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Category: Historical Fiction

Lilia by Linda Ganzini

Lilia by Linda Ganzini

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One of the categories for the Indigo 2021 Reading Challenge is “A book by a local author”, so I went to my local independent bookstore in search for a book by a local author. It was slim pickings unless I wanted to read about the Okanagan (which I do not since I have lived here for over eighteen years). I picked out Lilia by Linda Ganzini not so much because I wanted to read another book about World War II, but because Lilia is a true story based on Ganzini’s mother’s childhood growing up in fascist, Nazi-occupied Italy during World War II. It turned out to be a very interesting and inspiring story.

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The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

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I really enjoyed Stuart Turton’s first novel, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. If you like murder mysteries, I highly recommend it. It is set in the 1920s at a country manor and is about a man who has eight days to solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle, the heiress of the family that owns the manor, the twist being that he wakes up each day in a different body of the guests and servants at manor. It is a highly original novel, which does take a strange turn towards the end, but it is still good. The Devil and the Dark Water is Turton’s second novel, and I had been looking forward to reading it. It is not as original as The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, but it is a worthy follow up.

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Five Little Indians by Michelle Good

Five Little Indians by Michelle Good

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Five Little Indians is a novel about surviving a residential school, only to be faced with trying to survive in the world outside the residential school. It is a complicated story written in a rather simple style, which I think makes it somewhat easier to read. I cannot say I enjoyed reading Five Little Indians; who can enjoy reading about the abuse Indigenous children suffered at the hands of the Canadian government and the Catholic church? But I think it is important for books like Five Little Indians to be written and read so that white people understand the effects of their racism and cultural genocide on their victims.

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Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

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I picked up Cloud Cuckoo Land rather impulsively from Costco a few weeks ago. I was definitely interested in reading it at some point as it is a novel that involves multiple timelines and multiple characters that are somehow all interconnected, but I did not intend on reading it so soon because my TBR pile is completely out of control. This novel sounded just too interesting to put off, though. Thematically, it was not what I was expecting as it is a novel about the destructiveness of human nature, specifically as it has manifested in climate change. But it is also about finding hope for our future. I cannot say that I one hundred percent enjoyed reading Cloud Cuckoo Land as it triggered my climate anxiety, but it is a fascinating and richly told novel. It is also long; it took me about two weeks of pre-bedtime reading to get through it.

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Matrix by Lauren Groff

Matrix by Lauren Groff

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Evie making her Bibliokitty debut!

Lauren Groff is another one of my favourite writers whose novels I always look forward to reading. The Monsters of Templeton is one of my favourite books that I have reread a few times. Matrix is Groff’s latest novel, released at the beginning of September. It is unlike anything Groff has written before. Her previous novels have more contemporary settings, but Matrix is set in an abbey in the 12th century and is about a young woman who is forced to become a nun. It reads like a beautifully composed dream, or perhaps a prophecy, and I found it completely fascinating and engrossing.

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The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett

The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett

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Have I mentioned that I like historical fiction? I really, really like historical fiction. Ken Follett can be relied on to write some pretty good historical fiction novels, whether it is the Kingsbridge series or the Century Trilogy. The Evening and the Morning is part of the Kingsbridge series, which started with The Pillars of the Earth. The Pillars of the Earth is set in twelfth-century England in a town called Kingsbridge. It is about a prior who wants to build the greatest cathedral the world has ever known, so yes, religion plays an important role in the Kingsbridge novels. There are two sequels to The Pillars of the Earth: the first one is called World Without End and it is also set in Kingsbridge but at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Some of the characters in World Without End are descendants of the characters in The Pillars of the Earth. The second sequel is called A Column of Fire and is set in the sixteenth century. The Evening and the Morning is the prequel to The Pillars of the Earth. It is set at the beginning of the eleventh century and is about how the town of Kingsbridge was founded. These novels could each be read on their own or in any order, but I do highly recommend you read all of them if you like historical fiction.

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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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I have been hearing a lot about Taylor Jenkins Reid in the last couple of years. People really seem to like her novels, so I decided it was about time I read one. I was going to read Daisy Jones & the Six, but then I heard about The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and the plot sounded more like it was up my alley. Based on this novel, I can understand why her novels are so popular. The story certainly has a tabloid quality that people like to devour, and she practically bludgeons the reader over the head with foreshadowing that will keep you reading instead of doing the prudent thing and going to bed at a decent hour. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is certainly an entertaining read, but am I blown away by it? No, not really. I was expecting it to be more original, more profound than it actually is.

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The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker

The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker

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The Hidden Palace is the sequel to The Golem and the Jinni (which I reviewed back in February). The Hidden Palace is even more intricately plotted than its predecessor and is as incredibly immersive. It is no wonder that it took Helene Wecker seven years to write this novel. The plot spans decades and touches on major historical events such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the sinking of the Titanic and World War I. I found the tone of the novel to be on the pessimistic side, so I do not love it quite as much as The Golem and the Jinni, but it is definitely still worth reading.

DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE GOLEM AND THE JINNI YET.

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The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

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I am beginning to feel confident that Kate Quinn is a writer that I can rely on to churn out a great historical fiction novel. The Alice Network, The Huntress and now The Rose Code are all novels that I very much enjoyed reading. These three novels all have World War II as the backdrop, but each focuses on a different aspect of the war, and each one is well researched and intricately plotted. The Rose Code is about the people who worked at Bletchley Park during the war and helped win the war by cracking enemy military code and deciphering enemy communications.

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The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

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Novels with dual timelines where the protagonist in the present timeline is trying to solve a mystery from the past timeline are like catnip to me. When I read the synopsis for The Lost Apothecary, I thought, yes, this is going to be good. And the reviews that I read for it were all very positive. But unfortunately, I ended up being disappointed by this novel. It has the potential to be a good novel, but it seems like the author was in a rush to tell the story and sacrificed a richer plot and stronger character development. There are other authors who tell this type of story much better, such as Kate Morton, Eve Chase and Susanna Kearsley (although her novels have a supernatural slant).

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