When Falcons Fall: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery | Author: C. S. Harris | Rating: 7/11 | The timeless success of Sherlock Holmes and his ilk has inspired a voracious appetite in the literary world for historical mystery and crime stories. One author who has stepped up to meet this demand is C. S. Harris. This March, she reveals her […]

Wilde’s Women: How Oscar Wilde Was Shaped by the Women He Knew | Author: Eleanor Fitzsimons | Rating: 11/11 | Oscar Wilde is a household name, synonymous with the gay rights movement and Victorian England even for individuals who have not read a single sentence of his work. ‘Feminist’, however, is a word much less commonly associated with Wilde. In […]

Always Too Much and Never Enough | Author: Jasmin Singer | Rating: 7.9/11 | As someone who has recently developed a genuine interest in learning to heal one’s body through nutrition and exercise, Jasmin Singer’s memoir was of instant interest. Jasmin Singer can be given a lot of labels: an activist, a vegan, a lesbian and even, up until recent […]

The Relic Master: A Novel | Author: Christopher Buckley | Rating: 9.5/11 | The sixteenth century is commonly known as the Rise of the West. This period of exploration and change witnessed such world-altering events as the Protestant Reformation, the rise of the Ottoman Caliphate, the establishment of mercantilism, and the opening and plundering of the New World across the sea. […]

The Japanese Lover: A Novel | Author: Isabel Allende | Rating: 4.5/11 | If we remember nothing else from our high school history classes, we know this: history repeats itself. And while the great and terrible wars, armistices and revolutions can never be laid at the feet of any single individual, mankind enacts these cyclical themes in microcosm throughout the […]

The Girl with Ghost Eyes | Author: M. H. Boroson | Rating: 10.8/11 | This year’s fiction market has been a nostalgia game.  Just take a look at 2015’s blockbuster hits: Jurassic World; Avengers: Age of Ultron; Mad Max: Fury Road; and, of course, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But nostalgia isn’t necessarily as straight-forward as revisiting the characters and […]

The Witches: Salem 1692 | Author: Stacy Schiff | Rating 9/11 | In any American history course, there are certain dates that take precedence: July 4, 1776 (Independence Day). April 12, 1861 (The beginning of the American Civil War). Salem 1692. That last date is one that is shrouded in mystery. Aside from Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, which is […]