Historical Fiction

Lyrical, reflective, poetically beautiful, not to mention a proudly sapphic and historical take on vampires, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is a slow and thoughtful literary fiction and historical novel wearing an exquisite paranormal fantasy gown. Very similar in tone and approach to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, this novel is everything one would expect from V.E. Schwab. Spanning over five hundred years and featuring FMC’s of various backgrounds and stories, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is a sprawling and meandering narrative that won’t be for everyone, but is sure to please Schwab fans and classy readers. The best way I can describe Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is vibrant women growing from the midnight soil, restricted by a society dominated by men and the roles they are slotted into. The novel covers the life stories of three women in three different centuries and how obstacles and circumstances in their lives led them to a future of being immortal. The recollection of their lives is unveiled in chronological order, starting with Maria in 16th century Spain, Charlotte in 19th Century Britain, and finally Alice in modern day Boston. Coming off Schwab’s most recent…

The following review is based on a complimentary ARC provided by Atria Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Winston Churchill wrote that history is written by the victors but in Hayley Gelfuso’s debut novel The Book of Lost Hours, it’s not about who writes history but who can access and manipulate it. A cavernous sprawling expanse filled with shelves of books, the Time Space is a place entirely removed from linear time as we know it, full of history and people’s memories stored as books. Referred to as Timekeepers, those that can access this place shape history to match their vision by removing select memories from this space, wiping them from existence. Trapped in this timeless space since 1938, Lisavet Levy tries to save these memories deemed dangerous by salvaging and hiding them within her book until an American timekeeper Ernest Duquesne begins to take notice in 1949. Meanwhile in 1965, mourning the death of her Uncle Ernest, Amelia Duquesne is approached by a mysterious CIA agent named Moira who presents her a Time Space watch and tasks her with finding a mysterious book of memories Ernest had been searching for. Blending elements of speculative fiction, time…

In the Kingdom of Elben, there is a legend of a god bestowing magical power to a king along with a surrounding barrier that protects the land from invading forces. In order to maintain the barrier, the king is told he must marry and court six queens who each reside over a castle and land. Boleyn, his newest queen of Brynd is enamored by King Henry and is determined to become his favorite Queen and to leave a lasting impression across the kingdom. However, as she settles into her new role and investigates new ways to increase the King and Elben’s magical powers, she uncovers clues that suggest the historic arrangement may not be as it seems. Meanwhile, originally planted as a spy by another Queen under the guise of a lady-in-waiting to Boleyn, Seymour finds herself torn between the familial and royal obligations she’s been tasked with vs her fascination and interest with her new mistress. As Boleyn and Seymour find themselves swept up in the power struggle between the Queens, the trusted associates, and the king himself who’s obsessed with producing a male heir, the two women find themselves in an unexpected alliance as they navigate the political…

In 1902 at 7/7 Marchmont Crescent in Edinburgh, there is a sophisticated, yet elderly tabby cat named Grimalkin who spends his days observing the estate’s owner Mr. Calvert and his devoted maid Eilidah. Full of aches, pains and an itchy patch caused by fleas, one morning Grimalkin takes his last breath and is greeted by the mythical Cat-sith who informs him that as a cat, he has nine lives. Of those nine lives, cats have three lives when they stay, three when they stray, and three when they play. Having spent his first life “staying” and being cared for by Eilidah, Alex Howard’s The Ghost Cat takes the reader along on Grimalkin’s next eight ghostly lives and observational visits at 7/7 Marchmont Crescent and its various occupants over the course of the next one hundred and twenty years. Quietly curious and casually unhurried, The Ghost Cat is a unique historical fiction novel written from the perspective of a senior inquisitive cat that is simultaneously light-hearted while also being thought-provoking. While the title The Ghost Cat and its premise gives the book a fantasy sound at a first glance, the novel is instead almost entirely a historical fiction book with very…

The debut novel of A. Rae Dunlap, The Resurrectionist is a well-rounded and cleverly crafted historical fiction story revolving around the field of anatomical study and body-snatching in the early 19th century Edinburgh. Despite the story’s macabre content and its almost gothic-like visuals, The Resurrectionist is anything but depressing or grim and is surprisingly warm and animated (yeah, maybe not my best puns, I apologize). While the visual descriptions of the dead and anatomical parts may potentially be off-putting for squeamish readers, the novel doesn’t unnecessarily dwell on it for shock value and is instead the focus is its entertaining and charming coming of age story. While listed officially as a historical fiction novel, The Resurrectionist is just as much a true crime retelling featuring many very real historic people woven in and around Dunlap’s fictional ones. That being said, absolutely no knowledge of the source material is needed, I recommend not reading into it ahead of time as it may give away some spoilers to the story. In fact I was completely unaware of the novel’s true crime angle for majority of my read and was floored when I discovered the connection near the book’s conclusion and author’s acknowledgements.…