A girl in a whaling village investigates several disappearances in Crystal J. Bell’s mesmerizing historical novel "The Lamplighter". Even as self-reliant eighteen-year-old Temperance mourns her father, who was hanged, she takes up his... Read More

In David Ciminello’s hilarious novel "The Queen of Steeplechase Park", an Italian American girl’s personality is as big as her heart—and her appetite. In 1930s New Jersey, Bella makes sure everyone knows her name. Her beauty, wit,... Read More

A novel about sisterhood, witch hunts, common cruelties, and survival, Anna Noyes’s "The Blue Maiden" pulses with earthy magic. “They attacked me”: it’s a faint admission breathed into the cellar dark, on the night when Bea and... Read More

Sidney Morrison’s biographical novel "Frederick Douglass" follows the famed abolitionist from slavery to international stardom. Frederick Douglass dreams of escaping enslavement for years. But after completing the long and dangerous... Read More

A bright woman comes of age amid the turmoil of the 1960s in the aspirational novel "Breaking Ground". In Marie Corbett’s historical novel "Breaking Ground", a woman discovers truths about herself and the changing 1960s world of free... Read More

The historical novel "Collision Course" dramatizes King George III’s premature coming-of-age and the early days of his reign. In Millie Norwich Inman’s historical novel "Collision Course", a prince is thrust into politics after the... Read More

"The Spanish Sacrifice" is a complicated political thriller that twists around flawed individuals; despite its mounting body count, it is punctuated by moments of endearing normalcy. In Jay Perin’s political thriller "The Spanish... Read More

"Look toward the Rising Sun" is a striking historical novel about growing up Black and middle class in the Jim Crow era. In Sarah Smith Ducksworth’s historical novel "Look toward the Rising Sun", a Black girl comes of age in Jackson,... Read More