Sarah Johnson
The Confessions of X
Editors' choice
The narrator of Wolfe’s deeply poignant novel is nameless, for this detail was never historically recorded. A poor young woman…
The House at the Edge of Night
Editors' choice
An island can be a secluded place of refuge. For those who spend their lives there, islands can also turn…
Reliance, Illinois
Most historical fiction about small-town life involves quirky residents coping with social change. Volmer’s second novel fills the bill yet…
The Lost Girl
A moving romantic novel rooted in its social context, The Lost Girl explores themes of identity and belonging through the…
Leaving Lucy Pear
In 1927, Lucy Pear Murphy is nearly ten, a kind and strong-willed girl whose black hair and dark eyes mark…
Treason in the Secret City
Spies have managed to infiltrate Libby Clark’s workplace, not surprisingly given its significance in the war effort. She’s an analytical…
An Undisturbed Peace
Set in the mountains and backwoods regions of the southeastern United States in the 1820s and ‘30s, this novel centers…
Belonging
In this touching and lithely written debut novel, the gaps separating the generations are wide, but their shared roots in…
Rare Objects
Maeve Fanning, an educated young Irish American in Depression-era Boston, wants to move forward in life, and aims high. When…
A Fatal Inheritance
Editors' choice
To say that Clodagh O’Lochlainn wasn’t well-liked is an understatement. After her strangled body is found roped to a stone…
About our Reviews
Over the last 15 years The Historical Novels Review (the society’s print magazine for our members) has published reviews of some 12,000 historical fiction books. We plan to upload them all and make them searchable here.
