In Julie Gerstenblatt’s historical fiction novel, The Stargazer of Nantucket, eighteen-year-old Winifred “Winnie” Starbuck dreams of leaving Massachusetts behind to join her parents on an epic merchant voyage. Her parents, Peter and Nell Starbuck, are highly renowned trade captains who command the titular Stargazer, a top-of-the-line clipper ship. In 1851, they set out on a
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Set in 1953 on Martha’s Vineyard, Dorothy West’s final novel, The Wedding, explores the insular world of “the Oval,” an exclusive summer enclave for the affluent Black bourgeoisie. The narrative centers on the upcoming nuptials of Shelby Coles, the beautiful, light-skinned youngest daughter of the community’s most prominent family. To the immense dismay of her
Published in 1937, The Late George Apley by John P. Marquand is a satirical yet affectionate portrait of Boston’s upper-class society and the values that shaped it during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Presented as a fictional biography compiled after George Apley’s death, the novel traces the life of a man whose personal
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Published in 1956, and set just a few years prior, The Last Hurrah is Edwin O’Connor’s classic political novel about the rise and decline of old-style urban politics in mid-twentieth-century America. Set in an unnamed New England city modeled closely on Boston, the story centers on Frank Skeffington, a charismatic, aging Irish American mayor preparing
She’s Up to No Good, published in 2022, is a warm, witty, and emotionally resonant novel by Sara Goodman Confino that explores family secrets, lost love, second chances, and the powerful bonds between generations. Thirty-four-year-old Jenna Shapiro feels as though her life has stalled. Six months earlier, her husband blindsided her by asking for a
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I had a friend write this entry for me. Set in the fictional Merrimack River town of Riverbend, Massachusetts, in 1951, Local Honey is a sweeping historical novel that explores love, class divisions, postwar America, and the struggle for second chances. Against the backdrop of New England’s economic boom following World War II, the novel
Set during the brutal “starving time” in 1610, Lauren Groff’s novel follows an unnamed, resourceful teenage servant girl who escapes the disease-ridden Jamestown colony. Fleeing into the unforgiving winter wilderness, she must rely entirely on her wits to survive, navigate her harsh new environment, and find inner freedom. The narrative opens with the protagonist slipping
Jeff Shaara’s historical novel Rise to Rebellion, written in 2001, brings the American Revolution to life, detailing the pivotal years between the 1770 Boston Massacre and the 1776 Declaration of Independence. The narrative explores this critical era through multiple shifting perspectives, capturing the internal conflicts and ideologies of both colonial and British leaders. The story
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, a spellbinding novel by Katherine Howe, interweaves modern historical research with the harrowing reality of the Salem witch trials. It explores the legacy of real historical women and asks the question: what if the persecuted actually practiced magic? In the summer of 1991, Connie Goodwin, a stressed Harvard University
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March by Geraldine Brooks is a richly imagined historical novel that reinterprets the absent father from Little Women, offering a powerful and intimate portrait of the man known simply as Mr. March. Set during the American Civil War, the novel follows March as he leaves his wife, Marmee, and their four daughters in Concord, Massachusetts,
