I'm loving the Archer series, with the third entry confirming that David Baldacci has successfully nailed the hard boiled detective genre. When visiting his friend and aspiring star Liberty Callahan on New Years Eve 1953, Archer is drawn into a case when Liberty's friend, Ellie Lamb runs into them at dinner. Ellie is afraid someone … Continue reading Dream Town – David Baldacci
Tag: #historicalfiction
The Book Woman’s Daughter – Kim Michele Richardson
There's background to this story that is relayed in The Book Woman's Daughter such that this can be read as a stand alone book or the two books can be read out of order. If you asked me which I'd prefer, I'm glad I read the earlier book first. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. … Continue reading The Book Woman’s Daughter – Kim Michele Richardson
The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare -Kimberly Brock
When I was around 9, my family's summer road trip (always ten days, meticulously planned by my father) took us to Roanoke Island and we saw the play about the lost colony. 1587! I didn't understand in 1963 or so how old that was. At that age, the U.S. Colonial times melted together with Columbus … Continue reading The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare -Kimberly Brock
Shadows of Berlin – David R. Gilliam
Rachel Perlman is married to Aaron, a "Flatbush Jew." It is the early/mid- 1950s. She is a displaced person from Berlin, Germany, a Jew who survived the Holocaust and is left with the knowledge her mother perished in a gas chamber. Rachel has suffered deep trauma over part of what she did to survive. Rachel's … Continue reading Shadows of Berlin – David R. Gilliam
148 Charles Street – Tracy Daugherty
148 Charles Street is a truly interesting piece of historical fiction that covers periods in the lives of Willa Cather and Elizabeth "Elsie" Sergeant. It is less a day to day description of their long friendship and more a study of how they influenced one another, despite their significantly different world views and life choices. … Continue reading 148 Charles Street – Tracy Daugherty
On A Night of a Thousand Stars – Andrea Yaryura Clark
On a Night of a Thousand Stars takes place in 1976 and 1998. In 1976, Santiago Lerea is a law student from a prosperous family in Argentina. In 1998, he and his wife Lila live very well in the United States with a house in the Hamptons and an apartment in Manhattan. Thye have one … Continue reading On A Night of a Thousand Stars – Andrea Yaryura Clark
Last Dance on the Starlight Pier – Sarah Bird
Evie Grace Devlin was only five when her father died and her mother put her to work as the breadwinner. He was a phenomenal dancer on the vaudeville circuit and her memories are warm and joyous, except for those in the hospital where the nurses set up a cot because Mamie didn't visit. Mamie will … Continue reading Last Dance on the Starlight Pier – Sarah Bird
The Postcard from Italy – Angela Petch
The Postcard from Italy is part WWII story, part a love note to Southern Italy, part family dysfunction, part romance, part mystery, part a foodie's dream and thoroughly enjoyable. I requested to read it through NetGalley because my father served in Italy in WWII, returning home in May 1946. He was stationed fairly close to … Continue reading The Postcard from Italy – Angela Petch
The White Girl – Tony Birch
Odette Brown is raising her granddaughter, Sissy in a small, rural Australian town that has lost many of its Aboriginal residents. It is sometime in the 1960s. Sissy turns 13 early in this story, receiving her first bike as a gift, cobbled together by Henry, the white guy at the junkyard who had some intellectual … Continue reading The White Girl – Tony Birch
Four Treasures of the Sky – Jenny Tinghui Zhang
This is a powerful, enlightening, thoughtful, beautifully written -- and devastating story. The audio version was worth the time, with an extraordinarily talented narrator, Katharine Chin. Audio is particularly valuable when as here, the writing is exquisite. But, since I have no writing to reference, I may get some details wrong. Sometime in the late … Continue reading Four Treasures of the Sky – Jenny Tinghui Zhang
They Called me Bookworm 