Best Historical Fiction

 Alma Maria Schindler (1879-1964) was a Viennese-born composer. She was musically active from her early years, only to have it suppressed by a famous composer and one of the leading conductors of the time, and later her husband Gustav Mahler. She composed at least 17 songs, which are actively performed and recorded. According to her diary, she composed over 100 songs, but it is unknown if maybe they were destroyed during WWII, when she was fleeing Austria for US. 1899, Vienna, Austria. This story starts with Alma at the age of 19, when she dreams about composing an opera – something no woman had ever done. Her stepfather, Carl Moll, was the Secession’s vice president. The Vienna Secession art movement was the best-known and included Gustav Klimt, Max Klinger, and Fernand Khnopff. This was her stepfather’s circle, artists of unique style, who broke from tradition. And this is how she got to know Gustav Klimt, 37 at the time, who becomes her first love. When Alma’s stepfather refus...

 This book is based on a true story of one of the first American pioneers passing the Sierra Nevada Mountain range to reach California. “In early November, 1846, the Donner Party found the route blocked by snow and was forced to spend the winter on the east side of the mountains. Of the 81 settlers, only 45 survived to reach California, some of them resorting to cannibalism to survive.” 1846 Cincinnati, this story starts with a 15 year old heroine, who escapes her abusive father and trails along with hundreds of wagons heading to California; as people are lured by the stories of riches, good land with beautiful landscape and blue cloudless sky. The journey takes them through the low and high lands, and the Great Salt Desert. Nothing is as promised. What is supposed to take a day, takes days. They “loose animals along the way, on the mountains and in the desert, and now everyone lost more to the Indians.” When they reach the east side of Sierra Nevada mountain range, they split in...

 This story is set during the first two years of the Civil War (1861-1862). The historical details of the Civil War are enriched by the facts of how inadequate medicine was at the time. Mary Sutter, 21, is a midwife in Albany, NY. She petitions to be admitted to the Albany Medical College, but is rejected, only because she is a woman. She asks a local surgeon, James Blevens, to train her as she dreams of being a surgeon, but response is the same. She can’t be a surgeon as a woman. In Washington City, Dorothea Dix convinces President Lincoln to hire women as nurses for the Union Army. Mary reads an ad in newspaper about the need for female nurses. She makes her way to Washington City and gets a position doing whatever is needed at the Union Hotel converted into a hospital. She is prepared to do whatever it takes to be a surgeon. But what she is not prepared for is to witness how inadequate surgery is. How barbaric it is.  The same thoughts cloud over surgeon William Stipp. Ba...

 Shira of Ashkenaz is a fictional character. She tells the story of a famous Rabbi Meir ben Baruch of 13th century, “who spent his youth traveling the area of Europe known as Ashkenaz (France/Germany). He settled in Rothenberg, founded a Jewish seminary, and became known throughout Europe for the wisdom of his responsa, letters written in response to Talmudic questions.” Shira is a daughter of a rabbi, smart and eager to learn the Talmud, Jewish writings. At the age of 19, she is betrothed to one of her father’s students, Meir ben Baruch. As his reputation as a great scholar grows, his family expends as well. When every copy of the Talmud in Paris is confiscated and burned, they seek refuge in Germany. Overall, this is an interesting story and well-written. However, sometimes the story is more of being told through words rather than being expressed through action. Nevertheless, it is rich in Jewish cultural traditions, making it an interesting read. @Facebook/BestHistoricalFict...