Upcoming Historical Fiction (1/18/24)

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Take yourself on magical, romantic, mysterious, and heart-stopping journeys to a variety of time periods with these fascinating historical fiction novels!

YOUR PRESENCE IS MANDATORY BY SASHA VASILYUK

Available for download on Edelweiss here. LibraryReads votes due by March 1st.

“Award-winning journalist Vasilyuk makes her debut with a story inspired by the life of her grandfather. Ukrainian World War II veteran Yefim Shulman sacrificed much to survive the war. After his death, his family has to contend with the secrets he kept when they find a letter to the KGB in his briefcase.”–Library Journal Pre-Pub Alert

THE FAMILIAR BY LEIGH BARDUGO

Available for download on Edelweiss here. LibraryReads votes due by March 1st.

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to improve the family’s social position.

ROUGH TRADE BY KATRINA CARRASCO

Available for download on Edelweiss here. LibraryReads votes due by March 1st.

After destroying all evidence of their opium-smuggling operation in Port Townsend, Alma Rosales and Delphine Beaumond have set up shop in Tacoma, where the risk is high but the profits are higher. Now living full-time as Jack Camp, Alma and her new crew manage the flow of opium down the West Coast.

DISTURBING THE DEAD BY KELLEY ARMSTRONG

Available for download on Edelweiss here. LibraryReads votes due by April 1st.

Victorian Scotland is becoming less strange to modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson. Though inhabiting someone else’s body will always be unsettling, even if her employers know that she’s not actually housemaid Catriona Mitchell, ever since the night both of them were attacked in the same dark alley 150 years apart. Mallory likes her job as assistant to undertaker/medical examiner Dr. Duncan Gray, and is developing true friends—and feelings—in this century.

DEATH ON THE LUSITANIA BY R.L. GRAHAM

Available for download on NetGalley here. LibraryReads votes due by April 1st.

Patrick Gallagher, onboard the RMS Lusitania in 1915, has been tasked with discreetly escorting a British diplomat back to England in relation to charges of suspected treason. When a fellow passenger, Jimmy Dowrich, is found shot to death in his cabin, the captain asks Gallagher to investigate. Knowing something of the man’s past, Gallagher realizes that the problem will not be simple; and also, the body was discovered in a locked cabin with the key inside and no gun to be found.

THE LOST LOVER BY KAREN SWAN

LibraryReads votes due by April 1st.

Young Flora MacQueen has always dreamed of more than a hard life on the small Scottish island of St Kilda. When she catches the eye of visiting wealthy businessman James Callaghan, her future seems brighter. Only, as the islanders prepare to leave their homes for the final time, Flora finds her dreams shattered. With her beauty her only currency she must step forward to support her family. But then a secret comes to light that will change everything.

LOCKED IN PURSUIT BY ASHLEY WEAVER

Available for download on Edelweiss here. LibraryReads votes due by April 1st.

Safecracker Ellie McDonnell hasn’t seen Major Ramsey—her handsome but aloof handler in the British government—since their tumultuous mission together two months before, but when she hears about a suspicious robbery in London she feels compelled to contact him. Together they discover that a rash of burglaries in the city all lead back to a hotbed of spies in the neutral city Lisbon, Portugal, and an unknown object brought to London by a mysterious courier.

EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE BY NATALIE JENNER

Available for download on Edelweiss here. LibraryReads votes due by April 1st.

In 1955, Vivien Lowry has written the only female-authored play on the London stage that season. The reviewers are not as impressed as the playgoers, and their savage notices not only shut down the play but ruin Lowry’s last chance for a dramatic career. With her future in London not looking bright, she takes a job as a script doctor on a major film. As Vivien tries to forge a new future for herself, she also must face the long-buried truth of the recent World War and the mystery of what really happened to her deceased fiancé.

ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR BY VIRGINIA HEATH

Available for download on Edelweiss here. LibraryReads votes due by April 1st.

When the flighty older sister of former naval captain Henry Kincaid decides on a whim to accompany her explorer husband on an expedition to Egypt, he finds himself unwittingly left in the lurch with her three unruly children and her giant, mad dog. With no clue how to manage the little rascals, a busy career at the Admiralty that requires all of his attention, and no idea when his sister is coming back, Harry has to hire an emergency governess to ensure that everything in his ordered house continues to run shipshape.

THE FINAL CURSE OF OPHELIA CRAY BY CHRISTINE CALELLA

Available for download on Edelweiss here.

“While Ophelia conceals her identity from a mutinous crew she’s not sure she can trust, Betsy is forced to confront vicious pirates, and both sisters grapple with their own identities and sense of self-worth. Ophelia and Betsy spend most of Calella’s debut apart, but their alternating POVs deftly render their complex relationship and parallel arcs… Swashbuckling action and hints of magic make this a rousing jaunt for fans of fantasy adventure.”–Publishers Weekly

THE DANGEROUS ONES BY LAUREN BLACKWOOD

Available for download on Edelweiss here.

War doesn’t scare Jerusalem–she’s a Saint. Thanks to powerful demigod-style reflexes, endurance, and strength, she’s fearless. And ever since the Confederates declared civil war, partnering with the vampires who benefitted off slavery, she and her battalion of Saints are essential to the Union army. Together, they set out to change the course of the war and take down the vampire who destroyed everyone Jerusalem loved. But for her, it’s about more than justice. It’s about killing a god.

YOUR PRESENCE IS MANDATORY by Sasha Vasilyuk; 9781639731534; 4/23/24
THE FAMILIAR by Leigh Bardugo; 9781250884251; 4/9/24
ROUGH TRADE by Katrina Carrasco; 9780374272685; 4/9/24
DISTURBING THE DEAD by Kelley Armstrong; 9781250321282; 5/7/24
DEATH ON THE LUSITANIA by R.L. Graham; 9781035021918; 5/7/24
THE LOST LOVER by Karen Swan; 9781529084467; 5/7/24
LOCKED IN PURSUIT by Ashley Weaver; 9781250885906; 5/14/24
EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE by Natalie Jenner; 9781250285188; 5/14/24
ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR by Virginia Heath; 9781250896070; 5/28/24
THE FINAL CURSE OF OPHELIA CRAY by Christine Calella; 9781645678724; 4/9/24
THE DANGEROUS ONES by Lauren Blackwood; 9781250891075; 5/14/24