A man on the run travels across the west while a woman on the frontier tries to protect her home and family. Tea Obreht's new book is fantastic! Filled with complex characters, mysterious beasts, and a little bit of magic, I couldn't put this one down.
Heather
Karl Marlantes transports the reader to the early 1900’s in the Pacific Northwest and the early logging industry, through the story of the Koski family fresh from Finland - and doesn’t let you go until the last of the 700 pages. He writes with such authority about logging, fishing, immigration, unions, women’s empowerment, and the environment at the time. The story is held together by the bonds of the Koski’s as they navigate through the hardships of life in a new country while maintaining their connection to their traditions and myths. This is a sprawling novel with richly drawn characters, so worth getting pulled into.
Carol
Atlanta, 1890. By day, Jo Kuan works as a lady's maid. By night, she writes a newspaper advice column under the name Miss Sweetie. But when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender, she isn't prepared for the backlash. Rich with historical detail and a compelling heroine. Stacey Lee is one of the best YA historical fiction authors writing today!
Rebecca
When done well - and this is certainly done well! - good historical "bio-fiction" captures their characters' essence but places them in a context of urgency, of narrative and of emotion. This novel about photographers Lee Miller and Man Ray (she was also his model and muse), in Paris in the late 20s-early 30s, makes you feel like you know them both intimately, that you're in the room for the tempestuous and intense love, fighting, jealousy, art and passion that was their relationship and through which they produced their bewitching and important art.
David
A war story unlike any you’ve read before. We follow the protagonist discover & try to preserve a personal identity away from the war. But the forces that create war in the first place aren’t bound by walls and doors and the story ends with something that is shocking in large part because of how banal and obvious it is.
Josh
In this historical graphic novel, Margaret seeks to learn who she is and why she arrived at the island convent she calls home. When the banished Queen Eleanor of Albion arrives on the island, Margaret realizes the past is more complicated than she thought. Meconis' beautiful watercolor illustrations will captive readers while her details on history and folklore enrich this immersive feat of storytelling.
Marika
Before Apple was sued by Samsung over smartphones, before Microsoft was accused of having a monopoly in software, before Theodore Rosevelt broke up any of the large trusts, Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse went to court over who would light up America.
John
Mikhat Kamal arrives in France from Nablus in 1914 to study medicine. By the time he returns to Palestine, he has been subtly & indelibly changed by his experience. The next 20 years of the story takes him through currents of early 20th century Arab nationalism, Jewish settlement, & British rule in the years before Israeli independence, all through the lens of his dominating father's pressure to marry &join the family business. The writing is expansive & poignant, the story both intimate & wide-ranging.
David
A tale of WWI narrated by Aphrodite. So original, so wonderful!
Robin
You may not have heard of Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi, the first woman to be accepted into the Florence fine arts academy. But Joy McCullough brings her story to vivid life, from her days as a talented (but largely brushed aside) young artist\ to her assault by her mentor and her fight to get him convicted in court--a story that unfortunately still feels familiar today. This gorgeous, devastating, and ultimately uplifting novel-in-verse is the perfect pick for National Poetry Month.
Kate
