“Each year, as the sweet smell of peaches filled the June air and ripened into summer, I found myself looking for Ginny Rose Gilley.” *Spoiler to come. I’m warning you!* Wendelin Van Draanen’s The Peach Rebellion (Random House Children’s Books 2022) is a delightful middle grade novel set in California in 1947. Ginny Rose GilleyContinue reading “THE PEACH REBELLION – Wendelin Van Draanen”
Tag Archives: historical fiction
The Sorrow of Belgium – Hugo Claus
“Times are bad, the radio says so, and the newspapers. No, things aren’t getting any better, far from it.” Current installment of Tommi Reads the World – we’re in the Bs. Country: BelgiumTitle: The Sorrow of BelgiumAuthor: Hugo ClausLanguage: DutchTranslator: Arnold J. PomeransPublisher: First published in Dutch as Het Verdriet van Belgie by De Bezige BijContinue reading “The Sorrow of Belgium – Hugo Claus”
THE FROZEN RIVER – Ariel Lawhon
“To name a thing is a proprietary act. It is a commitment. Of ownership or care or loyalty. It means something. With that single word I have declared that this little beast is mine, and that I have a responsibility to protect her.” While the quote refers to a silver fox, the importance of namesContinue reading “THE FROZEN RIVER – Ariel Lawhon”
THE BERRY PICKERS – Amanda Peters
“…lost in a memory stirred alive by the moon.” Amanda Peters’s debut The Berry Pickers (Catapult 2023) is a quiet triumph of a novel about grief, anger, loss, identity, and forgiveness. When I was a child, I asked for The Face on the Milk Carton for Christmas. (It’s one of a few books I rememberContinue reading “THE BERRY PICKERS – Amanda Peters”
LADY TAN’S CIRCLE OF WOMEN – Lisa See
“Do you need a man to confirm what your body is already telling you to be true?” Set in 1469-1511, Lisa See’s Lady Tan’s Circle of Women (Scribner 2023) is a remarkable story of a high-status woman doctor, her midwife best friend, and an assortment of women from whom she draws strength, courage, and goodContinue reading “LADY TAN’S CIRCLE OF WOMEN – Lisa See”
LET US DESCEND – Jesmyn Ward
“The first weapon I ever held was my mother’s hand.” Let Us Descend (Scribner 2023) is my first Jesmyn Ward novel, but it certainly won’t be my last. Ward’s writing is as lush and powerful as everyone says, and there is a cadence to the storytelling that echoes oral traditions centuries old. The novel isContinue reading “LET US DESCEND – Jesmyn Ward”
THE VANISHING HALF – Brit Bennett
“You could never know who might hurt you until it was too late.” I finally got around to reading Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half (Riverhead 2020) – it was likely the most hyped on my TBR that had just been sitting there for ages, and it was on my “Must Reads” for 2024. (Yes. IContinue reading “THE VANISHING HALF – Brit Bennett”
THE BOOK WOMAN OF TROUBLESOME CREEK – Kim Michele Richardson
“How many times had the hunger pangs tempted him? Set his belly afire for the wanting? Yet, his love for words and books was stronger.” Kim Michele Richardson’s The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (Sourcebooks 2019) is historical fiction set in the 1930s in Troublesome Creek, Kentucky – deep in the heart of Appalachia. TheContinue reading “THE BOOK WOMAN OF TROUBLESOME CREEK – Kim Michele Richardson”
FOUR TREASURES OF THE SKY – Jenny Tinghui Zhang
“There is something about her that can be rewritten over and over again.” Jenny Tinghui Zhang’s Four Treasures of the Sky (Flatiron Books 2022) is a novel that I had to have when it was released, and a novel that’s sat on my physical TBR since. When curating my “ten before the end,” I pulledContinue reading “FOUR TREASURES OF THE SKY – Jenny Tinghui Zhang”
THE HOUSE OF DOORS – Tan Twan Eng
“Where does a story begin, Willie?” I asked. For a while he did not say anything. Then he shifted in his chair. “Where does a wave on the ocean begin?” he said. “Where does it form a welt on the skin of the sea, to swell and expand and rush towards shore?” “I want to tell youContinue reading “THE HOUSE OF DOORS – Tan Twan Eng”
A Girl Named Tommi 