Historical Novels With Unforgettable Settings

The gothic vibes are simply immaculate in this mysterious, tragic tale of Barcelona after the Spanish Civil War. Zafon’s gorgeous prose, translated from the original Spanish by Lucia Graves, carries us through dim, lamplit city streets and into dusty old bookshops in a story of love, art, and murder.

Set in a jail for enslaved people known as the Devil’s Half-Acre, Yellow Wife brings the notorious place of punishment to gut-wrenching life, and shows how its cruelties warp the souls and relationships of everyone who passes through.

I devoured this sweeping story of the construction of the Panama Canal and all the people whose lives were touched and changed when the canal was carved through the heart of the verdant, newly independent nation in the early twentieth century. From the very first page, I could practically feel the humid moisture of the rainforest on my skin and hear the buzzing mosquitoes.

This immersive and twisty saga took me to a Prohibition-era Chicago I’ve never before seen on the page. The thrills never let up as we follow Nelly and Jay from the glittering ballrooms of the city’s Black elite to the melting pot of sights, sounds, tastes, and ethnicities in the Maxwell Street market. It’s an incredible ride!