This Other Eden by Paul Harding is a lyrical and at times desturbing historical novel inspired by the real-life expulsion of a mixed-race island community from Malaga Island, Maine, in 1912. The 2023 novel blends historical fact with imaginative storytelling, the novel explores themes of belonging, prejudice, family, and the enduring power of memory. For
I had a friend write the description below. ————– Wreck of the Gossamer, written in 2016 by Shawn P. McCarthy, is a sweeping historical novel set in 1891, a time when America is being transformed by industry, electricity, labor unrest, and expansion into the West. The story begins dramatically when Victor Marius, a brilliant inventor
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In The First Witch of Boston by Andrea Catalano, Margaret “Maggie” Jones and her husband, Thomas, flee London for the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1646 to escape prior witchcraft accusations. Struggling against rigid Puritan expectations, Maggie’s bold nature and healing talents ultimately make her the first woman executed for witchcraft in colonial Boston. Set in
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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
Technically, Mark Twain’s 1889 satirical novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is only set in New England for the opening and ending sequences. The rest is takes place in in England, in the year 528. The story follows Hank Morgan, an ingenious 19th-century mechanic from Hartford, who sustains a head injury and awakens
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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
Anita Shreve’s novel The Weight of Water, published in 1998, is a dual-narrative that intricately links a contemporary marriage in crisis with a notorious historical double murder. In the present day, magazine photographer Jean Janes travels to the desolate Isles of Shoals off the coast of New Hampshire and Maine to shoot a photo essay
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In Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline, a rebellious 17-year-old foster kid in Maine is sentenced to 50 hours of community service. She is assigned to help a reclusive 91-year-old woman clear out her attic. Through old keepsakes, the elderly widow reveals her deeply hidden past as an orphan who was relocated westward in the
