What Could Happen In 400 Years?

Well, the adult summer reading program is just about ready to launch. It has kept me quite busy over the past few weeks. Our library does a series of genre discussion groups throughout the summer instead of regular individual book discussions. Each librarian coordinates a meeting for a particular genre - Mystery, Travel Narrative, Nonfiction That Reads Like Fiction and, yours truly's ... Historical Fiction! So I have been reading up big time, trying to fill my Historical Fiction gaps but of course I'm drawn back to my old favorites. Currently I am reading two historical fiction books set in London with female main characters...oh, what a surprise. One is set in the 1530s, one is set in the 1930s. The Lady Elizabeth is just what I expected ... wonderfully written with all the details of the time period that only Alison Weir could provide. To walk with Elizabeth as a 7 year old girl, recently declared a bastard, into the house that her dead mother, Anne Boleyn, grew up in brings tears to your eyes. Well, mine at least. As I am enjoying the book immensely, I must think of intelligent things to say about it as I will be meeting Mrs. Weir on Wednesday! I'll let you know how it goes.

Fast forward 400 years. I cannot get enough of my new BFF, Maisie Dobbs (by Jacqueline Winspear). She is a smart, independent British woman living in 1910s - 1940s London. She was a nurse during World War I and now she has her own detective agency. Each book is a new mystery and the one I am on now (# 3, called Pardonable Lies) won the Macavity/Sue Feder Best Historical Mystery Award. The second book, Birds of a Feather, won "Best Novel" for 2005 and her latest adventure (#5, An Incomplete Revenge) is a New York Times Bestseller! This is quite impressive for a "cozy" historical mystery series.

Next on my to-read list is something a bit different. The House at Riverton by Kate Morton is a mystery set in early 1900s London. Hmmmm. I need to read my own historical fiction bibliography.