historical fiction

  • Seattle Picks: Historical mysteries

    A few historical mysteries, set in various locations around the world, selected by our librarians: Palace of Justice by Susanne Alleyn While Madame Guillotine is still in action in 1793, a serial killer, who cuts the heads off his victims, is loose in Paris. Aristide Ravel, freelancer to the Paris police, is the only one… Continue reading

  • Too good to miss: Josephine Tey

    I recently discovered classic mystery author Josephine Tey. A patron and a colleague had told me about her years ago, and I filed the name away until Nancy Pearl mentioned Tey as well. And like many other readers in Seattle, when Nancy Pearl says something is good, you move that book or author to the front… Continue reading

  • Books for Giving 2010 — Teen Books, Part 1

    Need a last-minute gift for a teenager on your holiday shopping list? Try one of the books recommended by Abby, Hayden and Jennifer, three Teen and Children’s Librarians at The Seattle Public Library, who have selected 10 of their favorite books of 2010 for teen readers of all ages and tastes. This post is the… Continue reading

  • The new medieval historicals 2010

    This is a great year for historical fiction! A plethora of medieval and Renaissance novels entered the market in competition with the ever-popular Philippa Gregory. Gregory’s latest novel, The Red Queen, is fabulous by the way — an imaginative portrait of Margaret Beaufort, the indomitable, ambitious and frighteningly powerful mother of Henry VII. Alison Weir’s… Continue reading

  • Catiline & Catiline & Catiline

    Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your imagination. You are a Senator in ancient Rome, sitting on the back bench as the Senate convenes on November 8, 63 BC. The great orator, the Consul Cicero, a self made man, has just noticed that his mortal enemy, the Senator Catilina (Catiline or Cataline in English), has entered… Continue reading

  • Historical mysteries with an Asian flair

    Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill One of my favorites features a delightfully quirky 70-plus year old Dr. Siri Paiboun, a coroner living in 1970s Laos. A French trained doctor and an ex-freedom fighter who fought to throw off colonialism, he is philosophically resigned as well as amused by the inept bureaucracy that’s become… Continue reading

  • Revolutionary Women

    I often judge a book by its cover, and usually it serves me well.  Case in point:  I was immediately drawn to Barbara Hamilton’s The Ninth Daughter because the quill pen and portrait of Abigail Adams on the cover quickly clued me in to the historical setting.  Also, there was a prominent blurb praising the… Continue reading

  • Books that Seem Made for Each Other

    Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safer Foer and A History of Love  by Nicole Krauss were published in 2005 within a few months of each other. After listening to each novel recently on my commute to work, I was struck by the similarities.  Both novels incorporate aspects  of “magical realism,” depict a quest by… Continue reading

  • More Summer Staff Favorites for Children: Historical Fiction

    The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had, by Kristin Levine J LEVINE Prepare to fall in love with the narrator of this story! Dit tells the tale of a memorable year in tiny Moundville, Alabama, during World War I, the year he meets and befriends Emma.  Dit provokes a blatantly racist sheriff to shoot at… Continue reading

  • Frost/Nixon at the Library.

    For many of us who grew up in the early 1970s, Richard Nixon was almost a storybook figure, his iconic visage glowering from hundreds of political cartoons, his resignation speech one of our “where were you when” moments. (At Summer camp, eating supper in silence while listening to the radio, since you asked). As years go by, his administration… Continue reading

  • Toronto, Mon Amour

    I grew up in Seattle, and am used to hearing out-of-towners who visit the downtown library raving about our breathtaking city (and libraries). Well now I know how they feel. I just returned from my third visit to Toronto, where I was speaking at a library conference, and have been boring everyone silly with effusions… Continue reading

  • Historical Fiction

    OK, I admit it, I know more about history from reading novels than from reading nonfiction.  But what’s wrong with that?  If you read novelists who are sticklers about historical accuracy, you can enjoy a good story, immerse yourself in a different time, and learn something in the process. Unlike some readers who never want to… Continue reading

  • M.T. Anderson at Central Library

    On Thursday at 7 p.m., author M.T. Anderson will be reading from and signing his new book, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: Vol. II, The Kingdom on the Waves, in the Central Library’s Microsoft Auditorium. Why should you go? For one thing, this event is hosted by University Bookstore, and they often raffle off… Continue reading

  • Fairy tales for grown ups

    Some stories we love hearing over and over again. Folktales told worldwide over the centuries have amazing similarities of theme, style and even in presentation. Some of the most dramatic fairy tales capture our hearts and imaginations even today. Sometimes authors re-imagine than old story from another perspective. At times authors prefer to write new… Continue reading

  • Parallel stories

    When Possession (A.S. Byatt) came out in 1990, readers of literary fiction swarmed libraries and bookstores to get copies of this story-within-a-story relating the modern day characters to famous people in the past. In Byatt’s tale, a scholar finds an old letter written by Randolph Ash, which leads him into delicious research that in turn… Continue reading

  • Book review: Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell

    Mary Doria Russell visits The Seattle Public Library this Thursday (March 20) to introduce her new book, Dreamers of the Day, to the delight of her many Seattle fans. Mary’s first book, The Sparrow, won the James Tiptree award in 1996 and the Arthur C. Clarke award in 1998, and still is in constant demand… Continue reading

  • The Other Boleyn Girl

    I’m a sucker for Tudor tales, so you can bet I’m excited that Philippa Gregory’s wonderful novel, The Other Boleyn Girl, is coming to the big screen this coming weekend (opens on February 29). I’ve certainly read a lot about Anne Boleyn over the years, but Mary Boleyn? This piece of historical fiction was new… Continue reading