A Thousand Moons
9.5
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From the Costa Book of the Year-winning author of Days Without End Even when you come out of...
Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Post American Civil War Trigger warning: rape Native American Indians
The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story
8.0
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LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 'A page-turner with the authority of history'...
Non-fiction True Crime paranormal history Ghosts Britain
A Net for Small Fishes
10.0
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Based on the true scandal that rocked the court of James I, A Net for Small Fishes is the most...
Historical Fiction Literary Fiction
Last Stop in Brooklyn
7.3
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It's the summer of 1894, and an infidelity case has brought PI Mary Handley to a far corner of...
Mystery Historical Fiction Fiction
The Lost History of Stars
9.0
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In turn-of-the-century South Africa, fourteen-year-old Lettie, her younger brother, and her mother...
history historical fiction fiction Africa South Africa War
A Fire Sparkling
Book
After a crushing betrayal by the man she loves, Gillian Gibbons flees to her family home for a...
historical fiction women's fiction
Merissa (11950 KP) rated A Reckless Soul (Secrets of the Zodiac, #2) in Books
Apr 6, 2023 (Updated Apr 10, 2023)
The story is very well-written with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing throughout. I got the mole wrong but I'm so very glad that I did. I loved how it was written and all fell into place. This book swept me away to the Regency era where life for a woman, let alone a lady, was so very different, with different rules and regulations that she was supposed to follow. Put an independent woman in the mix who knows how to look after herself, along with a male who thinks that she isn't capable, and you're in for an explosive combination which makes for a terrific read.
I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be on the lookout for more in this series. Definitely recommended to all History Fiction fans out there.
September 11, 2016
The Silence of Scheherazade
10.0
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Set in the ancient city of Smyrna, this powerful novel follows the intertwining fates of four...
Historical fiction Turkish Literary fiction War Cultural Colonialisation
The Low Road
8.0
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In 1828, two young women were torn apart as they were sentenced to transportation to Botany Bay....
Women's Fiction Historical Fiction LGBT+
graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated Sisi: Empress on Her Own: A Novel in Books
Feb 15, 2019
I commend the author in all the research she did as I think she did an astounding job bringing Sisi to life, showing both her strengths and weaknesses. Most everything was brought to life in a way that was easy to visualize. However, in this book I found there to be more telling than showing as far as politics go, which could be a tad boring, plus I felt there were redundancies here and there. I didn't notice any major anachronism other than one phrase that jolted me out of the book that I dearly hope is not in the final edition (<a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_time_no_see"; targeet="_blank">"Long time no see."</a> if interested). The author provides a thorough section where she notes what was taken from history, leaving me to conclude what must be fiction. I found the fictional parts to be either likely or at least not implausible, excepting a couple incidents in Rudolf's (Sisi's son) youth that felt odd. I won't even touch on Sisi as a person, she's too complex and confounding to decribe in few words, but I felt that Pataki did the best she could at humanizing her while remaining true to her historical record.
Sisi (and the aforementioned The Accidental Empress) are a worthwhile addition to the genre that show a royal family not much touched upon in historical ficiton.