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Historical Fiction July 2022 |
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| When Women Were Dragons by Kelly BarnhillWhat it is: a character-driven alternate history that's one part satire and one part coming-of-age story, which examines gender and society in the wake of a terrifying (and liberating) supernatural event.
What happened? One day in 1955, hundreds of thousands of women spontaneously (and inexplicably) turned into dragons and took the skies.
Is it for you? Although the premise sounds like anything but traditional historical fiction, Kelly Barnhill paints a moving portrait of a 1950s world that readers will appreciate amidst the allegory. |
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Dr. B. A Novel
by Daniel Birnbaum
A German Jewish journalist escapes to Sweden with his family at the start of World War II and begins working for a publisher that evades German censorship and ultimately works with British intelligence agents producing anti-Nazi propaganda.
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| Trust by Hernán DíazWhat it's about: the life and myth surrounding Andrew Bevel, a recently deceased financial magnate who managed to preserve and increase his fortune through the 1929 stock market crash until his death a decade later.
How it's told: through four documents that reveal truths Bevel tried to keep hidden while alive -- Bonds, an unflattering novel based on his life; an unfinished memoir he began to counter the novel; the autobiography of a journalist Bevel hires to help destroy the career of author of Bonds; the journal entries of Bevel's enigmatic wife Mildred.
For fans of: the thought-provoking, experimental literary fiction of Vladimir Nabokov, Italo Calvino, and Jose Saramago. |
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All the Lights Above Us: Inspired by the Women of D-Day
by M. B. Henry
Told in alternating viewpoints, describes the lives and experiences of five different women, including an expatriate thriving as a Nazi radio propagandist, who must summon all their courage as they each try to survive D-Day in France 1944.
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| The Mayfair Bookshop by Eliza KnightWhere it begins: a tiny London bookshop, where a curious curator learns about her surprising connection to novelist Nancy Mitford.
Cameos by: novelist Evelyn Waugh; Nancy's five younger sisters, who joined her in the society pages and each left their own marks on the world.
For fans of: The Paris Wife by Paula McLain and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. |
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| Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-ValdezWhat it's about: Nursing school grad Civil Townsend starts a new job at a family planning clinic in Montgomery, Alabama, where she hopes to help the local Black community. But after noticing disturbing choices her white supervisors make about patient care, Civil puts her career on the line to protect two young girls from an unjust system.
Why you should read it: Take My Hand is incredibly timely, beginning in 1973 before Roe v. Wade while also exploring the forced sterilization of Black people by government and medical institutions.
Reviewers say: Take My Hand is "an exceptional read" and despite the heaviness of the topic, author Dolen Perkins-Valdes gives "nuance and dignity to her characters, along with glimmers of hope" (Library Journal). |
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Elektra
by Jennifer Saint
A reimagining of the story of the famous heroine of Greek mythology who teamed up with her brother Orestes to kill her mother in an act of revenge for the murder of her father, King Agamemnon.
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| Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui ZhangWhat it's about: Daiyu is a young Chinese woman who moves to an Idaho mining town after escaping sexual slavery in 1880s San Francisco. Living as "Jacob Li" she works for a kindly pair of Chinese general store owners, until her new life is threatened by increasingly racist attitudes toward Asian people.
Why you should read it: Through Daiyu's story, author Jenny Zhang explores the complex history of Chinese Americans in the shadow of the uptick in anti-Asian violence during the COVID pandemic.
For fans of: How Much of These Hills is Gold by C. Pam Zhang (no relation); The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu by Tom Lin. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Michigan City Public Library
100 E. 4th Street
Michigan City, Indiana 46360
219-873-3044mclib.org/ |
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