Archives de catégorie : Historical Fiction

CHARLOTTE d’Elizabeth Ferris

An enchanting, historically grounded, literary debut inspired by a critical year in the life of Charlotte Brontë and the writing of Jane Eyre.

CHARLOTTE
by Elizabeth Ferris
William Morrow, April 2027
(via DeFiore and Co.)

1846 is no time for a woman to pursue her dream of being a novelist. A responsible young woman ought to pack away her ambition and follow society’s expectations. If she is to write, she must do so under a man’s name and about scholarly, masculine things. Certainly not a book about an orphan governess, a madwoman, and a transgressive romance.

But Charlotte Brontë is no ordinary woman.

Charlotte is secretive, difficult, and restless. She is blind to the tender interest of a local curate, yet she writes obsessively to a married man. She is brilliant, impassioned, and sensitive: as a schoolgirl, Charlotte is just as likely to entertain her classmates with recitations of Byron as she is to weep from shyness. More than anything, Charlotte is desperate to be seen and read, to be reckoned with for her true self.

With every London publisher rejecting her first novel, her family’s savings dwindling, and her brother drinking away what little remains, Charlotte is running out of time. As the eldest daughter, it’s up to Charlotte to save her family. The only sensible thing to do is return to teaching.

Instead, she picks up her pen one last time. What she writes is not the respectable, measured book a London publisher might want, but a novel with all of herself in it. Her rage. Her loneliness. Her daring.

That novel is Jane Eyre.

Drawing on Charlotte’s letters and the rich, strange world of a village parsonage—three brilliant sisters, a dissolute brother, and an ailing father—Elizabeth Ferris’s Charlotte imagines the emotional depths beneath the placid exterior of a country spinster and examines the cost of insisting, against all obstacles, that her inner life is worth something.

“The fascinating story of how Charlotte Brontë created one of the greatest characters in literature – a must for anyone who loves Jane Eyre.” — Janice Hadlow, bestselling author of The Other Bennet Sister

Elizabeth Ferris is a writer and writing teacher living in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. She has taught writers of fiction and nonfiction at the Studio School at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond Young Writers, and James River Writers. She is a graduate of the MFA program at Queens University of Charlotte and a former contributing writer of Richmond magazine.

DIE BLUETENSAMMLERIN de Corina Bomann

A dual-timeline story of lost love, botanical discovery and a mysterious disappearance, following a London woman who becomes obsessed with the love letters of two botanists who traveled to Tibet in the early 20th century, by German bestselling author Corina Bomann.

DIE BLUETENSAMMLERIN
[The Botanis]
by Corina Bomann
Penguin Germany, May 2027

Photo credit: Nadja Klier

After Cleo was left at the altar by the love of her life, her days have been passing by without purpose. How on earth is she supposed to go on? Even her job at the historic London Lost and Found Office barely distracts her—until one day she opens an old suitcase and finds a Tibetan prayer flag along with some letters.

Out of curiosity, Cleo begins to read and is drawn into the story of Richard and Rosa—two botanists who traveled to Tibet at the beginning of the 20th century to research a rare species of rhododendron. Initially bitter rivals, their letters soon reveal a deep love. Until contact abruptly ceases.

Cleo can’t stop thinking about the love letters, and she wonders what dramatic end the relationship between Richard and Rosa met. She begins to research, delving into the history of the first female botanists, and has no idea that Richard and Rosa’s love will give her own life a new twist …

With sales totalling over two million copies, Corina Bomann‘s popular historical sagas are regular bestsellers, and her readers adore her strong women, passionate emotions and moving stories – such as her four-book Waldfriede saga set in a Berlin clinic, the two-part Rosenhag series set in Sweden, and now her new two-part Rosewell Castle series, which takes her readers into the fascinating world of butlerdom.

A DANGEROUS BARGAIN d’Erin Cotter

A young artist who has bargained away most of his life for divine inspiration pairs up with fellow apprentice Leonardo da Vinci to infiltrate the Medici family and find out the truth about his missing brother in this Renaissance-set young adult mystery perfect for fans of F.T. Lukens.

A DANGEROUS BARGAIN
by Erin Cotter
Simon & Schuster BYR, September 2026
(via KT Literary)

It’s the height of the Italian Renaissance. In the golden city of Florence, art is equal to holiness—and angels walk among us, bestowing their talents…for a price.

Seventeen-year-old artist Virgil is in trouble. To support his family, he’s bargained most of his life away to an angel—only to discover that his missing brother is in danger, and nothing but magic can rescue him. Now, with just a few months left to live, Virgil is desperate enough to try the one thing he swore he would never, ever do—team up with the infuriating, annoyingly talented, and most notorious playboy in all of Florence, the charming Leonardo da Vinci.

As the two journey through Florence’s gilded streets, luxurious cathedrals, and glorious Medici palaces, they unearth dark truths beneath the city’s facade.

Those in power will do anything to keep their deadly secrets safe, but with his feelings for Leonardo giving him new life, Virgil is determined to expose their lies before he runs out of time.

Even if it might cost him his soul.

Erin Cotter writes young adult fiction. Originally from Buffalo, New York, she currently calls Austin home. When not writing, she spends time with her partner and pets, eating tacos, and searching for Golden-cheeked Warblers in the Texas Hill Country.

THE NIGHT WITCHES de Shelly Sanders

From the author of the bestselling Daughters of the Occupation comes a novel based on the real-life story of a female night-bomber aviation regiment in WWII.

THE NIGHT WITCHES
by Shelly Sanders
HarperCollins Canada, March 2027

1941: As the Nazis flatten her country, Maria Raskova, a record-breaking Russian female pilot and navigation instructor, receives permission to form the only female aviation regiment in WWII. From the start, the odds are against the women in the night-bomber regiment, forced to fly in deadly open-cockpit biplanes, made of canvas and wood, with a top speed of only 94 miles an hour.

Then, after their most tragic night of the war, the female night-bombers must overcome their grief and shaken confidence to complete their missions safely and prove their worth to their male coun­terparts, who have jeered at the women since they began training.

Told through the eyes of four women pilots in this unprecedented squadron, THE NIGHT WITCHES, inspired by real women and true events, is a story of triumphant femininity in the face of staggering odds.

Shelly Sanders is the bestselling author of the adult novels The Night Sparrow and Daughters of the Occupation as well as the acclaimed young adult historical novels The Rachel Trilogy. She began her writing career as a freelance journalist working for major publications, including the Toronto Star, National Post, Maclean’s, Canadian Living, Reader’s Digest, and Today’s Parent.

EX ROMANA TRILOGY de Sophie Burnham

Perfect for readers of Saara El-Arifi and C. L. Clark and stories with strong, queer voices, this is a speculative imagining of a world on the brink of revolution. Here, Rome never fell, but the apocalypse is coming—if it hasn’t arrived already.

EX ROMANA TRILOGY
by Sophie Burnham
DAW, 2024 – 2027
(via KT Literary)

Book 1: SARGASSA (DAW, October 2024)

An unlikely group of rebels are ready to burn down the Roman empire like you’ve never imagined it before. From the halls of the Senate floor to the bloody sands of the gladiatorial pits, Sophie Burnham’s debut is full of riveting political danger, thoughtful worldbuilding, and a tightly-knit group of conspirators.

The role of Imperial Historian is Selah Kleios’s birthright, but she was supposed to have more time to learn the role from her father, the previous Historian. In the wake of her father’s sudden and shocking assassination, Selah finds herself custodian of more than just the Imperial Archives when an old flame returns intending to steal the Iveroa Stone—a seemingly harmless artifact containing secrets that could destroy the empire.

Theo Nix is a damn good spy, and they know it. By day, they work in Senator Naevia Kleios’s office; smart, unobtrusive, and grateful, they’re the model of a perfect plebeian. By night, their time belongs to Griff: master strategist, commander of the Revenants, the spider at the center of a very large and very dangerous web. When Griff gives Theo an assignment, they move, no questions asked, so it’s really no surprise Theo is flirting with Arran Alexander—Selah’s low-caste half brother is an obvious target. It is a surprise, however, that they’re enjoying it so much.

After a year away in the legions, Arran has recently returned home, only to find the cracks beneath his feet widening. Struggling with his own identity and purpose, drawn into an underground independence movement through his growing feelings for Theo, Arran must choose between the sister he loves and the chance to take control of his own life for the very first time.

SARGASSA is the first book in a new speculative trilogy that is equal parts political intrigue, queer romance, and revolution.

« Sargassa is a masterclass in world-building, with its realistic politics, complex and brutal caste system, and gorgeous settings. It takes time to get the lay of the land, but the payoff is worth the effort. The expansive scope multiplies the emotional and conceptual weight of the narrative. » —Shelf Awareness (starred review)

Book 2: BLOODTIDE (October 2025)

The fate of the empire hangs in the balance in the second installment of the genre-bending Ex Romana trilogy.

Cracks are forming in the empire’s facade.

In the wake of startling revelations and personal betrayals, Tair finds herself the Iveroa Stone’s new custodian as she embarks on a battle for Luxana’s streets. As the fallout of the fighting pit massacre leads to a rise in legionary crackdowns and vigilante justice, Tair is determined to find a better path forward for Sargassa’s future. Up in the Imperial Archives, meanwhile, Selah tries to make sense of her family’s tangled history within the Imperium’s shadowed beginnings.

Elsewhere, in the far-flung reaches of Roma Sargassa’s badlands, Arran and Theo undertake a covert mission for the Revenants, one that could tip the scales between victory and defeat in Griff’s upcoming war. But long-laid plans and careful maneuvering are nothing compared to the forces of nature, and Sargassa’s future might just be determined by the coming storm.

Book 3: DAWNLANDS (October 2027)

In the third and final installment of the Ex Romana trilogy, the battle for Sargassa’s future has arrived. As skirmishes break out across the eastern seaboard, Selah and Tair fight to hold Luxana’s tenuous alliance together against both the Imperium and the looming threat of reinforcements from Roma. But the return of long-missing friends and unexpected allies also brings news that will force them to contend with impossible questions: Just how much are they willing to sacrifice for a different tomorrow? And is it already too late to try?

Sophie Burnham is a queer, nonbinary novelist and screenwriter, backed by an Acting BFA and a concentration in playwriting from Syracuse University. Honored with a We Need Diverse Books writing grant and a placement in ScreenCraft’s 2020 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Screenplay competition, Burnham’s debut novel promises to enthrall and enlighten readers. Follow them on Twitter at @sophielburnham.