Summer is my favorite season because I love pools, rivers, lakes, and beaches. They are such wonderful places to read books! This year, between the pages, I’ll be splashing with my new granddaughter and encouraging her two-year-old brother as he learns to swim. That means there will be a lot of baby books in my TBR, mixed in with the wonderful historical fiction I’m going to share with you!

 

BEST COVER

Foreign Seed by Allison Alsop (June 4)

“Foreign Seed is an ambitious novel about a cautious man. It’s 1918 and Samuel Sokobin, the new American vice-consul in Nanking, China, lives in a stressful milieu of casual anti-Semitism from his colleagues and his own ignorance of the Chinese world. In order to succeed, he tries to subvert his Jewish identity and present a bland, anonymous self. Then Sobokin is assigned to find an explorer who has drowned the Yangtze River—or perhaps has been murdered. Alsup handles the fascinating complications of Foreign Seed beautifully, pulling the reader through Sobokin’s fears to his triumphant growth.” —Laura Furman, author and former series editor of The O. Henry Prize Stories

The colors in Toward the Dawn and Shelterwood attract me, as does the mystery of Malas and the fiery image of Hall of Mirrors, and  I like the three women in Strawberry Field Girls at War. My pick for this month’s cover, however, is Foreign Seed. The soft colors and greenery are attractive, and the boat sailing away draws me right in behind it. The style of boat gives me an idea of the era and the setting. The red embellishments on the upper edges bring my eye back to the title. Nicely done.

Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate (Oklahoma, 1909/1990, June 4)

Malas by Marcela Fuentes (Texas, 1951, June 4)

Strawberry Field Girls at War by Karen Dickson (20th century, June 20)

Hall of Mirrors by John Copenhaver (Washington, D.C., 1954, June 4)

Toward the Dawn by Mary Connelly (Wyoming, 19th century, June 18)

BEST TITLE

Feisty Deeds: Historical Fictions of Daring Women edited by Kimberly Sullivan (June 8)

“Even when time periods and geographical locations vary greatly, women’s struggles as they confront adversity are often remarkably universal. The twenty-three stories in this collection follow ordinary women from the 1470s to the 1960s as they rise to meet life’s challenges.” ~book description

I chose two of these titles for places (Venice and Paris) I enjoy reading about. The How To books are cute and intriguing, and the past tense verb in a title about the future struck me. Born of Gilded Mountains was a close contender for top title, but I had to choose Feisty Deeds. I am a big fan of stories about women in history who may not have been famous or in the spotlight, women who struggled through their daily lives and in the process did something noteworthy.

The Assassin of Venice by Alyssa Palombo (Venice, 16th century, June 18)

An Art Lover’s Guide to Paris and Murder by Dianne Freeman (Paris, turn of the century, June 25)

Born of Gilded Mountains by Amanda Dykes (Colorado, 1948, June 18)

How to Solve Murders Like a Lady by Hannah Dolby (Victorian England, June 6)

The Future Was Color by Patrick Nathan (Postwar Hollywood, June 4)

MOST INTRIGUING

The Glass Maker by Tracy Chevalier (June 18)  

“This charming fable is at once a love story that skips through six centuries, and also a love song to the timeless craft of glassmaking. Chevalier probes the fierce rivalries and enduring loyalties of Murano’s glass dynasties, capturing the roar of the furnace, the sweat on the skin, and the glittering beauty of Venetian glass.” – Geraldine Brooks, author of Horse

This was a tough choice. We Were the Bullfighters is about Ernest Hemingway in Canada, and A Daughter of Fair Verona about Romeo and Juliet’s daughter. Both of those are intriguing because of what I already know about the people. The Forgotten Names is about reuniting rescued Jewish children with their names and heritage. It reminds me of another book I loved, The Book of Lost Names. Both An Idle Woman and The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands are unique. The former is about gaslighting in the 19th century, and the latter about a steampunk trans-Siberian train with missing passengers. The Glass Makers, though, is by a favorite author of mine, and it’s about glassblowing. I am intrigued by the art of working glass, and I’m hoping this story of glassblowers in Murano will be as compelling as Petra Durst-Benning’s glassblower series.

We Were the Bullfighters by Marianne Miller (Canada, 20th century, June 25)

The Forgotten Names by Mario Escobar (France, WWII, June 11)

An Idle Woman by Wendy Parkins (England, 1838, June 14) 

A Daughter of Fair Verona by Christina Dodd (Italy, 14th century, June 25) 

The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks (steampunk, June 18)

 

Need more historical fiction on your TBR? 

See Paper Lantern Writers’ weekly round up in the Facebook group SHINE on Historical Fiction with Paper Lantern Writers. See even more new release titles at Historical Novel Society.

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