Best Historical Fiction

  Lazar is based on the true story of Hungarian aristocratic family which experiences many loses due to the wars and revolution. It is a deeply touching story giving a front row to what it meant to be born into privilege, and then stripped of it. Early 20th century, Hungary. Maria, who is married to Sandor Lazar, gives birth to Lajos who bears more resemblance to the stagehand, who dies a couple weeks earlier, than to his family. Only the mother feels a strong connection with the baby boy. The others look down on him. The story follows the decades of family saga. The father’s harsh treatment of the son and more lenient treatment of the daughter. All this is set against the backdrop of the Monarchy dissolving and with it the Lazar’s family estate. As the war comes to an end, and Lajos returns home from the boarding school, he finds his father lying drunken on a carpet – the man he had been frighten his whole life. The father, affected by different events, finds himself lost in life,...

  Margery and Me is based on the true story of Margery Crandon, medium, who captivated Boston society and psychic researchers with her astonishing séances in 1920s. But there was one man, the famous magician Harry Houdini, who was determined to expose all mediums as fraud. The story begins with Walter, Margery’s brother, relating the story. They grew up on a farm with a father who was a tyrant and mother who did nothing to soften the environment. As soon as Walter finished his compulsory school, he tried his luck in the city of Buffalo. As soon as Margery was seventeen, she escaped the farm life as well. She made her way to Boston, where after five years working for a pastor, she was introduced to a member of the congregation and accepted his proposal. Walter’s life gets cut short when he is crashed by derailed boxcar at twenty eight. Margery didn’t have enough time to morn her brother as her husband was expecting her to do his bidding in every way. Even though she knew it wa...