The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin Fiction — Historical Harper, August 2012 Hardcover 448 pages From the inside flap: At the turn of the twentieth century, in a rural stretch of the Pacific Northwest, a reclusive orchardist, William Talmadge, tends to apples and apricots as if they were loved ones. A gentle man, he’s found solace […]

Kindred by Octavia Butler Fiction — Historical / Fantasy Beacon Press, 2004 (25th Anniversary Edition) Paperback 287 pages From the back cover: Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white […]

The Midwife of Hope River: A Novel of an American Midwife by Patricia Harman Fiction — Historical William Morrow Paperbacks; August 28, 2012 Paperback 400 pages From the back cover: As a midwife working in the hard-scrabble conditions of West Virginia during the Depression, Patience Murphy’s only solace is her gift: escorting mothers through the […]

The Yard by Alex Grecian Fiction — Historical, Mystery Putnam; May 2012 Hardcover 432 pages From the back cover: “Victorian London is a cesspool of crime, and Scotland Yard has only twelve detectives–known as ‘The Murder Squad’–to investigate thousands of murders every month. Created after the Metropolitan Police’s spectacular failure to capture Jack the Ripper, […]

Overseas by Beatriz Williams Fiction — Historical / Romantic Putnam; May 10, 2012 Paperback (ARC) 456 pages Synopsis from the back cover: When twenty-something Wall Street analyst Kate Wilson attracts the notice of the legendary Julian Laurence at a business meeting, no one’s more surprised than she is. Julian’s relentless energy and his extraordinary intellect […]

Yesterday, I reviewed Lyndsay Faye’s latest historical thriller, The Gods of Gotham: Set against the backdrop of New York City in 1845–at a time when the Great Potato Famine in Ireland was bringing thousands of new immigrants into the city–The Gods of Gotham is an historical thriller that weaves together an engaging murder mystery with […]

The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye Historical Fiction/Mystery Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam; March 15, 2012 Advance Review Copy (Paperback) 414 pages From the inside flap: It is 1845…Timothy Wilde tends bar near the Exchange, fantasizing about the day he will have enough money to win the girl of his dreams. But when his dreams incinerate […]