Category Archives: Historical Fiction

Natchez Burning by Greg Iles

Posted on June 20, 2014 by bseat

” Nothing frightens me more than the faith in my daughter’s eyes. How many men deserve that kind of trust? One by one, the mentors I’ve most admired eventually revealed their facades, and tired feet of clay-or worse. But not … Continue reading →

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The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

Posted on May 9, 2014 by bseat

In 72 CE, 900 Jews sought refuge on the top of an ancient Herodian fort called Masada to escape from Roman persecution and the desecration of their temple in Jerusalem.  In the ensuing months these refugees would hold out against … Continue reading →

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The Son by Phillip Meyer

Posted on April 25, 2014 by bseat

This is a sweeping saga of the rise and ebbing fortunes of a Texas family who through sheer grit and ruthless tenacity create an empire but seem to lose their souls in the process. In 1849 Eli McCullough is captured … Continue reading →

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The Wind Is Not A River by Brian Payton

Posted on March 14, 2014 by bseat

On June 6, 1942 the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska and occupied the islands of Adak and Kiska.  This little known military encounter during WWII becomes the backdrop of Payton’s novel of devotion between a … Continue reading →

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A True Novel by Minae Mizumura, Translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter

Posted on February 14, 2014 by bseat

How do I describe this novel? It haunts me in ways that I find hard to articulate and even understand.  I picked this book up first, because it was about postwar Japan and secondly, it was about star crossed lovers-a … Continue reading →

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Lost City Radio by Daniel Alarcon

Posted on January 31, 2014 by bseat

In an unnamed country in South America, struggling to heal after a civil war that seemed endless, a radio program called Lost City Radio gathers the nation together once a day.  It is hosted by Norma whose voice both eloquent … Continue reading →

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The River of No Return by Bee Ridgeway

Posted on January 24, 2014 by bseat

Lord Nick Falcott an English aristocrat of the nineteenth century wakes up in the twenty-first century in a hospital bed surrounded by people he doesn’t know.  The last thing he remembers is fighting in Wellington’s army in Salamanca, knowing that … Continue reading →

Posted in Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Series | Tagged , | 1 Comment

1356 by Bernard Cornwell

Posted on December 20, 2013 by bseat

It is 1356 in France.  The Black Prince, the heir to the throne of England, is wreaking havoc with his army over the French countryside, destroying crops and villages with impunity.  The French king, King Jean II, is running out … Continue reading →

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A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

Posted on November 8, 2013 by bseat

I love it when books begin with a warning as this one does: “this series will contain frozen mountains, foetid swamps, hostile foreigners, hostile fellow countrymen, the occasional hostile family member, bad decisions, misadventures in orienteering, diseases of an unromantic … Continue reading →

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The Company by Robert Littell

Posted on November 1, 2013 by bseat

It is December 31, 1950, in East Berlin. Jack McAuliffe, along with several other more seasoned operatives from the CIA are waiting for a defector to show up. When the high ranking Russian intelligence officer appears he says that he … Continue reading →

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