal demons but ultimately the external horrors of the Abigensian Crusade. More than once while reading I felt myself holding my breath. Linda Carleton has written Elmina’s story so close to the bone, it has the feel of memoir—more remembered than imagined.” —Joan Lee Hunter, Writing Coach, Fifth House Lodge, Bridgton, ME “With Elmina's Fire, Linda Carleton has succeeded in recreating the challenges of an important if little-known period of the High Middle Ages. In telling her compelling story of desire and the human condition, she captures the world of the medieval Catharism as well as the portentous events that were destined to shape the modern world. If you have ever wanted to understand the world of the Cathars, and what happened to it, you cannot do better than read Elmina's Fire.” —James McDonald, Cathar Historian, St-Ferriol, France "In Elmina, Linda Carleton has given us a most unusual heroine: a humble young woman of the Crusades, whose epic struggles with her past actions, her faith, her convictions, and the mysterious demons that plague her follow her into a cloistered life. Elmina’s narrative is addressed directly to God. We are merely eavesdroppers on the most intimate of confessions, in which the stakes are life or death. In serene prose undergirded by deep historical knowledge and the passion of one who knows her subject intimately, Carleton weaves her tale like the weavers in her “Good Christian” ostal, a tapestry both terrifying and beautiful." —Katherine Czepiel, author of A Violet Season “In Elmina’s Fire, Linda Carleton provides a captivating and detailed chronicle of a young woman’s story as she struggles with envy and guilt and chooses a religion to embrace—a story based centuries ago in a medieval French town. Linda invokes the reader's deep compassion from the start as if it were Linda's memoir. She eloquently walks us through Elmina’s inner rivalry between good and evil from the opening, and carries the reader side by side through the journey to Elmina’s final move.” —Rebecca Whitehead Munn, author of The Gift of Goodbye: A Story of Agape Love "A sparkling, spiritual gem of a tale that splendidly illuminates the searing soul-searching of Cathars and Catholics in medieval Languedoc. Carleton's achievement makes historical fiction a retelling of history and a discovery of self.” —Stephen O'Shea, author of The Perfect Heresy and The Friar of Carcassonne “Both historical and contemporary, esoteric and intensely human, Elmina’s Fire invokes an awareness of our immortal connection to the past, and the need to question the inconsistencies birthed through years of repressed questioning. This book is a true work of art that captures the yearning of every spiritual aspirant who confronts the relationship between devotion and desire, wisdom and love, past and future.” —Rev. Richard Burdick, Unity North Atlanta "An inherently fascinating, unfailingly entertaining, consistently engaging novel from cover to cover, Elmina's Fire reveals author Linda Carleton's genuine flair as a novelist for original and deftly crafted storytelling." —MBR Bookwatch

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Book Synopsis2017 Beverly Hills Book Award Winner in New Fiction 2017 Beverly Hills Book Award Winner in Women's Fiction 2018 IBPA Ben Franklin Finalist in Best New Voices: Fiction Becca Meister Fitzpatrick—wife, mother, grandmother, and pillar of the community—is the dutiful steward of her family’s iconic summer tradition . . . until she discovers her recently deceased husband squandered their nest egg. As she struggles to accept that this is likely her last season in Long Harbor, Becca is inspired by her granddaughter’s boldness in the face of impending single-motherhood, and summons the courage to reveal a secret she was forced to bury long ago: the existence of a daughter she gave up fifty years ago. The question now is how her other daughter, Rachel—with whom Becca has always had a strained relationship—will react. Eden is the account of the days leading up to the Fourth of July weekend, as Becca prepares to disclose her secret and her son and brothers conspire to put the estate on the market, interwoven with the century-old history of Becca’s family—her parents’ beginnings and ascent into affluence, and her mother’s own secret struggles in the grand home her father named “Eden.”Trade Review"The 2000 summer season in fictional Long Harbor, Rhode Island, becomes the setting for a family reunion and the revelation of a long-held secret, not to mention the airing of more than a few resentments, in this debut novel. An engrossing, character-driven family saga.” —Kirkus "Eden is [a] poignant and powerful debut novel." —Reader Views "With familial drama so mesmerizing and gripping from the first page, it’s hard to believe that this is only Blasberg’s first literary blessing to the world." —Brit+Co “ . . . [A] beautifully written masterpiece that takes you on a historical journey inside a tormented family’s summer home to reveal painful secrets, utter heartbreak, and major family drama. An inspiring first novel.” —Boston Herald "A stirring historical novel perfect for women's fiction fans.” —Booklist "Eden is not just another farewell-to-the-summer-house novel, but instead a masterfully interwoven family saga with indelible characters, unforgettable stories, and true pathos. Most impressive, there's not an ounce of fat on this excellent book." —Anita Shreve, author of The Stars are Fire "Eden is a heartbreaking novel about the wounds that are passed down through generations. Blasberg’s voice is strong and clear, and her characters are so real—with their ambitions and their weaknesses, their good intentions and their resentments—that no reader is likely to forget them." —Ivy Pochoda, author of Visitation Street "Jeanne Blasberg¹s brilliant first novel conjures a family home so poignantly that I feel as if I¹ve returned there every summer of my life. In Eden, Blasberg invites us into the fearsome echo chamber of a dysfunctional family, and shows us ‹ in unsparing, crystalline prose how the members of such a family can begin to make their way into the light." —Louisa Hall, author of Speak and The Carriage House

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Book SynopsisWhen Quenton wants to take Alix home to France after years of exile in England, she is torn between the restoration of her fortune and her dream to build her Sterling Wood Stable into a successful racing business. She finds an unlikely friend in her uncle’s companion, Nicholas Griffon. Caught by her surprising fondness for him, Alix does not realize shadows from the past are stalking her—until she’s trapped by their darkness.Trade Review2018 American Fiction Awards Winner in Romance Historical Best Book Award Finalist, Romance Category Chanticleer Book Reviews Chatelaine Awards Finalist, Romantic Fiction "Dramatic family politics, secret trysts, and dangerous ghosts from the past all call to mind classic English countryside dramas, but Shute has a knack for creating atmosphere through evocative details." —BookLife "Intrigue, mystery, romance! Set in the 1830’s England and France, Midnight Crossing, has everything to keep readers glued to the page. Shute’s exciting sequel continues to follow Alix Saint-Descoteaux as she tries to decide between her forgotten, ancestral home in France and the new life she has made for herself at Sterling Stables in England. Her growing attraction to her sister’s husband, Nicolas Griffon, doesn’t help matters, however, nor does a disturbing person from her past who stalks her. Shute delivers a thrilling ride in this unputdownable book that will have your heart racing before the end!" —Michelle Cox, author of the Henrietta and Inspector Howard series "A rich tapestry of scenic delight, intrigue, and misdirection in the Regency and Early Victorian era. A riveting novel, rich with unique characters that are not all who they seem to be. Some are better than their initial actions would suggest; some are worse. However, through it all, the fabulous and highly intelligent horse Midnight remains the center of this complex weaving of truths, lies, and attempted thefts." —Liza O'Connor, author of The Adventures of Xavier & Vic series and A Long Road to Love series "Secrets lurk around every corner in this second book in Shute’s (After Midnight, 2014) ongoing historical-fiction series...A rollicking read. Alix is a winning heroine, and Shute expertly leaves each character positioned for new experiences in the planned third volume." —Kirkus Reviews

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