Ariel Lawhon’s The Frozen River is an intense and eye-opening piece of historical fiction set in the brutal winter of 1789, in the town of Hallowell, Maine. It’s a suspenseful mystery based on the real-life diary of Martha Ballard—a well-known and respected midwife, healer, and self-appointed community investigator. We appreciate novels that are meticulously researched […]
This multi-century novel by Daniel Mason is a sweeping story that chronicle the history of a single location in the forests of Western Massachusetts from the 17th century to the present day. Rather than focusing on a single family, the narrative follows a “yellow house” as it acts as a silent witness to a succession
Unlike our other entries, this 2025 novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid in not set in New England. But I recently read it, and wanted to mention it. It’s an emotionally resonant, high-stakes drama set against the backdrop of NASA’s space shuttle program in the early 1980s. The novel delves into the lives of the first
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1851 novel is a classic New England Gothic romance, exploring inherited guilt, retribution, and atonement. The story centers around the aristocratic Pyncheon family in Salem, and a dark mansion built by Colonel Pyncheon on land stolen from an accused wizard Matthew Maule. It carries a generational curse: “God will give him blood to
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This one is a true classic. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 work, The Scarlet Letter, is considered by many to be a masterpiece of its time. The book remains a popular assignment in high school and college, and is a cornerstone of American literature, providing a haunting look into the heart of 17th-century Puritan Boston. Often cited
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The Winthrop Woman was quite a popular book when it appeared in 1958, but it’s one of those books that is forgotten by many, except for some die-hard fans. It’s worth a look because it’s a meticulously researched historical novel detailing the life of Elizabeth Fones, a startlingly independent woman defying the rigid, dogmatic Puritan
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