Painting the Light by Sally Cabot Gunning is a richly atmospheric historical novel set on Martha’s Vineyard in 1898, exploring themes of grief, independence, artistic rebirth, and the changing role of women at the turn of the twentieth century. Published in 2021, the story follows Ida Russell Pease, a gifted watercolor painter whose life has […]
Edith Wharton’s 1911 tragic novella, Ethan Frome, is set in the bleak, fictional town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. Starting in 1881, it explores themes of repressed desire, duty, and the inescapable weight of fate. The story follows a ruined farmer trapped in a loveless marriage. This book is not a happy read. The story is framed
A Girl Called Samson, by Amy Harmon, was published in 2023. It’s a sweeping historical fiction novel that follows the remarkable true story of Deborah Samson. Abandoned by her father and forced into indentured servitude as a child, she defies the rigid gender norms of the 18th century to disguise herself as a man and
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Set in 1761 in colonial Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Sally Gunning’s novel The Widow’s War follows Lyddie Berry. When her husband is lost at sea, Lyddie faces the devastating realization that 18th-century law strips her of her independence, transferring control of her home and property to her overbearing son-in-law. Refusing to be cast aside or placed
Julia Bryan Thomas‘s novel The Radcliffe Ladies’ Reading Club is a mid-1950s historical fiction about four college freshmen and a bookstore owner who bond over feminist literature while navigating the rigid social and patriarchal constraints of post-war America. Set in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1954, this 2023 novel begins when a newly divorced Chicago transplant named
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The Lioness of Boston by Emily Franklin was written in 2023 and details the fierce and unconventional life of Isabella Stewart Gardner. Facing the stifling restrictions of 19th-century society, Gardner overcame profound personal tragedy—the death of her only child—to rebel against upper-class norms. She forged her own path as a visionary art collector, reshaping Boston’s
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Beatriz Williams‘s The Beach at Summerly is a sweeping historical fiction and espionage novel, written in 2023 and set on the fictional Winthrop Island off the New England coast. Told across alternating timelines in 1946 and 1954, it follows the gripping story of Emilia Winthrop as she navigates class divides, dangerous Cold War secrets, and
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Set in early 19th-century Massachusetts, Anita Diamant’s The Last Days of Dogtown chronicles the decline of a hardscrabble settlement on Cape Ann. Once an inland farming community that eventually turned into a desolate ghost town, the area becomes a refuge for society’s castoffs and a poignant backdrop for a dying way of life. Dogtown, pejoratively
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In Jane Healey’s historical novel The Saturday Evening Girls Club, set in 1908 in Boston’s North End, four young female immigrants—two Italian Catholic and two Russian Jewish—strive to navigate traditional family expectations, romantic heartbreaks, and cultural prejudices. The real-life club serves as their refuge, empowering them to seek their versions of the American Dream. Caprice
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Flight of the Sparrow, by Amy Belding Brown, is a historical novel set in colonial New England during the violent conflict known as King Philip’s War. Written in 1914, the novel is inspired by the true story of Mary Rowlandson, the novel follows a Puritan minister’s wife whose life is transformed after she is captured
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