For a historical fiction writer and author, I was largely unfamiliar with Regency writing. It's a period that has many devoted fans, so I recently jumped on the wagon to see what all the fuss was about. My first foray into Regency historical fiction was a mystery titled What Angels Fear by author C.S. Harris. The story's... Continue Reading →
Zoli by Collum McCann
Colum McGann's novel Zoli delves into the little known world of eastern European Roma, who for centuries were known as Gypsies. Although set mainly in Slovakia, it is loosely based on the life of Polish Roma poet Papusza. Disaffected Irishman Stephen Swann arrives in Slovakia in the early postwar years, attracted by the revolutionary allure of the... Continue Reading →
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Sarah Waters's The Little Stranger combines historical fiction with a touch of supernatural. Set in a crumbling, gloomy manor of Hundreds Hall in the English countryside in the immediate postwar years, it has a psychologically tense air that will appeal to many gothic mystery fans. Middle-aged country physician, Dr. Faraday, is called one day to attend to... Continue Reading →
Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon
Ariel Lawhon's historical novel Flight of Dreams imagines the lives of the Hindenburg passengers in the final days before the epic disaster that destroyed the airship. The history is well-known: in the 1930s, the world's aviation industry was rapidly changing and expanding into intercontinental passenger travel, and nothing was a greater symbol of those ambitions that the... Continue Reading →