2024 - Our Historical Fiction Adventures
CharlasHistorical Fiction
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1rocketjk
My first novel of historical fiction in 2024 is The Manor by Isaac Bashevis Singer. We are in Poland in the later decades of the 19th century. The novel begins just after an 1863 uprising by the Polish nobility against what had become ongoing Russian rule has ended in humiliating disaster. With this nationalist movement quashed, Poland instead turns to business, and the modern world begins seeping into Poland: mines, factories, railroads begin appearing. For Poland's Jews, the period is one of liberalism. In the town of Jampol, one of the insurrectionists, Count Wladislaw Jampolski, has been banished to Siberia, and a Jew, Calman Jacoby, has managed to win the right to lease the count's large landholding and manor house. He judiciously allows the count's family to continue living in the manor house, in order to avoid offending the local Poles, and he begins making money growing and selling crops on the land and, in particular, selling timber to be used as railroad ties. So begins our tale, with Colman at the center of what becomes a whirlwind of cultural and religious change and the personal crises and moral choices, both good and bad, of an expanding group of characters.
Calman himself is an observant Jew. He expects his children to stay within that community and some do. But the Jewish community as a whole does not stand apart from the modernism taking hold in Poland, and Calman, to his woe, as lived to see a growing divide among Poland's Jews: those who demand adherence to the old ways, and those who look westward with approval at the assimilation of the Jews of France, Germany and elsewhere. To them, the exotic, "Asiatic" dress, the standing apart from Polish society as a whole, is a self-defeating lifestyle of superstition, destined to bring down further antisemitism on all of their heads. To the traditionalists, antisemitism is a constant, sure to come in future waves however they're dressed and however they worship. Faith in God and loyalty to the commandments is the only path. Calman's children, as they grow to adulthood, more or less split down the middle of this divide. One of his daughters goes so far as to run off with the count's son. But the world of the Polish nobility is on no more solid ground than the world of the Hassids. In the meantime, socialism, Zionism, nihilism, anarchism and more are debated and sometimes adopted. The roles of women in this world are changing as well. Although this topic is not made specific, the limitations faced by The Manor's female characters, and the extremely unsatisfactory choices they're forced into, become an undeniable theme of the novel.
I don't want to give the idea that Singer's presentation here is devoid of sympathy and even love for the ways and tribulations of the observant Jews. Indeed, his portrayal is lace strongly with affection and understanding. All in all, highly recommended.
Calman himself is an observant Jew. He expects his children to stay within that community and some do. But the Jewish community as a whole does not stand apart from the modernism taking hold in Poland, and Calman, to his woe, as lived to see a growing divide among Poland's Jews: those who demand adherence to the old ways, and those who look westward with approval at the assimilation of the Jews of France, Germany and elsewhere. To them, the exotic, "Asiatic" dress, the standing apart from Polish society as a whole, is a self-defeating lifestyle of superstition, destined to bring down further antisemitism on all of their heads. To the traditionalists, antisemitism is a constant, sure to come in future waves however they're dressed and however they worship. Faith in God and loyalty to the commandments is the only path. Calman's children, as they grow to adulthood, more or less split down the middle of this divide. One of his daughters goes so far as to run off with the count's son. But the world of the Polish nobility is on no more solid ground than the world of the Hassids. In the meantime, socialism, Zionism, nihilism, anarchism and more are debated and sometimes adopted. The roles of women in this world are changing as well. Although this topic is not made specific, the limitations faced by The Manor's female characters, and the extremely unsatisfactory choices they're forced into, become an undeniable theme of the novel.
I don't want to give the idea that Singer's presentation here is devoid of sympathy and even love for the ways and tribulations of the observant Jews. Indeed, his portrayal is lace strongly with affection and understanding. All in all, highly recommended.
2rocketjk
I recently finished The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff. A young indentured servant with the regrettable name of Lamentations (more commonly known as Zed) has been brought against her will to early-days colonial Massachusetts. Filled with grief over the death of the young, mentally challenged daughter of "her" family who has been Zed's main charge, and wanting to leave behind her the famine and disease that is afflicting the colony and the cruelty that is her daily lot, one night she slips through a hole in the colony's stockade walls and escapes into the forrest. Her goal is to walk north for as long as she must until she reaches the territory where she will find the French, who she hopes will be kinder than the English.
The novel proceeds from there as an adventure of survival and a reverie on nature and God and memory, as well as innocence and guilt. As we are taken through Zed's daily and hourly struggle for survival, and her awe at the natural world she finds around her, for the most part we sail along (or at least I did) with admiration for Groff's imagination and powers of natural description.
The novel proceeds from there as an adventure of survival and a reverie on nature and God and memory, as well as innocence and guilt. As we are taken through Zed's daily and hourly struggle for survival, and her awe at the natural world she finds around her, for the most part we sail along (or at least I did) with admiration for Groff's imagination and powers of natural description.
3rocketjk
I finished and enjoyed Inheritance by Lan Samantha Chang.
Inheritance is a novel that takes us through three generations of a Chinese family, from the beginning of the 20th century up through the late-1980s. The narrative takes us through the Chinese Revolution of 1911 through the gathering threat of Japanese imperialism, the Japanese invasion and occupation, the Chinese Civil War and the calamity (from the point of view of our protagonists) of the Communist victory and the family's exile to Taiwan. The focus is primarily on the women of the family, told often through the point of view of Hong, the daughter of narrative's central figure, Junan. Although narrative is often in the third person, we understand that the perspective is Hong's and that she is relating the family history as it has been told to her or as she has pieced it together or sometimes even conjectured. This somewhat shifting narrative strategy I found to be largely effective. And as importantly, or perhaps even more importantly as the historical events the family lives through, and are often drastically effected by, the novel takes us through a near-century of shifting and evolving attitudes and expectations of the roles and duties of women in Chinese society, from Hong's grandmother, who had spent 6 years with her feet bound before "the practice went out of fashion," to Hong's adulthood as a professional woman in the United States.
I found Inheritance very much worth reading, offering an interesting (if necessarily limited in focus) picture of Chinese society during extremely turbulent times, with memorable characters throughout. As a first novel, I'd say it's admirable indeed, and I will be keeping an eye out for Chang's subsequent works.
Inheritance is a novel that takes us through three generations of a Chinese family, from the beginning of the 20th century up through the late-1980s. The narrative takes us through the Chinese Revolution of 1911 through the gathering threat of Japanese imperialism, the Japanese invasion and occupation, the Chinese Civil War and the calamity (from the point of view of our protagonists) of the Communist victory and the family's exile to Taiwan. The focus is primarily on the women of the family, told often through the point of view of Hong, the daughter of narrative's central figure, Junan. Although narrative is often in the third person, we understand that the perspective is Hong's and that she is relating the family history as it has been told to her or as she has pieced it together or sometimes even conjectured. This somewhat shifting narrative strategy I found to be largely effective. And as importantly, or perhaps even more importantly as the historical events the family lives through, and are often drastically effected by, the novel takes us through a near-century of shifting and evolving attitudes and expectations of the roles and duties of women in Chinese society, from Hong's grandmother, who had spent 6 years with her feet bound before "the practice went out of fashion," to Hong's adulthood as a professional woman in the United States.
I found Inheritance very much worth reading, offering an interesting (if necessarily limited in focus) picture of Chinese society during extremely turbulent times, with memorable characters throughout. As a first novel, I'd say it's admirable indeed, and I will be keeping an eye out for Chang's subsequent works.
4gmathis
Working my way through The Paris Secret, which hops back and forth between WWII and contemporary (2012) England/Australia. The historical bits feature a female air transport pilot and a special ops agent who later became a model for Christian Dior--very thoroughly researched and convincingly written.
5Tess_W
My historical reads thus far in 2024
Come into my Cave by Linda Hardy This was a prehistoric novel that centered on a young boy and his scandalous idea overwintering in a cave instead of making the long arduous trip south. His "people" did not live in caves as it was the abode of animals. In this particular cave, an alusia is seen tending to her babies. The description makes this animal seem as if it is a small dinosaur. I did a quick search of Google and I can't find such an animal. An integral component of the plot is who is more dangerous: man or animal? I feel as if this book might be a YA book, however there is no indication that is the case. I picked this up at a Friends of the Library sale for 10 cents--and it was worth that and no more! 104 pages 3 stars
What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman This was the story of Clare, committed at age 18 to an asylum for the insane by her father for rebellion. This was the 1920's and women had very few rights. She spent all of her life institutionalized in brutal conditions. This was a work of fiction, but very realistic from the non-fiction that I have read on the same subject matter. I listened to this on audio and it distracted from the story as the reader was overly dramatic, breathless in every sentence. There was a dual timeline, which was totally unnecessary, dealing with teenage angst, for the most part.
The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliffe The action picks up when Rome decides to leave Great Britain. Without Roman "protection", Britain is ripe for invasion. The protagonist of the story, Aquila, a member of the Legion, deserts, and he and his family decide to stay behind. The remainder of the book tells of Aquila's trials and tribulations in repelling the Saxons. I found Aquila not to be a really likeable person, but that is neither here nor there as far as the story goes. "We are the Lantern Bearers, my friend; for us to keep something burning, to carry what light we can forward into the darkness and the wind" This is a book written for YA's. However, teaching YA's, I can tell you that in no way, at least for the current majority, would YA's have an interest in or be able to understand this book's place in history. I enjoyed this book and in the future, on one of my buying "sprees", will look for the other books in this series. 240 pages 3.5 stars
Stonehenge by Bernard Cornwell is a 497 page novel about the building of Stonehenge. IMHO, it was more about the actual transport of said stones, which is conjecture, and paganism than anything else. I was not impressed. I have read better concerning Stonehenge, but I can't put my finger on the title or author. I read Cornwell's Last Kingdom and loved it. Stonehenge, with it's plethora of minor characters that I could not keep up with, not so much. 497 pages 3 (barely)
To Try Men's Souls by Newt Gingrich. This was a book that explored four main facets of American's War for Independence: 1) Washington Crossing the Delaware 2) Thomas Paine's contributions 3) Brutal conditions suffered by American Troops 4) Hessian involvement. If you are wanting blow by blow battle scenes, this book is not for you. There are few battles. The book focuses more on the conditions under which America's troops labored; and they were brutal, more so than I had realized. I was leery of reading this book because I had to read some of the author's position papers for a class I took, and I was not a fan! That being said, this book is top notch, IMHO. I'm going to seek out his next, Valley Forge: George Washington and the Crucible of Victory. 345 pages 5 stars
Come into my Cave by Linda Hardy This was a prehistoric novel that centered on a young boy and his scandalous idea overwintering in a cave instead of making the long arduous trip south. His "people" did not live in caves as it was the abode of animals. In this particular cave, an alusia is seen tending to her babies. The description makes this animal seem as if it is a small dinosaur. I did a quick search of Google and I can't find such an animal. An integral component of the plot is who is more dangerous: man or animal? I feel as if this book might be a YA book, however there is no indication that is the case. I picked this up at a Friends of the Library sale for 10 cents--and it was worth that and no more! 104 pages 3 stars
What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman This was the story of Clare, committed at age 18 to an asylum for the insane by her father for rebellion. This was the 1920's and women had very few rights. She spent all of her life institutionalized in brutal conditions. This was a work of fiction, but very realistic from the non-fiction that I have read on the same subject matter. I listened to this on audio and it distracted from the story as the reader was overly dramatic, breathless in every sentence. There was a dual timeline, which was totally unnecessary, dealing with teenage angst, for the most part.
The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliffe The action picks up when Rome decides to leave Great Britain. Without Roman "protection", Britain is ripe for invasion. The protagonist of the story, Aquila, a member of the Legion, deserts, and he and his family decide to stay behind. The remainder of the book tells of Aquila's trials and tribulations in repelling the Saxons. I found Aquila not to be a really likeable person, but that is neither here nor there as far as the story goes. "We are the Lantern Bearers, my friend; for us to keep something burning, to carry what light we can forward into the darkness and the wind" This is a book written for YA's. However, teaching YA's, I can tell you that in no way, at least for the current majority, would YA's have an interest in or be able to understand this book's place in history. I enjoyed this book and in the future, on one of my buying "sprees", will look for the other books in this series. 240 pages 3.5 stars
Stonehenge by Bernard Cornwell is a 497 page novel about the building of Stonehenge. IMHO, it was more about the actual transport of said stones, which is conjecture, and paganism than anything else. I was not impressed. I have read better concerning Stonehenge, but I can't put my finger on the title or author. I read Cornwell's Last Kingdom and loved it. Stonehenge, with it's plethora of minor characters that I could not keep up with, not so much. 497 pages 3 (barely)
To Try Men's Souls by Newt Gingrich. This was a book that explored four main facets of American's War for Independence: 1) Washington Crossing the Delaware 2) Thomas Paine's contributions 3) Brutal conditions suffered by American Troops 4) Hessian involvement. If you are wanting blow by blow battle scenes, this book is not for you. There are few battles. The book focuses more on the conditions under which America's troops labored; and they were brutal, more so than I had realized. I was leery of reading this book because I had to read some of the author's position papers for a class I took, and I was not a fan! That being said, this book is top notch, IMHO. I'm going to seek out his next, Valley Forge: George Washington and the Crucible of Victory. 345 pages 5 stars
6rocketjk
I recently finished The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr. This beautiful, painful, heartbreaking novel about the spiritual and physical lives of the members of an enslaved community on a Mississippi cotton plantation in the 1830s was shortlisted for the National Book Award in 2021. The story revolves around the love between Samuel and Isaiah, enslaved men who have grown together from boyhood and who have long worked together, mostly isolated from the rest of the community, in the plantation's barn, taking care of the animals and doing the many attendant chores and growing physically strong in the process. Mostly, the other enslaved folks consider Samuel and Isiah's relationship to be benign, referring to them as Those Two and either leaving them be or considering them friends. In a flashback to their ancestors' lives in Africa, we see that such relationships were not considered in the least remarkable. But the two men, and particularly Samuel, have stubborn streaks, and quietly refuse to follow the plantation owner's directive to help him breed more slaves. The narrative revolves around this tension, but within the context of the entire enslaved community, as the inner lives of many of the people here are brought vividly alive.
7MissWatson
I walked through France with Jack Aubrey disguised as a bear after the Peace of Amiens ended in Post Captain. One of my favourite series.
