History Thru the Lens of Fiction: New Historical Novels for the Kindle

Blending historical fact with fiction, a novel set in other times and places can transport you into the past more convincingly than a dry historical treatise - and entertain you in the bargain. What I look for in historical fiction are books by authors who, after reading the histories and doing the research, create stories based in the past that include characters I want to know better and a plot that keeps me turning pages - books like Peter Ackroyd's The Clerkenwell Tales, Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom, and Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth.

Now you can spend less time searching and more time reading as I watch for new historical fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. Best bets in recent historical fiction include:

Narrow Gate by Jim Fusilli. AmazonEncore, 2011. Print Length: 575 p. TIME FRAME: New York City from the 1920s to the 1950s. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (9 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99. Please note: this title is also available as a free loan from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library if you subscribe to Amazon Prime. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"In the years surrounding World War II, a gritty Italian-American waterfront community in the shadow of New York City known as Narrows Gate is home to brutal wise guys, a gifted crooner hell bent on success and two young friends who have no idea what the future holds — or how it can rip them apart. Vivid characters driven by demons and desire clash with gut-wrenching force in Jim Fusilli’s violent, visceral novel as crime, rank ambition and the promise of the American dream battle for the souls of Bebe Marsala, the talented but compromised crooner; the happy-go-lucky Sal Benno, who is trapped by the mob; and Leo Bell, a newly minted member of the Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor of the CIA." - Publisher.

Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman. Putnam, 2011. Print Length: 608 p. TIME FRAME: 12th century England and the Holy Land. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (27 reviews). Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"They were called 'The Devil's Brood,' though never to their faces. They were the four surviving sons of Henry Plantagenet and Eleanor of Aquitaine. With two such extraordinary parents, much was expected of them. But the eldest - charming yet mercurial - would turn on his father and, like his brother Geoffrey, meet an early death. When Henry died, Richard would take the throne and, almost immediately, set off for the Holy Land. This was the Third Crusade, and it would be characterized by internecine warfare among the Christians and extraordinary campaigns against the Saracens. And, back in England, by the conniving of Richard's youngest brother, John, to steal his crown. In Lionheart, Sharon Kay Penman displays her remarkable mastery of historical detail and her acute understanding of human foibles. The result is a powerful story of intrigue, war, and - surprisingly - effective diplomacy, played out against the roiling conflicts of love and loyalty, passion and treachery, all set against the rich textures of the Holy Land." - Publisher.

Pilgrim by Hugh Nissenson. Sourcebooks Landmark, 2011. Print Length: 365 p. TIME FRAME: 17th century New England. Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"...a gripping account of a love-torn Puritan's spiritual struggle for redemption, the finding of an unforgettable romantic love, and his never ending battle to overcome the burden of sin. Charles Wentworth, a heart broken Puritan, comes to the New World from England in 1622 in search of salvation and a new beginning. After the tragic death of his betrothed, Charles abandons his faith and revels in lust until his guilt finally overwhelms him. Now he must travel to Plymouth in hopes of being freed of the temptations that torment him. On his journey Charles falls in love again, this time with a young woman seeking the pious life. In Plymouth, they must overcome a world in which wolves and heathen Indians roam the dark forests, and famine and disease are ever-present threats." - Publisher.

The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon. Delacorte Press, 2011. Print Length: 560 p. TIME FRAME: 18th century England. Amazon customer rating: Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"London, 1760. For Jamie Fraser, paroled prisoner-of-war in the remote Lake District, life could be worse: He’s not cutting sugar cane in the West Indies, and he’s close enough to the son he cannot claim as his own. But Jamie Fraser’s quiet existence is coming apart at the seams, interrupted first by dreams of his lost wife, then by the appearance of Tobias Quinn, an erstwhile comrade from the Rising. Like many of the Jacobites who aren’t dead or in prison, Quinn still lives and breathes for the Cause. His latest plan involves an ancient relic that will rally the Irish. Jamie is having none of it - he’s sworn off politics, fighting, and war. Until Lord John Grey shows up with a summons that will take him away from everything he loves - again. A captivating return to the world Diana Gabaldon created in her Outlander and Lord John series, The Scottish Prisoner is another masterpiece of epic history, wicked deceit, and scores that can only be settled in blood." - from the hardcover edition.

The Battle of the Crater by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen. Thomas Dunne Books, 2011. Print Length: 382 p. TIME FRAME: Virginia, 1864. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (9 reviews). Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"June 1864: the Civil War is now into its fourth year of bloody conflict with no end in sight. The armies of the North are stalled in fetid trenches outside of Richmond and Atlanta, and the reelection of Abraham Lincoln to a second term seems doomed to defeat - a defeat that will set off the call for an end to the conflict, dismembering the Union and continuing slavery. Only one group of volunteers for the Union cause is still eager for battle. Nearly two hundred thousand men of color have swarmed the recruiting stations and are being mobilized into regiments known as the USCTs, the United States Colored Troops. General Ambrose Burnside, a hard luck commander out of favor with his superiors, is one of the few generals eager to bring a division of these new troops into his ranks. He has an ingenious plan to break Fort Pegram, the closest point on the Confederate line, defending Petersburg - the last defense of Richmond - by tunneling forward from the Union position beneath the fort to explode its defenses. Burnside needs the USCTs for one desperate rush that just might bring victory. This must-read work rewrites our understanding of one of the great battles of the war, and the all but forgotten role played by one of the largest formations of African American troops in our nation’s history." - Publisher.

The Time In Between by Maria Duenas. Atria Books, 2011. Print Length: 626 p. TIME FRAME: Madrid, Spanish Morocco, and Lisbon in the 1930s and early 1940s. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (10 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"At age twelve, Sira Quiroga sweeps the atelier floors where her single mother works as a seamstress. At fourteen, she quietly begins her own apprenticeship. By her early twenties she has learned the ropes of the business and is engaged to a modest government clerk. But everything changes when two charismatic men burst unexpectedly into her neatly mapped-out life: an attractive salesman and the father she never knew. With the Spanish Civil War brewing in Madrid, Sira leaves her mother and her fiancé, impetuously following her handsome lover to Morocco. However, she soon finds herself abandoned, penniless, and heartbroken in an exotic land. Among the odd collection of European expatriates trapped there by the worsening political situation back on the Continent, Sira reinvents herself by turning to the one skill that can save her: her gift for creating beautiful clothes. As England, Germany, and the other great powers launch into the dire conflict of World War II, Sira is persuaded to return to Madrid, where she takes on a new identity to embark upon the most dangerous undertaking of her career...one of those rare, richly textured novels that enthrall down to the last page. María Dueñas reminds us how it feels to be swept away by a masterful storyteller." - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

Murder in Middle English: Mysteries for the Kindle Reader Set in Medieval Times

As an undergraduate I remember taking an English literature course in which we studied Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, a classic work of medieval literature. All the students in the class were required to memorize the book's Prologue in the original Middle English and "audition" it for the professor in his office.

In spite of this somewhat nerve-wracking experience, I still find the Middle Ages one of the most fascinating periods in European history. If you too enjoy reading about this time period - and are a murder mystery aficionado, here are a few historical mysteries I'd recommend:

The Good Knight: A Medieval Mystery, by Sarah Woodbury. The Morgan-Stanwood Publishing Group, 2011. Print Length: 306 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $3.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Intrigue, suspicion, and rivalry among the royal princes casts a shadow on the court of Owain, king of north Wales…The year is 1143 and King Owain seeks to unite his daughter in marriage with an allied king. But when the groom is murdered on the way to his wedding, the bride’s brother tasks his two best detectives - Gareth, a knight, and Gwen, the daughter of the court bard - with bringing the killer to justice. And once blame for the murder falls on Gareth himself, Gwen must continue her search for the truth alone, finding unlikely allies in foreign lands, and ultimately uncovering a conspiracy that will shake the political foundations of Wales." - Publisher.

The Unquiet Bones: The First Chronicle of Hugh de Singleton, Surgeon, by Melvin Starr. Monarch Books, 2008. Print Length: 256 p Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (49 reviews). Kindle edition $9.68. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Hugh of Singleton, fourth son of a minor knight, has been educated as a clerk, usually a prelude to taking holy orders. However, feeling no certain calling despite a lively faith, he turns to the profession of surgeon, training in Paris and then hanging out his sign in Oxford. A local lord asks him to track the killer of a young woman whose bones have been found in the castle cesspit. She is identified as the impetuous missing daughter of a local blacksmith, and her young man, whom she had provoked very publicly, is in due course arrested and sentenced at the Oxford assizes. From there the tale unfolds, with graphic medical procedures, droll medieval wit, misdirection, ambition, romantic distractions and a consistent underlying Christian compassion." - http://melstarr.net/

The Killer of Pilgrims, by Susanna Gregory. Hachette, 2010. Print Length: 416 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (3 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"British author Gregory again displays her mastery of complex storytelling and period detail in her 16th mystery set in 14th-century Cambridge, the home of doctor, instructor, and corpse examiner Matthew Bartholomew... Amid an atmosphere of increasing tension between Cambridge's colleges and the less affluent hostels, Bartholomew must identify the killer of taverner John Drax, who was initially believed the victim of an accident, until the physician found a fatal stab wound on his body. For many, the book's pleasures will stem less from the resolution of the various interlocking puzzles than from the utterly convincing portrait of an England still recovering from the great pestilence of the previous decade, complete with familiar complaints about the timeliness of home contractors' work and avaricious people seeking to profit from the tragic plague..." - Publishers Weekly.

Mistress of the Art of Death, by Ariana Franklin. Berkley, 2007. Print Length: 400 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (162 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"In medieval Cambridge, England, Adelia, a female forensics expert, is summoned by King Henry II to investigate a series of gruesome murders that has wrongly implicated the Jewish population, yielding even more tragic results. As Adelia's investigation takes her behind the closed doors of the country's churches, the killer prepares to strike again." - Publisher.





The Demon's Parchment: A Medieval Noir, by Jeri Westerson. Minotaur Books, 2010. Print Length: 320 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (7 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"In fourteenth century London, Crispin Guest is a disgraced knight convicted of treason and stripped of his land, title and his honor. He has become known as the 'Tracker' - a man who can find anything, can solve any puzzle and, with the help of his apprentice, Jack Tucker, an orphaned street urchin with a thief ’s touch - will do so for a price. But this time, even Crispin is wary of taking on his most recent client. Jacob of Provencal is a Jewish physician at the King’s court, even though all Jews were expelled from England nearly a century before. Jacob wants Crispin to find stolen parchments that might be behind the recent, ongoing, gruesome murders of young boys, parchments that someone might have used to bring forth a demon which now stalks the streets and alleys of London." - Publisher.

Midsummer Crown, by Kate Sedley. Severn House, 2011. Print Length: 256 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Set in fifteenth-century England, Sedley's new Roger the Chapman mystery has Roger returning to Bristol, where he unraveled a thorny mystery for his patron, the Duke of Gloucester. Ready to settle back into peaceful domesticity, Roger barely has time to set down his peddler's pack before the duke's messenger arrives with new orders. Roger is to return to London, this time to solve the kidnapping of a young prince and the murder of his tutor. But there are few clues, and every potential lead turns into a dead-end until, by chance, Roger stumbles on a secret with its roots in ancient paganism that just might unlock the mystery. Cleverly crafted, with authentic period detail, an accurate and well-constructed historical context..." - Booklist.

Counterfeit Madam: A Gil Cunningham Mystery set in Medieval Scotland, by Pat McIntosh. Soho Constable, 2011. Print Length: 288 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $14.00. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Gil Cunningham had hoped that the first time he set foot in the brothel on the Drygate it would also be his last, but by the time all was settled he felt quite at home within its artfully painted chambers. The bawdy house, along with the neighboring property, is offered to Gil and his wife Alys by the forceful Dame Isabella. But matters are confused by an outbreak of counterfeit coins in Glasgow, which Gil has been ordered to investigate. Then Dame Isabella is found dead in strange circumstances, and the more Gil pursues the cause of her death, the more false coins he finds..." - Publisher.

The Alehouse Murders: A Templar Knight Mystery, by Maureen Ash. Berkley, 2007. Print Length: 275 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (18 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"After eight years of captivity in the Holy Land, Templar Bascot de Marins escapes with injuries to his body and soul. Now on a sojourn at Lincoln Castle, he hopes to regain his strength, and mend his waning faith - but not even the peace of God's countryside is safe from the mortal crimes of man. For what appears to be the grisly end to a drunken row is in fact a cunning and baffling crime." - Publisher.

Nightshade: A Hugh Corbett Medieval Mystery, by P. C. Doherty. Minotaur Books, 2011. Print Length: 304 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Whodunits don't get much better than this outstanding historical... Edward I dispatches Corbett, keeper of the secret seal, to Essex to recover an ornate cross claimed by the Templars from Lord Oliver Scrope. The king also wants Corbett to censure Scrope for exceeding his authority in ordering the massacre of the members of a religious sect the orthodox Scrope had labeled heretical. On arrival, Corbett finds Scrope's community plagued by a killer known as Sagittarius, who has already claimed multiple victims. The murderous archer has created an atmosphere of terror with his apparently random attacks, heralded with the blast of a hunter's horn... The first-rate pacing will have readers racing through the book to learn the truth, which the author has artfully concealed." - Publishers Weekly.

Jester Leaps In: A Medieval Mystery, by Alan Gordon. Minotaur Books, 2010. Print Length: 291 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (10 reviews). Kindle edition $6.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"In 13th century Europe, political turmoil is the order of the day and the Fool's Guild and its agents - jesters, jugglers, and knaves to a man - works behind the scenes to manipulate events, trying to maintain a balance of power. Theophilos, a member of the Guild known by many names, is still recovering from his last mission during which he was severely wounded and nearly lost his life but, in the person of Viola, found himself an apprentice and a wife. But there is no rest for the wicked. While he is recovering on the Dalmatian coast, the Guild approaches him with another mission. A crusade is being launched, with Venice as the staging ground, but some believe that Venice means to turn it to it's own ends. At the same time, there is trouble in Byzantine throne - a pretender to the throne is gathering European backers. And to make matters worse, all of the Guild's agents in Constantinople have gone suddenly and mysteriously missing." - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.


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History Thru the Lens of Fiction: New Historical Novels for the Kindle

Blending historical fact with fiction, a novel set in other times and places can transport you into the past more convincingly than a dry historical treatise - and entertain you in the bargain. What I look for in historical fiction are books by authors who, after reading the histories and doing the research, create stories based in the past that include characters I want to know better and a plot that keeps me turning pages - books like Peter Ackroyd's The Clerkenwell Tales, Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom, and Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth.

Now you can spend less time searching and more time reading as I watch for new historical fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. New on the historical fiction shelves:

Acceptable Loss by Anne Perry. Ballantine Books, 2011. Print Length: 320 p. TIME FRAME: Victorian London. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $17.16. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"...Perry’s new William and Hester Monk story, a mesmerizing masterpiece of innocence and evil on London’s docks, outshines all her previous novels in this successful and beloved series. When the body of a small-time crook named Mickey Parfitt washes up on the tide, no one grieves; far from it. But William Monk, commander of the River Police, is puzzled by the expensive silk cravat used to strangle Parfitt. How did this elegant scarf - whose original owner was obviously a man of substance - end up imbedded in the neck of a wharf rat who richly deserved his sordid end? ...colorful characters, a memorable portrait of waterfront life, and a story that achieves its most thrilling moments in a transfixed London courtroom, where Monk faces his old friend Oliver Rathbone in a trial of nearly unbearable tension - in sum, every delectable drop of the rich pleasure that readers expect from an Anne Perry novel." - Publisher.

Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey. Ballantine Books, 2011. Print Length: 480 p. TIME FRAME: 18th century Austria and France. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (31 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $10.20. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Raised alongside her numerous brothers and sisters by the formidable empress of Austria, ten-year-old Maria Antonia knew that her idyllic existence would one day be sacrificed to her mother’s political ambitions. What she never anticipated was that the day in question would come so soon. Before she can journey from sunlit picnics with her sisters in Vienna to the glitter, glamour, and gossip of Versailles, Antonia must change everything about herself in order to be accepted as dauphine of France and the wife of the awkward teenage boy who will one day be Louis XVI. Yet nothing can prepare her for the ingenuity and influence it will take to become queen. Filled with smart history, treacherous rivalries, lavish clothes, and sparkling jewels, Becoming Marie Antoinette will utterly captivate fiction and history lovers alike." - from the trade paperback edition.

Russka: The Novel of Russia by Edward Rutherfurd. Ballantine Books, 2011. Print Length: 960 p. TIME FRAME: Russia - 2nd century A.D. through 20th century. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (74 reviews). Kindle edition $8.99; Paperback $8.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. First published in 1991, Russka is newly available in a Kindle edition. Two more of the author's sweeping historical novels - London and Sarum: The Novel of England - are scheduled for Kindle publication in September 2011.

"With his second sprawling historical novel, Rutherfurd moves from his hometown of Salisbury, England, the site of the bestselling Sarum , to the rich foreign soil of Russia. Though the structure and style mirror that of his first saga, Rutherfurd's close observation of Russia's religious and ethnic diversity give this epic a distinctive flavor. Focusing on the changing fortunes of the small town of Russka and its controlling families, Rutherfurd moves from the tribes of the steppes in the second century A.D. through Cossacks, Tatars, Tsars, revolution and Stalin to touch on a contemporary Russian emigre community near New York City..." - Publishers Weekly.

To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn by Sandra Byrd. Howard Books, 2011. Print Length: 352 p. TIME FRAME: 16th century England. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (16 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"To Die For is the story of Meg Wyatt, pledged forever as the best friend to Anne Boleyn since their childhoods on neighboring manors in Kent. When Anne’s star begins to ascend, of course she takes her best friend Meg along for the ride. Life in the court of Henry VIII is thrilling at first, but as Anne’s favor rises and falls, so does Meg’s. And though she’s pledged her loyalty to Anne no matter what the test, Meg just might lose her greatest love - and her own life - because of it. Though much of Meg’s story is fictionalized, it is drawn from known facts. The Wyatt family and the Boleyn family were neighbors and friends, and perhaps even distant cousins. Meg’s brother, Thomas Wyatt, wooed Anne Boleyn and ultimately came very close to the axe blade for it. Two Wyatt sisters attended Anne at her death, and at her death, she gave one of them her jeweled prayer book... " - Publisher.

City of Promise, by Beverly Swerling. Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print length: 432 p. TIME FRAME: New York City in the 1860s. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $17.16. Text-to-Speech: Disabled. Following City of Dreams, City of Glory, and City of God, this is the fourth novel in Swerling's sweeping saga of two Manhattan family dynasties - the Turners and the Devreys.

"It is 1864. The South’s surrender is inevitable, and Manhattan is at the heart of the recovering nation’s surge to prosperity...Joshua Turner returns home from the War with only one leg, but his ambition intact, and sees opportunity in the exponential growth of vital city workers - the managers and clerks who churn New York’s economic life. He aspires to build the city’s first apartment houses for everyman, a daring vision that will make him New York's first true real estate titan but will also attract the dangerous attention of a shadowy figure from Josh’s days in a notorious Confederate prison. Meanwhile, the irresistible and clever Mollie Brannigan, raised by her extraordinary Auntie Eileen in perhaps the toniest bordello in town, is resigned at age twenty-two to spinsterhood...till Joshua finds her at Macy’s, the city’s largest emporium, and takes her coaching in Central Park... Vividly imagined and awash in period detail and the unforgettable characters that only Beverly Swerling can conjure, City of Promise delivers a historical adventure of suspense and intrigue, daring plot twists and bitter rivalries, and the captivating love story of two people struggling to forge their own destiny. " - Publisher.

Ride the Wind by Lucia St. Clair Robson. Ballantine Books, 2011. Print Length: 608 p. TIME FRAME: 19th century Texas. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (142 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99; Paperback $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Ride the Wind was first published in 1982 and is newly available in a Kindle edition.

"In 1836, when she was nine years old, Cynthia Ann Parker was kidnapped by Comanche Indians. This is the story of how she grew up with them, mastered their ways, married one of their leaders, and became, in every way, a Comanche woman. It is also the story of a proud and innocent people whose lives pulsed with the very heartbeat of the land. It is the story of a way of life that is gone forever..." - Publisher.

Holy Warrior: A Novel of Robin Hood by Angus Donald. St. Martin's Griffin, 2011. Print Length: 400 p. TIME FRAME: 12th century England and the route to Jerusalem. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $10.87. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is a continuation of the story begun in the author's Outlaw.

"In 1190 A.D. Richard the Lionheart, the new King of England, has launched his epic crusade to seize Jerusalem from the Saracens. Marching with the vast royal army is Britain’s most famous, most feared, most ferocious warrior: the Outlaw of Nottingham, the Earl of Locksley - Robin Hood himself. With his band of loyal men at his side, Robin cuts a bloody swath on the brutal journey east. Daring and dangerous, he can outwit and outlast any foe - but the battlefields of the Holy Land are the ultimate proving ground. And within Robin’s camp lurks a traitor - a hidden enemy determined to assassinate England’s most dangerous rogue. Richly imagined and furiously paced, featuring a cast of unforgettable characters, Holy Warrior is adventure, history and legend at its finest." - Publisher.

Charlie Mike by Leonard B. Scott. Ballantine Books, 2011. Print Length: 432 p. TIME FRAME: Vietnam War. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (37 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99; Paperback $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"If war may be said to bring out the worst in governments, it frequently brings out the best in people. This is a novel about some of the very best. Some led. Some followed. Some died. Meet Sergeant David Grady, Sarah Boyce, Major John Colven, Lieutenant Le Be Son...in the great Vietnam war novel, Charlie Mike." - Publisher
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

History Thru the Lens of Fiction: New Historical Novels for the Kindle

Blending historical fact with fiction, a novel set in other times and places can transport you into the past more convincingly than a dry historical treatise - and entertain you in the bargain.

What I look for in historical fiction are books by authors who, after reading the histories and doing the research, create stories based in the past that include characters I want to know better and a plot that keeps me turning pages - books like Peter Ackroyd's The Clerkenwell Tales, Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom, and Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth.

Now you can spend less time searching and more time reading as I watch for new historical fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. New on the historical fiction shelves:

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks. Viking, 2011. Print Length: 320 p. TIME FRAME: Mid-17th century Massachusetts. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (51 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $15.43. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"...Geraldine Brooks takes a remarkable shard of history and brings it to vivid life. In 1665, a young man from Martha's Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. Upon this slender factual scaffold, Brooks has created a luminous tale of love and faith, magic and adventure. The narrator of Caleb's Crossing is Bethia Mayfield, growing up in the tiny settlement of Great Harbor amid a small band of pioneers and Puritans. Restless and curious, she yearns after an education that is closed to her by her sex. As often as she can, she slips away to explore the island's glistening beaches and observe its native Wampanoag inhabitants. At twelve, she encounters Caleb, the young son of a chieftain, and the two forge a tentative secret friendship that draws each into the alien world of the other. Bethia's minister father tries to convert the Wampanoag... One of his projects becomes the education of Caleb, and a year later, Caleb is in Cambridge, studying Latin and Greek among the colonial elite. There, Bethia finds herself reluctantly indentured as a housekeeper and can closely observe Caleb's crossing of cultures." - The Author's Website

The Judges of the Secret Court: A Novel About John Wilkes Booth by David Stacton. Introduction by John Crowley. NYRB Classics, 2011. Print Length: 272 p. TIME FRAME: 19th century U.S. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $10.85. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Classic historical fiction, The Judges of the Secret Court was first published in 1961 and is now available in a Kindle edition.

"...a long-lost triumph of American fiction as well as one of the finest books ever written about the Civil War. Stacton’s gripping and atmospheric story revolves around the brothers Edwin and John Wilkes Booth, members of a famous theatrical family. Edwin is a great actor, himself a Hamlet-like character whose performance as Hamlet will make him an international sensation. Wilkes is a blustering mediocrity on stage who is determined, however, to be an actor in history, and whose assassination of Abraham Lincoln will change America. Stacton’s novel about how the roles we play become, for better or for worse, the lives we lead, takes us back to the day of the assassination, immersing us in the farrago of bombast that fills Wilkes’s head while following his footsteps up to the fatal encounter at Ford’s Theatre. The political maneuvering around Lincoln’s deathbed and Wilkes’s desperate flight and ignominious capture then set the stage for a political show trial that will condemn not only the guilty but the - at least relatively - innocent." - Amazon.

Children and Fire by Ursula Hegi. Scribner, 2011. Print Length: 288 p. TIME FRAME: 1930s Germany. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (8 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99; Hardcover $14.17. Text-to-Speech: Disabled. This is the 4th novel in Hegi's Burgdorf Cycle which began with Floating in My Mother's Palm.

"...set in Burgdorf, Germany, Hegi’s Children and Fire tells the story of a single day that will forever transform the lives of the townspeople. At the core of this remarkable novel is the question of how one teacher - gifted and joyful, passionate and inventive - can become seduced by propaganda during the early months of Hitler’s regime and encourage her ten-year-old students to join the 'Hitler-Jugend'...Hegi funnels pivotal moments in history through the experiences of individual characters: Thekla’s mother, who works as a housekeeper for a Jewish family; her employers, Michel and Ilse Abramowitz; Thekla’s mentally ill father; Trudi Montag and her father, Leo Montag; Fräulein Siderova, midwife to the dying; and the students who adore their young teacher..." - Amazon.

Rise to Rebellion: A Novel of the American Revolution by Jeff Shaara. Ballantine Books, 2011. Print Length: 576 p. TIME FRAME: British North American colonies from 1770 (The Boston Massacre) to 1776 (The Declaration of Independence). Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (168 reviews). Kindle edition $6.99; Paperback $10.85. Text-to-Speech: Disabled. First published in 2001, Rise to Rebellion is now available in a Kindle edition, along with Shaara's second novel, The Glorious Cause, which completes his epic two volume series about the American Revolution.
"...brings a fresh perspective to some of the familiar figures associated with the Revolutionary War. Making excellent use of a you-are-there approach, Shaara focuses on a handful of prominent historical figures, including Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John and Abigail Adams, and British general Thomas Gage. We witness the American colonies experiencing growth pains and an increasing desire for independence and the corresponding British insensitivity to the needs and wants of the colonists... As in all good historical fiction, Shaara's novel gives historical figures flesh-and-blood viability. At nearly 500 pages, this novel requires a major investment in reading time, yet it is an investment painlessly made for it pays profitable dividends. Brad Hooper for Booklist.

Before Versailles: A Novel of Louis XIV by Karleen Koen. Crown, 2011. Print Length: 480 p. TIME FRAME: 1661 France. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $15.30. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Louis XIV is one of the best-known monarchs ever to grace the French throne. But what was he like as a young man - the man before Versailles? After the death of his prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, twenty-two-year-old Louis steps into governing France. He’s still a young man, but one who, as king, willfully takes everything he can get - including his brother’s wife. As the love affair between Louis and Princess Henriette burns, it sets the kingdom on the road toward unmistakable scandal and conflict with the Vatican. But there are other problems lurking outside the chateau of Fontainebleau: a boy in an iron mask has been seen in the woods, and the king’s finance minister, Nicolas Fouquet, has proven to be more powerful than Louis ever thought..." - from the hardcover edition.

The Reservoir by John Milliken Thompson. Other Press, 2011. Print Length: 368 p. TIME FRAME: 1885 Virginia. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (17 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $10.85. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"On an early spring morning in Richmond, Virginia, in the year 1885, a young pregnant woman is found floating in the city reservoir. It appears that she has committed suicide, but there are curious clues at the scene that suggest foul play. The case attracts local attention, and an eccentric group of men collaborate to solve the crime. Detective Jack Wren lurks in the shadows, weaseling his way into the investigation and intimidating witnesses. Policeman Daniel Cincinnatus Richardson, on the brink of retirement, catches the case and relentlessly pursues it to its sorrowful conclusion. As the identity of the girl, Lillie, is revealed, her dark family history comes to light..." - Amazon.

Ellis Island by Kate Kerrigan. Harper, 2011. Print Length: 368 p. TIME FRAME: 1920s Ireland and New York. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $10.54. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Sweethearts since childhood, Ellie Hogan and her husband, John, are content on their farm in Ireland—until John, a soldier for the Irish Republican Army, receives an injury that leaves him unable to work. Forced to take drastic measures in order to survive, Ellie does what so many Irish women in the 1920s have done and sails across a vast ocean to New York City to work as a maid for a wealthy socialite. Once there, Ellie is introduced to a world of opulence and sophistication, tempted by the allure of grand parties and fine clothes, money and mansions . . . and by the attentions of a charming suitor..." - Amazon.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.


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History Thru the Lens of Fiction: New Historical Novels for the Kindle

Blending historical fact with fiction, a novel set in other times and places can transport you into the past more convincingly than a dry historical treatise - and entertain you in the bargain. What I look for in historical fiction are books by authors who, after reading the histories and doing the research, create stories based in the past that include characters I want to know better and a plot that keeps me turning pages - books like Peter Ackroyd's The Clerkenwell Tales, Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom, and Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth.

Now you can spend less time searching and more time reading as I watch for new historical fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. New on the historical fiction shelves:

Doc by Mary Doria Russell. Random House, 2011. Print Length: 400 p. TIME FRAME: Late 19th century American West. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (30 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $15.60. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Beautifully educated, born to the life of a Southern gentleman, Dr. John Henry Holliday is given an awful choice at the age of twenty-two: die within months in Atlanta or leave everyone and everything he loves in the hope that the dry air and sunshine of the West will restore him to health. Young, scared, lonely, and sick, he arrives on the rawest edge of the Texas frontier just as an economic crash wrecks the dreams of a nation. Soon, with few alternatives open to him, Doc Holliday is gambling professionally; he is also living with Mária Katarina Harony, a high-strung Hungarian whore with dazzling turquoise eyes, who can quote Latin classics right back at him. Kate makes it her business to find Doc the high-stakes poker games that will support them both in high style. It is Kate who insists that the couple travel to Dodge City, because 'that’s where the money is.' And that is where the unlikely friendship of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp really begins..." - Amazon.

Finding Emilie by Laurel Corona. Gallery, 2011. Print Length: 416 p. TIME FRAME: 18th century France. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (8 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $10.20. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"Lili du Châtelet yearns to know more about her mother, the brilliant French mathematician Emilie. But the shrouded details of Emilie’s unconventional life - and her sudden death - are elusive. Caught between the confines of a convent upbringing and the intrigues of the Versailles court, Lili blossoms under the care of a Parisian salonnière as she absorbs the excitement of the Enlightenment, even as the scandalous shadow of her mother’s past haunts her and puts her on her own path of self-discovery." - Amazon.

Queen By Right by Anne Easter Smith. Touchstone/ Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print Length: 672 p. TIME FRAME: 15th century England. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $11.55. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Thanks in no small part to William Shakespeare, history recognizes Richard III, the last king in the Plantagenet dynasty and last ruler of the House of York. But less well remembered is his mother, Cecily of York. An intelligent, dynamic woman unafraid of speaking her mind, she and her husband, also Richard, were a rare love match in a time of marriage as social and political contract. With her signature attention to detail, Smith fully fleshes out the life of this English lady and, through her eyes, skillfully dramatizes the thick of the Wars of the Roses..." - Leigh Wright for Library Journal.

Outlaw by Angus Donald. St. Martin's Griffin, 2011. Print Length: 384 p. TIME FRAME: 12th century England. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (10 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $10.19. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"...a rousing historical novel that mixes legend with fact to bring to life the time, the lives and the struggles of late 12th century England. As the Henry II struggles with his rebellious children and the conflict between the Saxon nobility and the Norman conquerors continues on as bloody as ever, there is a figure that has remained firmly fixed in the imagination of generations - Robin Hood, an outlaw and a renegade nobility determined to bring down the men who took his land, his family, and his position. When he's caught stealing, young Alan Dale is forced to leave his family and go to live with a notorious band of outlaws in Sherwood Forest. Their leader is the infamous Robin Hood...From bloody battles to riotous feast days to marauding packs of wolves, Outlaw is a gripping, action-packed historical thriller that delves deep into the fascinating legend of Robin Hood." - Amazon.

Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware. Sourcebooks Landmark, 2011. Print Length: 544 p. TIME FRAME: San Francisco after the earthquake of 1906. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (12 reviews). Kindle edition $9.34; $11.55. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"...an unlikely romance framed around San Francisco's devastating earthquake of 1906. New architect Amelia Bradshaw returns to the city to claim what's left of the Bay View, her grandfather's hotel next to Chinatown, only to find that her drunkard father has lost it to J.D. Thayer in a poker game. After an unsuccessful court battle - at a time when women had no right of possession - Bradshaw takes a job as junior architect under Julia Morgan, the first licensed female architect in California history. When Morgan's firm is selected to rebuild the Bay View, along with its competitor, the Fairmont, Bradshaw is put in charge of the former, forcing her to work closely with Mr. Thayer, her adversary, who is determined to beat the anniversary of the quake and the opening of the Fairmont." - Publishers Weekly.

The Final Storm: A Novel of the War in the Pacific by Jeff Shaara. Ballantine Books, 2011. Print Length: 544 p. TIME FRAME: 1945 World War II, Pacific Theater. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (24 reviews). Kindle edition $13.99; Hardcover $15.05. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"With a narrative dexterity befitting his status as a master storyteller, Shaara relates the story of the struggle for Okinawa through the eyes of combatants on both sides: Private Clay Adams, a young marine whose brother Jesse has already earned his share of glory as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne in Europe; Admiral Chester Nimitz, who must unite rival army and marine commanders into a cooperative effort; General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., the American ground commander trying to live up to the legacy of his father, who led Confederate troops during the Civil War; and General Mitsura Ushijima, the Japanese general in charge of defending the island, who understands what Tokyo will not believe: that his own fight to the death will only delay the inevitable—as the Americans continue their advance toward the home islands and ultimate victory." - Amazon.
This is the fourth (and last) volume in Shaara's World War Two series, following The Rising Tide, The Steel Wave and No Less Than Victory.


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History Thru the Lens of Fiction: New Historical Novels for the Kindle

Blending historical fact with fiction, a novel set in other times and places can transport you into the past more convincingly than a dry historical treatise - and entertain you in the bargain. What I look for in historical fiction are books by authors who, after reading the histories and doing the research, create stories based in the past that include characters I want to know better and a plot that keeps me turning pages - books like Peter Ackroyd's The Clerkenwell Tales, Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom, and Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth.

Now you can spend less time searching and more time reading as I watch for new historical fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. New on the historical fiction shelves:

Pacific Glory by P. T. Deutermann. St. Martin's Press, 2011. Print Length: 336 p. TIME FRAME: World War II, Pacific Theater. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (5 reviews).Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $17.15. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Savo Island, Midway, and the Battle of Samar, three of the defining naval battles of WWII in the Pacific, will draw history buffs to this riveting novel. It’s largely the story of Annapolis friends Marsh Vincent, who barely survives the Savo debacle, and Mick McCarty, whose dive bombing at Midway sinks a Japanese aircraft carrier that helped devastate Pearl Harbor, and Glory Hawthorne, a woman both love who has become a navy nurse. Having seen the savagery of naval war, Marsh fears he may not have the courage to face it again. Mick, an Annapolis football hero, has problems with alcohol and authority. He fears that he may be grounded. Ultimately, both are off Samar when a small group of tiny escort carriers and destroyers finds itself facing an overwhelming force of cruisers—and the Yamato, the largest battleship ever built..." - Thomas Gaughan for Booklist.

To Defy a King by Elizabeth Chadwick. Sourcebooks Landmark, 2011. Print Length: 544 p. TIME FRAME: England during the Middle Ages. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (16 reviews). Kindle edition $9.58; Paperback $10.08. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Mahelt 'Matty' Marshal, the daughter of legendary British knight William Marshal, becomes a bride at 14. Though the marriage, to Hugh Bigod, future earl of Norfolk, is arranged, Matty is open to it and embraces the passion that eventually comes. She bears Bigod four children and enjoys a peaceful life until tyrannical King John takes her paternal family hostage, first her brother Will, heir to the earldom of Pembroke, then her brother Richard, and finally her father, who has openly opposed the king's greed and land-grabbing. Matty's determination to save her father and brothers while also standing by her husband and keeping her new family safe creates both conflict and, ultimately, joyous rewards in a well-told saga filled with just the right amount of exacting period detail." - Publishers Weekly.

The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor. Hyperion, 2011. Print Length: 432 p. TIME FRAME: England in 1786. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (29 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Hardcover $16.49. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"1786, Jerusalem College, Cambridge. The ghost of Sylvia Whichcote is rumored to be haunting Jerusalem ever since student Frank Oldershaw claimed to have seen the dead woman prowling the grounds and was locked up because of his violent reaction to these disturbed visions. Desperate to salvage her son's reputation, Lady Anne Oldershaw employs John Holdsworth, author of The Anatomy of Ghosts - a stinging account of why ghosts are mere delusion - to investigate. But his arrival in Cambridge disrupts an uneasy status quo as he glimpses a world of privilege and abuse, where the sinister Holy Ghost Club governs life at Jerusalem more effectively than the Master, Dr. Carbury, ever could. And when Holdsworth finds himself haunted— - not only by the ghost of his dead wife, Maria, but also by Elinor, the very-much-alive Master's wife - his fate is sealed. He must find Sylvia's murderer..." - Amazon.

The Raven's Bride by Lenore Hart. St. Martin's Griffin, 2011. Print Length: 368 p. TIME FRAME: 19th century United States. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (9 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Hardcover $21.27. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"When eight-year-old Virginia 'Sissy' Clemm meets her handsome cousin, Eddy, she sees the perfect husband she's conjured up in childhood games. Thirteen years her elder, he's soft-spoken, brooding, and handsome. Eddy fails his way through West Point and the army yet each time he returns to Baltimore, their friendship grows. As Sissy trains for a musical career, her childhood crush turns to love. When she's thirteen, Eddy proposes. But as their happy life darkens, Sissy endures Poe's abrupt disappearances, self-destructive moods, and alcoholic binges. When she falls ill, his greatest fear - that he’ll lose the woman he loves - drives him both madness, and to his greatest literary achievement. Part ghost story, part love story, this provocative novel explores the mysterious, shocking relationship between Edgar Allan Poe and young Sissy Clemm, his cousin, muse and great love." - Amazon.

The Officers' Club by Ralph Peters. Forge Books, 2011. Print Length: 304 p. TIME FRAME: 1981 Arizona. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (46 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99; Hardcover $17.15. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"The time is 1981, the place remote Fort Huachuca, along the Arizona-Mexico border, where the army, still demoralized by the Vietnam War, trains intelligence officers for future war with the USSR. The central character is Lieutenant Roy Banks. Smart and committed to the army, Banks enjoys the approbation of senior officers, the companionship of male peers, and considerable attention from female officers. But Banks spurns Lieutenant Jessica Lamoureaux, a beautiful schemer who has turned almost every male head on the base. When she is murdered, Banks must determine who killed her... " - Thomas Gaughan for Booklist.

Sins of the House of Borgia by Sarah Bower. Sourcebooks Landmark, 2011. Print Length: 544 p. TIME FRAME: Renaissance Italy. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $9.68; Paperback $10.19. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"A young Jewish woman is drawn into the splendor and corruption surrounding the court of the Borgia pope, Alexander VI, in Bower's debut, a slick historical soap opera. After Esther Sarfati is baptized and becomes a lady-in-waiting to the widowed Lucrezia Borgia, the pope's illegitimate daughter, she is attracted to Lucrezia's seductive and cruel brother, Cesare. Esther becomes ensnared in a web of deceit and betrayal as Lucrezia is sent in a political marriage to the powerful Alfonso d'Este, heir to the dukedom of Ferrara. Determined to pursue a romance with the elusive Cesare, Esther is increasingly drawn into the schemes and passions of the Ferrara and Borgia families." - Publishers Weekly.

Elizabeth I by Margaret George. Viking, 2011. Print Length: 688 p. TIME FRAME: 16th Century England. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (3 reviews). Kindle edition $14.99; Hardcover $16.75. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"...Margaret George dazzles here as she tackles her most difficult subject yet: the legendary Elizabeth Tudor, queen of enigma - the Virgin Queen who had many suitors, the victor of the Armada who hated war; the gorgeously attired, jewel- bedecked woman who pinched pennies. England's greatest monarch has baffled and intrigued the world for centuries. But what was she really like? In this novel, her flame-haired, lookalike cousin, Lettice Knollys, thinks she knows all too well. Elizabeth's rival for the love of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and mother to the Earl of Essex, the mercurial nobleman who challenged Elizabeth's throne, Lettice had been intertwined with Elizabeth since childhood. This is a story of two women of fierce intellect and desire, one trying to protect her country, and throne, the other trying to regain power and position for her family and each vying to convince the reader of her own private vision of the truth about Elizabeth's character. Their gripping drama is acted out at the height of the flowering of the Elizabethan age. Shakespeare, Marlowe, Dudley, Raleigh, Drake - all of them swirl through these pages as they swirled through the court and on the high seas." - Amazon.

The School of Night by Louis Bayard. Henry Holt, 2011. Print Length: 352 p. TIME FRAME: Elizabethan England and present-day America. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (18 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99; Hardcover $13.54. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In the late sixteenth century, five brilliant scholars gather under the cloak of darkness to discuss God, politics, astronomy, and the black arts. Known as the School of Night, they meet in secret to avoid the wrath of Queen Elizabeth. But one of the men, Thomas Harriot, has secrets of his own, secrets he shares with one person only: the servant woman he loves. In modern-day Washington, D.C., disgraced Elizabethan scholar Henry Cavendish has been hired by the ruthless antiquities collector Bernard Styles to find a missing letter. The letter dates from the 1600s and was stolen by Henry's close friend, Alonzo Wax. Now Wax is dead and Styles wants the letter back. But the letter is an object of interest to others, too. It may be the clue to a hidden treasure; it may contain the long-sought formula for alchemy; it most certainly will prove the existence of the group of men whom Shakespeare dubbed the School of Night but about whom little is known..." - Amazon.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.