Best Historical Fiction

  The year is 1920, in an unnamed country in South America. Violeta is born into Del Valles family with five boys, a father who takes risky ventures, and mother who refuses to socialize. Violeta relates her story in a form of a letter to someone she dearly loves. Through her eyes, we see dramatic changes in a span of one person’s lifetime. When the stock market crashes in September 1929, her father’s bold decisions leave the family in a dire situation. The oldest son, Jose Antonio, turns out to be the rock of the family, taking the lead and responsibility to provide for the family. Violeta’s is the character of a woman who exemplifies a life lived to the fullest, despite all the challenges life serves her. And it brings quite many of them. She lives through political revolutions, tyranny, economic downfalls, and the natural disasters of earthquakes and pandemics. She is born into privilege, and with the Great Depression she tastes poverty, while being quick at adapting to circumstances

  In a remote mountain farmstead in Norway, Edvard tries to come to terms with his past. He lost his parents when he was three years old and never learned anything about them, after which was raised by his grandfather, who just passed away. Now, Edvard is handed a letter and with it a coffin, which in itself is a masterful piece of art. The letter explains he is to decide whether or not the coffin should be used. Edvard suspects the coffin was sent by his great-uncle Einar and sees it as a message - since his grandfather refused Einar permission to see Edvard on his tenth birthday, as two brothers were estranged. A priest adds another piece to the mystery, he knows of an argument between his great-uncle and his mother. He traced that argument to a mysterious inheritance. When Edvard starts unearthing the secrets of the past, the search takes him to Shetland Islands where he tries to find out answers to what happened in 1971. The lead takes him to a hairdresser who cut his great-uncle’s