Historical Fiction

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Fall, Bomb, Fall

Fall, Bomb, Fall

Gerrit Kouwenaar

On 10 May 1940, seventeen-year-old Karel Ruis learns that Nazi Germany has invaded the Netherlands. Bored with his sheltered, bourgeois existence, he initially welcomes the upheaval, imagining that the war might bring the adventure and excitement he has been craving. But as German bombs fall and his familiar world begins to collapse, Karel is forced to confront the terrifying reality of war. After undertaking a secret mission to deliver a letter to his uncle’s Jewish mistress, he falls in love with her daughter and dreams of escaping with the two women. His romantic hopes, however, collide with the desperate choices people must make to survive. Drawing partly on Kouwenaar’s own experiences during the Nazi occupation, this poignant novella traces the painful passage from adolescent naivety to adulthood. With understated humour and emotional precision, it reveals how quickly war can destroy illusions and transform ordinary lives.

Netherlands 2025

The Letter Carrier

The Letter Carrier

Francesca Giannone

In June 1934, Anna arrives with her husband, Carlo, in the small southern Italian village of Lizzanello, in the sun-soaked region of Salento. An outsider from northern Italy, she stands apart from the village women: she reads unconventional books, refuses to follow traditional expectations, and believes women deserve the same rights as men. When the local post office begins hiring, Anna seizes the opportunity to become the village’s first female letter carrier—a decision that challenges deeply rooted social conventions. As she delivers letters carrying news of love, separation, longing, and loss, Anna gradually becomes an essential thread connecting the community. Yet beneath the village’s familiar rhythms lie forbidden desires, old resentments, and family secrets that threaten to change several lives forever. Inspired by the author’s own great-grandmother, this sweeping historical novel explores a woman’s determination to shape her own destiny in a world that expects her to conform.

Alice, or The Wild Girl

Alice, or The Wild Girl

Michael Robert Liska

In 1856, Lieutenant Henry Aaron Bird, an aging officer in the United States Navy, makes an extraordinary discovery on a remote Pacific island: a young, speechless girl living alone in the aftermath of a shipwreck. Naming her Alice, Bird takes her aboard his ship and eventually brings her to San Francisco, where he presents her to the public as the “Wild Girl of the Pacific.” To the crowds, Alice is a scientific curiosity and a spectacle; to Bird, she is both a responsibility and an opportunity to restore his fading reputation. But Alice is not content to remain an object of fascination or a prisoner of someone else’s ambitions. As she struggles to reclaim control over her life, she must navigate the unfamiliar world of nineteenth-century America, where freedom can prove as elusive as it was on the island. Blending historical fiction, maritime adventure, dark humour, and social satire, Liska explores exploitation, loneliness, and the power of storytelling. The novel asks who has the right to define another person’s identity—and whether true independence is ever entirely within our grasp.

United States 2025

The Silver Bone

The Silver Bone

Kyiv, 1919. The city is caught in the turmoil of revolution, with Soviet forces controlling its streets while White armies threaten from the west. Amid political violence, shifting loyalties, and widespread lawlessness, young Samson Kolechko witnesses the brutal murder of his father by Cossacks. He survives the attack but loses his right ear, becoming an orphan in a city where survival is increasingly uncertain. When Red Army soldiers take over his apartment, Samson inadvertently uncovers their secret plans. His attempt to expose their activities draws him into a dangerous world of murder, espionage, and political intrigue. Soon recruited into the local police force, he begins investigating crimes that reveal the bizarre contradictions of life under revolutionary rule. The first novel in Kurkov’s Kyiv Mysteries series, The Silver Bone blends historical crime fiction with magical realism and dark humour. Through Samson’s investigations, Kurkov portrays a society where political upheaval has transformed ordinary life and the boundaries between justice, absurdity, and survival have become dangerously blurred.

A Shipwreck in Fiji

A Shipwreck in Fiji

Set in Fiji in 1915, during the First World War, A Shipwreck in Fiji follows Sergeant Akal Singh, an Indian police officer still struggling to establish himself in the British colonial administration. Recently transferred to the Pacific island colony, Akal is sent to Ovalau, a neighbouring island, to investigate reports of German soldiers supposedly hiding thousands of miles from the European front. He is also tasked with accompanying two visiting European women on a sightseeing trip and supervising a young local constable. What begins as a series of seemingly routine assignments soon becomes complicated when a controversial local shopkeeper is found dead and a group of Norwegian sailors is imprisoned in a Fijian village. Accompanied by his friend and colleague Taviti Tukana, Akal must navigate conflicting accounts, local politics, and the prejudices of colonial society. Meanwhile, the aspiring journalist Katherine has her own reasons for visiting the island. Blending historical mystery, humour, and social commentary, Rao explores colonial power, racial and class divisions, and the challenges of seeking justice in a society shaped by unequal authority.

Homeseeking

Homeseeking follows Suchi and Haiwen, childhood sweethearts whose lives are transformed by the political upheavals of twentieth-century China. They first meet in Shanghai, where Haiwen’s violin draws Suchi into his world. Their young love is interrupted when Haiwen joins the Nationalist army in 1947, leaving Suchi behind with little explanation. Over the following decades, war, migration, and changing political circumstances carry them through Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United States, shaping their lives in different ways. Sixty years later, they unexpectedly encounter one another again in Los Angeles. Chen moves between their perspectives to explore memory, sacrifice, and the meaning of home. The novel examines how historical forces can separate people while emotional attachments continue to endure across distance and time.

China Taiwan United States 2025

The Women's Courtyard

The Women's Courtyard

Khadija Mastoor

The Women’s Courtyard follows Aliya, a young Muslim girl growing up in an extended family in the years surrounding the Partition of British India. Much of the family’s life unfolds within the secluded courtyard of their home, where women manage domestic responsibilities, negotiate relationships, and respond to the political changes taking place beyond their walls. While the men become absorbed in the struggle for independence, the women face mounting financial difficulties and the consequences of decisions made largely without their participation. Aliya, meanwhile, longs for an education and a future that extends beyond the limits imposed on her. Through the everyday experiences of the household, Mastur presents a distinctive perspective on a period usually narrated through political leaders and public events. The novel explores gender inequality, family obligations, and women’s quiet determination to claim greater control over their lives.

Hard by a Great Forest

Hard by a Great Forest

Leo Vardiashvili

Hard by a Great Forest follows Saba, a young man who returns to Georgia after years of exile in England when his father disappears and his brother becomes caught up in a search for him. Growing up in the aftermath of civil conflict, Saba carries painful memories of leaving his homeland and the family members he could not protect. His search leads him through a landscape filled with abandoned places, unsettling encounters, and stories that blur the boundaries between reality and folklore. As he follows the trail of his missing relatives, he must confront the history his family has tried to escape. Vardiashvili combines suspense, dark humour, and elements of fairy tale to explore displacement, grief, and the lasting effects of political violence. At its heart, the novel asks how far people will go to recover the family and home they have lost.

The Lion Women of Tehran

The Lion Women of Tehran

Set in Tehran across three transformative decades, The Lion Women of Tehran follows Ellie and Homa, two girls from different social backgrounds who form a close friendship in the 1950s. After her father’s death, Ellie moves with her mother to a poorer neighbourhood, where she meets Homa, an outspoken and ambitious girl who dreams of becoming a judge and fighting for women’s rights. The girls share their hopes for the future, but changing circumstances eventually separate them. When they reunite years later, their friendship is tested by political upheaval, personal ambition, and a devastating betrayal. Against the backdrop of Iran’s changing political landscape, Kamali explores female friendship, social inequality, and the consequences of choices made in moments of fear and uncertainty. The novel examines how childhood relationships shape adult identities and how forgiveness can become a path towards understanding and redemption.

Six days in Bombay

Six days in Bombay

Set in Bombay in 1937, Six Days in Bombay follows Sona, a young Indian woman whose encounter with an enigmatic French artist draws her into a world of art, ambition, and personal transformation. Against the vibrant backdrop of colonial-era India, Sona navigates the social expectations surrounding women while discovering new possibilities for her own future. Her experiences over six pivotal days challenge her understanding of herself, her relationships, and the boundaries that society has established for her. As the story unfolds, art becomes a means of exploring both individual expression and the tensions between tradition and change. Joshi combines historical atmosphere with an intimate portrait of a woman confronting the possibilities of a different life, examining how brief encounters and unexpected experiences can alter the course of a person’s identity and ambitions.

Nights Are Quiet in Tehran

Nights Are Quiet in Tehran

The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran follows an Iranian family across four decades, exploring revolution, exile, identity, and the lasting effects of political upheaval. The story begins in 1979, when Behzad, a young communist revolutionary, fights for a new political order following the fall of the Shah. He falls in love with Nahid, an equally passionate young woman, but the rise of the Islamic Republic eventually forces them to flee to West Germany. Told through four family members’ perspectives in 1979, 1989, 1999, and 2009, the novel traces their struggles to build a new life while maintaining connections to their homeland. As the children grow up between cultures, questions of belonging, memory, and inherited political convictions become increasingly complex. Their experiences culminate against the backdrop of Iran’s 2009 Green Movement, which brings the family’s past and present into renewed tension. Through its shifting voices and generations, Bazyar explores how political events shape private lives and how the meaning of home changes across generations of migration and exile.

Too Soon

Too Soon follows three generations of Palestinian American women—grandmother Zoya, mother Naya, and granddaughter Arabella—as they navigate love, ambition, exile, and cultural identity across decades. Their family history stretches from their displacement from Jaffa in 1948 to their pursuit of the American Dream and their lives in the New York theatre world. Arabella, a thirty-five-year-old theatre director, faces complicated romantic choices and an opportunity to stage a provocative production in the West Bank, while her mother and grandmother attempt to guide her future and confront secrets from their past. Blending sharp humor with emotional depth, Betty Shamieh explores the lasting effects of displacement, the tensions between tradition and independence, and the struggle to define oneself across generations. The novel celebrates the resilience of women determined to pursue love and freedom on their own terms.

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