I have always loved exploring, whether it is on the shelves of the library or on a car trip. Growing up, we left our sheltered home in New England and piled into our dad’s car. We explored caves in Virginia and South Dakota, the ocean in Massachusetts and Maine, and museums from Chicago to Boston. In historical fiction, I see the boundaries of human experience, knowing people and places I could never in reality experience. I learn empathy, history, natural science, and political science in these pages. For me, a good historical novel is as good as a vacation, delving into the past, sight-seeing, window-shopping, and experiencing beyond the everyday.
I wrote...
Congress's Cryptographer: A Novel of James Lovell and the American Revolution
I loved this book by Kristin Hannah because it was filled with sights and sounds of the Vietnam Era. Frankie, a young nurse who served in Vietnam, prevails despite heartaches, danger, and loss, with the help of her fellow army nurses and friends, not perfectly, but with strength and resilience.
From master storyteller Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds, comes the story of a turbulent, transformative era in America: the 1960s. The Women is that rarest of novels—at once an intimate portrait of a woman coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided by war and broken by politics, of a generation both fueled by dreams and lost on the battlefield.
“Women can be heroes, too.”
When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these unexpected…
A horse lover, I found the story of Lexington, a thoroughbred who saves his devoted and enslaved groom Jarret during the Civil War, rich and compelling. The archivist who discovers the horse’s bones in the Smithsonian is on a thrilling journey, as we are when we explore a past event.
"Brooks' chronological and cross-disciplinary leaps are thrilling." -The New York Times Book Review
"Horse isn't just an animal story-it's a moving narrative about race and art." -TIME
A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history
Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an…
I had no idea Eleanor Roosevelt had such a strong relationship with Mary McLeod Bethune, nor that they worked together so hard during FDR’s administration to make lives better for black people. I was profoundly moved by the depth of their commitment and friendship, their courage and compassion.
A novel about the extraordinary partnership between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune—an unlikely friendship that changed the world, from the New York Times bestselling authors of the Good Morning America Book Club pick The Personal Librarian.
The daughter of formerly enslaved parents, Mary McLeod Bethune refuses to back down as white supremacists attempt to thwart her work. She marches on as an activist and an educator, and as her reputation grows she becomes a celebrity, revered by titans of business and recognized by U.S. Presidents. Eleanor Roosevelt herself…
Courage brings Bella to apply to financier J.P. Morgan to assemble his marvelous library of rare books. Concealing her identity as black, she stars in a world of art critics and high finance, giving up her identity in pursuit of her dream. I loved and wondered at this brave woman.
The Instant New York Times Bestseller! A Good Morning America* Book Club Pick!
Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR! Named a Notable Book of the Year by the Washington Post!
“Historical fiction at its best!”*
A remarkable novel about J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white in order to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation, from New York Times bestselling authors Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.
In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by…
Beautiful descriptions of the Indian coast, its people, food, and customs, and a parade of characters, lovable and enigmatic, kept me turning pages. And a surgery to let skin heal on the back of a hand while it grew into its owner’s chest? Written by a doctor with a poet’s soul.
OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SUBJECT OF A SIX-PART SUPER SOUL PODCAST SERIES HOSTED BY OPRAH WINFREY
From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala, South India, following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret
“One of the best books I’ve read in my entire life. It’s epic. It’s transportive . . . It was unputdownable!”—Oprah Winfrey, OprahDaily.com
The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of…
Spies, ciphers, and invisible ink shadow communications in the American Revolution. Congressman James Lovell alone has the uncanny ability to decipher complex British code. As Americans and French prepare for the pivotal battle at Yorktown, an intercepted letter from the British commander is sent to James Lovell. What can the secret message about British plans reveal to this master cryptologist?
Richly researched and illustrated with fascinating images of James Lovell’s cipher, this is the compelling, eye-opening historical novel of James Lovell, America's first Foreign Affairs Secretary, during the tumultuous days of the Revolutionary War. James Lovell courageously joins the Continental Congress to help the country he loves, even as he battles his own demons, born of brutal treatment in British prisons.
Edge of the Known World is a near-future love and adventure story about a brilliant young refugee caught in era when genetic screening tests like 23AndMe make it impossible to hide a secret identity. The novel is distributed by Simon & Schuster. It is a USA Today Bestseller and 2024 American Fiction Awards Winner in multiple categories, including Best New Fiction, Political Thriller, and Science Fiction: General.
Alexandra is a gifted student, adoring daughter, and exuberant prankster. She is also hiding in the open. After a blissful childhood, Alex learned she’s an illegal refugee from a brutal regime, smuggled into…
Fans of Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake will be swept away by this riveting speculative fiction adventure and love story about family, genetic privacy, and the onrushing future of surveillance technology.
2024 American Fiction Awards Winner in multiple categories, including Best New Fiction, Political Thriller, and Science Fiction
Alexandra Tashen is a brilliant student, adoring daughter, merry wit, and exuberant prankster. After a blissful childhood on a Texas ranch, she learns the truth: She is a refusé, an illegal refugee smuggled into the Allied Nations as an infant. Everyone from her birth region carries a harmless but detectable bit of…
