The Restless Crucible by Yaw Agawu-Kakraba is an enthralling tale that unfolds across West Africa, Brazil, and Europe (briefly). It introduces readers to the complex life of Pedro de Barbosa, an Afro-Brazilian man and former slave whose opportunistic nature leads him to become a renowned...

The Faithful Ones by Kathleen J. Waites takes place during World War II. The story primarily revolves around Edward F. Hohlfeld, a young Catholic man from a working-class neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He loves art, particularly sketching and painting, and has a younger sister, Mary....

The Supersonic Phallus by Steven Key Meyers is a captivating exploration of post-war America, blending historical events with intrigue. Set in 1947, the novel follows Sam, a young journalist in Sinai, Colorado, as he navigates the hysteria surrounding flying saucers, the pressures of small-town life,...

In Sharon Gloger Friedman’s The Other Emma, Rose Litkin was taken to the Children’s Aid Society and placed in the Girls’ Lodging House. After two years, Lucien Boyesten adopted Rose to be a sister and companion for his ten-year-old daughter, Emma. Emma taunted Rose with...

The Bulls of Bashan by Jodi Lea Stewart unfolds in 1953 around Savannah, a waitress working in a diner in a small Texas town. Savannah's uncomplicated life is about to take a drastic turn. She is recruited as a member of a covert team tasked...

The Fish Pond Legacy by Steve Lindahl is a blend of slow-burn romance, family drama, and an exploration of morality and redemption. Set against the backdrop of Lake Hopatcong and its historical Bertrand Island Amusement Park, the novel weaves a multi-generational tale of love, loss,...

In The Rabbi’s Suitcase, Robert Kehlmann vividly combines family history with historical facts in a cohesive and emotionally resonant narrative that anchors history in personal experience. Beginning with the family’s migration from Eastern Europe to Jerusalem in the 1880s, he depicts their struggle to preserve...

David Loux’s historical novel, The Lost Seigneur, is a gritty, gripping, and engrossing saga of the Laux family set in early 18th-century colonial America and France. This is a sequel to the first novel, Chateaux Laux, in the Chateau Laux Odyssey. I was able to...

The Standing Stone on the Moor is the fourth book by Allie Cresswell in the acclaimed Talbot Saga, and while the series is not published in chronological order, my best effort in the lead-up begins with The House in the Hollow, where Jocelyn Talbot rejects...

The Olive Grove by Deborah Rohan is a sweeping historical novel that tells the story of one Palestinian family’s journey through love, loss, and displacement across the twentieth century. Hamzi Moghrabi is a young boy growing up in the coastal city of Akka in 1913,...