New Books Network
Historical Fiction
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 …

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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 …
Historical Fiction July 2, 2020

Lethal Pursuit

Will Thomas

Hosted by Michael Morales
London, 1892. Private enquiry agents Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn have been tasked by the Prime Minister to deliver a satchel to the Vatican. The satchel contains a document desperately …
Historical Fiction June 19, 2020

The Library of Legends

Janie Chang

Hosted by C. P. Lesley
Perhaps in anticipation of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the armistice, or just the reality that the last survivors will not be with us much longer, World War II has dominated …
Historical Fiction May 22, 2020

Arroyo

Chip Jacobs

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb
Two guys named Nick Chance, both with clairvoyant dogs named Royo, both inventors living in Pasadena, California – in 1913 and 1993. The original Nick, who starts out working on …
Historical Fiction May 6, 2020

The Other Bennet Sister

Janice Hadlow

Hosted by C. P. Lesley
It is well known that the novels of Jane Austen (1775–1817), which enjoyed at best a modest success during her lifetime, have become ever more popular in the last fifty …
Art April 13, 2020

The Pelton Papers

Mari Coates

Hosted by C. P. Lesley
Like the better-known and perhaps luckier Georgia O’Keeffe, the American painter Agnes Pelton also found her unique vision in the western desert. As Mari Coates details in our conversation, Pelton …