Recommended Books

We are all looking for more good books! Here are some short reviews of historical fiction novels that I found compelling. To stay up-to-date with my newest reviews, please sign up for my book club above. Happy reading!

I love books that are written beautifully. I want to read language that is crafted, complex, nuanced, sensuous, and thoughtful.

I love books about broken characters. That doesn’t mean I’m only looking for characters who are psychologically traumatised! I want to read the work of authors who can deftly observe and portray the contradictions, complexities, and inherent qualities of beautiful, broken people.

I love books about compelling relationships. This often means romance, but it doesn’t have to: one of the most emotionally satisfying relationships in literature is that between the friends Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin in Patrick O’Brian’s magisterial series. I’m looking for books depicting convincing connections between real people navigating the subtle complexities of friendship, loyalty, admiration, and (yes!) longing. I don’t enjoy explicit romances: for me, the beauty of a love story is in the delicate dance of desire, not sex scenes.

I love books that deal with real life. Life is often bleak and hard. I don’t look for literature that shies away from this. But…

I really love stories that bring hope. To me, the darkness of a book is not as dependent on its subject matter as on its perspective. The most difficult books for me to read are those that look at the world with a purely materialistic or nihilistic lens, regardless of whether they are about an inherently depressing subject or a frivolous one. How an author depicts the nature of darkness and light, good and evil in a story is the book’s true compass and message. I seek hope in the books that I read - and also in the books that I write!