historical fiction
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Book Talk: American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson
American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson Random House, February 2019 Genre: Historical Fiction It’s 1986, the heart of the Cold War, and Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She’s brilliant, but she’s also a young black woman working… Continue reading
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Book Talk: The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee Katherine Tegen Books, October 2018 Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, Historical Fantasy A year after an accidentally whirlwind grand tour with her brother Monty, Felicity Montague has returned to England with… Continue reading
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BlacKkKlansman: This is Why Historical Fiction Matters
I don’t get out to the movies much anymore, mostly due to a combination of parenting fatigue/childcare costs/fear that the movie won’t be worth the effort. But when my cousin Dan Whitener announced that his original song “We Are Gonna… Continue reading
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Book Review: The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein
The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein Disney-Hyperion, May 2017 Genre: YA Historical Before Verity . . . there was Julie. When fifteen-year-old Julia Beaufort-Stuart wakes up in the hospital, she knows the lazy summer break she’d imagined won’t be exactly… Continue reading
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Book Review: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
Passenger by Alexandra Bracken Disney-Hyperion, January 2016 Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, Historical Fantasy (Time Travel) Passage, n. i. A brief section of music composed of a series of notes and flourishes. ii. A journey by water; a voyage. iii. The… Continue reading
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Book Review: A Tyranny of Petticoats edited by Jessica Spotswood
A Tyranny of Petticoats: 15 Stories of Belles, Bank Robbers & Other Badass Girls edited by Jessica Spotswood Candlewick Press, March 2016 Genre: YA, Historical Fiction (with some Fantasy) From an impressive sisterhood of YA writers comes an edge-of-your-seat anthology of… Continue reading
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When You’re On the Wrong Side of History (Part 2)
Or: The Dark Side. Or: The Crusades as Fought by Hunksome Orlando Bloom. Last week I wrote about my admiration for the Masterpiece drama Indian Summers and the way the writers create ambiguous characters while staying fairly true to history. As… Continue reading
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When You’re on the Wrong Side of History (Part 1)
How do you get an audience to root for someone who’s on the wrong side of history? When you’re writing a book or screenplay, it can be a tricky business. You have to make the character seem sympathetic, while still staying… Continue reading
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Golden Girls
Gold is in the air this fall, and not just in the turning leaves. Two new YA westerns, Erin Bowman’s Vengeance Road and Rae Carson’s Walk on Earth a Stranger, send strong young women on the trail for gold in the 19th… Continue reading
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The Past is a Foreign Country. And You Can Never Go Back.
A few weeks ago Sarah A. Chrisman published an article on Vox provocatively titled, “I love the Victorian era. So I decided to live in it.” In it, Chrisman describes how she and her husband have recreated the Victorian era as… Continue reading
Abby Murphy 