I find I can't stomach most fiction anymore, especially anything written since about 1990. But Vanessa Chan's "The Storm We Made" is a powerful exception. Minutely and lovingly observed and the emotional punches it delivers are all earned and deserved.
It's set in #Malaysia in the 1930s during the British colonial period (when it was still called "Malaya") and the #Japanese wartime occupation of the 1940s, and its principal characters are Malay and Japanese. So right away that sets it apart from anything I've ever read before.
What's more, most of the principal characters from whose points of view we see the story are women and girls.
It is so rare, in #English language fiction, to have a glimpse into the dynamics of #Colonization when it's not practiced by a Western state.
The #Audiobook is beautifully narrated by Samantha Tan, a woman of #Asian ancestry.
Would love to hear #TootSEA thoughts on this book.
Kate Sheridan leaves Ireland for London seeking freedom and work. But war looms and danger lurks. She meets Charlie Butler, a dashing pilot who charms her, but can she trust him? Will their love survive their families' objections and the trials of war?
On July 22, 1916, someone set off a bomb during the pro-war “Preparedness Day” parade in San Francisco. As a result, 10 people died and 40 were injured. A jury convicted two labor leaders, Thomas Mooney and Warren Billings, based on the false testimony of Martin Swanson, a detective with a long history of interfering in San Francisco strikes. Not surprisingly, only anarchists were suspected in the bombing. Swanson maintained constant surveillance and harassment of Mooney and Warren Billings, as well as Alexander Berkman & Emma Goldman. A few days after the bombing, they searched and seized materials from the offices of “The Blast,” Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman’s local paper. They also threatened to arrest Berkman. Billings and Mooney ultimately served 23 years in prison for a crime they had not committed. Governor Edmund G. Brown pardoned them in 1961.
Billings and Mooney were both anarchists, and members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). As a young man in San Francisco, Tom Mooney published The Revolt, a socialist newspaper. He was tried and acquitted three times for transporting explosives during the Pacific Gas & Electric strike in 1913. Consequently, the cops already believed he was a bomber, prior to the Preparedness Day parade.
In 1937, Mooney filed a writ of habeas corpus, providing evidence that his conviction was based on perjured testimony and evidence tampering. Among this evidence was a photograph of him in front of a large, ornate clock, on Market Street, clearly showing the time of the bombing and that he could not have been at the bombing site when it occurred. He was finally released in 1939. Upon his release, he marched in a huge parade down Market Street. Cops and leaders of the mainstream unions were all forbidden from participating. An honor guard of longshoremen accompanied him carrying their hooks. His case helped establish that convictions based on false evidence violate people’s right to due process.
The Alibi Clock was later moved to downtown Vallejo, twenty-five miles to the northeast of San Francisco. A bookstore in Vallejo is named after this clock. On May 11, 2024, I did a reading there from my working-class historical novel, Anywhere But Schuylkill, during the Book Release Party for Roberta Tracy’s, Zig Zag Woman, which takes place at the time of the Los Angeles Times bombing, in 1910, when two other labor leaders, the McNamara brothers, were framed.
In 1931, while Mooney and Billings were still in prison, I. J. Golden persuaded the Provincetown Theater to produce his play, “Precedent,” about the Mooney and Billings case. Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times wrote, “By sparing the heroics and confining himself chiefly to a temperate exposition of his case [Golden] has made “Precedent” the most engrossing political drama since the Sacco-Vanzetti play entitled Gods of the Lightening… Friends of Tom Mooney will rejoice to have his case told so crisply and vividly.”
During the Spanish war against fascism (AKA the Spanish Civil War), many Americans volunteered to join the antifascist cause as part of the Abraham Lincoln Brigades. One of the battalions was named the Tom Mooney Machine-Gun Company. It was led by Oliver Law, a communist, and the first black man known to have commanded white U.S. troops.
A DELICATELY HAUNTING THAI novel unfolds like a late-night story from its protagonist, a monk in his 90s telling tales of his youth in the remote jungles of the late 19th century, where tigers and crocodiles lurked in the darkness. Stunning. A MINUS
'Google search interest for “historical fiction books” increased 34% in the last 3 years to 33,000 searches/month. The K-lytics Historical Fiction Report 2024 incorporates two Top-100 Market Snapshots: one for the Historical Fiction bestseller list and another for Historical Mystery. See trending authors, publishers, book descriptions, keywords, pricing analysis, cover art, Kindle Unlimited vs. Non-KU, and more.' https://k-lytics.com/dap/a/?a=16040&p=k-lytics.com/historical-fiction/@bookstodon#books#publishing#mystery#Historicalfiction
Today in Labor History May 9, 1907: Big Bill Haywood went on trial for murder in the bombing death of former Idaho governor Frank Steunenberg. Clarence Darrow defended Haywood and got him acquitted. Steunenberg had brutally suppressed the state’s miners. Haywood had been framed by a Pinkerton agent provocateur named James McParland, the same man who infiltrated the Pennsylvania miners’ union in the 1870s and got 20 innocent men executed as Molly Maguires. You can read about that in my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill.”
The #1 bestselling author of Cooking for Picasso and The Godmothers returns with The Girl from the Grand Hotel, a dazzling historical novel that brings readers into the glamorous world of the first (and doomed) Cannes Film Festival and the deadly atmosphere of Europe on the brink of war.
If you're in Vegas for the Punk Rock and Bowling festival this Memorial Day weekend, be sure to stop by Avantpop Books, Sunday, May 26, noon. I'll be reading from my working-class historical novel, "Anywhere But Schuylkill." Billy Bragg will be headlining, with his book, "Roots, Rockers and Radicals."
Perfect for readers of the Diary of a Pug series and future fans of Bridgerton and Jane Austen, the adorably illustrated pages of Puggleton Park are sure to charm chapter book readers.
Another of the HistFic Outside the Box authors participation in the promotion until 30 April! If you like historical fiction and want something a little different, check out the Charlene Newcomb's stories set in the Crusades!
TWO SISTERS, VETERANS of World War II and still eager for “excitements” in their late nineties, find more thrills than they had bargained for on a trip to Paris. Charming adventure for fans of the Thursday Murder Club and Mrs. Pargeter. B PLUS
Another author with not-the-usual historical fiction is Bryn Hammond, who writes about the Mongols! Along with the two books pictured here, there's a short Mongol story - "Women Who Lie Alone in Tombs" (ie die unmarried) and a short about Shakepeare and Marlow called "The Last Play". A great chance to explore new writers of queer historical fic!
If you're in Vegas on Memorial Day Weekend, come see all the great live bands...AND most of all, come see me read from my historical novel, Anywhere But Schuylkill. I'll be on the ticket with several other great writers, including Billy Bragg, and my good friend James Tracy.
Friends, I recently thought up a small series of erotic shorts about the (very gay) erotic adventures of a pudgy ancient Greek youth. Would anyone be interested in reading that? 🤔
The battle of #Culloden was fought #OTD, 16 April 1746. It has, unsurprisingly, left a significant imprint in the literature & culture of Scotland. A short 🧵
1/8
John Buchan called FLEMINGTON—Violet Jacob’s 1911 novel of the 1745 #Jacobite rising & aftermath—“the best Scots #romantic novel since The Master of Ballantrae”
@penpencilbrush@claudiac@bookstodon Have to thank you again for recommending Blackwells. Although I am a solid supporter of my local independent bookstore and public library sometimes they just can't get books that aren't published in Canada or in North America. Blackwells delivered Hannah Kent's wonderful #historicalFiction Devotion and Maggie Shipstead's excellent Astonish Me. So grateful to finally have the opportunity to read these marvellous #books. #Reading
Everything in this story is leading somewhere amazing. It's emotional, beautiful, touching, surprising and so incredibly moving. Sniffed, snuffled and out and out cried my way through the last part of this book.
@kcfromaustcrime@bookstodon Finally got hold of this beautifully written multi-levelled love story. Like her other two brilliant novels of #historicalFiction, she shows she has done the research and thinking and internalized the stories and feelings of the time and place as well as the relentless control and persecution of the feminine and the 'other'. This 3rd novel is personal for Kent. Highly recommend it.