Best Historical Fiction

  A Beautiful Rival imagines the story of two incredibly driven women, who achieved extraordinary success given their time and paved the way for a new category of beauty. They were rivals, but at the same time they had so much in common. NYC, 1915. When we meet Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden, they are already successful, and rivals. Through their stories we get to know the historical background of how they had to convince women that make up was something that they needed, rather than view it as vulgar. In both cases, they allow us into their personal world, which doesn’t look as strong as what they achieved career and money wise. For Helena, it’s her questionable marriage and suspicion of her husband being unfaithful. For Elizabeth, it’s her giving herself a chance at love and getting married even if it misses that passion she wishes for. Especially, when pre-naps are good option, if marriage fails, he walks away without a penny. With success come some cravings. For Elizabet...

  Reclaiming Mini Sota weaves of a story of two individuals who come from different backgrounds. While they search for meaningful life, their paths cross. It’s a sad time of war where they stand on opposite sides. Despite that there is something that unites them. In 1850, Waabi, from Ojibwe tribe, is ten when his father takes him hunting for the first time, when his people experience famine for the first time in his native Minnesota. He is taught to respect the land and its natural resources; to take only what is needed from the land for them to survive. Soon after, he experiences the first unjust treatment from the hands of white people, when they’re being relocated to a different piece of land. This results in anger growing among Indians. In 1859, Samuel is fifteen when tragedy strikes his family in his native Vermont. When his family struggles to survive, he learns about the frontier land that’s open in the middle west. In the new territory, one of their encounters with the Indi...

  Set in England, during the Great War, this story involves two twin sisters. After the death of the mother, Peggy promises to take care of her sister Maude. Because of that Peggy feels many restrictions which she feels limit her own life. Another one is the social standing. She comes from the working class, called “town.” The Oxford’s Somerville College, she dreams about and sees every day across from the University Press where she works, is for the upper class, called “gown.” The story is driven by the voice of Peggy and her self-discovery. Both sisters work at bindery, but Peggy dreams about the world beyond binding. She craves the knowledge in the books she binds. A life changing opportunity comes when the tragic Great War sends Belgian refugees to parts of England. The voice of Peggy represents voice of many women who were limited to certain things just because they were women. The war in in itself is a sad event, but in that tragedy an opportunity presents for some women. The...