“He’s the heaviest secret I ever carried. I don’t want to carry him no more.” This is a difficult review, because I was so looking forward to Blair Palmer Yoxall’s debut Treat Them as Buffalo (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill 2026 – fun fact, I interned at Algonquin over 20 years ago. My duties includedContinue reading “TREAT THEM AS BUFFALO – Blair Palmer Yoxall”
Tag Archives: historical fiction
CHILDREN OF THE WILD – Kevin Powers
Based on the premise and the reviews, I thought I was sure to enjoy Kevin Powers’s Children of the Wild (Harper 2026). Color me wrong. I was so disappointed in this book. And quite honestly mad at myself for finishing it. But where did it go wrong? Historical fiction set in 1917, isolated rural valleyContinue reading “CHILDREN OF THE WILD – Kevin Powers”
LAND – Maggie O’Farrell
“And when we die, we surrender our bodies to the earth and we become earth. It is the end of one story but the beginning of another.” “So now she waits. She finds herself to be the woman in all stories, in all ballads and myths, waiting for her man to return – from battle,Continue reading “LAND – Maggie O’Farrell”
THE YOUNG WILL REMEMBER – Eve J. Chung
“I am in such despair that everything looks like a noose. But then I remember that I cannot leave, or you will have no home to return to. And so I stay.” Eve J. Chung’s The Young Will Remember (Berkley 2026) is a captivating historical fiction novel that takes a deep dive into the humanityContinue reading “THE YOUNG WILL REMEMBER – Eve J. Chung”
THE LAST OF EARTH – Deepa Anappara
“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”
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”
A Girl Named Tommi 