Historical Fiction

A Tiny Piece of Blue / Charlotte Whitney

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A Tiny Piece of Blue
By: Charlotte Whitney
Genre: Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 336
Published: February 18, 2025
Publisher: She Writes Press
Dates Read: April 11, 2025 - April 16, 2025
Format: ARC / Paperback

In 1934 rural Michigan, the Great Depression was hitting everyone hard. After a house fire, Silstice Trayson finds herself homeless and abandoned by her parents. Nearby, aging farmers Edna and Vernon Goetz are pillars of the community, with Edna always up for helping and volunteering. But when Edna takes Silstice under her wing, Vernon digs his heels in – it’s the Great Depression, everyone is hurting.

With so many children leaving home to make it on their own, child trafficking has grown rampant as the kids are forced into labor and sometimes worse. Silstice worries about her two younger brothers, who disappeared from her grandparents house. Meanwhile, Vernon finds himself at risk of losing everything.

Narrated by Silstice, Vernon, and Edna, A Tiny Piece of Blue is a story about a community during the Great Depression with a backdrop of thievery, bribery, and child-trafficking.

This is a well researched novel with excellent characterization of multiple points of views. You definitely get immersed in this Great Depression, rural Michigan world that Charlotte Whitney writes about. Not only did I learn more about the ins and outs of farm life, but I also learned more about the roles of males and females and how this time changed a few things.

A big theme in this novel is also family, both blood and found, and the bonds that form and can be broken between them. I just knew Vernon, even with all his orneriness and bad temper, would still have a soft spot – well hidden of course, and only shown to those around those he chooses, but still.

Overall, this is an excellent historical fiction read about a small town during the Great Depression that is filled with page turning themes of hope, despair, family, secrets, survival, and community.

*Thank you She Writes Press and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

One Good Thing / Georgia Hunter

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One Good Thing
By: Georgia Hunter
Genre: Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 432
Published: March 4, 2025
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Dates Read: March 27, 2025 - April 8, 2025
Format: ARC / Paperback

In 1941 Italy, best friends Lili and Esti are as close as sisters, especially after Esti’s son Theo is born. But then the war knocks on Italy’s doors and Mussolini’s Racial Laws have deemed Lili and Esti descendants of an “inferior” Jewish race.

The two women and Theo first flee to a villa in the countryside to help hide a group of young war orphans, then to a convent in Florence, where they pose as nuns and forge false identification papers for the Italian Underground. When the convent is raided, Esti ends up wounded and asks Lili to take Theo and run; to protect him.

Even though she’s terrified of traveling on her own, Lili heads south towards the Allied territory, travelling through Nazi-occupied villages, bombed out cities, and wide open fields, doing everything she can to keep Theo safe while they wait for both the war to end and to be reunited with Esti.

So, I feel like quite a few people who read We Were the Lucky Ones and immediately wanted this new novel from Georgia Hunter, so of course I asked for an ARC of it as soon as I saw it. As with the previous novel, Hunter did a fantastic job at crafting characters who were relatable and endearing. I felt like I was reading a letter from a friend as I followed Lili’s journey.

As I’ve come to slowly learn over the years, no matter how many WWII historical fiction novels I read, I’m constantly learning more and more about different parts of Europe and different experiences through every book. I’ve known Italy started off on the Axis side and then effectively switched sides after the Allied invasion, but I didn’t realize the treatment of Jews during this time.

Overall, an amazing character enriched historical fiction about one woman’s endurance during the WWII in Italy as she does everything to protect her best friend’s son.

*Thank you Pamela Dorman Books and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

What We Sacrifice for Magic / Andrea Jo DeWerd

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What We Sacrifice for Magic
By: Andrea Jo DeWerd, Sara Van Beckum (narrator)
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 304
Published: September 24, 2024
Publisher: Alcove Press
Dates Read: March 6, 2025
Format: Library Book / Audiobook

It’s 1968 and in the small town of Friedrich, Minnesota, the Watry-Ridder family is both feared and respected as the town’s witches. Farmers seek out their water charms and the teenagers, their love spells. As the eldest daughter, Elisabeth, recent high school graduate, is set to take over for her grandmother, marry her high school sweetheart, and live the rest of her life in Friedrich. But as the time draws closer and closer, all Elisabeth can ask is, why her? Why is her path so set in stone?

Elisabeth soon discovers magic isn’t the only thing inherited by her family, and that said magic comes with a much greater price than she realized. The more she digs for the truth, the more questions she has, and the less she trusts her grandmother.

As she ventures out, Elisabeth must find out who she is without her family – without their secrets and magic. 

This novel had a super messy family, one filled with jealousy, small mindedness, and miscommunication. Elisabeth was raised by her grandmother, Magda, to be the one to take over, therefore she was more superior than her sister, Mary. She would talk about how talented Mary could be in the same sentence she would undermine her.

This novel definitely brushes upon gatekeeping and the benefits of sharing information and skills.

Overall, this magical realism read about a young witch adventuring out on her own to find herself is perfect as a cozy read.

*Thank you Alcove Press and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

The Face on the Milk Carton (Janie Johnson #1) / Caroline B. Cooney

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The Face on the Milk Carton (Janie Johnson #1)
By: Caroline B. Cooney
Genre: YA
Number of Pages: 208
Published: May 22, 2012 (1st Published February 1, 1990)
Publisher: Ember
Dates Read: February 22, 2025
Format: Library Book / eBook

When Janie sees the girl on the back of her friend’s milk carton at lunch, she instantly remembers wearing that dress in the photo, she remembers the itchiness of the fabric against her skin. That little girl with pigtails is her! But how could that be?

As Janie starts to piece together everything, nothing makes sense. Are Mr. and Mrs. Johnson really her parents? Why does she remember other children? Who exactly is she?

I honestly don’t remember why this basically lived in my checkout shelf on Libby for nearly 6 months (yea, I just kept renewing it/putting a hold on it). I think it had to do with it being a banned book for sexual content, challenging authority, and inappropriate for age group. Janie is fifteen and she found out her parents aren’t her biological parents and has been not only lied to, but kidnapped… I think she’s gained the right to be “challenging authority”. 

Now, all that being said, did I find this book to be the best written novel in literature? No. Would I have probably enjoyed it a lot more if I read it younger? Yes. By the end of the book, Janie was slightly getting on my nerves and I was also annoyed that I didn’t know if I could trust what the parents said, cause it all sounded CRAZY! Oh, and then I found out this series has FIVE more books?!

Overall, I think young adults would still enjoy reading this. I especially think they would enjoy seeing how kids did their research “back in the day” as Janie tries to find out the truth.

No Rules Tonight / Kim Hyun Sook, Ryan Estrada (Illustrator)

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No Rules Tonight
By: Kim Hyun Sook, Ryan Estrada (Illustrator)
Genre: Graphic Novel, Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 208
Published: October 1, 2024
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Dates Read: February 15, 2025 - February 16, 2025
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

It’s 1980s South Korea, where political tensions are high and curfew is strict. Luckily it’s time for the annual winter camp at Anjeon University – a full weekend, deep in the mountains, with no supervision.

In the snowy mountains, everyone has different plans for their one night of freedom but of course, everything doesn’t always go as planned. Hyun Sook is dying to figure out how to get her banned book club back up and running, Taehee and Kiwoo are trying to build up their nerve to confess their feelings for one another, while Sujji pines after her crush, ready to risk it all and finally tell someone her biggest secret she’s been keeping secret her whole life.

How will this weekend of freedom end for these university students?

I immediately picked this graphic novel up when I saw it was from the same creators of Banned Book Club and I’m glad I did – learned even more about 1980s South Korea than before. It’s kind of crazy the desire everyone has for freedom, even in the smallest ways. I can’t imagine really having restrictions on something like when I’m allowed to be out and about from my house (even if I don’t usually leave after I get home from work), or what music I can listen to or books I’m allowed to read. Some of these freedoms weren’t given to South Koreans until as recently as just forty-five years ago.

Overall, this is a cutely drawn historical graphic novel that still brings up the timely issues around censorship, regime, and even labor rights. This is bound to bring up a look into the history of South Korea and politics and policies that are trying to be formed today.

*Thank you Penguin Workshop and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Everything is Poison / Joy McCullough

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Everything Is Poison
By: Joy McCullough
Genre: YA, Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 304
Published: January 14, 2025
Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Dates Read: February 9, 2025 - February 12, 2025
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

Trigger Warnings: Death, abortion, blood and gore, physical and sexual assault, domestic violence

As soon as Carmela turned sixteen, she was finally allowed into the workroom of her mother’s apothecary in the 17th-century Campo Marzio neighborhood of Rome, where her mother and two women make some of the most effective remedies for the community. But the workroom of La Tofana is no simple place and for every flowery suave and tonic, there’s another potion where the main ingredient is dried blood or something else unpleasant. And then there’s Aqua Tofana – the apothecary’s remedy of last resort and a secret Carmela never bargained for.

So, I knew of Joy McCullough from a middle grade book of hers I read years ago, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, so this was my first Young Adult book of hers. I picked it up both because of her and as well as a women run 17-century apothecary sounded amazing!

Carmela, though she was sixteen, still had a lot of growing up to do within these pages. I know sixteen was a decent age during the 17-century, but sometimes Carmela’s attitude towards patrons of the apothecary kind of annoyed me. She was there to help people, regardless of their life standing. I was glad to see her growth with her empathy by the end of the book, especially when it came to Violetta because I felt she was holding a childhood grudge that needed to be let go.

Overall, I loved learning about a time period in history where women were undermined badasses who helped each other right under men’s noses.

We Are Not Strangers / Josh Tuininga

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We Are Not Strangers
By: Josh Tuininga
Genre: Graphic Novel
Number of Pages: 197 
Published: September 12, 2023
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
Dates Read: January 29, 2025
Format: Library Book / eBook

Inspired by true events, We Are Not Strangers follows a Jewish immigrant, Marco Calvo, in his efforts to help his Japanese neighbors while they were incarcerated during WWII under President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066.

Well, here we are, at the beginning of 2025 and I’m here reading about yet another part of history I wasn’t aware of. I knew of the camps Japanese and Japanese-Americans were put into after the attack of Pearl Harbor – but I didn’t know about the neighbors who helped those incarcerated by helping with their mortgage or keeping their shops running. Not everyone has this help of course, but there were still some who help their friends have something to come back to.

The art of this graphic was beautiful and realistic, making the story page turning.

This would be a great novel to open the door for discussion about the Japanese camps on American soil during and after WWII. This was well researched and there’s a long appendix with maps, illustrations, and articles from Settle’s past.

A Crane Among Wolves / June Hur

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A Crane Among Wolves
By: June Hur
Genre: YA, Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 359
Published: May 14, 2024
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Dates Read: December 5, 2024 - December 8, 2024
Format: Library Book / Audiobook

Trigger Warnings: murder, violence, death, kidnapping, mentions of rape, suicide

Set in Joseon, Korea, 1506, when the people of Korea are suffering under the rule of the cruel tyrant King Yeonsan. He takes their land for his own recreational use, banning and burning books, and kidnapping and abusing thousands of women and girls as his personal playthings.

When seventeen-year-old Iseul’s sister, Suyeon, becomes the king’s latest pretty, Iseul leaves the relative safety of her sheltered, privileged life to reach the capital in hopes of stealing back her sister. But she soon discovers that to challenge the king is certain death, so she must be strategic.

Prince Daehyun has lived his whole life in the shadow of his half-brother, the king. Forced to watch King Yeonsan abuse his power with executions and abuse of his people, Daehyun wants to dethrone him once and for all. When the idea of a coup is raised, he knows failure is fatal and he’ll need all the help he can get.

When Iseul’s and Daehyun’s paths cross, they join forces to save her sister, free the people, and destroy the king.

Yet another novel written about a time in history I was not taught about in my American public school.

I loved both main characters, but I had a hard time with Iseul – she was very bratty (in general) to her sister when they were together and then she suddenly was going through all these challenges to get her back. She was privileged in a way that you kind of hate, so I totally get that was her character. She did have redeeming qualities throughout the book.

Overall, the writing in this novel is more on the serious note, and reads on the slower side, so as long as you’re not looking for something super action packed and that’s about history not usually touched upon, this is for you.

*Thank you Feiwel & Friends and NetGalley for a for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Bridge Across the Sky / Freeman Ng

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Bridge Across the Sky
By: Freeman Ng
Genre: YA, Novel in Verse
Number of Pages: 368
Published: August 27, 2024
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Dates Read: November 10, 2024 - November 13, 2024
Format: ARC / Paperback

Trigger Warnings: Suicide, harsh living conditions, explicit content/language

Tai Go, a Chinese teen who traveled across the ocean with his father and grandfather to start a new life are met with the Chinese Exclusion Act and forced into the detainee center on Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay. There, immigrants were stuck for an uncertain amount of time, subjected to humiliating medical exams and interrogations meant to confuse and trip them up, causing them to fail and be sent back to China.

Tai finds hope – in the poems carved into the walls of their prison-like buildings, in the friends he makes, and the actions of fellow detainees. Tai may have been unhappy at first with his father’s decision to make this trip, but as time goes on, he discovers he must forge his own path.

I love novel-in-verse books, so I’m always bound to pick up any that I see – but I will say the writing in this one is more for those who would like information, than your standard novel in verse writing. They read to me like short chapters, and not verses.

Though this may not be for everyone, I will say it’s a time in American history I don’t see (or haven’t seen) much about. I wasn’t aware of the fact that the San Francisco earthquake/fire destroyed all the records which then made it harder for Asian immigrants to land in America…

Overall, still a historical fiction, novel in verse book worth checking out to read a raw and honest portrayal of life on Angel Island.

*Thank you Atheneum Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Brownstone / Samuel Terr, Mar Julia (Contributor)

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Brownstone
By: Samuel Teer, Mar Julia (Contributor)
Genre: Graphic Novel, YA
Number of Pages: 320
Published: June 11, 2024
Publisher: Versify
Dates Read: November 8, 2024
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

Almudena no longer has to wonder about the dad she never met, because with her white mom headed out on a once-in-a-lifetime touring trip for the summer, Almudena is left alone with her father for an entire summer. Xavier is happy to see her, but he expects her to live in and help fix up his old, broken-down brownstone. Along with helping, Almudena must navigate the language barrier of his rapid-fire Spanish – which she doesn’t speak.

As the summer moves along, Almudena gets to know the residents of Xavier’s Latin American neighborhood. Each member of the neighborhood has their own joys and heartbreaks as well as their own opinion on how a young Latina should talk, dress, and behave. Some don’t understand why she doesn’t know her own heritage, others think she’s “not brown enough” and an “off brand”.

Time is running out for Almudena and Xavier to connect and get to know each other. The key to their connection may ultimately lie within piecing everything together for the found family within the community.

I absolutely adored this novel about Almudena as she starts to find her footing in her culture that she didn’t even know she was a part of. It’s all presented with a good bit of humor – like her finding the food too spicy and being led to the “white people aisle” of the neighborhood bodega.

I love how complicated and complex all the characters were, they felt authentic and flushed out.

The illustrations and panels in this novel were beautiful and descriptive – I always loved Almudena’s hair in the morning when she wakes up.

Overall, this was a fun, coming of age, graphic novel about a young girl learning about her roots.