“What had these stars not seen before? Life and death, bonds broken and repaired, and men who drew maps who couldn’t find their way home.” Deepa Anappara’s The Last of Earth (Random House 2026) is a really interesting slice of Tibetan history and colonization. It is beautifully rendered, but it just moved a bit tooContinue reading “THE LAST OF EARTH – Deepa Anappara”
Tag Archives: historical fiction
A BEAST SLINKS TOWARDS BEIJING – Alice Evelyn Yang
“No, can’t go in there. Too close. Start somewhere else.” “If they killed her now, she would leak river instead of blood.” “The way Nǎinai said Mother’s name shifted alongside her memory.” Alice Evelyn Yang’s debut novel, A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing (William Morrow 2026) is going to hold space in my head for aContinue reading “A BEAST SLINKS TOWARDS BEIJING – Alice Evelyn Yang”
DAYS COME & GO – Hemley Boum
I took a “traveling” break for Booker season, but we’re back to “Tommi Reads the World” – we’re still in the C’s!!! Country: CameroonTitle: Days Come & GoAuthor: Hemley BoumLanguage: FrenchTranslator: Nchanji NjamnsiPublisher: Agence littéraire Astier-Pécher (2020), Two Lines Press (2022) I was a bit bummed when my copy of Hemley Boum’s Days Come & GoContinue reading “DAYS COME & GO – Hemley Boum”
THE LAND IN WINTER – Andrew Miller
Booker 101 Quick & Dirty Monday! THE LAND IN WINTER: Andrew MillerEuropa Editions: 4 November 2025 (US)Sceptre: 24 October 2024 (UK) (I’m using the UK edition)Page Count: 371 First line: He was lying on a varnished wooden board, the top of a boxed-in radiator. Blurbed by: Hilary Mantel – (Nominated for the Booker four times, she’sContinue reading “THE LAND IN WINTER – Andrew Miller”
THE ORIGINAL – Nell Stevens
“Everything done for the second time is a copy of when it was done for the first time, and an attempt to bring back something lost.” Nell Stevens The Original (W.W. Norton & Company 2025) is a delicious, queer historical fiction, laced in a Victorian gothic tradition that rendered it un-put-down-able. As a young girl,Continue reading “THE ORIGINAL – Nell Stevens”
THE HISTORY OF SOUND – Ben Shattuck
“She wished that she could read music. She might have hummed the melody, or at least understood why this phrase of music was important or original or innovative enough – or elusive enough, at the risk of being forgotten – to require being written out so urgently. But she couldn’t read music, and so theContinue reading “THE HISTORY OF SOUND – Ben Shattuck”
THE UNBROKEN COAST – Nalini Jones
Nalini Jones’s debut novel, The Unbroken Coast (Knopf – expected 8/12/2025), is a story of intertwined lives, found families, regrets, and triumphs. Set in and around a Mumbai fishing village, the novel follows a prominent retired professor who is struggling with his memories, and a young Koli girl from the fishing village whose family isContinue reading “THE UNBROKEN COAST – Nalini Jones”
THE PRETENDER – Jo Harkin
“Lambert isn’t sure if he’d remember to answer to the name Lambert, but he does, every time. What kind of soul does he have, that can tip itself out of a John Collan cup into a Lambert Simons cup, without spilling a drop.” In 1487, Lambert Simnel, a boy raised in obscurity and believed toContinue reading “THE PRETENDER – Jo Harkin”
TOUGH LUCK – Sandra Dallas
When I read John Larison’s Whiskey When We’re Dry, I called it Lonesome Dove meets Calamity Jane. I loved everything about it. When I saw he’d blurbed Sandra Dallas’s Tough Luck (St. Martin’s Press 2025), which is marketed as a homage to True Grit, the new release was immediately placed on my radar. (A hugeContinue reading “TOUGH LUCK – Sandra Dallas”
HOMESEEKING – Karissa Chen
Karissa Chen’s Homeseeking (Putnam 2025) is a novel of choices and resilience, spanning 1938 – 2008 in the lives of dual souls divided by distance and circumstance. Suji/Suchi/Sue and Doudou/Haiwen/Howard became ready friends as children and that friendship quickly blossomed into a deep love that would act as a magnetic force, pulling them toward eachContinue reading “HOMESEEKING – Karissa Chen”
A Girl Named Tommi 