Book Specs Author: Nguyễn Thanh Việt Publisher: Grove Press Publishing Date: 2015 Number of Pages: 382 pages Genre: Historical, Satirical Synopsis The winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, as well as five other awards, The Sympathizer is the breakthrough novel of the year. With the pace and suspense of a thriller and prose […]
Tag: Historical Fiction
Book Review # 56: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Book Specs Author: Susanna Clarke Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Publishing Date: 2009 Number of Pages: 1006 pages Genre: Historical, Alternate History, Fantasy, English Fiction Synopsis It is 1806, the Napoleonic Wars are raging, and most people believe magic to have long since disappeared from England – until the reclusive Mr. Norrell reveals his powers and […]
Book Review # 53: The Complete Persepolis
Specifications Author: Marjane Satrapi Publisher: Vintage Publishing Date: 2008 Number of Pages: 343 pages Genre: Historical, Graphic Novel, Biographical, Bildungsroman Synopsis Persepolis is the story of Satrapi’s unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a […]
Book Review # 51: The Book Thief
Book Specs Author: Markus Zusak Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Publishing Date: March 2016 Number of Pages: 550 Genre: Historical, Young Adult Synopsis “It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger finds her life changed when she unearths a single object […]
Book Review # 44: Water for Elephants
Book Specs Author: Sara Gruen Publisher: Algonquin Paperbacks Publishing Date: 2006 Number of Pages: 335 pages Genre: Historical, Romance Synopsis When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, drifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands […]
Book Review # 40: Midnight’s Children
Book Specs Author: Salman Rushdie Publisher: Penguin Books Publishing Date: 1991 Number of Pages: 533 pages Genre: Historical Fiction, Magical Realism Synopsis Born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, at the precise moment of India’s independence, the infant Saleem Sinai is celebrated in the press and welcomed by Prime Minister Nehru himself. […]
Book Review # 30: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Book Specs Author: Michael Chabon Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Publishing Date: 2000 Number of Pages: 684 Genre: Historical Synopsis A “towering, swash-buckling thrill of a book” (Newsweek), hailed as Chabon’s “magnus opus” (The New York Review of Books), The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is a triumph of originality, imagination, and storytelling. in […]
Book Review # 22: A Pale View of Hills
Book Specs Author: Kazuo Ishiguro Publisher: Vintage Books Publishing Date: 2017 Number of Pages: 183 Genre: Historical Synopsis: The highly acclaimed first novel by the author of The Remains of the Day and Never Let Go, A Pale View of Hills is the story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman, now living alone in England, dwelling […]
Book Review # 19: The Name of The Rose
Book Specs Author: Umberto Eco Translator: William Weaver Publisher: Picador Publishing Date: 1984 Number of Pages: 502 Genre: Historical, Mystery Synopsis “Franciscan friar William of Baskerville and Adso of Melk, a Benedictine novice travelling under his protection, arrive at a Benedictine monastery in Northern Italy to attend a theological disputation. Upon their coming, the monastery is […]
Book Review # 18: The Pillars of the Earth
Book Specs Author: Ken Follett Publisher: Signet Novel Publishing Date: August 1990 Number of Pages: 983 Genre: Historical Synopsis As a new age dawns in England’s twelfth century, the building of a mighty Gothic cathedral sets the stage for a story of intrigue and power, revenge and betrayal. It is in this rich tapestry, where […]
