Top Historical Fiction read in 2024

Blogmas

Happy Saturday!

In this fourth blogmas post we are talking about historical fiction! It’s a big favorite genre and you will find two books by the same author and…two favorites that I can’t choose between!

First in YA historical fiction we have

ou will have magic, adventure, villains hiding in the shadow etc etc.

My first reaction early on was that this felt like an Indiana Jones movie except that Indi was a woman!

I was really engrossed in the story, loved Inez’s confidence and irreverence. Witnessing the attraction and push and pull between her and Whit was a delight!
And finding that I was right in my suspicions was very gratifying.
BUT
That book also had me fuming MAD!
Because the author did something that I loathe in books (and no I won’t say what). She chose a path that was not necessary.
And also because the very lats pages had me drop my jaws to the floor!
I was all: What?????

And yet, even if I am mad at the author I am also very much in awe of her talent and totally under that story’s spell so I WILL read the sequel and I would love to have an advanced reading copy because waiting for November to happen is so long!

Now in adult historical fiction we have first:

• I love that I learned so much about San Francisco in that period time period. That’s also what I love with Kate Quinn’s stories: I always learn new facts about past events! I liked reading about Chinatown and its bustling yet poor living conditions and had no idea of the ban on letting Chinese people come to the US once the gold rush and railways were done!

• I love that we got a soprano to follow as one of the main characters. Thanks to Kate Quinn’s study field (I had no idea she studied to be a soprano) everything rang true! From Gemma’s training and day to day’s work to the backstage opera life.

• Adding a character suffering from migraines had me connecting on a deep level with Gemma as I unfortunately suffer from these. It also was the perfect reason why Gemma wasn’t more famous given her impressive golden voice.

• I think Sue Ling was perfect. The embroideress appeared like a grey mouse at the first glance but she hid a spine of steel and a ferocious drive in protecting those she loved.

• Thanks to another main character, Alice, our botanist I learned a thing or two about plants and of course The Queen of the Night. It had me googling that rare plant and now considering getting one!

• The villain was an excellent villain. Killing you with a “I am sorry” on his lips the bastard!

• I also loved how both author portrayed that period be it San Francisco high society or its poor Chinatown to artistic Paris and the rise of Paul Poiret’s in the fashion industry.

That story gripped me from the first sentences and never let me go before the end! I even enjoyed a lot listening to the authors explaining their research, the choices they made for their characters, the liberties they took from history (just a few).
And I have now a new author to follow: Janie Chang!

And then for my two favorites that I can’t choose between...

I read Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s story with passion.

That book is divided into several “parts”.
The first is about Frankie being shipped in Vietnam as a naïve girl. She will be for a rude awakening and I think that Kristin Hannah did an amazing job describing nurses working on the field, till they couldn’t stand on their feet, with ears ringing for hours after an attack.
That part was intense, angsty but also with moments of joy thanks to the sisterhood Frankie found with Ethel and Barb. There was romance too.

The second part was Frankie coming back home.
And something I never realized about Vietnam war, probably because we don’t talk about it a lot in our European schoolbooks, was that Americans were ashamed of that war.
And when Frankie was back, after having saved lives and risked her own life, people would spit on her! Call her a baby killer! Her own parents were ashamed and she couldn’t talk about it. Even worse, people didn’t believe women went to Vietnam.

Can you imagine the devastation of coming back from a brutal war and being shamed for what you did. No one to listen to your trauma?

I won’t go into specifics but I want to say three things:
-First, the most important, Franke is a hell of a girl! She is real, she has flaws and she has courage. She had an incredible growth and I love Frankie.
-Second: I want to punch Ryan so bad!
-Third: the sisterhood is amazing. If you have watched Band of Brothers well, you could call that book Band of Sisters.
“Thank God for girlfriends. In this crazy, chaotic, divided world that was run by men, you could count on the women.”

It was harsh, hard, real. I cried so many times at the unfairness of it all. But it was also hopeful.

 I am a huge fan of Kate Quinn and this book has her signature all over:
-perfect plot with twists delivered along the way;
-historical background where you can feel that the author did extensive research;
-well fleshed out characters with extremely distinctive voices;
-precise and sharp writing that grips you from the first page and doesn’t let you go before the very end.
Also if you are listening to the audiobook (with the excellent Saskia Maarleveld) I advise you to listen to the interview done by Kate and Saskia. It is extremely enlightening .

The Briar Club takes place in the US, in the fifties under McCarthy’s rule and the fear of everything that was communist.
People lived under constant threat of being accused of communist sympathies. Everyone could report a neighbor or a colleague. People suspected could lose their job at best, face death sentence at worst. That atmosphere was very well done, and added a weight to the story.

When I was talking about doing her research, it’s because every detail of that period rang true: from the baking shows to the feminine baseball league to the recipes. I was totally immersed in that time following the lives of Briarwood House’s lodgers with fascination.

But what is the Briar Club? At its heart it’s about second chances, redemption and above all else, found family.
I LOVED seeing these strangers becoming friends and family, slowly building bonds for life, all mainly thanks to Grace and her sun tea, listening ear and Thursday dinners.

I wrote a lenghty review talking about the characters because they are extremely well fleshed out so if you are interested, you can find it HERE.

What are some of your historical fictions if you do read them?

Sophie