Looking for a holiday gift for those who love historical fiction? #holidaygiftguide #histfic
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  • N. N. Light
    • Nov 16, 2020
    • 6 min read

Looking for a holiday gift for those who love historical fiction? #holidaygiftguide #histfic



Looking for a holiday gift for those who love historical fiction? Check out these featured books...



Naked Truth by Carrie Hayes

New York, 1868. Sisters. Lovers. Con Artists.

Gender equality warriors. Tennessee Claflin has enjoyed roaring success enthralling clients as a 'spiritual' clairvoyant healer. Now she's burnt out and ready to make a change. But her family is ambitious and insists she perform one more trick. At first, the scheme seems perfect. There's only one problem – sometimes, her visions are real. Tennessee is a woman no one takes seriously. But, she craves only one thing - "sovereignty over herself." Victoria Woodhull has survived an abusive marriage and a manipulative family. But her anger burns on. Because in 1868, a man can brutally beat his wife and not go to jail for it. Because in 1868, mutilating surgery is an approved treatment for the "affliction" of Hysteria. How can one woman change an unjust society deeply entrenched in old values? Why, run for President, of course. Between dining with Roosevelts, seducing a Vanderbilt, and taking the suffragist movement by storm, this unstoppable pair creates history. But leaving one's roots behind is easier said than done, and their scheming family is not about to lose their piece of the pie. As past scandals, secret husbands, and even manslaughter charges start to surface, a public outcry threatens everything they have built. Based on the true story of two gutsy women who took on the status quo, Naked Truth is a riveting look at women's struggle for emancipation in the aftermath of the Civil War.

Fortune’s Folly by Cat Dubie


In 1867, Eden Fitzgerald marries, not for love or money, but to persuade her influential in-laws to obtain her father's release from a contrived prison sentence. Cleverly evading those who believe she, like her father, is a smuggler and Fenian collaborator, Eden does what she can, what she must to achieve her goal. When legal methods are exhausted, she dons a mask, carries a pistol and, using her wiles, wits, even her seductive beauty, robs wealthy citizens to amass enough money to arrange her father's escape. Her life grows ever more complicated by the lustful attentions of several men who profess to love her, and the one man she loves but dares not trust. As her crimes worsen, culminating in what may be treason, and her enemies grow more dangerous and determined to apprehend her, she must run for her own freedom.

Blood and Silver by Vali Benson


What is a twelve year old girl to do when she finds herself in the silver boom town of Tombstone, Arizona, in 1880, and her only home is a brothel and her only parent is a drug-addicted mother? If she is Carissa Beaumont, she outsmarts the evil madam and figures a way out. After tricking the madam, Miss Lucille, into summoning a doctor for her mother, Lisette, she discovers that Miss Lucille has been drugging her. She and the kind doctor make a plan to try to save Lisette by dosing her down on the drug. Doctor Henderson tells Carissa that the only source for the drug is a Chinese immigrant named China Mary, who lives in Hoptown, at the other end of Tombstone. Carissa has no choice but to go to the powerful woman for help. Many say that China Mary is the one who really controls Tombstone. China Mary admires Carissa's brave spirit, and uses her influence to get her a job at the new Grand Hotel, which will free Carissa from her many duties at Miss Lucille's. She will work along with Mary's twelve year old niece, Mai-Lin. The two girls become fast friends. Then, disaster strikes, and the two girls must work together to stay alive. With a host of colorful characters and meticulous attention to period detail, Blood and Silver is a story of the best and worst of human nature, the passion for survival and the beauty of true friendship.

The Kissing Ball, a Christmas and Other Regency Stories by GL Robinson

Just before Christmas, and an unexpected visitor. She claims to be the fiancée of the son of the house. But he knows nothing about it. This muddle has to be sorted out, or it's not only Christmas that will be ruined.

This collection contains this story, along with four other Regencies and a bonus contemporary short. A middle-aged widowed gentlewoman finds love when an unusual new neighbour turns up looking for help; a young woman finds a buyer for her father's chemistry laboratory, but gets more than she bargained for; Sir Robert befriends a homely governess and her charge and conveys them to London, where his future is changed forever by a dog and a dimple; a young woman with an extraordinarily beautiful best friend discovers that she isn't necessarily cast into the shade by her. Then in present-day London, Ginny finds out her new next-door neighbor is not quite what she expected. These charming and cozy stories are perfect for curling up next to the fire. You may listen to the beginning of the first - The Kissing Ball- on the author's website: romancenovelsbyglrobinson.com.

The Texas Ranger and the Professor by Susan Payne

Retiring Texas Ranger Benjamin Edwards has one last assignment before taking his final exam to become an attorney. Female Professor Jessie Reeves is primed to prove she can make it in a man's profession. When their lives cross paths, they are never the same.

When Paris Was Dark by Y.M. Masson

When five-year-old Alain, a little boy living in Paris, is strafed by German planes at

the onset of the German invasion in 1940, his world instantly turned on its head.

During the next four years, like the children who fight to survive today’s many

conflicts around the world, he grows up fast and must be mentally strong and alert

to stay safe. With limited parental support, Alain and his young friends face

increasing deprivation, devastating hunger, and constant fear of the occupying

German soldiers with their intimidating rules and random street blockades and

checkpoints. He also dreads the Allies’ air raids, although he knows the bombers

are on his side.

After being silent for four years, one day all the churches of Paris ring their bells to

celebrate the end of the occupation, and Alain welcomes the American GIs who

fought bravely to liberate him. His story — of fear and courage, despair and

determination —is laced with the realism only an author who lived through the

occupation himself can provide, bringing this bittersweet, beautifully rendered

novel to vivid life.

The War Inside His Mind by Y.M. Masson

In When Paris Was Dark we meet Alain, a five year old child living in Paris during the Nazi-occupation and learn of his story of fear and courage, despair and determination.

In Y.M. Masson’s newest book, The War Inside His Mind, A Soldier’s Battle to

Erase the Emotional Damage of Combat, Alain is a dozen years older than he was

at the end of WWII.

He’s now an infantry lieutenant, learns the reality of combat, becomes experienced

at waging war, but has to witness atrocities, many of which were directed at

innocent children. Alain accumulates a heavy baggage of horrible memories he will

have to take back to civilian life; that is, if he makes it.

The War Inside his Mind is dedicated to all soldiers who have been in combat,

whichever flag they fought for, because they all experienced the fears and

trauma of being fired at and firing back.

They all are brothers and sisters.

Never Give Up by Y.M. Masson

After Alain’s journey to survive Nazi occupied Paris, and Alain’s battle

to erase the emotional trauma of combat, the civilian Alain has a difficult time

eliminating from his mind the ever-present memories of the atrocities he witnessed

during the war. In Never Give Up, A Man’s Fight to Heal his PTSD, inasmuch as

twenty-five years have passed since his discharge from the military, the old infantry

lieutenant still has troubles with his demons of hatred, anger, and guilt. A chance

encounter with Cathy, one of his work colleagues leads to a renewed effort to

complete the healing. Revisiting Alain’s childhood’s life and trekking in the

highlands of the Himalayas are part of the background where Cathy, with the help

of the spirits of the mountains, leads the charge to slay the demons. The fight is on.

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