What it’s about (from Goodreads):

Virginia, 1852. Seventeen-year-old Josephine Bell decides to run from the failing tobacco farm where she is a slave and nurse to her ailing mistress, the aspiring artist Lu Anne Bell. New York City, 2004. Lina Sparrow, an ambitious first-year associate in an elite law firm, is given a difficult, highly sensitive assignment that could make her career: she must find the “perfect plaintiff” to lead a historic class-action lawsuit worth trillions of dollars in reparations for descendants of American slaves.

It is through her father, the renowned artist Oscar Sparrow, that Lina discovers Josephine Bell and a controversy roiling the art world: are the iconic paintings long ascribed to Lu Anne Bell really the work of her house slave, Josephine? A descendant of Josephine’s would be the perfect face for the reparations lawsuit—if Lina can find one. While following the runaway girl’s faint trail through old letters and plantation records, Lina finds herself questioning her own family history and the secrets that her father has never revealed: How did Lina’s mother die? And why will he never speak about her?

Moving between antebellum Virginia and modern-day New York, this searing, suspenseful and heartbreaking tale of art and history, love and secrets, explores what it means to repair a wrong and asks whether truth is sometimes more important than justice.

Our thoughts:

I have to admit; in the beginning of this book I was skeptical. I mean a class action lawsuit for the ancestors of slaves to collect money from companies that benefited from slave labor? That would be an impossible case not only to try, but also to figure out who should be compensated.

It is not often that a book makes me cry, but this one had me sitting there teary eyed while reading it. Conklin did a fabulous job of weaving together a tale of two exceptional women, spanning a time difference of over 150 years, and tying it all together beautifully. This is the type of book that stays with you long after you've read it.

We would recommend this to:

Fans of Historical Fiction

Our source: Library book sale

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

In Sunderland, England, a city quarantined by the cholera epidemic of 1831, a defiant, fifteen-year old beauty in an elegant blue dress makes her way between shadow and lamp light. A potter's assistant by day and dress lodger by night, Gustine sells herself for necessity in a rented gown, scrimping to feed and protect her only love: her fragile baby boy. 

She holds a glimmer of hope after meeting Dr. Henry Chiver, a prisoner of his own dark past. But in a world where suspicion of medicine runs rampant like a fever, these two lost souls will become irrevocably linked, as each crosses lines between rich and destitute, decorum and abandon, damnation and salvation. By turns tender and horrifying, The Dress Lodger is a captivating historical thriller charged with a distinctly modern voice. 

Our thoughts:

This book sticks with me, not simply because it is my favorite genre, historical fiction, but I also liked the fact that it was told in multiple narratives. Each chapter was telling more of the story but from a different character's view.

In this tale Gustine is a dress lodger. I had never heard of a dress lodger before but evidently it was a profession in England in the 1800's. I would describe a dress lodge as a young poor girl in a beautiful dress being followed by an old woman. The girl was a prostitute and the dress was to make her look like she was from a higher class in order to get more clients. The purpose of the older woman following the dress lodger wasn't so much for protection of the young girl as it was to ensure the return of the dress.

In the book, The Dress Lodger, Gustine is afraid of the older woman who follows her, referring to her as "The Eye". This image of a girl followed through the streets, as if by her old age, or her own mortality, really stuck with me. I very much enjoyed this strange tale and think I will definitely read this book again.

We would recommend this to:

Fans of Historical Fiction

Published by: Riverhead Hardcover

Our source: Our local library

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

We would recommend this to:

Fans of Hosseini's other books, fans of historical fiction

Published by: Touchstone

Our source: Our local library

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

We would recommend this to:

Fans of historical fiction

Published by: Simon & Schuster

Our source: Purchased ourselves

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

Little Bee is an immensely emotional look at the atrocities that occur throughout the African continent in the name of oil exploration. Cleave pulls the story together as he alternates the narrative between two characters. This is truly a story of survival and perseverance.

One part of the story that really touched me was when Little Bee states, "We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I Survived".  Oh how true this statement is and I think we all have some type of scarring. I don't think I could have survived as well as Little Bee did, but I really enjoyed this deeply moving, sad novel.

We would recommend this to:

Fans of historical fiction, those who like books that make them think

Havisham: A Novel by Ronald Frame

Published by: Faber & Faber

Our source: ARC from the publisher

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

Catherine Havisham was born into privilege. Handsome, imperious, she is the daughter of a wealthy brewer, and lives in luxury in Satis House. But she is never far from the smell of hops and the arresting letters on the brewhouse wall - HAVISHAM. A reminder of all she owes to the family name and the family business.


Sent by her father to stay with the Chadwycks, Catherine discovers literature, music and masquerades - elegant pastimes to remove the taint of new money. But for all her growing sophistication Catherine is anything but worldly, and when a charismatic stranger pays her attention, everything - her heart, her future, the very Havisham name - is vulnerable.


Our thoughts:

Let me start off by saying: I am a huge fan of Charles Dickens.  Through the years I have read Great Expectations at least a half a dozen times and really am fascinated by the character of Miss Havisham, still running around in her wedding dress. When I saw the book Havisham, I knew I would like it.

The story depicts the circumstances that led up to Catherine Havisham, Dickens’s character from Great Expectations, stopping in time.  While I enjoyed the tale and re-visiting with characters from Great Expectations, I couldn't help but be a little disappointed. While Ronald Frame did a fine job of telling this tale his writing style just cannot be compared to Dickens.

We would recommend this to:

Fans of Great Expectations and historical fiction.

When We Were Strangers by Pamela Schoenewaldt

Published by: William Morrow

Our source: Our local library

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

Set in the late 1800's, Irma Vitale leaves her home in the beautiful village of Opi, Italy and immigrates to the United States. The story explores Irma's passage to America aboard the Servia, but also her journey to womanhood.

 When Irma leaves Opi she is young, poor, and very naive. A stranger in a new land with few skills, this gripping tale tells of Irma's journey to find housing, work, an education, but also deals with much more complex issues such as abortion and death.

Many of us are the strangers at some point in our lives. Whether it is going off to college, moving to a different area, or simply changing jobs, we find ourselves in a situation were all of our past skills are irrelevant. Sometimes I wonder if these circumstances help us to become resilient enough to forge ahead and achieve our goals?


I have recently also read Schoenewaldt's other novel, Swimming in the Moon and I loved both books. She is a fantastic story teller and I look forward to more of her works.

We would recommend this to:

Fans of historical fiction, coming of age stories

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

Lucia D'Angelo's voice is nothing like her mother's. She's no nightingale with the gorgeous tones, tender and passionate, peaking and plummeting as dramatically as her moods. Yet in the rough world she's chosen, Lucia's words may truly change lives.

In 1904, fourteen-year-old Lucia and her young mother Teresa are servants in a count's lush villa on the Bay of Naples. Between scrubbing floors and polishing silver, Teresa soothes the unhappy countess with song until one morning's calamity hurls mother and daughter to America, exchanging their gilded cage for icy winds off Lake Erie and Cleveland's taut immigrant neighborhoods. Lucia blossoms and Teresa wins fleeting fame on the tawdry stage of vaudeville until old demons threaten their new life. In factories and workhouses, Lucia finds her own stage, giving voice to those who have given her a home. As roles reverse, mother and daughter reshape their fierce and primal bond.

Our thoughts:

We would recommend this to:

Mothers and daughters, fans of historical fiction

Queen’s Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle

Published by: Simon & Schuster

Our source: ARC courtesy of the publisher

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

Katherine Parr, widowed for the second time aged thirty-one, is obliged to return to court but, suspicious of the ageing king and those who surround him, she does so with reluctance. Nevertheless, when she finds herself caught up in a passionate affair with the dashing and seductive Thomas Seymour, she believes she might finally be able to marry for love. But her presence at court has attracted the attentions of another…

Captivated by her honesty and intelligence, Henry Tudor has his own plans for Katherine and no one is in the position to refuse a proposal from the king. So with her charismatic lover dispatched to the continent, Katherine must accept the hand of the ailing egotistical monarch and become Henry's sixth wife - and yet she has still not quite given up on love.

Our thoughts:

Queen's Gambit is a romance novel steeped in history. As a child, I always envisioned that being the queen meant that you had lots of power, authority and respect. Queen's Gambit showed me that that wasn't necessarily the case.

Set in the 1500's, the story is told from the perspective of Katherine and her servant girl, Dot. King Henry VIII chooses Katherine to be his sixth wife. Knowing the King's previous wives have been either executed, had their marriages annulled, or died in childbirth, Katherine is nervous as to what her fate will be. Complicating matters even more is the fact that Katherine has fallen in love with Thomas Seymour.

This story was full of romance and politics from this very historical period in English history. Queen's Gambit is beautifully written and I very much enjoyed Elizabeth Fremantle's exciting tale.

We would recommend this to:

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.

Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard.

Our thoughts:

We would recommend this to:

Fans of mystery and historical fiction

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

From Nazi-occupied Poland to a Chicago courtroom, Elliot Rosenzweig, a respected civic leader and wealthy philanthropist, is attending a fundraiser when he is suddenly accosted and accused of being a former Nazi SS officer named Otto Piatek. Although the charges are denounced as preposterous, his accuser, Ben Solomon, is convinced he is right. Solomon urges attorney Catherine Lockhart to take his case, revealing that Otto Piatek was abandoned as a child and raised by Solomon's family only to betray them during the Nazi occupation. But has he accused the right man? 

Our thoughts:

We would recommend this to:

WWII enthusiests, fans of historical fiction