Category: Past Tense

The Ming Dynasty, but make it speculative! In 14th-century China, it is said a young boy named Zhu is destined for greatness. Unfortunately, he dies, leaving behind his sister. Refusing to believe it is her destiny to be a quiet, servile woman, she takes her brother’s destiny as her own, disguising herself as a boy and joining a monastery. As this new Zhu grows, she learns the ways of the harsh, unforgiving world, and decides she wants to take as much of the future for herself as she can, eventually rising up to be a great leader.

And how about a Jazz Age heist novel, with a side of spirits? Magic almost always comes with a cost. Clara can talk to ghosts, but in return, she is indebted to them. But then a spirit gives her a chance to get out of her obligation. All she has to do is steal a magic ring from the richest woman in the city. A little breaking and entering — easy, right? To pull off the robbery, Clara calls on other friends with unusual abilities. But, as they get their plans together, it turns out that the trickster spirit may not have been very forthcoming with all the details of the job. And the threats growing in the real world have Clara and her friends rushing to find a solution.

And, last but not least, this amazing speculative novel of history and sanctuary. In the 1830s, just outside St. Louis is a town called Ours. But it’s not on any map, and outsiders can’t find it. It’s a town specifically created by a conjuror named Saint, who rescues enslaved people and hides them away in Ours. But as the years go by, Saint’s powers start to wane, making the special town vulnerable to the outside world that Saint wanted to keep out, as well as powerful people with motives of their own. Can the sanctuary be saved? Or was it too good to be true? Ours is a fantastical reimagining of American history, a magical epic infused with imagination and pain and joy.

A Jewish woman recovering from her first big heartbreak begins looking into her family’s past, uncovering secrets about her great-grandmother no one speaks about. Shiva’s search may bring her answers, but it also complicates her understanding of the past and present.

Exploring the tight bonds between the Jewish and Black community in a 1970s neighborhood, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store shows how marginalized communities come together and protect each other. When a dead body is found in a well, the residents of Chicken Hill are forced to reckon with the secrets they’ve kept to protect each other and themselves.

The personal librarian to investment banker J.P. Morgan, Belle da Costa Greene, had a profound impact on New York society and the literary and arts scene through her work curating Morgan’s private library. But neither he nor anyone else knew she was hiding a secret that could upend her life and all her work. Belle was the daughter of a prominent Black man, the first to graduate from Harvard. Her light skin has allowed her to pass in white society, but it means giving up her family and everything she’s ever known.

Florence’s father, a bookbinder, has tried to tame her and make her look like other girls ever since he brought her back to England from Jamaica. Now, he’s kicked her out for good. But a job restoring old books at the library of Lord Francis Belfield offers an opportunity to make it on her own. Rose Hall is full of secrets, though, and solving them may be as dangerous as it is inevitable.

Although the Great Depression may have shown its earliest signs in the U.S., it impacted economic and political life across the globe. In this 1930s Australia-set mystery, we see how wealthy gentleman Rowland Sinclair, despite his disinterest in politics, is thrust into upheaval by the Depression. When Rowland’s uncle is murdered, Rowland infiltrates a group of conservative loyalists hellbent on protecting their country from a communist revolution. It’s the first in a series that will show you new perspectives on Australian history.

Investigator William Garrett is desperate for cash in the financial turmoil of 1933 Birmingham, so he takes a lucrative job working for wealthy men who suspect their wives are cheating. Garrett uses his friend, a handsome out-of-work actor, to tempt the women and capture evidence, but he’s wracked with guilt. It gets even more complicated when Garrett falls for a beautiful artist who turns out to be the wife of one of his clients, putting both of them in terrible danger. It’s a twisty noir thriller that explores class, poverty, and sexism in the 1930s.

Although this mystery/thriller is primarily set after the Great Depression in 1944 California, it’s got flashbacks to a crime in 1930 that shows how much the world can change in a little over a decade. When a former presidential candidate is murdered at the glamorous Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, detective Al Sullivan finds the man’s numerous political and personal enemies lead to a long list of suspects. The hotel is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of a girl murdered there, the daughter of a wealthy and powerful family. Could the two deaths be connected?

Generations of the Vega family face down forbidden love and family secrets, from the luchador El Rey Coyote to his son and grandson contending with his complicated legacy as they try to build their own lives. It’s the story of a family ready to fight for themselves and for each other.

In 18th century Ropshitz, a city known as the City of Laughter, a holy jester and a mysterious stranger set off a series of events that reverberate down through the generations to Shiva, who hopes a trip to Poland will help her connect to her family’s mysterious past. There, she finds answers to the questions about her grandmother no one will answer, but also even more uncertainty about what it means for her own life.

Jane Eyre is not content to marry Mr. Rochester in this reimagining of the classic Bronte novel. In fact, she’s extremely suspicious of him, with his secrets and mercurial moods — suspicions that are all too founded. Bertha, Rochester’s first wife, is locked away in the attic for refusing to share her inheritance. Their only chance of freedom lies outside of this mansion, but will they be able to find it before Mr. Rochester’s temper burns everything down?

In 1979, the Islamic Revolution in Iran is fast approaching, as is a solar eclipse. For a couple living on an orchard in the small town of Naishapur, life goes on even as it changes. Over long terrace lunches, they discuss life and politics, and we watch a large cast of characters fight for, embrace, or avoid the future.

This retelling of One Thousand and One Nights puts Shaherazade at the center of the story. In 12th century Persia, Shaherazade tries to save the man she loves—and her people—by telling the Malik a new story every night to stave off his violence. But his rage runs too deep, and Shaherazade conspires with her father to persuade him to set off for the ongoing Crusades, all the while trying to entrance the Malik with her stories and navigate the complicated intricacies of courtly life.

Books with multiple POVs are often very fun to listen to in audiobook format because they really distinguish between the voices and personalities of the characters. Wandering Stars follows generations of a Cheyenne family from the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and beyond, charting the inheritance of systemic trauma.

This is another book I was introduced to the first time in audio, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Some books are just particularly suited to being read aloud, and this is one of them. The epistolary format is perfect for audio, and the narrators really bring the eclectic cast of characters to life.

Born on a plantation, Josephine N. Leary is determined to build a good life for herself and her family after emancipation. Balancing her duties as a wife, mother, daughter, and granddaughter is never easy, but Josephine teaches herself finance and makes smart investments, eventually becoming a North Carolina real estate magnate.

When Mildred Fish marries a German economist, it seems a bright future awaits. Art and culture thrive in 1930s Berlin, but the rise of the Nazi Party soon changes everything. Mildred and her husband are determined to resist the new regime, and soon, Mildred begins gathering intelligence for her American contacts. The network of German women she brings together works for years to target Nazi officials at the highest levels. But when a radio signal exposes them, the consequences are deadly.

During the Haitian Revolution, two incredible women from very different backgrounds, one a kidnapped and enslaved warrior and the other a free woman of color, help change the course of history. On a plantation, Toya raised the boy who would one day become the revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines as well as join the front lines of revolution herself. Despite her life of privilege and a marriage of convenience to a Frenchman, Marie-Claire would eventually become wife and empress alongside Dessalines. Together and apart, Toya and Marie-Claire play a pivotal role in ushering in a free Haiti.

What if Lincoln survived the assassination attempt made on his life in 1865? Now, two years later, he’s facing impeachment for overstepping his constitutional authority during and after the war. Abigail Canner is a young Black woman working for the law firm taking on Lincoln’s defense. She’s already lived a life that defies society’s norms. But when Lincoln’s lead counsel is found murdered just before they go to trial, Abigail has to dig even deeper into the lengths some people will go to keep the country divided.

This short story collection doesn’t just explore one alternate history; it explores dozens of them! Stories imagine a timeline in which Hitler died in WWI, Jesus was never crucified, and the atomic bomb was never dropped on Hiroshima.

This book is from my TBR and comes highly recommended. Set in ancient China, this wuxia-inspired, action-packed fantasy features a corrupt government (what’s that like?) and layered, complex characters. Lin Chong was a highly regarded weapons instructor before a powerful man with a vendetta had her unfairly branded as a criminal and stripped of her position. Now a member of a mostly women gang of badass bandits, Chong and friends must carve out their existence in a society that only wants to hold them down.

For years I’ve been saying I needed someone to write me a Silence of the Girls set in Pompeii. Elodie Harper delivered with her Wolf Den trilogy about Amara, a woman who ends up enslaved in Pompeii’s infamous brothel after her father’s death plunged her family into penury. It’s a tough but wonderful read about resilience in the face of so much brutality.

The Ember in the Ashes series is set in a fantasy world inspired by Ancient Rome in the Juleo-Claudian era. Laia is an orphan enslaved by the Martial Empire, where she goes undercover to help the Scholar resistance and save her brother from execution for treason. Elias is a Mask, a soldier brought up in a brutal academy since childhood who is secretly plotting his freedom from this life. Their paths cross in an unlikely series of events, and that is all I will tell you about this series, except to tell you to brace yourself because Sabaa Tahir does not play.

Classicist Natalie Haynes has written some of my favorite works of mythology in both fiction and nonfiction: A Thousand Ships, Stone Blind, Pandora’s Jar, Divine Might. This book, set in ancient Thebes, focuses on Ismene and Jocasta in a reworking of the Oedipus and Antigone tragedies. You’ll go in thinking, “I know how this will go,” and will nonetheless yell, “noooo!” at the pages more than once.