Historical Fiction Book Reviews

A Player’s Exit by Terri Karsten

A Player's Exit by Terri KarstenA linguistic feast featuring a rich spread of finely crafted characters, A Player’s Exit by Terri Karsten serves up a hearty helping of historical sleuthing and narrative charm.

Penelope Corbitt has spent more than a year working as the tavern cook and improving its reputation alongside the tavern owner – and determined suitor – Miles Tucker. However, the extended stay of a royal representative has practically dried their business up, along with the essential flow of bootleg molasses and rum.

When a traveling troupe of actors arrives, it seems like a godsend, but a sudden series of shocking murders among […]

Review: A Heart That’s True by Mark Guillerman

A Heart That's True by Mark Guillerman

A heartwrenching story of separation, indoctrination, resistance, and resilience, A Heart That’s True by Mark Guillerman is a daring piece of historical fiction that speaks to the deepest parts of our shared humanity.

When Joseph and his older cousin Elizabeth are ripped away from their native lands in Montana and shipped across the country to the Carlisle Indian School, they are expected to rip out their cultural roots and assimilate into the white man’s ways. Exposed to the brutal cruelty of a corrupt system and the pressures of their peers to abandon their old lives, these two fiercely strong protagonists […]

2026-09-16T10:19:24+02:00June 3rd, 2026|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Patriot of the Lowcountry by Tracy Lawson

Patriot of the Lowcountry by Tracy LawsonA stirring historical tale of revolution, romance, and resilience, Patriot of the Lowcountry: Eliza Wilkinson and the Fall of Charleston by Tracy Lawson is a stark portrait of conspiracy and courage in the face of overwhelming odds, highlighting women’s indelible impact on the American Revolution.

Eliza Yonge Wilkinson is a widow whose deepest desire is a life where her liberty can go unchallenged, but with the British violently advancing through South Carolina, she is forced to abandon her estate and indigo harvest, while dodging very different kinds of advances from loutish soldiers. After being invited to spend the season in […]

2026-04-20T18:24:30+02:00April 20th, 2026|Categories: New Releases|Tags: |

The Small Hours by Edward Averett

The Small Hours by Edward AverettAn intense cultural drama that explores the logic of loyalty through a historical lens, The Small Hours by Edward Averett is a reflective and revelatory work of historical fiction.

On the same day that psychologist Michael Virtue’s best friend dies, his wife proposes a separation, sending his life into a spiral that takes him all the way to Andalusia, Spain. Twenty years earlier, he had traveled there in search of his missing uncle, who had disappeared after volunteering to fight fascists in the Spanish Civil War. This time, Michael is accompanied by his deceased friend’s alluring ex, a woman fleeing […]

2025-10-29T15:35:37+02:00October 29th, 2025|Categories: New Releases|Tags: |

Review: Marianne by Alice McVeigh

Marianne by Alice McVeigh

Expertly adding to her expansion of Jane Austen’s ouevre, Marianne by Alice McVeigh is the fifth thrilling piece of an impressive historical fiction series.

Marianne, recently widowed but prone to unreasonable love, is offered condolences as often as invitations from the endless supply of eager new suitors in London, but her heart is distracted by the presence of her first true love. Navigating this new and overwhelming world of social climbing only becomes more complicated when her firecracker of a younger sister, Margaret, arrives on the scene to stir up trouble and swoon at the resultant drama.

Bouncing between the […]

2025-10-23T14:56:00+02:00October 22nd, 2025|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: |

Review: Clinging to Hope by Glynda Howard McClure

Clinging to Hope by Glynda Howard McClure

A character-driven drama from the dawn of the 20th century, Clinging to Hope by Glynda Howard McClure is a meticulously crafted novel of loss, loyalty, and rugged survival against impossible odds.

When the sweltering East Texas summer is shattered by the horrific Galveston Hurricane of 1900, Willie Ann and her husband Gilbert are ill prepared for the deluge of disasters that lay ahead for their family. With their farm destroyed, the Wards are literally torn asunder, forced to rely on the kindness of community as they stubbornly rebuild. However, the loss of a home is just the first calamity for […]

2025-11-24T17:13:52+02:00October 3rd, 2025|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Review: Vandemonian Spirit by Missy Birch

Vandemonian Spirit by Missy Birch

An intense period drama laced with the timeless theme of love lost and found, Vandemonian Spirit by Missy Birch is a powerful tale of feminine resilience and the relentless pursuit of joy in the face of systemic indifference.

After a selfless act of desperation to save her sister’s life, Hannah Fearn lands in the hands of the law, and she is sentenced to seven years of servitude in Van Diemen’s Land, the colonial name for present-day Tasmania. Forced to leave her life of squalor, she hardens herself to the inevitable cruelty of the years to come as she sails to […]

2025-09-30T11:56:07+02:00September 30th, 2025|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: |

Afghani by Brendon Patrick

Afghani by Brendon PatrickDelicately exploring the dark legacies of war in the Middle East, Australia, and beyond, Afghani by Brendon Patrick is a relentless historical novel following two warriors on parallel journeys.

Lacking a clear path in life, Patterson reluctantly joins the Australian Army, but is soon shipped off to Afghanistan in support of America’s post-9/11 retribution, going to war against his own family history. Meanwhile, a century earlier, a well-traveled Afghani cameleer flees to Australia to escape a Khan’s wrath, only to find himself oppressed by new forms of xenophobia and systemic injustice. These alternating timelines reflect eerily similar themes of identity, […]

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