Set in Nigeria in the 1960s, Adichie's luminous, moving novel tells the story of the Biafran Civil War through the eyes of a teenage houseboy. Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction winner.
- Genre Guide
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KCLS Recommends: Historical Fiction
Explore the world from ancient Egypt to the U.S. in the 1980s through our favorite historical fiction.
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25 items
- A sprawling family saga that covers Chilean history for much of the 20th century with an undercurrent of magic.
- A Rwandan boy with Olympic dreams is caught up in the violent conflict between Hutus and Tutsi in this heartbreaking account of the Rwandan genocide.
- 14-year-old June mourns the death of her favorite uncle and develops a secret friendship with his lover in this bittersweet coming-of-age story set in the 1980s.
- Little is known about Caleb Cheeshahteaumauck, a Wampanoag Native American who graduated from Harvard in 1665. In the novel, he comes to life through the eyes of Bethia Mayfield, a minister’s daughter and Caleb’s unlikely compatriot.
- The Stein family moves to New York's Lower East Side in 1947, and Millie develops a friendship with her new neighbor, Ethel Rosenberg. When the Rosenbergs are arrested for espionage, Millie is drawn into a world she never expected to be part of.
- Captured by Vikings as a child, Anglo-Saxon Uhtred is torn between loyalty to his adopted family and the desire to reclaim his homeland. Packed with battlefield action and realistic details about the brutality of life in the ninth century.
- Five queer women who call themselves Cantoras (women who sing) carve out lives for themselves in the midst of the repressive Uruguayan military dictatorship of the 1970s. The luminous novel unfolds over three decades as the women forge a family.
- Figures from the Book of Genesis come to life in Diamant's sweeping and evocative portrayal of women's life in the Old Testament era.
- Doctorow's historical epic puts a fictional family in contact with notable historical characters, including Sigmund Freud, Emma Goldman, Henry Ford, and many more in New York at the turn of the 20th Century.
- A Japanese family is murdered in their Los Angeles home on the eve of Pearl Harbor; the LAPD, replete with corruption, investigates. Ellroy weaves together a huge cast of characters and storylines in a sprawling, bleak noir.
- Father Damien Modeste reflects on his half-century at the mission on the Little No Horse Ojibwe reservation in this lush, complex novel.
- Mystery and intrigue surrounding the building of a cathedral in 12th century England. Who knew medieval architecture could be so thrilling?
- During the grim closing days of the Civil War, a wounded soldier deserts the Confederate Army and walks hundreds of miles home to his sweetheart, who faces her own challenges. National Book Award winner with a film adaptation.
- In the 7th century, at just six years old, the real-life Saint Hilda of Whitby becomes the seer for King Edwin of Northumbria. At court, she struggles with love, friendship, and society's expectations of women. Meticulously researched and elegant.
- A series of diary entries and letters tell the parallel stories of Colonel Allen Forrester, who is leading an exploratory expedition in the Alaska wilderness, and his wife Sophie, who is left behind.
- Over 60 narrators, each with a distinct voice, cover three decades of recent Jamaican history in this complex, violent, and ambitious novel. Man Booker Prize winner.
- A Baptist missionary moves his wife and four daughters to the Belgian Congo, just as colonial rule is beginning to disintegrate. The missionary's four daughters, each memorable and unique, narrate. Winner of multiple awards including the Pulitzer.
- 12-year-old Henry, better known as Onion, is mistaken for a girl when he's rescued by infamous abolitionist John Brown. Over the next few years, Brown moves in and out of Onion's life in this witty National Book Award winner.
- Three generations of the Clearly family struggle to carve out a life for themselves in the desolate Australian Outback. Lots of drama and an unforgettable forbidden romance have made this one a classic with a TV adaptation.
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