BPL WRC: Historical FictionLike this list

15 items

• The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye

  a Novel

  Cameron, Briony

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  This “thrilling, swashbuckling story” (People) based on true events illuminates a woman of colour’s rise to power as one of the few female pirate captains to sail the Caribbean, and a forbidden love story that will shape the course of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• She Who Became the Sun

  Parker-Chan, Shelley

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  A lush, subversive reimagining of the rise to power of Zhu Yuanzhang, the peasant rebel who expelled the Mongols, unified China under native rule, and became the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

• The Lion Women of Tehran

  Kamali, Marjan

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  An evocative read and a powerful portrait of friendship, feminism, and political activism set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran—from bestselling author Marjan Kamali.

• James

  a Novel

  Everett, Percival,

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  A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view.

• The Covenant of Water

  a Novel

  Verghese, Abraham, 1955-

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  Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• In Memoriam

  A novel

  Winn, Alice

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  A haunting, virtuosic debut novel about two young men who fall in love during World War I.

• Little

  A Novel

  Carey, Edward

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  The wry, macabre, unforgettable tale of an ambitious orphan in Revolutionary Paris, befriended by royalty and radicals alike, who transforms herself into the legendary Madame Tussaud.

• The Night Watchman

  a Novel

  Erdrich, Louise

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  Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C.,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Weyward

  a Novel

  Hart, Emilia

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  A riveting debut that explores witchcraft and female intuitive powers, told over five centuries through three connected women, for fans of Kate Morton, Diane Setterfield, and Sarah Perry.

• The Underground Railroad

  a Novel

  Whitehead, Colson, 1969-

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  The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead reimagines the historical network of escape routes for enslaved Black Americans as a literal railroad, with trains carrying fugitives to freedom. Through the journey of Cora, a young woman who…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Frozen River

  a Novel

  Lawhon, Ariel

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  From the New York Times bestselling author of I Was Anastasia and Code Name Hélène comes a gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

  a Novel

  McBride, James, 1957-

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  The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride is a compelling novel set in a small, racially divided town in 1970s Pennsylvania, where a hidden tragedy unravels secrets of the past. Through the lens of a local grocery store, McBride…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Keeper of Hidden Books

  a Novel

  Martin, Madeline

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  The Keeper of Hidden Books is based on the real life heroic efforts of Warsaw's librarians during WWII.

• Our Lady of the Nile

  Mukasonga, Scholastique

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  Our Lady of the Nile by Scholastique Mukasonga is a poignant and haunting novel set in a boarding school for girls in Rwanda during the 1970s, just before the Rwandan genocide. Through the eyes of the young students, Mukasonga explores the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Island of Sea Women

  a Novel

  See, Lisa

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  The Island of Sea Women offers up an evocative tale of two best friends whose bonds are both strengthened and tested over decades by forces beyond their control. Set largely on the remote Korean island of Jeju, The Island of Sea Women…Read moreRead more of this annotation