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Interviews with writers of historical fiction about their new books.
Anfal is an Arabic word from the Quran meaning "the spoils of war." Saddam Hussein gave the name to his 1988 campaign against Iraq's Kurds — eight sta…
Ottoman Empire, 1876. Amid the political turbulence of the summer of three sultans, a Belgian woman and the future Sultan Abdul Hamid II secretly marr…
Nicole Paquin's Kate: The Secrets Within These Walls (Paquin, 2026) tells of a century of buried secrets surrounding the mysterious death of Kate Morg…
Few things delight a historical novelist more than true stories of forgotten individuals remembered, if they are remembered at all, for one dramatic m…
John Stephen's The Age of Fury (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2026) takes place in Gilded Age New York, a fierce seventeen year-old Irish girl joins …
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Christine Fischer Guy about her novel, The Instrument Must Not Matter (Wolsak & Wynn, 2026). …
Samantha: The Next Chapter (American Girl Publishing, 2026). From American Girl and New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis comes the next chapt…
In this latest Books for Better Understanding video from Notre Dame Press, David Carlson facilitates a conversation between Marian Schwartz and Dan Ma…
It seems likely that most listeners to this podcast channel have heard of “shell shock,” the old name for what is now called post-traumatic stress dis…
Our Strange Duet: Inspired by Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera (Delacorte Press, 2026) is a reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of …
In 2021, the NAACP Image Award-winning poet Honorée Fanonne Jeffers made her fiction debut with The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois, a magisterial epic …
I love Rhys Bowen’s historical mystery series, especially Her Royal Spyness books, which feature Lady Georgiana Rannoch. The Castle in the Glen (Lake …
When nobleman Thomas Boleyn, lord of Hever Castle, is called to London in 1509 to present himself to a newly anointed King Henry VIII, he sets in trai…
In the midst of texting and cell phones, online websites and GPS, it can be difficult to remember an era when almost all communication took place by l…
Romance novels—especially historical romance novels—thrive on heroes and heroines who don’t match in terms of social class. There must be conflict, af…
What would you do if you were pressured to support a rebellion that you believed was misguided and doomed to failure? What if the safety of your f…
So close to the semiquincentennial, it’s great to see a novel focused on the life of Abigail Adams, a woman appreciated even in her own time—especiall…
Starting in the late 1970s, three women navigate post Cultural Revolution China: Lulu, who’s forced to become a prostitute in Shanghai to save her mot…
There must be a shift in the Zeitgeist of the publishing world, because after a long drought in Gothic novels, this is the second one I’ve encountered…
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Janice Hadlow about her fascinating novel, Rules of the Heart (Henry Holt & Company, 2026). A be…