An Act of Oblivion, written in 2022 by Robert Harris, is a historical thriller set during the turbulent years following the English Civil War and the execution of King Charles I. The novel explores themes of justice, revenge, loyalty, and survival through the intertwined lives of men hunted across continents after one of the most […]
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The City of Lowell has a fascinating history of textiles and “mill girls” and this 1914 novel captures the mood nicely. Moving to Lowell, Massachusetts in 1832 to escape a stifling farm life, protagonist Alice Barrow becomes a mill girl. She befriends a spirited fellow worker, Lovey Cornell. When Lovey is murdered, the subsequent trial
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Set in post-World War I Boston, Dennis Lehane’s The Given Day is a sweeping historical epic that blends real and fictional characters during a year of unprecedented social upheaval. The narrative centers on two men on parallel paths: Danny Coughlin, an idealistic Irish-American beat cop and son of a prominent police captain, and Luther Laurence,
Set in 1954, Dennis Lehane’s psychological thriller Shutter Island follows U.S. Marshal Edward “Teddy” Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule, as they arrive at Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane on a remote island in Boston Harbor. Their mission is to investigate the impossible disappearance of patient Rachel Solando, who vanished from a locked
Tinkers, written in 2009, is the Pulitzer Prize-winning debut novel by Paul Harding. It’s a lyrical, meditative exploration of memory, mortality, and the generational bonds between a dying man and his itinerant father. The narrative is not strictly linear, instead functioning as a collection of fragmented memories and sensory experiences that collapse the constraints of
Set in the mid-1600s on Martha’s Vineyard (known then as Noepe) Geraldine Brooks’s Caleb’s Crossing is a work of historical fiction inspired by the true story of Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. The novel is narrated by Bethia Mayfield, a curious and spirited Puritan girl who defies the rigid
The Hearth and Eagle, written by Anya Seton in 1948, is an ambitious historical novel that chronicles the life of Hesper Honeywood, a passionate, headstrong woman living in the rugged fishing town of Marblehead, Massachusetts. The novel serves as both a personal saga of love and tragedy and a historical narrative of a New England
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Laurie Lico Albanese’s 2022 historical novel, Hester, is an agreeable reimagining of the origin story behind Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic The Scarlet Letter. Set in the early 1800s, it focuses on whether there was a real-life inspiration for Hester Prynne. The character of Isobel Gamble fills that void. Imagining her as a talented Scottish immigrant the
Technically this is a play, not a novel. But it very much can be read and enjoyed like a book. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, written in 1953, is a powerful dramatic work set against the backdrop of the Salem witch trials of 1692. It was written as a direct allegory for the anti-communist “Red Scare”
This is a memorable story that can, at times, be dirty, sappy, and heavily nostalgic. It also paints a fascinating picture of the New England home-front in the war-ravaged year 1942. One could also argue about whether this quasi-novel belongs on our list of New England based novels, because it’s based on the semi-autobiographical screenplay
