Best Historical Fiction

  This historical novel begins with an event that on the surface is easy to judge, but once the story goes deeper with characters, revealing their past, it brings a deeper theme of taking time to get to know someone without rushing to judge. The story begins in 1836 London where Caroline’s father makes their name infamous by committing a crime. She blames herself for not seeing that he had become dangerous to himself and other people. She feels that the stain will never leave her. Thus, she embarks on a journey with her new identity. At twenty-three, as a lady of means, she travels to Van Diemen’s Land before it becomes Tasmania. Jacques-Louis’s story, Caroline’s father, begins when he is a boy and his father introduces him to a new movement called enlightenment – claiming that man’s thought should turn inward. The father sees his son loving the industry of agriculture but he wants him to balance it with the cultivation of the mind. Thus, the father teaches the son how to make a go...

 Skylark explores timeless themes through two storylines separated by nearly three centuries. Time is an illusion - but human traits and actions transcend it, shaping lives across generations. In 1664, Alouette Voland, the daughter of a master dyer, dreams of escaping her constrained existence. One morning, while drawing water at the river, she notices a tanner downstream at his work. In that instant, a single movement of his inspires hope for the secret experiment she’s been conducting – her quest to achieve the legendary indigo color. But her discovery is forbidden. As her father tries to protect her, both find themselves ensnared in dangerous circumstances. Alouette’s misstep leads her to the Saint-Lazare ward, where women are confined for daring to think and question knowledge deemed off-limits. She has heard whispers of the interrogations that take place within such institutions - but not of women sent there by their own husbands, as punishment for defiance. Now, imprisoned an...