Historical Fiction

I’ve been busily reading novels for the May edition of Historical Novels Review, so I haven’t been posting as much. However, I’m finally all done and I wanted to share the names and covers of some of the novels I’ve reviewed. The reviews will be posted in May. Also I found this cool photo of a steampunk lady I had to share above. For those who don’t know, Steampunk combines history or alternative history, science fiction, and 19th Century steam engine technology. It makes for some cool fiction (and cool pictures). There are some who say Steampunk is not historical fiction, but I say the 19th century steam technology and often the Victorian or Wild West setting make it a subgenre of Historical Fiction. Others say it’s Science Fiction. I say it’s a cool combination. What do you think?

But today I’m sharing some of the books I’ve reviewed, just covers and descriptions because I can’t post the reviews yet. (None of them are Steampunk. I just thought the picture above was awesome.)

Here are the three novels that I liked the best, along with their Amazon book descriptions:

OPHIE’S GHOSTS: Historical Fiction/Magical Realism

Ophelia Harrison used to live in a small house in the Georgia countryside. But that was before the night in November 1922, and the cruel act that took her home and her father from her. Which was the same night that Ophie learned she can see ghosts. 

Now Ophie and her mother are living in Pittsburgh with relatives they barely know. In the hopes of earning enough money to get their own place, Mama has gotten Ophie a job as a maid in the same old manor house where she works. 

Daffodil Manor, like the wealthy Caruthers family who owns it, is haunted by memories and prejudices of the past—and, as Ophie discovers, ghosts as well. Ghosts who have their own loves and hatreds and desires, ghosts who have wronged others and ghosts who have themselves been wronged. And as Ophie forms a friendship with one spirit whose life ended suddenly and unjustly, she wonders if she might be able to help—even as she comes to realize that Daffodil Manor may hold more secrets than she bargained for.

THE FAR AWAY GIRL: Coming of Age Historical Fiction

Georgetown, Guyana 1970. Seven-year-old Rita has always known she was responsible for the death of her beautiful mother Cassie. Her absent-minded father allows her to run wild in her ramshackle white wooden house by the sea, and surrounded by her army of stray pets, most of the time she can banish her mother’s death to the back of her mind.

But then her new stepmother Chandra arrives and the house empties of love and laughter. Rita’s pets are removed, her freedom curtailed, and before long, there’s a new baby sister on the way. There’s no room for Rita anymore.

Desperate to fill up the emptiness inside her, Rita begins to talk to the only photo she has of her dead mother, a poor farmer’s daughter from the remote Guyanese rainforest. Determined to find the truth about her mother, Rita travels to find her mother’s family in an unfamiliar land of shimmering creeks and towering vines. She finds comfort in the loving arms of her grandmother among the flowering shrubs and trees groaning with fruit. But when she discovers the terrible bruising secret that her father kept hidden from her, will she ever be able to feel happiness again?

SHADOWS OF LIONS: Historical Fiction/Psychological Thriller

Catherine Kensington is in the midst of high society Regency era. She is an unmarried heiress with accomplishment, wit, and grace. But very few are aware she has recently returned from Africa in a desperate attempt to escape her murderous mother who sits far too close on the chaise. No one suspects Lady Kensington of violence, however, not even Catherine’s soul mate Captain Ashmore. Sarah Hope also sits among them dizzily longing for intrigue and adventure but is soon overwhelmed when she unwittingly throws herself into the midst of the Kensington’s trouble. And Mebalwe stands alert in the corner, but he is no ordinary serving man, he is an African warrior, sent to protect Catherine from all that threatens to kill her.

If any of the above books look interesting to you, check them out. I’m back to my normal reading schedule and will be posting again soon. Sorry for the delay.