Historical Fiction

I’ve come across many southern pre-Civil War stories about wealthy plantation owners and slaves. I’ve also read a few stories set in the post-Civil War era and that feature sharecroppers, both black and white. This is the first book I’ve read about white sharecroppers living in the pre-Civil War era … Read More

Hattie Big Sky was inspired by the author’s great-grandmother who single-handedly “proved up” on a Montana homestead. Many thanks to the librarians at the ImagineIF Libraries of Flathead County, Montana for helping me find an audiobook for this project. Hattie Inez Brooks is a 16 year old orphan living in … Read More

Kindred by Octavia Butler is a very creative way of looking at the horrible and troubling history of slavery in the United States.  In Kindred, the protagonist, Dana, time travels from the 1970s to the American South in the years before the Civil War and the end of slavery.  In … Read More

This review contains spoilers.  The Reckoning, by John Grisham, returns the reader to Ford County Mississippi during the 1940s to 1050s where an unusual murder takes place. Pete Banning, cotton planter, husband, father, and decorated war hero, one day walks into the Methodist church and shoots the pastor.  There is no … Read More

The early 1950s come alive in Suspect Red with each chapter starting with “current” events, news articles, and information about 1950’s pop culture.  The book contains pictures of people, places and events from 1953-1954 as well as comics and maps. A good argument for audio-listeners to have both the book … Read More

Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough is one of the best written and best told stories that I’ve read in a long time.  It is the story of Artemisia Gentileschi, a young painter in Rome in the early 1600s.  It is a man’s world and women have little say in their … Read More

The Luck of the Buttons by Anne Ylvisaker is the first book in the Buttons trilogy. Each book focuses on a different Button family member; the first two take place in 1929 and the third book takes place during the Civil War when granddaddy Ike was just a boy. All three of … Read More

According to the author Gail Levine, inspiration to write this book came from her father who was an orphan at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, the real life counterpart for the story’s fictional Hebrew Home for Boys.  When Dave Caros’ father dies in an accident, his stepmother places him in the Hebrew … Read More