Tag Archives: historical fiction

Book Review: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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Title: Atmosphere
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication date: June 3, 2025
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s Space Shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.

Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of my go-to authors; I know I’m in for an emotional, immersive reading experience when I pick up one of her books. And with Atmosphere, her terrific writing and character development are set within a topic that always fascinates me: NASA and the development of America’s space program — and especially, how women are (or are not) included within that program.

Atmosphere‘s main character is Joan Goodwin, an astronomer who looks to the stars for insights into life on Earth and humanity’s role within the universe. It’s the 1980s, and NASA is preparing to develop its new space shuttle program. In a huge departure, NASA is — for the first time — accepting applications for women to join its upcoming astronauts cohorts. Joan doesn’t hesitate: She applies immediately, and eventually, is accepted.

But women in the space program are still rarities, and each of them finds that they represent not just themselves, but all women. As one of Joan’s peers comments as they watch Sally Ride launch into space:

“If Sally so much as sneezes at the wrong time, everyone will blame it on the fact that she’s a woman. And then none of us will go up there for a very long time.”

Joan is very much aware:

There were four men on that shuttle. But every American woman was.

Joan has more in her life than the intense training and commitment required to qualify as an astronaut. She’s a devoted aunt, helping raise the young daughter that her selfish sister seems to resent. Joan’s sister Barbara takes Joan for granted, acting as though Joan’s career is a personal affront when it causes her to be less available for babysitting and school pick-ups.

The heart of Atmosphere is Joan’s romantic life, or rather, her growing understanding of why she’s never experienced true love and why shouldn’t couldn’t bring herself to accept a marriage proposal from her high school boyfriend, despite her family’s pressure. When Joan meets Vanessa Ford, another astronaut candidate in her training group, she’s immediately drawn to her. Joan and Vanessa’s friendship slowly develops into something more, and as the women fall deeply in love, they must balance their relationship with the realities of government service in that era. The need to hide is very real; any hint of their relationship would be enough to permanently end their dreams of making it into space.

Atmosphere is structured with a now/then split timeline: As the book opens, it’s December 1984, and Joan is serving a shift as CAPCOM — the voice of Mission Control — while a crew on the space shuttle prepares for what should be a relatively simple satellite launch. And then things go horribly wrong, and Joan is forced to remain calm and provide guidance while a crew of her close friends — and Vanessa — are at risk of never returning to Earth at all.

Interspersed with the “now” chapters focusing on the unfolding disaster, the “then” chapters go back seven years, and follow Joan from her initial application to acceptance into the astronaut program, through her years of training and up to her first space mission. We follow the incredibly rigorous requirements and grueling training she experiences, and witness the competition and comaraderie among the astronaut candidates, as well as the baked-in sexism that the woman astronauts face on a daily basis.

Beyond that, we see Joan and Vanessa’s love story unfold. It’s sweet and passionate and deeply sincere, yet tinged with the necessity of hiding and living very different lives behind closed doors and in public.

Joan studied the thin blue, hazy circle that surrounded the Earth. The atmosphere was so delicate, nearly inconsequential. But it was the very thing keeping everyone she loved alive.

Atmosphere is beautifully written, and evokes the excitement of the space program as well as the social pressures and prejudices of the era. The characters are sharply drawn and sympathetic, and the chapters showing the backstory leading up to the disaster that frames the book are engrossing and highly engaging.

The shuttle disaster is gut-wrenching to read about. From our modern-day perspective, we readers are naturally all too aware of the real-life Challenger and Columbia disasters; we know all too well that the events unfolding on the page are most likely to end in tragedy. It’s impossible to look away; I found myself holding my breath and on edge whenever this piece of the storyline resumed, and was surprised by how intensely emotional I became by the end.

Overall, Atmosphere is an uplifting, highly compelling read. Truly, my only quibble is that I wanted more at the very end, which I felt wrapped up a little bit too abruptly. I would have loved one more chapter, or perhaps an epilogue, to gain a sense of closure in terms of the characters I’d come to care about so deeply.

Still, that’s really a minor complaint. I loved the book as a whole, and highly recommend Atmosphere for anyone looking for a fascinating, emotional read with unforgettable characters and historical elements that resonate today.

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

Book Review: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab

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Title: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
Author: V. E. Schwab
Publisher: Tor
Publication date: June 10, 2025
Length: 544 pages
Genre: Fantasy/historical
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

From V. E. Schwab, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: a new genre-defying novel about immortality and hunger.

This is a story about hunger.
1532. Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
A young girl grows up wild and wily—her beauty is only outmatched by her dreams of escape. But María knows she can only ever be a prize, or a pawn, in the games played by men. When an alluring stranger offers an alternate path, María makes a desperate choice. She vows to have no regrets.

This is a story about love.
1827. London.
A young woman lives an idyllic but cloistered life on her family’s estate, until a moment of forbidden intimacy sees her shipped off to London. Charlotte’s tender heart and seemingly impossible wishes are swept away by an invitation from a beautiful widow—but the price of freedom is higher than she could have imagined.

This is a story about rage.
2019. Boston.
College was supposed to be her chance to be someone new. That’s why Alice moved halfway across the world, leaving her old life behind. But after an out-of-character one-night stand leaves her questioning her past, her present, and her future, Alice throws herself into the hunt for answers . . . and revenge.

This is a story about life—
how it ends, and how it starts.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is the vampire book I didn’t know I needed. In this hefty, intricate book, author V. E. Schwab weaves together three characters’ voices and experiences, spanning centuries, to create an epic tale of love, need, hunger, and regret.

We open with Maria, a girl growing up in 16th century Spain, whose only possible future is getting married and having babies. As a young woman, she finds a way to ensure a promising marriage to a viscount, then realizes that her marriage is not the path to freedom that she’d anticipated. After meeting a mysterious, youthful widow with an apothecary shop near her husband’s estate, she’s given the key to a new life.

Charlotte, in 19th century England, is sent to her aunt’s home in London for the Season, mainly to learn how to be a proper, marriageable young woman after being caught kissing her best friend. Charlotte finds the etiquette and corsets equally restrictive, and none of the men she encounters at the endless balls interest her — but the beautiful widow Sabine is intriguing, and their friendship blooms into something much more.

Alice is a modern-day Harvard freshman, attending college in Boston far from her home in Scotland, hoping to reinvent herself after leaving behind painful family secrets. But Alice is still the shy, isolated girl she’s always been, even in her new setting, until she attends a party and decides to be bold — and ends up completely transformed in ways she neither anticipated nor consented to.

Never walk alone at night, they tell you, if you’re a girl.

And it isn’t fair.

Because the night is when the world is quiet.

The night is when the air is clear.

This is a vampire story, and it doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination on the reader’s part to understand how these characters’ stories connect. The beauty lies in seeing it all unfold. Each character’s past is carefully established, pieced out bit by bit in overlapping timelines and alternating chapters. There are elements kept hidden, only revealed as the story progresses, and these work especially well to explain events we may think we understand — but may not have the entire picture of.

Alice may be the most sympathetic of the main characters. She’s given no choice in what happens to her, and her rage and dismay are completely understandable. Of course, we could also consider Maria and Charlotte as not particularly having choices either: They make the decisions that propel them into their new lives — but each is so hemmed in by society’s restrictions that a radical departure is the only way to free themselves.

We may expect Sabine to be the villain of the piece, and she does many villainous things… but she’s not at all one-dimensional. No matter how terrible her later actions are, we never lose some sense of compassion for her. We know her backstory, and know what she’s experienced. There’s a reason (multiple reasons) she becomes who she becomes; we may hate what she does, but we know how she got there.

Without giving away any further plot points, I’ll just point out that the writing in Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is lush and delicious, vivid enough to want to sink into, dreamy and evocative, yet also propulsive. This is a long book, but it never lags. I always wanted to know more, and hated to have to pause when real life pulled me away.

I read the author’s debut adult novel, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, several years ago, and loved it. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is another beautiful, imaginative story that’s a completely immersive reading experience. I haven’t read any of the author’s young adult novels or series, but I know I need to!

I enjoyed every moment of my reading journey through the world of Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, and found myself fascinated by the characters, their lives, and their choices. Don’t miss this incredible book!

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

Audiobook Review: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

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Title: Great Big Beautiful Life
Author: Emily Henry
Narrator: Julia Whelan
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: April 22, 2025
Print length: 432 pages
Audio length: 12 hours, 2 minutes
Genre: Romance
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping new novel from Emily Henry.

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years–or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century.

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.

One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.

Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication

Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad…depending on who’s telling it.

Emily Henry’s books are quintessential summer reads, and her newest, Great Big Beautiful Life, is no exception. In fact, this book features an historical element that her books typically do not, and at least for this reader, the result is a richer, deeper experience than I’d originally anticipated.

Margaret Ives, the descendant of the powerful, legendary House of Ives, is the last remaining heir to the Ives media empire, which grew from the success of Margaret’s great-grandfather in exploration and mining. By the time Margaret was born, her family controlled the media, had influence everywhere, and was known for its scandals as much as for their wealth and power. But as we’re told, Margaret disappeared from the public view decades earlier, and no one has heard from her since. Still, the public fascination with the Ives family has never truly faded, and speculation continues to bubble up over what really happened to Margaret and her late husband, the wildly popular singer Cosmo Sinclair (dubbed the “Poor Man’s Elvis”).

When writer Alice Scott follows an anonymous tip and locates Margaret, now in her 80s and living alone on a small island off the coast of Georgia, she submits a book proposal and Margaret agrees to hear her out. But when she arrives at Margaret’s door, she finds another author has been invited as well — Hayden Anderson, whose previous book just won a Pulitzer. Alice is dismayed, but Margaret is quick to inform them that they’re both in the running: She’ll meet with each of them, separately and for equal amounts of time, over the next 30 days, after which they’ll each get a chance to make their pitch, and she’ll choose one of them to write her story. Alice isn’t happy with the set-up, but this could be the opportunity of a lifetime, much too good to walk away from. After signing detailed NDAs, Alice and Hayden are in, and they begin their interviews with Margaret.

As the novel progresses, we get chapters focused on Margaret’s story, where we learn her family’s twisty, hidden past — where they started, how their fortune grew, and the fights, scandals, affairs, and mysteries that plagued them ever since.

Meanwhile, Alice and Hayden go from competitors to something like colleagues — unable to share the details of their interviews (those NDAs!!), but still giving one another encouragement and support through their mutual, bizarre process. As they spend time together, their professional respect turns into friendship and attraction, and while they initially resist, their feelings grow in a way that can’t be ignored.

The structure of Great Big Beautiful Life is a lovely balancing act, bringing interest and forward momentum to both Margaret’s story and the contemporary romance between Alice and Hayden. I must admit, however, that the further I got in the book, the more I wanted to stick with Margaret! She’s a fascinating character with a deeply engrossing family story — if only the book about her life were real, I’d absolutely want to read it!

The romance elements are nicely done, although at some point I lost a bit of patience for the will-they-won’t-they dynamic, as well as the somewhat odd insistence that they not sleep together until after the book proposals are done and Margaret makes her choice… because what this actually means is that they become very heavily sexually involved, but refrain from intercourse. Ummm… from my point of view, this is a very silly distinction. But okay…

Alice’s family life and her challenging relationship with her mother comes into play, as does Hayden’s own family background. They have hurdles to overcome if they want a future together, and meanwhile, while they can’t share the details of what Margaret has revealed to them, each has the feeling that she’s not being entirely honest with them. But why agree to a biography and then lie about key elements?

I listened to the audiobook version, narrated by the amazing Julia Whelan — and through her storytelling, the characters and events absolutely shine. She’s an incredibly gifted narrator, and has an uncanny knack for convincing me that I’m listening to individual people, not one person voicing multiple characters. Her depiction of Margaret is especially lovely and powerful.

I really enjoyed Great Big Beautiful Life, and highly recommend it. As I mentioned, I wasn’t quite as invested in Alice and Hayden’s contemporary storyline — it’s a good enough romance, and I enjoyed it, but some of the tension between them felt unnecessary. (However, I did appreciate that the obligatory 3rd act breakup actually made sense and felt like it was based on a realistic, unsolvable problem). For me, Margaret’s story is the true heart and soul of this book, and it’s wonderful. I would happily spend much more time exploring her secrets, her triumphs, and her heartbreaks.

To sum it all up… Great Big Beautiful Life is a wonderful reading and listening experience! Don’t miss it.

Read-alikes:

Great Big Beautiful Life has themes and story arcs that reminded me of a few other terrific books I’ve read — so if this book appeals to you, consider one of these as well:

  • If you like the poor-little-rich-girl aspect of the story, try… The Thirteenth Husband by Greer Macallister: Historical fiction about an heiress with an incredible life full of scandals and excitement.
  • If you like the idea of an elderly woman with a secretive past getting two people to vie to discover the truth, try… Drop Dead by Lily Chu: Lighthearted romance featuring writers competing to discover a famously reclusive woman’s secrets, following clues scattered throughout her outrageously lavish estate.
  • If you like a story about celebrities living in the public eye but hiding secrets, try… The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid: The secret stories behind a Hollywood star’s many marriages, finally revealed in the star’s late-in-life interview with a journalist.

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

Book Review: What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown

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Title: What Kind of Paradise
Author: Janelle Brown
Publisher: Random House
Publication date: June 3, 2025
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Thriller/historical fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

A teenage girl breaks free from her father’s world of isolation in this exhilarating novel of family, identity, and the power we have to shape our own destinies—from the New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Things and Watch Me Disappear

The first thing you have to understand is that my father was my entire world.

Growing up in an isolated cabin in Montana in the mid-1990s, Jane knows only the world that she and her father live in: the woodstove that heats their home, the vegetable garden where they try to eke out a subsistence existence, the books of nineteenth-century philosophy that her father gives her to read in lieu of going to school. Her father is elusive about their pasts, giving Jane little beyond the facts that they once lived in the Bay Area and that her mother died in a car accident, the crash propelling him to move Jane off the grid to raise her in a Thoreau-like utopia.

As Jane becomes a teenager she starts pushing against the boundaries of her restricted world. She begs to accompany her father on his occasional trips away from the cabin. But when Jane realizes that her devotion to her father has made her an accomplice to a horrific crime, she flees Montana to the only place she knows to look for answers about her mysterious past, and her mother’s death: San Francisco. It is a city in the midst of a seismic change, where her quest to understand herself will force her to reckon with both the possibilities and the perils of the fledgling Internet, and where she will come to question everything she values.

In this sweeping, suspenseful novel from bestselling author Janelle Brown, we see a young woman on a quest to understand how we come to know ourselves. It is a bold and unforgettable story about parents and children; nature and technology; innocence and knowledge; the losses of our past and our dreams for the future.

TL;DR: What if the Unabomber had a daughter?

In this thriller by Janelle Brown, set during the early days of the Silicon Valley internet boom, an increasingly unhinged father steals his young daughter away to live in an isolated cabin in Montana. There, he drills her on philosophy, teaches her to hunt and farm, and conducts evacuation practices through secret tunnels. Above all, he raises her to embrace his own world view:

“Companionship is a crutch. Learning to be alone is the most critical life skill of all — haven’t I taught you that? Because when you rely on other people, for emotional support or intellectual engagement or entertainment or just survival, you are weak. You are vulnerable. Because it means that you will suffer when it’s taken away — and it inevitably will be. You should never rely on anyone.”

From the age of four, Jane’s life is contained within the walls of the cabin and the surrounding forests, and centers on her father. He’s her teacher and protector, and as she grows, he trains her to follow in his footsteps, indoctrinating her on his anti-technology theories, and eventually, involving her in creating his manifesto and in his quest to rid the world of advanced tech, which he sees as dooming the human race.

Jane believes whole-heartedly in her father — for a while. But as she grows up, she has the opportunity to access a TV, and later, the internet (after her father brings her a how-to guide for HTML and instructs her to create a website for his manifesto). As she gains access to the outside world, she begins to wonder whether her faith in her father is flawed, whether his teachings are correct, and whether she’s actually more of a prisoner than someone being protected.

After her father involves her in an act of violence, she flees — but the world outside her cabin is dangerous and baffling, and Jane is forced into difficult situations and hard decisions. Meanwhile, through Jane’s experiences, we see the rise of tech in its glory days, filled with hope and inspiration as well as dire warnings about the destruction of humanity.

What Kind of Paradise is fascinating on both the personal and global levels. Jane herself is an immediately sympathetic character. When she parrots her father’s teachings, we know it’s because that’s all she knows and has been taught. When she takes ill-advised actions, we know that she has no idea what the consequences might be. Due to her extremely sheltered upbringing, she doesn’t see red flags where most others might, and misses essential clues and warnings that could potentially save her from disasters.

The book offers an insightful look into the competing mindsets during the early days of the internet boom. On the one hand, tech gurus speak rapturously about the upcoming changes:

An economic boom due to new technological breakthroughs will enable everyone to join the middle class, so that there are no more working poor. The proliferation of new media will allow truth to disseminate in new ways through new voices bringing an end to widespread ignorance. A rise of liberalism due to a connected global citizenry will usher in the New Enlightenment and the end of fascism and authoritarianism.

On the other hand, we have the doomsday prophecies of Jane’s father, warning that human reliance on machines and computers will spell the end of civilization as we know it:

The world today has lost its mind, and it can all be traced back to the rise of technology. The consequence of the ever-forward march of “progress” has been a society whose citizens are greatly suffering and aren’t even aware of it. The more we continue to replace a life of value with “virtual” life, the less satisfaction we derive from our existence, resulting in a world in which citizens are anesthetized by pharmaceuticals and entertainment living entirely in their heads rather in in a tangible, physical world.

Beyond the philosophical considerations, What Kind of Paradise is a tightly constructed thriller that keeps character-driven perspectives at the heart of the narrative. Yes, a crime is being unraveled, but it’s really Jane’s journey that drives the story and pulls the reader in.

Drawing from the real-life terror of the Unabomber and the ensuing manhunt, What Kind of Paradise has a ripped-from-the-headlines feel, while also expanding the actual story in a compelling direction. What if the bomber didn’t live a life of complete isolation? What if there was a child involved? How would the child of such a person develop and learn? The action and character-driven elements of this story combine to provide a compelling, thoughtful, and high-adrenaline read.

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

Book Review: Death at a Highland Wedding (A Rip Through Time, #4) by Kelley Armstrong

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Title: Death at a Highland Wedding
Series: A Rip Through Time, #4
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication date: May 20, 2025
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Historical fiction/mystery
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley
Rating:

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Death at a Highland Wedding is the fourth installment in New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong’s gripping Rip Through Time Novels.

After slipping 150 years into the past, modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson has embraced her new life in Victorian Scotland as housemaid Catriona Mitchel. Although it isn’t what she expected, she’s developed real, meaningful relationships with the people around her and has come to love her role as assistant to undertaker Dr. Duncan Gray and Detective Hugh McCreadie.

Mallory, Gray, and McCreadie are on their way to the Scottish Highlands for McCreadie’s younger sister’s wedding. The McCreadies and the groom’s family, the Cranstons, have a complicated history which has made the weekend quite uncomfortable. But the Cranston estate is beautiful so Gray and Mallory decide to escape the stifling company and set off to explore the castle and surrounding wilderness. They discover that the groom, Archie Cranston, a slightly pompous and prickly man, has set up deadly traps in the woods for the endangered Scottish wildcats, and they soon come across a cat who’s been caught and severely injured. Oddly, Mallory notices the cat’s injuries don’t match up with the intricacies of the trap. These strange irregularities, combined with the secretive and erratic behavior of the groom, put Mallory and Duncan on edge. And then when one of the guests is murdered, they must work fast to uncover the murderer before another life is lost.

New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong’s unique time travel mystery series continues to entertain as Mallory adjusts to life in the 1870s.

How to talk about the 4th book in a series? I’m tempted to simply say: Read this. It’s good! But no, I’ll attempt to explain why its so good, and why this is a must-read series.

Death at a Highland Wedding is the 4th full-length novel in Kelley Armstrong’s excellent A Rip Through Time series. (There are also a few novellas that serve as little side treats in between the main books).

In this series, Mallory Atkinson, 21st century homicide detective, accidentally crosses through a time anomaly and finds herself in Victorian Era Edinburgh, inhabiting the body of a beautiful but deceitful young housemaid. Four books into the series, the housemaid’s employer has accepted the weird-but-true fact that the person who looks like his maid is actually a highly trained, highly independent detective from 150 years in the future. Mallory has been “promoted” to assistant to her employer, Duncan Grey, an undertaker, trained physician, and lover of science and scientific inquiry. Because Duncan assists his best friend Hugh McCreadie with police investigations, Mallory is able to be of service — and introduces them to all sorts of 21st century forensic procedures not even dreamed of in Victorian times.

As Death at a Highland Wedding opens, Mallory has been living in this time period for about a year, and the household, along with Hugh, is taking a vacation of sorts. An old friend of Duncan and Hugh’s is getting married at his Highlands estate, and this is an opportunity for Mallory to experience yet another aspect of her new life.

At the estate, however, things quickly go off the rails. First, there’s an unpleasant groundskeeper who sets wickedly dangerous traps all over the property. There’s also some tension amongst the party attending the wedding, as former lovers and friends and connections intertwine in uncomfortable ways. The entire wedding is on the verge of cancellation once a dead body is discovered — it’s the best man, killed while out at night wearing the groom’s coat. Who was the true intended victim, what was the motive, and who could have carried out the violent act?

Hugh, Duncan, and Mallory seem like the obvious team to solve the mystery, but the young, inexperienced local constable has jurisdiction, and doesn’t want outside interference. When he bungles the process — badly — our trio undertake their own investigation on the down-low, trying to solve the murder while not letting the constable know what they’re up to.

In a house full of potential suspects and plenty of motives, Mallory et al have almost too many trails to follow. There are red herrings galore, and plenty of scandals to unearth — and naturally, the closer they get to the truth, the more they themselves are in danger.

Ah, this book is such delicious fun! First, the mystery itself is surprisingly twisted. What at first seems like a classic country house murder mystery is revealed to be that, but dialed up to eleven. I loved the fact that my guesses continually turned out to be wrong! Every time I was sure I knew who was particularly shady or dishonest or underhanded, something else popped up to steer me in a different direction. It’s a treat to read a mystery and not see the big reveals coming.

Second, and for me, the absolute best, is the ongoing delight of seeing Mallory navigate her new world. In previous books, it seemed that she’d have an option to return to her own time, but here, she’s fully convinced that she’s where she needs to be. There’s a slow-burn romance with Duncan, which is complicated for many reasons, and they’re both thoughtful enough to avoid bad decisions or letting their emotions cloud their judgment.

Then there’s the fun of Mallory using her 21st century police tactics in this setting — for example, explaining how (and why) to cordon off a crime scene or doing a rudimentary version of taking fingerprints. Seeing the cultures collide and the sharing of tactics and knowledge keeps the storytelling funny in dark moments, and gives Mallory a chance to shine and be appreciated for who she is.

As you can see, I love this series! As I’ve said in all of my reviews so far, you really must start at the beginning! Yes, this one might work as a stand-alone if you’re only interested in the murder mystery itself, but I honestly don’t think the book as a whole would make a ton of sense. The series is just so good — so dive into book #1, and keep going!

Now that I’ve finished Death at a Highland Wedding, I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next installment in the series. Highly recommended!

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

For more in this series:
A Rip Through Time
The Poisoner’s Ring
Disturbing the Dead
Schemes & Scandals (novella)

Book Review: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

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Title: The Nightingale
Author: Kristin Hannah
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication date: January 29, 2015
Length: 593 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

FRANCE, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France…but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can…completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.

With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France–a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.

Author Kristin Hannah has written several powerful works of historical fiction over the past few years, all of which I’ve loved and felt transported by. Somehow I’d missed reading The Nightingale until now. Finally, ten years after its original publication, I’ve now made a point of reading this compelling story.

The Nightingale takes place in France during World War II, following the timeline of the Nazi occupation to show the lives of two sisters and their divergent experiences during the war.

Vianne and Isabelle are ten years apart in age and miles apart in terms of their relationship as the book opens. Vianne is a wife and mother living in Carriveau, a small country village. She’s blissfully in love with her husband Antoine, and takes joy in her eight-year-old daughter Sophie, a miracle child born after a string of miscarriages. Meanwhile, Isabelle is an impetuous and hot-headed teen, constantly in trouble, always either escaping from or getting kicked out of her latest boarding school.

As children, after their mother’s death, they were essentially abandoned by their grieving, alcoholic father. But Vianne, caught up in her own grief and then struggling with the loss of pregnancy after pregnancy, didn’t have space in heart to love her little sister. The bond between the two seemed irreparably broken.

When the Nazi occupation of France begins, the sisters’ lives change dramatically. Antoine is called to military service and Vianne is left alone to tend to their home and their daughter. Isabelle is sent to take shelter with Vianne, but she yearns for purpose and adventure, not life on a farm. When Isabelle connects with an underground network fighting to carry out secret operations against the Nazis, her life changes yet again. While Vianne believes Isabelle has run off for some ill-advised, irresponsible love affair, Isabelle is actually setting out on a course of heroism and sacrifice, risking her own life over and over again to fight for freedom and justice.

Without going too much more deeply into the plot, I’ll just summarize by saying that The Nightingale balances the sisters’ stories by showing each of their struggles, triumphs, and losses during the war. It’s a devastating look at an awful period, and while many of us have read stories of this time before, this book’s focus on women’s lives under Nazi occupation — and the sacrifices they make in order to not only survive, but to save others as well — conveys an intimacy and fresh perspective that stand out.

It was interesting for me to note how my own sympathies and interests change over the course of the book. Perhaps because we meet Vianne first, I assumed she was our main POV character. When Isabelle first appears, we largely see her through Vianne’s eyes — young, reckless, self-centered. It was easy to feel annoyed by her, and to feel that her impetuous decisions put Vianne’s family at risk. As the book progresses, however, Isabelle takes on a much larger role, sharing the spotlight and growing into the person she always wanted to be. Isabelle throws herself into danger repeatedly, but her devotion and bravery are real. While she and Vianne are sometimes adversaries — even with life and death consequences — we know enough about each woman to understand her action and motivations, even when they don’t actually understand one another.

Kristin Hannah has clearly done a huge amount of research for this book, which I understand represents a major turning point in her writing career — her pivot into historical fiction. It was fasacinating to read her notes at the end and to learn about some of the historical figures who served as inspiration for her, including Andrée de Jongh, a Belgian resistance fighter during WWII who is credited with saving hundreds of downed airmen and other Allied soldiers by smuggling them across the Pyrenees from France into Spain.

The Nightingale is beautifully written and powerfully told, depicting the absolute horrors that the characters lived through, but also showing the beauty of their love for each other, their families, and even the strangers they save. It’s not an easy read, but it’s important and has a deep impact that I know will last.

The Nightingale was originally published in 2015. Earlier this year, the publisher released a 10th anniversary special hardcover edition, which is lovely. The Nightingale is also available in paperback, e-book, and audiobook formats.

A look at the 10th anniversary edition of The Nightingale

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
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For more by this author, check out my reviews:

I have not yet read any of Kristin Hannah’s earlier works. If you have recommendations, please let me know!

Book Review: The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

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Title: The Frozen River
Author: Ariel Lawhon
Publisher: Doubleday
Publication date: December 5, 2023
Length: 432 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.

Once again, I need to give a big shout-out to my book group, for giving me the motivation to read The Frozen River — a book that’s been on my TBR for over a year! I’m so glad to have finally read it. The Frozen River is a captivating look at a historical figure who led a remarkable life, but who seems to not be widely known or remembered.

The Frozen River is a fictionalized version of Martha Ballard’s life, drawn from her meticulously kept diaries but also liberally embellished by the author, as she explains in the notes at the end. For purposes of clarity, let me stipulate that when I refer to Martha from here on out, I’m talking about her as depicted in this novel.

Martha is the town midwife of Hallowell, Maine. She’s 54 years old, married to a lovely man, Ephraim, who runs a local lumber mill, and mother of nine children, six of whom are still living. She’s delivered hundreds of babies over the years, and has never lost a mother. She comes when calls, and is a trusted medical professional — at least among the women of the area. When an arrogant but inexperienced Harvard-educated doctor comes to town, some of the Martha’s patients (or really, their husbands) choose his services instead, with disastrous results.

One of Martha’s responsibilities is to question unwed women — in the middle of labor!! — to ascertain the name of the baby’s father, and then testify about it in court. Yes, really. (It’s believed that a laboring woman is more likely to tell the truth in the middle of all the pain…) Her role is clear, but as the book shows, when she steps out of line or questions the powerful men of the town, she’s dismissed or undermined.

As the story opens, a body is found under the ice of the frozen Kennebec River. Martha is called to examine the body and determine cause of death, which is clear to her experienced eyes: He’s been badly beaten and then hanged, and his dead body was tossed into the river. The man is identified as one of two men recently accused of violently raping the pastor’s wife. Between the murder investigation and the rape trial, at which Martha is a lead witness supporting the woman bringing charges, Martha’s credibility and expertise are constantly being challenged and called into question.

Beyond the mystery of the dead man and the drama of the rape case, The Frozen River is a powerful story of a strong, professional woman who refuses to back down, and who serves the women of her community whenever needed, even at risk to her own health and well-being. Martha’s home life is also lovely to see. She has a passionate, devoted relationship with her husband, and is an involved, caring mother to her children.

Memory is a wicked thing that warps and twists. But paper and ink receive the truth without emotion, and they read it back without partiality. That, I believe, is why so few women are taught to read and write. God only knows what they would do with the power of pen and ink at their disposal.

Martha’s journal entries are interspersed throughout the novel, giving us a view into her daily life. Her understated record of her days hide the drama that each entails, whether a breech birth or a contentious day in court or the worries of a mother whose sons may have secrets.

The writing in The Frozen River is lovely, giving a vivid sense of day-to-day life in late 18th century Maine. The harsh winter, the frozen river, the external elements that make the environment a challenge — all are in contrast to the warm interiors of Martha’s home, the tavern that’s a community gathering spot, and the various homes to which Martha is called to care for the women who need her.

As for the connected dramatic plotlines surrounding the rape case and the murdered man, these are presented masterfully, with building tension and suspense. Hints and new clues are dispensed slowly throughout the book; the picture emerges in bits and pieces, and it’s a sign of the author’s skill that the full story doesn’t truly become clear until the very end.

I was completely wrapped up in The Frozen River from start to finish. Martha is a wonderful main character, and I felt connected to her immediately. The characters, setting, and plotlines all come together to make this a compelling and unforgettable read. Highly recommended.

The Frozen River is my first book by Ariel Lawhon, but it won’t be my last. I’m thinking of trying I Was Anastasia next — if you’ve read it, let me know your thoughts!

To learn more about the real Martha Ballard:

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org
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Book Review: The Jackal’s Mistress by Chris Bohjalian

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Title: The Jackal’s Mistress
Author: Chris Bohjalian
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Publication date: March 11, 2025
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

In this Civil War love story, inspired by a real-life friendship across enemy lines, the wife of a missing Confederate soldier discovers a wounded Yankee officer and must decide what she’s willing to risk for the life of a stranger, from the New York Times bestselling author of such acclaimed historical fiction as Hour of the Witch and The Sandcastle Girls.

Virginia, 1864—Libby Steadman’s husband has been away for so long that she can barely conjure his voice in her dreams. While she longs for him in the night, fearing him dead in a Union prison camp, her days are spent running a gristmill with her teenage niece, a hired hand, and his wife, all the grain they can produce requisitioned by the Confederate Army. It’s an uneasy life in the Shenandoah Valley, the territory frequently changing hands, control swinging back and forth like a pendulum between North and South, and Libby awakens every morning expecting to see her land a battlefield. 

And then she finds a gravely injured Union officer left for dead in a neighbor’s house, the bones of his hand and leg shattered. Captain Jonathan Weybridge of the Vermont Brigade is her enemy—but he’s also a human being, and Libby must make a terrible decision: Does she leave him to die alone? Or does she risk treason and try to nurse him back to health? And if she succeeds, does she try to secretly bring him across Union lines, where she might negotiate a trade for news of her own husband? 

A vivid and sweeping story of two people navigating the boundaries of love and humanity in a landscape of brutal violence, The Jackal’s Mistress is a heart-stopping new novel, based on a largely unknown piece of American history, from one of our greatest storytellers.

Chris Bohjalian is a prolific author — The Jackal’s Mistress is his 25th novel!! — and while he’s such a great writer that every single book is engrossing, it’s his historical fiction novels that truly draw me in and leave me in awe. Fortunately for me, his 2025 new release is historical fiction, set in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia during the final year of the Civil War. Put simply: It’s excellent.

And the writing is gorgeous — every description brings the scene to life:

Jonathan Weybridge sat on a camp stool atop the crest of a small hill and watched the elegant tendrils of fog in the ravine, the steepled tips of the fir trees piercing the misty clouds like the finials of a wrought-iron fence.

Libby Steadman, at age 25, works tirelessly at her farm’s gristmill, able to keep herself, her 12-year-old niece Jubilee, and freed married couple Joseph and Sally fed by selling grain to the Confederate army. Libby’s husband Peter freed his family’s slaves immediately after he inherited the farm from this father, but he’s still enough of a Southerner to have joined the rebel army. Now, in the fall of 1864, all Libby knows is that Peter was wounded and taken to a Union prison, but it’s been month since she’s had word of him. The household is in constant peril from marauders, rangers, and deserters, not to mention the battles they can hear from not too far away, and Libby is barely holding on most days.

Jonathan Weybridge is a captain with the Vermont Brigade; he’s a former professor who’d prefer to be home with his wife and sons, his books and students, but ends up fighting on the side of what he knows to be right and just. After a fierce battle, he’s severely wounded, and as the Union army leaves the territory, he’s left behind — abandoned to what will surely be a slow, painful death.

By chance, Sally stumbles across Jonathan, and Libby makes a risky choice. She does what she can only hope a Northern woman might do for Peter: She decides to bring Jonathan back to her own home and see if his life can be saved.

It’s highly doubtful at the start. He’s lost a leg and several fingers on one hand. After days of suffering, with no food or medicine, he’s emaciated, in pain, and has untended, bloody injuries that may never heal. Libby is stubborn, though, and she’s determined to keep him alive.

The story of The Jackal’s Mistress is built around thoughtful character development, and rooted in a firm sense of the time and place in which it’s set. Readers can feel the danger from moment to moment. Hearing hoofbeats is enough to set one’s heart racing — any visitor can mean potential disaster, whether by outright violence or the threat of unintended discovery of the household’s secret. The risk Libby takes is profound, and endangers every one under her roof: Sally and Joseph, although free, are subject to much harsher laws, and would likely be hanged on the spot; Libby would be considered a traitor; and of course, Joseph, at best, would be taken prisoner, although given the state of his health, death is the likely outcome.

[He] has met men like Morgan before. On the surface, they were civilized. And, perhaps, without war they would have remained that way. But war gave them permission to be who they really were, men who were comfortable killing all the kindness and magic and beauty in the world, men whose souls were bleak and, therefore, dangerous.

We’re never asked to sympathize with the Southern cause, and yet, we can feel pity for Libby, caught up in a war she doesn’t believe in, trying to save her home and maintain the far-fetched hope of seeing her husband again someday, and not being able to count on the goodwill of neighbors or the army supposedly fighting for her own side to keep her safe. Her bravery is off the charts, yet believable: She’s an ordinary woman who chooses to do extraordinary things because it’s what she feels she must do.

Jonathan is a wonderful character as well. We feel his pain as well as his helplessness. He’s a man of peace, devoted to literature and education, caught up in terrible violence. He cares about the men under his command, misses his family, and yearns for the end of war. The descriptions of his suffering and helplessness are terrible to read, which is a sign of just how powerfully written this book is. As Jonathan begins to recover, he’s able to interact with Libby and the other members of the household, and each interaction has a spark of life and engagement that bring new facets of the characters’ balancing acts into focus.

The Jackal’s Mistress provides a finely woven blend of introspection, character development, and action sequences. It works remarkably well, and brings to life a handful of people caught up in a terrible time, making choices of conscience that could doom them all at any moment. The book is fascinating, moving, and thought-provoking. It’s impossible to put down

The author’s notes explain the real-life people whose story inspired The Jackal’s Mistress, and provides an interesting look at his research and some recommended resources for further reading. Don’t skip the notes when you finish the novel!

I’d rank The Jackal’s Mistress as one of Chris Bohjalian’s best. While his contemporary thrillers are always compelling, twisty reads, it’s his historical novels that truly capture my imagination and my heart. I highly recommend The Jackal’s Mistress — but you really can’t go wrong with any of his books!

For more historical fiction by this author, check out a few of my favorites:

Book Review: The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right by Suzanne Allain

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Title: The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right
Author: Suzanne Allain
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: December 3, 2024
Length: 271 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

When a young woman trades places with her noble cousin, their innocent ruse leads to true love in this sparkling new Regency-era romantic comedy of manners from the author of Mr. Malcolm’s List.

When Arabella Grant’s wicked aunt dies suddenly, both Arabella and her cousin Lady Isabelle cannot help but feel relieved. She’d made their lives miserable, and now Lady Issie is free to read to her heart’s content, and Bella is free from taunts about her ignoble birth. 

Their newfound freedom is threatened, however, when Issie’s great-aunt commands her to travel to London for a come-out Issie has never wanted. Issie, who is in poor health, is convinced she’ll drop dead like her mother did if she drops into a curtsy before the queen. So when her great-aunt turns out to be nearsighted and can’t tell the noble Lady Isabelle from her commoner cousin Arabella, Issie convinces Bella to take her place. Bella can attend all the exclusive entertainments that her lower birth would typically exclude her from, and Issie can stay in bed, her nose in a book.

Bella agrees to the scheme for her cousin’s sake, but matters turn complicated when she meets the irresistible Lord Brooke. He begins courting her while under the impression she’s the rich and aristocratic Lady Isabelle, who, unlike Bella, is a suitable bride for an eligible young earl. And Bella, who is convinced that she has met “Lord Right,” worries what will happen when she reveals that he’s actually fallen for…the wrong lady.

Suzanne Allain’s last several books have all been delightfully frothy — yet empowering — reads, and The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right fits right in!

In this charming new Regency novel, two cousins take on a Prince and the Pauper-esque switcheroo, with silly, laugh-out-loud results. When Lady Strickland — a nasty woman if ever there was one — dies suddenly, her entire fortune is left for her daughter Isabelle. Isabelle was treated terribly by her mother all her life, and only the presence of her beloved cousin Arabella brought joy to Issie during her younger years.

Now, freed from Lady Strickland’s tyranny, Issie and Bella look forward to enjoying their freedom — only to be summoned to London by Issie’s aunt, Lady Dutton, as soon as their year of “mourning” has passed. Lady Dutton insists that Issie’s mother intended for her to have a London season and to be presented at court, and intends to make it happen, with herself as chaperone.

Issie is terrified — she’d rather stay home and read her books. Meanwhile, Bella — always treated by Lady Strickland as the unwanted poor relation — expects more of the same in London. However, Lady Dutton is quite nearsighted and can’t tell the two girls apart. Frantic with nerves and feeling unwell from all their travel, Issie begs Bella to take her place at court — and when that works well, pleads with her to continue the ruse for the full season.

Bella loves Issie and would do anything for her, and agrees to play along if that’s what Issie needs. What Bella doesn’t expect is to encounter the charming Lord Brooke, who seems quite smitten with Bella — although he believes that she’s Isabella, known in society as Lady Belle.

Confused yet? The plot is a merry-go-round of mistaken identities, as Bella pretends to be Issie, Issie pretends to be Bella, each meets the man of her dreams, but each man believes he’s in love with the other cousin. All sorts of near-misses and shenanigans ensue, leading to delightful set pieces, a few touching moments of heartache, and (not exactly a spoiler) a very happy ending, once all the mix-ups are sorted out.

Bella is our point-of-view character, and she’s a treat. Raised alongside Issie but never considered an equal (by anyone but Issie), Bella is good-hearted, devoted to her cousin, and clear-eyed about her own future and prospects. She doesn’t expect to enjoy the game of pretend she ends up playing, and it’s entertaining and touching to see her struggle with herself about doing the right thing, especially once she has to weigh honoring promises to her cousin against deceiving the man she cares for.

The class issues are well-presented, and naturally, society’s contempt and intolerance for the lower classes is not a good look. Still, we do meet some decent members of the nobility, amidst the many pretentious and often cruel snobs, and Bella gets some true surprises about her own connections and origins.

The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right is a fast, funny read, filled with silly capers but also genuine commitment, loyalty, and love. The relationship between Issie and Bella is the heart of the story and is especially enjoyable, and the romantic elements are quite fun too.

I really enjoyed the author’s previous two books, The Ladies Rewrite the Rules and Miss Lattimore’s Letters. After reading The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right, I’m definitely counting Suzanne Allain as an auto-buy author, and can’t wait to see what she writes next!

Book Review: Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See

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Title: Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
Author: Lisa See
Publisher: Scribner
Publication date: June 6, 2023
Print length: 352 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

An immersive historical novel inspired by the true story of a woman physician in 15th-century China.

According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.

From a young age, Yunxian learns about women’s illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose—despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it—and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other’s joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus, they tell themselves: from adversity beauty can bloom.

But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife—embroider bound-foot slippers, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights.

How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? A captivating story of women helping each other, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a triumphant reimagining of the life of one person who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.

Lisa See’s books are consistent hits for me, and Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is no exception. I was hesitant about getting started, not sure if I was ready to go quite that far back in time. It should not have surprised me that this book was a compelling, excellent reading experience that pulled me in right from the start.

As the book opens, main character Yunxian is an eight-year-old girl, already learning from her mother about how to be a proper wife and fulfill her role as a woman in 15th-century noble Chinese society. When her mother, always referred to as Respectful Lady, dies of infection stemming from her bound feet, Yunxian is sent away to live with her grandparents, who begin training her as a doctor.

As Yunxian matures and then marries, her skills as doctor grow, but she’s limited in her ability to practice by the strict rules surrounding the family’s household, as dictated by society’s norms for the upper class and enforced by the iron rule of Yunxian’s mother-in-law. Her friendship with the midwife Meiling is frowned upon, as midwives are considered practically taboo — they’re necessary, yet because of their dealing with blood, are considered improper for a lady to associate with.

Without delving too deeply into plot, I’ll just say that Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is both an eye-opening exploration of the roles of women in that time and place, and a personal story of one particularly brave and talented woman, the effect she had on those around her, and the struggles with friendship, marriage, and motherhood she endured and overcame. While some of the details of individual encounters and scenes are purely fiction, Yunxian was a real person whose published works on medicine are considered groundbreaking — especially considering that they were written by a woman and focused on treating women, a field male doctors of that time had little interest or experience with.

The book sheds lights on customs that, to modern and Western eyes, seem not only archaic but cruel. In particular, the subject of foot-binding is covered extensively (as in the author’s earlier novel, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan). Some scenes can be hard to read, and it’s especially heartbreaking to read about a woman binding her own daughters’ feet, and to accept that in that society, it was an expected ritual of girlhood, crucial to being marriageable and viewed as a decent, honorable young woman.

Other elements are fascinating from a more historical/sociological perspective — learning about family structure, the running of a household, and of course, the practice of medicine at that time, especially since many of the basic tenets of Yunxian’s medical practice are still considered important elements of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The friendship between Yunxian and Meiling is especially moving. It’s not without conflict, as the two women’s very different stations in life lead to barriers that cause resentments and sorrows. Ultimately, though, it’s this relationship that provides one of the core emotional threads of the story.

Friendship is a contract between two hearts. With hearts united, women can laugh and cry, live and die together.

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a beautifully written look into the life of a fascinating woman, while also presenting an immersive reading experience about a time and place that’s so very different from our modern lives. I enjoyed every moment, and simply couldn’t put the book down once I started. Highly recommended — this book should not be missed!

Want to know more? Check out the wonderful resources available on the author’s website: https://lisasee.com/step-inside/traditions-and-culture/#welcome