The season is beginning to wind down and perhaps you're still searching for that summer reading "blockbuster" to get lost in. These works of historical fiction could be just what you're looking for.
The life of Mercy Lavinia "Vinnie" Bump is explored in the fictional account, The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb, by Melanie Benjamin. The story follows Vinnie, who was only 32 inches tall, through her childhood in Massachusetts, her early career as a performer on a Mississippi riverboat and her experiences working for the showman, P.T. Barnum, as the wife of Charles Stratton, Mr. Tom Thumb. Kamala Nair's, debut novel, The Girl in the Garden, is the story of a young Indian woman, Rakhee Singh, whose approaching wedding compels her to face a family mystery she has been avoiding for years. She recounts the tale to her fiance of a summer visit, when she turned 11, to her ancestral home in India and discovered a mysterious garden in the jungle behind her grandmother's estate. Entrance to the walled plot is forbidden to children, but Rakhee disobeys this rule and discovers the garden holds the key to her family's secrets. Manhattan, at the end of the Jazz Age, is the setting for Amor Towles', Rules of Civility. Towles chronicles the escapades of secretary, Katey Kontent, after she meets a Wall Street banker and enters the glamorous high society of New York just before it all comes crashing down. And don't forget, The American Heiress, by Daisy Goodwin, which I mentioned in an earlier post about love stories.
The cicadas are still singing - summer isn't over yet!
1 comment:
I love a good historical novel! One of my personal favorites is "The Crimson Petal and the White" by Michel Faber. It vividly describes Victorian London, and covers all levels of society, from gritty details about the life of a prostitute to the posh upper classes. And it's terrifically well-written!
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