Barb’s Book Reviews: Four Historical Fiction Titles For Your TBR Pile

There is nothing like a good book on a sunny summer’s day. July brought me four of them. There’s something for everyone’s reading taste in this month’s round up. (Note: Apologies in advance for any typos. I’m dashing off for some emergency babysitting.)

There is a reason Kate Quinn is a historical fiction star. She knows how to tell a story. THE BRIAR CLUB is different from her last few books. It’s more of a character study a la Olive Kitteridge.

The book opens with a dead body in a boarding house. Who’s dead? Don’t know. How’d they die? Don’t know that either.

From there, Quinn slows down the pace. Each chapter focuses on one resident and tells their story. Some of the characters are likable; Some are not. But they all have a story and it’s while telling them that Quinn drops hints regarding the bigger story. Reading it reminded me of studying a mural where there are multiple images that together, create a much larger one.

Making this book even more brilliant is how each character’s story involves an issue of the time. Thus Quinn covers the Cold War, McCarthyism, Crime, post-war immigration, motherhood, sexuality, racial discrimination, and espionage in one book.

I read THE BRIAR CLUB in one weekend and loved every minute. Recently, Quinn said her next book wouldn’t be out until 2026. I hope that she was kidding because I might have withdrawal.

THE WITCH AND THE TSAR merges the stories of Baba Yaga and Ivan the Terrible. For those who aren’t familiar with the Russian fairy tale, Baba Yaga is an ugly crone who lives in the woods and eats children. Gilmore’s version is a half-human/half-immortal who escaped to the woods upon the rise of Christianity. She’s not a crone and she doesn’t eat children. She’s a healer who has been branded a witch by a country whose people no longer believe in the old Gods.

When her childhood friend, Tsarina Anatasia, is poisoned, Yaga is forced to leave the woods and return to Moscow. She soon finds herself in the middle of a bloody conspiracy involving Ivan the Terrible, Koschei the Deathless, Goddess Marena, and the Gods of the Underworld. She also finds love and learns to embrace her whole self. 

The writer in me was in awe of Gilmore’s complex plot and how deftly she wove her fictional world into the historical timeline. I was even more impressed with the characterization. The concept of duality plays a big role in this book. As a result, every character presents two sides. Ivan is simultaneously deranged and pathetic. Yaga is both naive and fearless. Even Marena, the ultimate villain of the piece, has a sympathetic side. 

The pacing is tight, and the writing is fantastic. If you like Russian fairy tales, fantasy, or old world history, you will enjoy this book.

BACHELOR GIRL begins with Helen Winthrope witnessing the will reading of her employer, Jacob Ruppert, the millionaire owner of the New York Yankees. To her shock, she discovers that he’d bequeathed the bulk of his fortune, including 1/3 of the ball team, to her. From there, the novel travels back to 1918 to tell Helen’s story.

We learn that Helen is an aspiring actress whose life is irreparably changed following an affair with her director and that Ruppert was tangentially involved in the auto accident that killed Helen’s father a decade before. Ruppert has looked after the family ever since. It’s this sense of obligation that keeps him in Helen’s orbit. Over two decades, Helen and Ruppert’s relationship goes from one of cool politeness to something more familial. Helen becomes Ruppert’s secretary and, due to a secret in her past, resigns herself to being a spinster. That doesn’t stop her from falling for Ruppert’s other assistant, Harold Kramer, a handsome, dapper single man. Harold has a secret of his own. He’s a closeted homosexual.

In fact, everyone in Bachelor Girl has a secret. Some, like Harold, live secret lives. Others, like Ruppert and Helen have secrets in their past. While they struggle to keep their secrets buried, America fights the Great War and Ruppert builds Yankee Stadium. The story of how Ruppert built the stadium and stole Babe Ruth from the Red Sox is as interesting as the fictional parts of the novel.

The book manages to touch on many of the social and economic issues of the day. I confess that I found Harold’s story far more compelling than Helen’s. I could have read an entire book just about him and his struggles to find love.

Interestingly, van Alkemede based her story on a true fact. Ruppert really did leave his fortune to his secretary, although the true reason was never known. I enjoyed her take on the mystery.

I will admit, that when this book was first announced, I had my doubts that a book centered around the Queen’s relationship with her dogs would work. Shame on me. In THE QUEEN’S FAITHFUL COMPANION, Knight shows why she’s a rising star in historical fiction. She brings Elizabeth to life in a way that humanizes the late monarch. In some ways, it’s an origin story in that we learn why Elizabeth thought and acted the way she did in later life.  She is a woman whose life was unexpectedly turned upside down, not once but twice. First when her uncle abdicated, and again when her father died. 

(Note: Elizabeth blamed her father’s death on the unexpected stress of the monarchy – a role for which her father was unprepared. She blamed her uncle for turning his back on his duty and forcing the role upon him.) 

Knight also presents a beautiful version of the Queen’s marriage to Prince Philip.  

Elizabeth’s story is juxtaposed with that of the “Keeper of the Corgis”, a fictionalized character named Hanna. Like Elizabeth, Hanna’s life plans are also unexpectedly upside down and she must adapt to a new future.

Finally, we’re given Susan’s point of view. Susan is Elizabeth’s first corgi. I loved it. Sharing the dog’s feelings about Elizabeth and the events transpiring around her gave the book an extra level of poignancy. Props to Knight for including the dog’s POV because it worked.

This is the perfect light read for these times. I highly recommend.

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