Category Archives: Historical Fiction

The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye

The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye

The year is 1921, and “Nobody” Alice James is on a cross-country train, carrying a bullet wound and fleeing for her life following an illicit drug and liquor deal gone horribly wrong. Desperate to get as far away as possible from New York City and those who want her dead, she has her sights set on Oregon: a distant frontier that seems the end of the line. She befriends Max, a black Pullman porter who reminds her achingly of Harlem, who leads Alice to the Paragon Hotel upon arrival in Portland. Her unlikely sanctuary turns out to be the only all-black hotel in the city, and its lodgers seem unduly terrified of a white woman on the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism, racial slurs & white supremacy
  • Misgendering
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Murder & gun violence
  • Lynching
  • Organised crime
  • Animal death & cruelty

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

Like the heroine of the novel she adores, Jane Steele suffers cruelly at the hands of her aunt and schoolmaster. And like Jane Eyre, they call her wicked – but in her case, she fears the accusation is true. When she flees, she leaves behind the corpses of her tormentors. A fugitive navigating London’s underbelly, Jane rights wrongs on behalf of the have-nots whilst avoiding the noose. Until an advertisement catches her eye. Her aunt has died and the new master at Highgate House, Mr Thornfield, seeks a governess. Anxious to know if she is Highgate’s true heir, Jane… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Domestic violence & child abuse
  • Drug & alcohol abuse
  • Miscarriage
  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • War themes

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

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The Fatal Flame by Lyndsay Faye

The Fatal Flame by Lyndsay Faye

No one in 1840s New York likes fires, copper star Timothy Wilde least of all. After a blaze killed his parents and another left him with a terrible scar, he has avoided flames of all kinds. So when a seamstress turned arsonist threatens Robert Symmes, a corrupt tycoon high in the Tammany Hall ranks, Timothy isn’t thrilled that Symmes consults him. His dismay escalates when his audacious and charismatic older brother, Valentine, himself deeply politically entrenched, decides to run against the incumbent, who they suspect is guilty of assault and far darker crimes. Immediately after his brother’s courageous declaration… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Burn scars mentioned
  • Murder & torture
  • Fire

The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye

The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye

August 1845 in New York; enter the dark, unforgiving city underworld of the legendary Five Points. After a fire decimates a swathe of lower Manhattan, and following years of passionate political dispute, New York City at long last forms an official Police Department. That same summer, the great potato famine hits Ireland. These events will change the city of New York for ever. Timothy Wilde hadn’t wanted to be a copper star. On the night of August 21st, on his way home from the Tombs defeated and disgusted, he is plotting his resignation, when a young girl who has escaped from a nearby brothel, crashes into him; she… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Religious discrimination (anti-Catholic rhetoric in relation to anti-Irish sentiment)
  • Underage sex work (implied)
  • Burn scars mentioned

A Treacherous Curse byDeanna Raybourn

A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn

London, 1888. As colourful and unfettered as the butterflies she collects, Victorian adventuress Veronica Speedwell can’t resist the allure of an exotic mystery—particularly one involving her enigmatic colleague, Stoker. His former expedition partner has vanished from an archaeological dig with a priceless diadem unearthed from the newly discovered tomb of an Egyptian princess. This disappearance is just the latest in a string of unfortunate events that have plagued the controversial expedition, and rumours abound that the curse of the vengeful princess has been… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Racism
  • Antiziganism
  • Misogyny
  • Slut-shaming
  • Cheating recounted
  • Suicide, on-page
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Mild blood depiction & serious physical injuries
  • Death of a husband & father
  • Murder by poison
  • Attempted murder by fire
  • Gun violence
  • Disappearance
  • Hostage situation
  • Bullying
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Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

These ominous words are the last threat that Sir Edward Grey receives from his killer. Before he can show them to Nicholas Brisbane, the private inquiry agent he has retained for his protection, he collapses and dies at his London home, in the presence of his wife, Julia, and a roomful of dinner guests. Prepared to accept that Edward’s death was due to a long-standing physical infirmity, Julia is outraged when Brisbane visits and suggests that her husband was murdered. It is a reaction she comes to regret when she discovers damning evidence for herself and realizes… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Antisemitism
  • Homomisia
  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Antiziganism
  • Cheating
  • Attempted suicide mentioned
  • Abortion mentioned
  • Murder
  • Arson
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A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn

A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn

London, 1887. At the Curiosity Club, a ladies-only establishment for daring and intrepid women, Victorian adventuress Veronica Speedwell meets the mysterious Lady Sundridge, who begs her to take on an impossible task–saving society art patron Miles Ramsforth from execution. Ramsforth, accused of the brutal murder of his mistress, Artemisia, will face the hangman’s noose in a week’s time if the real killer is not found. But Lady Sundridge is not all that she seems, and unmasking her true identity is only the first of many secrets Veronica must uncover. Together with her natural… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Racism mentioned
  • Homomisia mentioned
  • Cheating discussed
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Infertility & miscarriage mentioned
  • Death of a sister in childbirth mentioned
  • Mild blood & injury depiction
  • Exsanguination
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence
  • False incarceration
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A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn

A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn

Victorian adventuress Veronica Speedwell is whisked off to a remote island off the tip of Cornwall when her natural historian colleague Stoker’s brother calls in a favour. On the pretext of wanting a companion to accompany him to Lord Malcolm Romilly’s house party, Tiberius persuades Veronica to pose as his fiancée—much to Stoker’s chagrin. But upon arriving, it becomes clear that the party is not as innocent as it had seemed. Every invited guest has a connection to Romilly’s wife, Rosamund, who disappeared on her wedding day three years ago, and a dramatic dinner proves … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Antiziganism (g slur)
  • Misogyny
  • Slut-shaming
  • Cheating recounted
  • Domestic abuse recounted
  • Suicide discussed
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Dead bodies
  • Death during childbirth recounted
  • Death of a wife recounted
  • Death of a child recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder, including the murder of a pregnant woman
  • Gun violence
  • Hostage situation
  • Near-drowning incident
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Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule. To commemorate their Great Victory, Hitler and Emperor Hirohito host the Axis Tour: an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents. The victor is awarded an audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor’s Ball in Tokyo. Yael, a former death camp prisoner, has witnessed too much suffering, and the five wolves tattooed on her arm are a constant reminder of the loved ones she lost. The resistance has given Yael one goal: Win the…Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Antisemitism
  • Murder
  • War themes

Fear by KA Merikan

Fear by K.A. Merikan

London, 1907, twenty years into the zombie plague. Reuben is a baker living in the slums of London, sharing a room with his father and an extended family of cockroaches. Poor, uneducated, and repressing all his sexual desires, he leads a life of misery, only sometimes sprinkled with gin and a rough tumble in a filthy back alley. But when he is abducted into Bylondon to be the slave of a wealthy crime family member named Erik Dal, his values are put to the test. His new master is obsessed with all things equestrian, and Reuben soon learns that if he obeys and performs well… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Rape
  • Sexual assault
  • Kidnapping
  • Poverty