I liked digging into recent historical fiction for my summer round-up on NPR, which is hot off the presses. I knew some of the authors’ work already, and some novels I discovered for this assignment. I tried for a balance of time periods and styles when I selected the books to review. What I was really going for, though, was fiction that took off from specific fact, historical personae or events that grounded the work.

So these were the books I reviewed.

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline.

The Black Country by Alex Grecian.

The Blood of Heaven by Kent Wascom.

Fever by Mary Beth Keane.

The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan.

I hope you enjoy your summer reading, whether it takes place in a lawn chair, on a beach towel, or on the couch in front of the air conditioner!