Best Historical Fiction

  The master storyteller, Michelle Moran, makes a phenomenal come back with a surprising story of Maria von Trapp who was glamorized in The Sound of Music. However, this story gives stage to Maria who tells her side of the story; a woman who was larger than life, who knew what she wanted and went after it. The story begins with Maria already in NYC in the 1950s confronting Oscar Hammerstein about the lyrics he wrote for a musical based on her life. As Maria expresses her concerns to Oscar’s secretary, she reveals her true story, more complicated and compelling than the glamorized version. The story goes back to 1926 Salzburg, Austria, where the nineteen year old Maria is a teacher at convent. When this place becomes her home and children like her family, after two years, she is asked to take an assignment. It doesn’t make her happy to leave this homelike feeling place. Something she craved to have from her childhood. But she is promised it’s only for ten months. When the war hero

 The  Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable is inspired by the true story of Anna Maria della Pieta, a Venetian orphan and violin prodigy who studied under Antonio Vivaldi. Venice, 1695: Orphan of the famous Pieta, Anna Maria is eight when she meets Antonio Vivaldi. He is a harsh teacher but notices Anna’s talent right away. She wants to compose like Vivaldi. He isn’t a mare instrumentalist as he put it, playing just an instrument. Those who are remembered are composers. She hatches her plan for composing, but she needs to be a maestro in order to publish her compositions. She isn’t bothered by his harsh manners as others are. She doesn’t concentrate on feelings as others do. She prioritizes sound, expression, and perfecting each note. This is the path to greatness and adoration by others. The life throws opportunities at her and then tests her persistence. When Vivaldi is sick for months, the less talented teacher who lacks the skill, the speed and understanding of her, takes over the

  By Her Own Design brings an extraordinary story of Ann Lowe, a Black woman, who rose above personal struggles and racial prejudice to design for elite, and the famous wedding dress for Jackie Kennedy. Early 20th century in Alabama, Ann Lowe learns the art of sewing from her mother and grandmother. From childhood, she is taught to have a patron in building a certain clientele. There comes a day when an opportunity comes her way, when another woman sees the dress she sew. Then, another door opens for her to go to design school. Those would seem the right choices to grab, but there always seems something to be holding her back. What she reaches for will determine her future. Her life is richly imagined from childhood, with mother and grandmother who teach her sewing and shape her young mind in the right direction. And one woman becomes a big stepping stone in her life’s journey, which undoubtedly is shaped by her own talent. And a day comes, when her life is transformed when a new clien