December’s Reads: Historical Fiction

We’ve made it to the end of 2022! And I’ve made it through 12 genres of books this year. If my stats on StoryGraph are correct, I read 58 books in 2022, which is so much more than I read last year. So this reading challenge did its job!

December’s genre was Historical Fiction, which is a favorite of mine. Like most months, I ended up reading a couple non-genre books, too; they came in unexpectedly at the library.

I started off with If I Were You by Lynn Austin.

(From Lynn’s Website)

1950. In the wake of the war, Audrey Clarkson leaves her manor house in England for a fresh start in America with her young son. As a widowed war bride, Audrey needs the support of her American in-laws, whom she has never met. But she arrives to find that her longtime friend Eve Dawson has been impersonating her for the past four years. Unraveling this deception will force Audrey and Eve’s secrets―and the complicated history of their friendship―to the surface.

1940. Eve and Audrey have been as different as two friends can be since the day they met at Wellingford Hall, where Eve’s mother served as a lady’s maid for Audrey’s mother. As young women, those differences become a polarizing force . . . until a greater threat―Nazi invasion―reunites them. With London facing relentless bombardment, Audrey and Eve join the fight as ambulance drivers, battling constant danger together. An American stationed in England brings dreams of a brighter future for Audrey, and the collapse of the class system gives Eve hope for a future with Audrey’s brother. But in the wake of devastating loss, both women must make life-altering decisions that will set in motion a web of lies and push them both to the breaking point long after the last bomb has fallen.

This sweeping story transports readers to one of the most challenging eras of history to explore the deep, abiding power of faith and friendship to overcome more than we ever thought possible.

I typically enjoy split-time stories like this. Initially, I struggled a bit with the way these two timelines were interwoven; it felt odd. But eventually it started to flow better, and then I got invested. There’s a lot of sadness in this story, but I think it’s really about how we navigate trying times and grief. It was a little slow, but I did enjoy it.

I also read The Wish Book Christmas, which is a novella sequel to If I Were You. I really enjoyed this story about discovering the true meaning of Christmas.

I finally got a chance to finish Roseanna M. White’s Codebreakers series with A Portrait of Loyalty. I talked about the previous two books in my October post about Historical Romance.

(From Roseanna’ website)

Zivon Marin was one of Russia’s top cryptographers, until the October Revolution tore apart his world. Forced to flee after speaking out against Lenin and separated from his brother along the way, he arrives in England driven by a growing anger and determined to offer his services to the Brits.

Lily Blackwell sees the world best through the lens of a camera–and possesses unsurpassed skill when it comes to retouching and recreating photographs. With her father’s connections in propaganda, she’s recruited to the intelligence division, even though her mother would disapprove.

After Captain Blackwell invites Zivon to dinner one evening, a friendship blooms between him and Lily. He sees patterns in what she deems chaos; she sees beauty in a world he thought destroyed. But both have secrets they’re unwilling to share. When her photographs reveal that someone has been following Zivon, his loyalties are called into question–and his enemies are discovered to be far closer than he’d feared. 

I love every Roseanna White book I’ve read, truly. She has such a descriptive way of connecting events and characters that sucks me in and doesn’t let go. This story, at first glance, felt a little more disconnected from the first two. It shouldn’t, because it spins out of Britain’s Room 40 just like the others do. I think it’s because the two main characters don’t have the same connections to White’s other characters. But setting that aside, the story was super interesting and the characters captivating as always. I found the premise fascinating and the resolution deeper than I would have expected. Which is silly, because her books always make me think.

My two library books that came in were Judge and King by R.J. Larson.

(From Christianbook.com)

The last thing Kien Lantec expects on his first day of military leave is to receive marching orders from his Creator, the Infinite. Orders that don't involve destroyer-racing or courting the love of his life, Ela. Adding to Kien's frustration, his Infinite-ordained duties have little to do with his skills as a military judge-in-training. His mission? To warn the people of ToronSea against turning their backs to the Infinite to worship a new goddess. But why Kien? Isn't this the role of a true prophet, such as Ela of Parne?

Continuing where Prophet left off (click here to read my review of that book), Larson takes readers deeper into her Old Testament-inspired setting. You can see a lot of influence from biblical stories in both Judge and its sequel, King, especially stories like those of Jonah and David. I really enjoyed both stories and highly recommend the series!

After this I read another Lynn Austin book (What can I say? I tend to get on kicks of one author at a time), Long Way Home.

(From Lynn’s website)

Peggy Serrano couldn’t wait for her best friend to come home from the war. But the Jimmy Barnett who returns is much different from the Jimmy who left, changed so drastically by his experience as a medic in Europe that he can barely function. When he attempts the unthinkable, his parents check him into the VA hospital. Peggy determines to help the Barnetts unravel what might have happened to send their son over the edge. She starts by contacting Jimmy’s war buddies, trying to identify the mysterious woman in the photo they find in Jimmy’s belongings.

Seven years earlier, sensing the rising tide against her people, Gisela Wolff and her family flee Germany aboard the passenger ship St. Louis, bound for Havana, Cuba. Gisela meets Sam Shapiro on board and the two fall quickly in love. But the ship is denied safe harbor and sent back to Europe. Thus begins Gisela’s perilous journey of exile and survival, made possible only by the kindness and courage of a series of strangers she meets along the way, including one man who will change the course of her life.

With this book, Lynn Austin explores the aftermath of war, the trauma of those who survive it, and the choices made along the way. It’s a very unique book for the time period it’s set in; I don’t know if I’ve ever seen another book that focuses so specifically on post-WWII trauma faced by soldiers. For all that focus, though, the story isn’t told from the soldier’s perspective. Instead, it’s shown through the eyes of those who love him. It’s a fairly slow-paced story, but the characters and their impact are deep. It’s a really beautiful story about struggle, faith, and love.

I finished my reading off over Christmas with Where Treetops Glisten: Three Stories of Heartwarming Courage and Christmas Romance During World War II. This is a novella compilation by Cara Putman, Tricia Goyer, and Sarah Sundin.

It follows the three siblings of the Turner family through three successive Christmases during World War II.

(From Sundin’s website)

White Christmas by Cara C. Putman
A candy maker and a puzzle manufacturer have one thing in common: love is the last thing they’re looking for and the very thing they need.

I’ll Be Home for Christmas by Sarah Sundin
A fighter pilot running on empty, a lonely widow, and a little girl searching for what she’s lost—will an unusual Christmas gift fill their hearts again?

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Tricia Goyer
As Christmas nears a combat nurse offers care and cheer to injured soldiers on the front line, but when her patients and the Dutch villagers discover it’s her birthday they work together to give her a great gift—a reason to believe in love again.

I really liked the way each story was wrapped around a different Christmas song. They’re novellas, so they’re pretty quickly resolved, but I enjoyed them.

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So that’s it, then. All my reading for 2022. Going into next year, I’m planning to finish the three books I’m still in the middle of – Lord of the Rings (WHY I haven’t finished this, I do not know), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, and Inkspell. Then I’ll move into another reading plan. I’m planning to do the Pick Your Poison Challenge by Gregory Road. I was originally planning to do the one from 2022, but I’m looking at the one for 2023 right now, and I’ll have to decide which one I like better.

Do you have any reading plans for 2023? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!