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
John Irving’s 16th novel, Queen Esther (2025), is a multi-generational, historical saga that marks a triumphant return to the orphanage setting of The Cider House Rules. The narrative follows Esther Nacht, a Viennese-born Jewish orphan whose life is profoundly shaped by antisemitism and a fierce commitment to her namesake—the biblical Queen Esther—who protected her people.
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
The Hearth and Eagle Read More »
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
Set in 1955 in Connecticut, Richard Yates’s Revolutionary Road is a devastating portrayal of 1950s suburban conformity, unfulfilled potential, and the slow, agonizing collapse of a marriage. The story centers on Frank and April Wheeler, a bright, attractive couple living at 115 Revolutionary Road in a suburban enclave called Revolutionary Hill Estates. Unlike their neighbors,
Revolutionary Road Read More »
This 2023 award-winning debut novel by Amanda Peters is an introspective examination of grief, family bonds, and the long-lasting trauma of Indigenous separation. The narrative spans nearly fifty years, following the aftermath of a devastating kidnapping that shatters a Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia. In July 1962, a Mi’kmaq family travels from Nova Scotia to Maine,
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”
“The Lost Summers of Newport,” a collaborative historical fiction novel by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White, weaves together three storylines spanning over a century, centered on the crumbling Sprague Hall in Newport, Rhode Island. The narrative alternates between 1899, 1957, and 2019, revealing layers of family secrets, scandal, and murder within a Gilded
The Lost Summers of Newport Read More »
