If you like historical fiction…

Looking for good period pieces? Here are our picks for historical fiction novels.

Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford (2017)

Available as a book, large print book, CD audiobook, ebook, and digital audiobook.

Summary by Goodreads: For twelve-year-old Ernest Young, a charity student at a boarding school, the chance to go to the World’s Fair feels like a gift. But once he’s there, the half-Chinese orphan is astounded to learn he will be raffled off–a healthy boy “to a good home.” The winning ticket belongs to the flamboyant madam of a high-class brothel, famous for educating her girls. There, Ernest becomes the new houseboy and befriends Maisie, the madam’s precocious daughter, and a bold scullery maid named Fahn. Their friendship and affection form the first real family Ernest has ever known. Fifty years later, in the shadow of Seattle’s second World’s Fair, Ernest struggles to help his ailing wife reconcile who she once was with who she wanted to be, while trying to keep family secrets hidden from their grown-up daughters.

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (2017)

Available as a book, large print book, ebook, and digital audiobook.

Summary from Goodreads: Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force and they are thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage. Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions—and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history.

Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan (2017)

Available as a book, large print book and CD audiobook.

Summary from Goodreads: Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior. In an attempt to protect him, Pino’s parents force him to enlist as a German soldier—a move they think will keep him out of combat. But after Pino is injured, he is recruited to become the personal driver for Adolf Hitler’s left hand in Italy. Now, with the opportunity to spy for the Allies inside the German High Command, Pino endures the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation by fighting in secret, his courage bolstered by his love for Anna and for the life he dreams they will one day share.

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn (2017)

Available as a book, large print book, CD audiobook, ebook, and digital audiobook.

Summary by Goodreads: After WWII, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie’s parents banish her to Europe to have her “little problem” taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she’s recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she’s trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the “Queen of Spies”, who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy’s nose. Thirty years later, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn’t heard in decades.

We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter (2017)

Available as a book, large print book, ebook and digital audiobook.

Summary from Goodreads: It is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows closer. The talk around the family Seder table is of new babies and budding romance, not of the increasing hardships threatening Jews in their hometown of Radom, Poland. But soon the horrors overtaking Europe will become inescapable and the Kurcs will be flung to the far corners of the world, each desperately trying to navigate his or her own path to safety.

The Orphan’s Tale by Pam Jenoff (2017)

Available as a book, large print book, CD audiobook, ebook, and digital audiobook.

Summary from Goodreads: Sixteen-year-old Noa has been cast out in disgrace after becoming pregnant by a Nazi soldier and being forced to give up her baby. When Noa discovers a boxcar containing dozens of Jewish infants bound for a concentration camp, she is reminded of the child that was taken from her, snatches one of the babies and flees into the snowy night. Noa finds refuge with a German circus, but she must learn the flying trapeze act so she can blend in undetected, spurning the resentment of the lead aerialist, Astrid. At first rivals, Noa and Astrid soon forge a powerful bond. But as the facade that protects them proves increasingly tenuous, Noa and Astrid must decide whether their friendship is enough to save one another—or if the secrets that burn between them will destroy everything.

The Life She Was Given by Ellen Marie Wiseman (2017)

Available as a book, large print book, CD audiobook and ebook.

Summary from Goodreads: On a summer evening in 1931, Lilly Blackwood glimpses circus lights from the grimy window of her attic bedroom. But on this unforgettable night, Lilly is taken outside for the first time–and sold to the circus sideshow. More than two decades later, nineteen-year-old Julia Blackwood has inherited her parents’ estate and horse farm. For Julia, home was an unhappy place full of strict rules and forbidden rooms, and she hopes that returning might erase those painful memories. Instead, she becomes immersed in a mystery involving a hidden attic room and photos of circus scenes featuring a striking young girl. It will fall to Julia to learn the truth about Lilly’s fate and her family’s shocking betrayal, and find a way to make Blackwood Manor into a place of healing at last.

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