> HISTORICAL FICTION TARA HENLEY
Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson; Simon & Schuster, 288 pages, $35.00
Award-winning Virginia novelist Sadeqa Johnson is back with her fourth novel, an absorbing story about an ens l ave d woman born on a plantation in Charles City, Va. “Yellow Wife” opens in 1850 and follows Pheby Delores Brown through a coming-of-age saga of love, loss, marriage and motherhood — all of which are tangled up in the horrors of slavery. The idea for the book came to Johnson one day when her family visited the Richmond Slave Trail. The ghost of historic figure Mary Lumpkin, the mixed-race wife of a white slave trader and jailer at Devil’s Half-Acre, took hold of Johnson’s psyche and refused to let go. The result is a deeply researched and truly transfixing narrative told with heart, soul and skill — one that will no doubt grip the reader as much as it did the author.
Our Darkest Night: A Novel of Italy and the Second World War by Jennifer Robson; William Morrow, 384 pages, $34.99
Internationally bestselling author Je n n i f e r Robs o n ’s last book, “The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding,” was set in Britain in 1947, and won her fans around the world. Now, with “Our Darkest Night,” the Toronto writer heads to Second World War Italy. Opening in 1943, it follows a cultured young Jewish girl, Antonina, an aspiring doctor who’s forced to flee Venice and hide out in the Italian countryside. There, she poses as the wife of a much-admired local farmer, Nico. As the pair grow closer, the war put their lives and the lives of everyone they care about in danger and they are each forced to choose what matters most. The book is inspired by family stories from Robson’s Italian husband. His grandparents were asked by their parish priest to shelter Jewish refugees during the war.
The Forgotten Orphan by Glynis Peters; One More Chapter, 400 pages, $22.99
This delightful outing from British author Glynis Peters, of “The Orphan Thief ” fame, is set at the Holly Bush orphanage in S o u t h a mpton, England, during the Second World War. Red-headed Maisie Reynolds — a teenage orphan who’s been separated from her beloved twin brother — is forced to find courage and take control of the facility, as bombs fall around her and the children. During the course of the war, the building is converted into a field hospital for injured servicemen, many of whom are shellshocked, and Maisie once again takes charge, this time as a nurse’s aide. In the process, she overcomes her heartbreaking past, uncovers family secrets and falls in love with a dashing Canadian paratrooper. Absorbing and easy to read, “The Forgotten Orphan” is the perfect book to curl up on the couch with this winter.
The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly; Gallery Books, 368 pages, $37.00
“The Light Over London” author Julia Kelly’s new outing grew out of a garden. The London-based author, and amateur green t h u mb, wr i t e s that for years she had wanted to pen a story about different generations of women, all connected by one plot of land. After learning about requisition homes in Britain during the Second World War — when many of the country’s grand estates were commandeered and turned into hospitals and barracks — she had the key to unlock this book, which is rich in descriptions of lush landscapes. “The Last Garden in England” weaves together three separate storylines and eras. In current day, Emma Lovett takes on a garden restoration project at Highbury House. Meanwhile, in 1907, famed garden designer Venetia Smith arrives at that same spot, looking to make her mark within its refuge. And in 1944, Beth Pedley finds her footing, the war rages on and the home is transformed into a convalescent hospital.