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Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction May 4, 2021

Three Locks

A Sherlock Holmes Adventure

Bonnie Macbird

Hosted by C. P. Lesley
Sherlock Holmes is one of the rare literary characters who has achieved a kind of cultural immortality. As Bonnie MacBird notes in this interview, display an image of a deerstalker hat …

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Historical Fiction April 5, 2021

The Sky Worshipers

F. M. Deemyad

Hosted by C. P. Lesley
There have been more than a few contenders for the title of “World Conqueror,” but eight hundred years after the fact, Genghis Khan’s claim to the title remains unmatched. Over …
Literature March 23, 2021

Prospects of a Woman

Wendy Voorsanger

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb
When Elisabeth Parker and her husband leave Massachusetts and arrive in California to join her father, she quickly learns that her father is not who she thought he was. It’s …
Buddhist Studies March 18, 2021

Yasodhara and the Buddha

Vanessa R. Sasson

Hosted by Luke Thompson
By combining the spirit of fiction with the fabulism of Indian mythology and in-depth academic research, Vanessa R. Sasson shares the evocative story of the Buddha from the perspective of …
Historical Fiction March 12, 2021

Band of Sisters

Lauren Willig

Hosted by C. P. Lesley
Kate Moran, a graduate of Smith College, has been making her living tutoring students in French when her college friend Emmie Van Alden appears out of the blue and talks …
Literature February 16, 2021

The Lost Shtetl

A Novel

Max Gross

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb
Today I spoke with Max Gross about his book The Lost Shtetl (HarperCollins, 2020). Imagine a Jewish village hidden in the forests of Poland that somehow escapes the Holocaust. Eighty years …
German Studies February 11, 2021

Berlin

Jason Lutes

Hosted by Michael O'Sullivan
In his pathbreaking graphic novel, Berlin (Drawn and Quarterly, 2018), Jason Lutes creates a multifaceted exploration of urban life during the Weimar Republic.  The book contains a variety of mostly fictional …
Historical Fiction February 9, 2021

Vindicated

A Novel of Mary Shelley

Kathleen Williams Renk

Hosted by C. P. Lesley
Mary Godwin Shelley had yet to reach her nineteenth birthday when she had the dream that gave rise to the classic Gothic horror tale Frankenstein. The daughter of a dissenting …
Literature January 19, 2021

Song of the Sisters

Songs of Steppe and Forest 3

Five Directions Press

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb
Everywhere young Russian noblewoman Darya Sheremeteva turns, someone in her circle of family and friends reminds her that she exists to serve a single purpose: to marry a powerful man …
Historical Fiction January 4, 2021

The Heiress

The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh

Molly Greeley

Hosted by C. P. Lesley
The world created by Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice has established a place for itself in contemporary culture that few other novels can match, yet amid the countless spinoffs …
Historical Fiction December 4, 2020

Bronte's Mistress

A Novel

Finola Austin

Hosted by C. P. Lesley
It seems likely that most of our listeners have at least heard of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and her sister Emily’s Wuthering Heights. Many also know that Charlotte and Emily …
Historical Fiction November 4, 2020

Beyond the Ghetto Gates

Michelle Cameron

Hosted by C. P. Lesley
The intense interest in the horrors of World War II that has characterized the last few years has tended to overshadow other aspects of the long history of Jewish populations …
Historical Fiction October 13, 2020

Atomic Love

Jennie Fields

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb
Inspired by Leona Woods, the only woman who worked on the Manhattan Project, Atomic Love (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2020) tells the story of Rosalind Porter, a physicist recruited by …
Historical Fiction October 6, 2020

Midnight Fire

P. K. Adams

Hosted by C. P. Lesley
Most novels about the sixteenth century written in English take place in Italy, France, or England—with the occasional foray into Spain or Portugal. P. K. Adams’ Jagiellonian Mystery series is …
Historical Fiction September 24, 2020

Estelle

Linda Stewart Henley

Hosted by C. P. Lesley
Most people think of Edgar Degas as a French painter of ballerinas. But few have heard that his mother came from New Orleans or that he spent five months in …
Historical Fiction August 26, 2020

The Woman before Wallis

A Novel of Windsors, Vanderbilts, and Royal Scandal

Bryn Turnbull

Hosted by C. P. Lesley
Most modern Americans can identify the names Wallace Simpson and Gloria Vanderbilt. But Simpson was not the first divorced American to win the heart of Great Britain’s future if short-reigned …
Historical Fiction August 12, 2020

Road to Delano

John DeSimone

Hosted by G.P. Gottlieb
In John DeSimone's Road to Delano (Rare Bird Books, 2020), it's 1968, and Cesar Chavez is organizing the United Farm Workers to fight for decent working conditions and basic human …
Historical Fiction August 6, 2020

The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne

Elsa Hart

Hosted by C. P. Lesley
Lady Cecily Kay has just returned to England when she encounters Sir Barnaby Mayne. It’s 1703, Queen Anne is on the throne, and London’s coffee houses are buzzing with discussions …
Historical Fiction July 30, 2020

The Road to Gesualdo

Erika Rummel

Hosted by C. P. Lesley
The Italian Renaissance introduced—or reintroduced—many valuable concepts to society and culture, giving rise eventually to our modern world. But it was also a time of fierce political infighting, social inequality …
Historical Fiction July 28, 2020

Into the Suffering City

A Novel of Baltimore

Bill LeFurgy

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb
In Bill LeFurgy's Into the Suffering City: A Novel of Baltimore (High Kicker Books), Sarah Kennecott is a brilliant young doctor who cares deeply about justice for murder victims after …