Mattie Simpkin is a wonderful heroine with verve and drive and a willingness to ensure that young women of the early twentieth century know that they can achieve much – if they only know how to push.
Category Archives: Historical fiction
The Hummingbird and the Sea by Jenny Bond
Moving between Massachusetts and the Caribbean, Jenny Bond’s novel is an enjoyable tale of the hope of young love, betrayal and pirates
The Unexpected Life of Oliver Cromwell Pitts by Avi
Oliver Cromwell Pitts’ life is turned upside down when his father disappears the night of a big storm and he is forced to live by his wits.
The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman
A quite traumatic but moving novel told in two narrative strands, one of a young mother, the other the daughter she is forced to give up.
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
Jojo Moyes’ book about the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky is a stirring tale about the power of friendship and the joy that books can bring
The Underpainter by Jane Urquhart
The Underpainter is a character study of someone who views life from a distance, never fully engaging in its emotional landscape.
Blood Libel by M. Lynes
The tense perilous atmosphere of medieval Seville at the time of the Inquisition is created with dark intensity in Lynes’ historical novel.
Nine Days a Queen by Ann Rinaldi
Lady Jane Grey’s story is a truly tragic one and Ann Rinaldi shows just how she was used as a pawn in a power play during Tudor history
The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes
The best Jojo Moyes’ book to date? I think so. A romance, a war story, a legal thriller – it’s all here and vividly written.
The Scribe of Siena by Melodie Winawer
To time travel is one thing but to medieval Siena, Italy at the time of plague and political tension with rival Florence? Peril awaits.
Scuffed Granny 