historical Archives - The Gilmore Guide to Books

The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon

Catherine — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 07:49:00 +0000

Hello, fall! It may not be here officially, but in the book world this week is one of the busiest for new releases. And this year looks to be huge with fall novels coming from popular authors like Hernan Diaz, Barbara Kingsolver, Jodi Picoult, Elin Hilderbrand, Emily St. John-Mandel, Bonnie Garmus, and Kate Atkinson. I’m […]

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Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

Catherine — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 07:10:26 +0000

The sprawling Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil spans three centuries and in doing so introduces and follows three young women, each completely different, but ultimately bound to each other whether they want to be or not. Maria is a young woman in Spain in the 16th century about to be married off to […]

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Lady Tremaine

Catherine — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 07:57:44 +0000

The wicked stepmother has been a mainstay in fiction since before the Brothers Grimm became grim. No fairy tale was complete without one, but the one in Cinderella was particularly vicious and cruel. So easy to hate. Maybe too easy? Author Rachel Hochhauser decides to remedy that in her novel, Lady Tremaine. This is not […]

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Battle of the Titans: Mini-Reviews

Catherine — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 08:35:51 +0000

No battle and no giants here. Instead, I’ve got quick reviews of two chunkster books I read this fall. Chunkster being the technical term for big-ass, over 500 pages each, tomes. Both are set in prehistoric times and are the kind of books you’ll either settle into or set aside. I’ve read a lot […]

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Daughter of Egypt

Catherine — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 08:23:42 +0000

Two young women, separated by thousands of years, stand at the center of Marie Benedict’s new novel, Daughter of Egypt. One is the daughter of a wealthy English lord in post-WWI England while the other is a pharaoh’s daughter in ancient Egypt. Only one has a life predestined by the gods, but both will have […]

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Skylark by Paula McClain

Catherine — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 08:59:42 +0000

A young woman is imprisoned in an insane asylum in the 1600s. A psychiatric medical student in Paris in the 1940s is faced with the realities of the Nazi invasion. These two unrelated characters sit at the center of Paula McLain’s latest novel, Skylark, because both are forced to venture into the darkest parts of […]

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2025 Best Backlist

Catherine — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 08:57:57 +0000

I couldn’t exit the year without an acknowledgement of the backlist books that kept me afloat in 2025. While there were excellent new books released in 2025 these six special novels, all published in previous years found me when I needed books to provide an escape, thrill me, make me laugh, and even break my […]

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The Secret Book Society

Catherine — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 07:18:38 +0000

It’s 1895 in England and women are kept firmly in their established roles as wives, mothers, and arbiters of society. Deviation from these roles or even a desire for something more could lead to a woman being institutionalized by her guardian “for her own safety”. A guardian was the male in her life be it […]

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The Frozen River

Catherine — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 07:06:44 +0000

Martha Ballard is a well-regarded wife, mother, and midwife in late 1700s Maine. When The Frozen River begins it’s the depths of winter and she’s been called to determine a cause of death for a man found frozen in the river. She declares it to be murder, but this is just the beginning of a […]

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Call Her Freedom

Catherine — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 07:49:23 +0000

A small village in the Himalayan foothills is the setting for Tara Dorabji’s debut novel, Call Her Freedom. Aisha’s mother is a midwife and teaches Aisha all about childbirth and herbal remedies when Aisha is not in school. An outstanding student it’s been her mother’s dream to see her go to university in the city. […]

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