Best Historical Fiction

  Let’s Call Her Barbie reimagines the story of Ruth Handler and her best known invention namely Barbie doll. She was ahead of her time with an idea of a doll that wouldn’t imitate mothers but rather bold women who could be anything. Los Angeles, 1956. Ruth Handler gathers a team of engineers and designers to create a unique doll. She’s had this idea for quite some time and almost gave up on it when she saw this kind of doll in Switzerland. Now, with an example in her hand, she presents it to the team what she wants to recreate. She strongly believes that there is a marketplace for it which is untapped. Along the way, there are many setbacks, but Ruth’s vision is unwavering. After three years of hard work, it doesn’t get any easier at the Toy Fair in NYC. The buyers are not convinced about a doll that looks like a woman. The Barbie launch is a colossal failure, but Ruth strongly believes in TV commercial. When most would give up, despite the Fair failure, she proceeds with commerci...

  This book 3 of trilogy, which can be read as a stand-alone, is based on the leader of a notorious gang of shoplifters, Alice Diamond of the Forty Thieves. She was inspired by the first Queen of Thieves, a daring girl from the London slums of the 1880s, called Mary Carr. London, 1900. The story begins with Lady Harcourt venturing into the dangerous alleyways of Seven Dials, despite the warnings to avoid the area. As an artist, her curiosity wins out, leading her to explore the lives of ordinary people, which she captures in her sketches. In Seven Dials, while watching her brother play at the fountain, Mary notices a lady in a fancy dress. The woman offers Mary a coin and asks her to show her around. The encounter sets Mary on a new path. She begins to pose in ragged clothes for Lady Harcourt and later, secretly, for her husband. Mary is a quick learner and observes how people look at her differently when she wears fine clothing. This realization sparks an idea. Alice grew up in Se...