Abundance: a novel of Marie Antoinette...Sena Jeter Naslund

From the moment “Toinette” steps on French soil, her sole job is to please the king and his son, her husband, the Dauphin.

The Heretic’s Daughter...Kathleen Kent

Life in the Puritan community of Salem, Massachusetts, is forever changed when young girls hysterically accuse neighbors of magic and witchcraft.

The Given Day...Dennis Lehane

Danny Coughlin, a white policeman, and Luther Laurance, a black man on the run, find their lives entwined in post World

War I Boston.

Suite Francaise...Irene Nemirovsky

The author, an ultimate victim of the Nazi regime, writes of the German occupation in France, while living it herself.

Bound...Sally Gunning

Seven year old, Alice Cole, bound for Philadelphia from London in 1756, finds herself an indentured servant in Boston.

The Secret River...Kate Grenville

In the early 1800’s, the Thornhill family is deported to New South Wales (Australia) where they must make a new life among despicable white settlers and the Aborigines.

Into the Wilderness...Sara Donati

Elizabeth Middleton, a well-educated spinster moves to the New York wilderness in 1792 to start a school for children.

Picture Maker...Penina Keen Spinka

Named for her ability to draw pictures which foretell the future, a Native American girl, in the 14th century, is separated from her tribe and must make her way in the world alone.

Moloka’i...Alan Brennert

When found that she has leprosy, seven year old Rachel Kalama, of Honolulu, is deported to the leper colony on the island of Moloka’i to spend the rest of her life in quarantine.

The Book Thief...Markus Zusak

Narrated by Death, this is the story of Liesel Meminger who becomes a foster child in Germany during the Nazi era.

Killer Angels...Michael Shaara

A re-creation of the Battle of Gettysburg as seen through the eyes of the warring generals.

Mr. Emerson’s Wife...Amy Belding Brown

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are loved by the same woman in this novel of passion and restraint among the Transcendentalists in the nineteenth century.

Pompeii...Robert Harris

A Roman engineer, commissioned to repair an aqueduct shadowed by Mt. Vesuvius, finds his warnings of eminent destruction are spurned by villainous public officials.

Birdsong: a novel of love and war...Sebastian Faulks

A young Englishman experiences both love with a married woman and the horror of trench warfare on the Western Front during

World War I.

Stand the Storm...Breena Clarke

The Coats family, freed slaves living in Georgetown during the mid-1800’s, struggle to make a new life for themselves as tailors.

Mary: a novel...Janis Cook Newman

Imprisoned in an insane asylum by her estranged son, the widow of Abraham Lincoln relives her tumultuous life.

Charity Girl...Michael Lowenthal

Frieda Mintz, a package wrapper at Jordan Marsh during WWII, becomes a victim of a little known campaign to imprison women who had contracted “social diseases”.

The 19th Wife...David Ebershoff

Life in a Mormon polygamous compound is told in two voices, one voice from 1875 and the other from present day.

Pope Joan: a novel ...Donna Cross

In the ninth century, when women are considered chattel, a young girl defies society and eventually makes her way to Rome.

Gatsby’s Girl...Caroline Preston

The Great Gatsby is said to be based on the 1915 romance of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his first love, Ginevra King.

Unraveling...Elizabeth Graver

In 1844, a girl of fifteen leaves her home in New Hampshire to work in the mills of Lowell, Massachusetts.

The Gift of Rain...Tan Twan Eng

Philip Hutton, half Chinese and half British, discovers his teacher and mentor is a spy for the Japanese when they invade Malaya during World War II.

In Sunlight, In a Beautiful Garden...Kathleen Cambor

In 1889, Johnstown, Pennsylvania was a playground to the rich and home to the working poor—until the flood.

The Alienist...Caleb Carr

A historical thriller set in the seamy side of New York during the Gilded Age, where a serial killer is hunted by a reporter and a groundbreaking psychologist.