Category Archives: Historical Fiction

The Secret Life of Bees by James Dashner

The Secret Life of Bees by James Dashner

Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily’s fierce-hearted black “stand-in mother,” Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina–a town that holds the secret to her mother’s past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Suicide

Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten 

Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten

St. Petersburg, 1725. Peter the Great lies dying in his magnificent Winter Palace. The weakness and treachery of his only son has driven his father to an appalling act of cruelty and left the empire without an heir. Russia risks falling into chaos. Into the void steps the woman who has been by his side for decades: his second wife, Catherine Alexeyevna, as ambitious, ruthless and passionate as Peter himself.

Born into devastating poverty, Catherine used her extraordinary beauty and shrewd intelligence to ingratiate herself with Peter’s powerful generals, finally seducing the Tsar himself. But even amongst the splendor and opulence of her new life—the lavish feasts, glittering jewels, and candle-lit hours in Peter’s bedchamber—she knows the peril of her position…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape, on-page
  • Domestic abuse
  • Death of a child
  • Torture
  • Animal cruelty

Bitter Eden by Tatamkhulu Afrika

Bitter Eden by Tatamkhulu Afrika

This frank and beautifully written novel draws heavily on the author’s World War II experiences as a captive in North Africa and a prisoner of war in Italy and Germany. Three men who see themselves as “straight” must negotiate the emotions that are brought to the surface by the physical closeness of survival in the male-only camps. The complex rituals of camp life and the strange loyalties and deep bonds between the men are compellingly depicted in this tender, bitter, powerful tale of lives inexorably changed and a war whose ending does not bring peace. 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Child sexual abuse, implied

Radar Girls by Sara Ackerman

Radar Girls by Sara Ackerman

Daisy Wilder prefers the company of horses to people, bare feet and salt water to high heels and society parties. Then, in the dizzying aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Daisy enlists in a top secret program, replacing male soldiers in a war zone for the first time.

Under fear of imminent invasion, the WARDs guide pilots into blacked-out airstrips and track unidentified planes across Pacific skies. But not everyone thinks the women are up to the job, and the new recruits must rise above their differences and work side by side despite the resistance and heartache they meet along the way. 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Sexism
  • World War Two

Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa

Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa

As Nahr sits, locked away in solitary confinement, she spends her days reflecting on the dramatic events that landed her in prison in a country she barely knows. Born in Kuwait in the 70s to Palestinian refugees, she dreamed of falling in love with the perfect man, raising children, and possibly opening her own beauty salon. Instead, the man she thinks she loves jilts her after a brief marriage, her family teeters on the brink of poverty, she’s forced to prostitute herself, and the US invasion of Iraq makes her a refugee, as her parents had been. After trekking through another temporary home in Jordan, she lands in Palestine, where she finally makes a home, falls in love, and her destiny unfolds under Israeli occupation.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape
  • Gang rape
  • Sex work
  • Abortion
  • Death of a father
  • Torture

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

Cover of Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

It is 1981. Glasgow is dying and good families must grift to survive. Agnes Bain has always expected more from life. She dreams of greater things: a house with its own front door and a life bought and paid for outright (like her perfect, but false, teeth). But Agnes is abandoned by her philandering husband, and soon she and her three children find themselves trapped in a decimated mining town. As she descends deeper into drink, the children try their best to save her, yet one by one they must abandon her to save themselves. It is her son Shuggie who holds out hope the longest… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia
  • Rape, paedophilia & child sexual abuse
  • Physical & emotional child abuse
  • Domestic abuse
  • Alcoholism
  • Infidelity
  • Death of a parent

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

 It is 1974 and the summer of love is finally drawing to a close. Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the secondary school social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the ‘coolest girl in the world’, Tully Hart – the girl all the boys want to know – moves in across the street and wants to be her best friend. Tully and Kate by summer’s end they made a pact to be ‘best friends forever’.

For thirty years Tully and Kate buoy each other through life. Tully will follow her ambition to find fame and success. Kate knows that all she wants is to fall in love and have a family. What she doesn’t know is how being a wife and a mother will change her. They think they’ve survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart. But when tragedy strikes, can the bonds of friendship survive?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape
  • Drug use
  • Miscarriage
  • Cancer
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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid book cover

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. When she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated. Regardless of why Evelyn has chosen her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career. Summoned to Evelyn’s Upper East… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Bimisia
  • Homomisia
  • Lesbomisia
  • Forced outing
  • Paedophilia
  • Rape & statutory rape
  • Sexual assault & harassment
  • Child abuse
  • Domestic abuse
  • Cheating
  • Alcoholism, secondary character
  • Drug use
  • Suicide & suicidal ideation
  • Abortion
  • Miscarriage mentioned
  • Physical injury
  • Hospitalisation
  • Terminal breast cancer
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a partner
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of parents in a car accident
  • Blackmail
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Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Tolstoy’s epic novel of love, destiny and self-destruction, Anna Karenina seems to have everything – beauty, wealth, popularity and an adored son. But she feels that her life is empty until the moment she encounters the impetuous officer Count Vronsky. Their subsequent affair scandalizes society and family alike and soon brings jealously and bitterness in its wake. Contrasting with this tale of love and self-destruction is the vividly observed story of Levin, a man striving to find contentment and a meaning to his life – and also a self-portrait of Tolstoy himself.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical misogyny
  • Infidelity
  • Suicide, suicidal ideation & attempted suicide

A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis book cover

Grace Mae knows madness. She keeps it locked away, along with her voice, trapped deep inside a brilliant mind that cannot forget horrific family secrets. Those secrets, along with the bulge in her belly, land her in a Boston insane asylum.

When her voice returns in a burst of violence, Grace is banished to the dark cellars, where her mind is discovered by a visiting doctor who dabbles in the new study of criminal psychology. With her keen eyes and sharp memory… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism
  • Paedophilia & child sexual assault
  • Physical & emotional child abuse
  • Depression
  • Attempted suicide
  • Psychiatric hospital
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