Best Historical Fiction

  A Novel of Elsa Schiaparelli and Coco Chanel “The thirties was a golden age of couture, and it was dominated by one city: Paris, and that city was dominated by two women: Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli.” Paris, 1938. Lily Sutter, art teacher, arrives in Paris to meet with her brother, who is visiting the city. While picking a dress at Elsa Schiaparelli’s boutique, Lily meets the famous designer again. Later through her brother’s girlfriend, she also meets Coco Chanel. Lily becomes “friends” with both fashion designers. Her short visit turns into a longer stay. She uses her artistic abilities to paint Elsa’s boutique windows. Thus, Lily works for flamboyant Elsa, but at the same time she feels drawn to elegant Coco. In a way, both fashion icons use Lily for their rivalry as they both continuously fight for reputation and fame. “They were ambitious, sometimes vain, always talented, a new type of women who made their own rules.” With the brewing political situation and talks of ...

  This story brings a fictional wife of Jesus. It imagines what is possible rather what is believed. “It could also be argued that in the first-century Jewish world of Galilee, (...) marriage was a man’s civic, family, and sacred duty.” Jesus’s family would expect him to marry. Sepphoris, 16 CE. Ana is fourteen-years-old. Her aunt Yaltha, who comes from Egypt to live with them, opens Ana’s eyes to a world she had no idea existed. Jewish girls and women in Alexandria, studying with philosophers, writing poetry, and owning houses. Ana by reading the Scriptures on her own discovers that there were also women there, not only men. In that moment, she knows she wants to be a chronicler of lost stories. And whatever her father allowed Ana in the past, a female, now needs to stop as she gets betrothed to a man and a man she doesn’t want to be with. An encounter with an eighteen-year-old Jesus changes everything. “The longing of my heart was for a man I scarcely knew.” When Ana makes home i...

 Catherine Alexeyevna (1684-1727) was of humble beginnings, becoming the second wife of Peter the Great and Empress of Russia from 1725 until her death. “Pulling herself out of poverty and servitude through her intellect, wit, and sensuality, she rose to become one of the most powerful women in Russia.” Village of Livonia, 1699. Marta, as she was known back then, is nine years old. Her childhood brings a vivid portrayal of peasants’ life, meaning pretty much suffering. A merchant from Walk, Vassily, needs a maidservant. When passing through the village of Livonia, Marta catches his eye. She is sold by her parents into servitude. The town of Walk is something she has never seen before, the number of people crowding the streets, even the number of chimneys – she lost the count, and all the different foods sold by vendors. In the coming weeks, she learns how to make those delicious meals. But life under a big roof with some comforts is not easier. “Loneliness lunged at me like...

 Margery Benson, fictional character, represents a ground-breaking woman who sets on a journey across the world to find an elusive golden beetle of New Caledonia. With her assistant, polar opposite, they also break grounds in getting to know each other and creating an endearing friendship. Written with phenomenal humor. London, 1914. Ten year old Margery doesn’t share her father’s love for insects until he introduces her to the golden beetle of New Caledonia. No one has found it yet and cataloged. So it may or may not exist. 1950. Miss Benson is a teacher and she has just become a school joke. She has had enough. She is forty-seven years old. It’s now or never. She is going to fulfill her life’s passion and dream. She is going to New Caledonia in search of the elusive golden beetle. After picking an assistant for her trip to the other side of the world, the story goes back in time and reveals how her passion for beetles continued when she was young. “Beetles she understood. I...