Hi, historical fiction fans!
It’s that time of year again: gift-giving season is upon us. Personally, I love finding and crafting the perfect gifts for all of my loved ones, but I know it’s more of a chore for some than others. That’s why this week I’m sharing a trio of historical fiction books perfect to gift to your friends and family. No gift is better than the gift of reading, right? So go ahead and finish up your holiday shopping with some historical fiction.
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Bookish Goods
Wooden Literary Figure Ornaments from Design BCC
Decorate your tree with these adorable wooden literary figure ornaments of Poe, Mark Twain, Shakespeare, and Charles Dickens. $28
New Releases
The Greatest Thing by Patti Flinn (November 30, 2023)
A boy kidnapped, shipped to the court of Louis XV, and renamed Louis-Benoit Zamor as a gift to Madame Du Barry learns to live among the French elite, even as he longs for the life that was stolen from him. Treated as a pet and working as a page, Zamor holds on to the memory of his mother and her belief in him.
When We Were Enemies by Emily Bleeker
Descended from actresses and Hollywood icons, Elise Branson is a bit of an outlier in her family. She prefers to avoid the camera rather than be in front of it. But a new documentary about her grandmother’s rise to fame in the 1940s brings Elise—and Vivian—back into the limelight. Not only that, it could expose secrets Vivian kept buried to protect the fame and fortune she’d always aspired to.
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Riot Recommendations
One of my favorite things to gift around the holidays is a good book, and here are three that I think will make for great presents this holiday season.
A Grandmother Begins the Story by Michelle Porter
Generations of women in a Métis family search for belonging in this interwoven tale of healing and family heritage. Told from a chorus of voices, including the descendants of the bison who once freely roamed the land, A Grandmother Beings the Story is a story of family unlike any you’ve read before.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
A community of Black and Jewish residents is rocked when a body is uncovered from a well in their part of town. They know exactly who it is and what happened, but the secrets the people of Chicken Hill have been keeping uncover deeper truths about the reality of life on the margins and the lengths communities will go to in order to protect one another.
Good Taste by Caroline Scott
This book is perfect for fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. A writer is commissioned to write a history of the food of England during the Great Depression. Considering the country’s reputation for bland food, Stella isn’t optimistic about the book’s prospects. But when her car breaks down and she’s rescued by an antique dealer, her story goes in surprising new directions.
That’s it for now, folks! Stay subscribed for more stories of yesteryear.
If you want to talk books, historical or otherwise, you can find me @rachelsbrittain on Goodreads, Instagram, and Litsy, my favorite bookish social media.
Right now, I’m reading A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur. What about you?