Historical fiction genre books (1698)


221.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent EN

Rating: 4 (8 votes)
Country: Oceania / Australia flag Australia
Description:
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. ... BURIAL RITES evokes a dramatic existence in a distant time and pla... continue

222.

Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Asia / Pakistan flag Pakistan
Description:
Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award An Orange Prize Finalist Nagasaki, August 9, 1945. Hiroko Tanaka watches her lover from the veranda as he leaves. Sunlight streams across Urakami Valley, and then the world goes white. In the devastating aftermath of the atomic bomb, Hiroko leaves Japan in search of new beginnings. From Delhi, amid India's cry for independence from British colonial rule, to New York City in the immediate wake of 9/11, to the novel's astonishing climax in Afghanistan, a violent history casts its shadow the entire world over. Sweeping in its scope and mesmerizing in its ev... continue

223.

But Crime Does Punish by Jan Johanides EN

Rating: 3 (1 vote)
Country: Europe / Slovakia flag Slovakia
Description:
"So, as you see, I am familiar with the case. However, we can’t discuss it unless you learn more about some other court cases, so that you can compare your father’s trial with other, more baffling cases, and see it in the context of the madness that reigned at the time." In Ján Johanides riveting Slovak novel, you the reader are thrust in medias res, assuming the role of a silent partner in a one-sided conversation with someone you know nothing about. As the pages turn, you must grasp onto significant details to piece together who you are, who the narrator is, and why you have sought him out. ... continue

224.
But for the Lovers

But for the Lovers by Wilfrido D. Nolledo EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / Philippines flag Philippines
Description:
In the 25 years since its original publication, But for the Lovers has acquired an underground reputation as one of the most remarkable novels about World War II, doing for the Pacific war theater what Joseph Heller's Catch-22 did for the European one. Set in the Philippines, But for the Lovers depicts the survival of a cross-section of Filipinos during the Japanese Occupation and the American Liberation. The cast is enormous, including an old man who used to wander the countryside entertaining children, a young girl raped by Japanese soldiers, guerrilla messengers bringing word of the co... continue

225.

Butterfly Burning by Yvonne Vera EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Zimbabwe flag Zimbabwe
Description:
Butterfly Burning brings the brilliantly poetic voice of Zimbabwean writer Yvonne Vera to American readers for the first time. Set in Makokoba, a black township, in the late l940s, the novel is an intensely bittersweet love story.

226.

Butterfly Yellow by Thanhhà Lai EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / Vietnam flag Vietnam
Description:
Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction! Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo, Ibi Zoboi, and Erika L. Sanchez, this gorgeously written and deeply moving own voices novel is the YA debut from the award-winning author of Inside Out & Back Again. 4 starred reviews! In the final days of the Việt Nam War, Hằng takes her little brother, Linh, to the airport, determined to find a way to safety in America. In a split second, Linh is ripped from her arms--and Hằng is left behind in the war-torn country. Six years later, Hằng has made the brutal journey from Việt Nam and is now in Texa... continue

227.

Buxton Spice by Oonya Kempadoo EN

0 Ratings
Country: Europe / England flag England
Description:
Back in print: an extraordinary first novel by'a writer to watch and to enjoy.'* Told in the voice of a girl as she moves from childhood into adolescence, Buxton Spice is the story the town of Tamarind Grove: its eccentric families, its sweeping joys, and its sudden tragedies. The novel brings to life 1970s Guyana-a world at a cultural and political crossroads-and perfectly captures a child's keen observations, sense of wonder, and the growing complexity of consciousness that marks the passage from innocence to experience.

228.

By Night in Chile by Roberto Bolaño EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Description:
Father Sebastián Urrutia Lacroix, a Chilean priest, believes he is dying. During the course of a single night of feverish delirium, he relives some of the crucial events of his life, and encounters and 'converses' with prominent cultural and political figures, including General Augusto Pinochet.

229.

Byron and the Beauty by Muharem Bazdulj EN

0 Ratings
Description:
Byron and the Beauty is very loosely based on Byron's biography and takes place during two weeks of October, 1809, during his visit to the Balkans. Muharem Bazdulj marvelously combines facts with imagination, history, and romance, resulting in an exceptionally beautiful novel. Lord Byron ends up experiencing and embodying the lyrical Balkan condition of unrequited love called sevdah, but his valiant behavior also lands him in a regional folk song; this nod to changing cultural production in the Ottoman lands calls to mind the works of Ismail Kadare. From coffee to customary law, from courtship... continue

230.

Cahokia Jazz : A Novel by Francis Spufford EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Europe / England flag England
Description:
"Like Golden Hill, Cahokia Jazz inhabits a different version of America, and like Golden Hill it has a propulsive and brilliantly twisty plot set within a fully imagined world. Only this world is full of fog, cigarette smoke, dubious motives, danger, and dark deeds. And in the main character of Joe Barrow, we have a hero of truly heroic proportions, and a troubled soul to fall in love with. One snowy night at the end of winter, Barrow and his partner find a body on the roof of a skyscraper. Down below, streetcar bells ring, factory whistles blow, Americans drink in speakeasies and dance to the... continue