Fiction 5: Engaging new historical fiction

My picks for April's new fiction range from the High Plains in the early 1900s to France in the 1950s to Boston in the early 1970s. Select your time period and location to add to your holds list. Cursed Bread is a novel of obsession that centers on the real unsolved mystery of the 1951 mass poisoning of a French village. Where Coyotes Howl is a vivid and deeply affecting ode to the early 20th century West. A benevolent society ends up changing the lives of both those who are helped and those who are helping in The Tapestry of Grace. Painter Val Welch finds himself on a cross-country adventure with a man looking for his runaway wife in The Trackers. Small Mercies is a tale of revenge, family love, festering hate, and insidious power, set against one of the most tumultuous episodes in Boston’s history.

1. Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh

Still reeling in the aftermath of the deadliest war the world had ever seen, the small town of Pont-Saint-Esprit collectively lost its mind. Some historians believe the mysterious illness and violent hallucinations were caused by spoiled bread. Others claim it was the result of covert government testing on the local population.

Elodie was the baker’s wife in Pont-Saint-Esprit. She was a plain, unremarkable person who yearned to transcend her dull existence. A charismatic new couple arrives in town, a forceful ambassador and his sharp-toothed wife, Violet. Elodie is quickly drawn into their orbit. Thus began a dangerous game of cat and mouse – but who was the predator and on whom did they prey?

"Intoxicating, sumptuous, and savage, Cursed Bread has a gothic sensibility that is entirely original. In Mackintosh's hands, the strange, compulsive machinations of desire become luminous and ghastly all at once." —Alexandra Kleeman, author of Something New Under the Sun<

“Cursed Bread floored me in its first page and didn’t let up for the rest of its strange, hot, festering journey. It always feels like a true privilege to be allowed time with Sophie Mackintosh’s brilliant mind and her third novel just confirms that she is only getting better and weirder and wilder. A knockout.” —Megan Nolan, author of Acts of Desparation

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2. Where Coyotes Howl by Sandra Dallas

The two-street town of Wallace, Wyoming, was not like Ellen Webster imagined when she accepted a teaching position there in 1916. But by the end of her first year Ellen has fallen in love with the High Plains and rancher Charlie Bacon. Ellen and Charlie's relationship grows stronger as they work to survive the brutal Wyoming weather and tragedies.

Ellen bonds with the other women on the prairie. Not all of them have loving husbands. Not all came to Wallace willingly. And not all of them can survive the cruel seasons. They look out for each other, share their secrets, and help one another in times of need. The only city to speak of, Cheyenne, is miles away, making it akin to the Wild West in rural Wallace. It is not the trials Ellen and Charlie face together that make them remarkable. It is their love that endures through it all that makes them remarkable.

"Dallas writes with a great sense of place and understanding of the harsh climate, isolation and loneliness women faced as Wyoming evolved in the early 20th century. This is not your traditional love story...it has far more grit and reality."―Candy Moulton, Executive Director, Western Writers of AmericaReserve

3. Tapestry of Grace by Kim Vogel Sawyer

When a group of Kansas women start a benevolent society to help widows and orphans, life changes for both those who are helped and those who are helping in their Mennonite community.

Schoolteacher Augusta Dyck decides the first family the society should help is quiet, reserved widower Konrad Rempel and his young twin sons. However, Konrad doesn't want help. He and his mischievous, good-hearted boys are struggling, but they don't need people in their business.

The charity's founder Martina Krahn is hopeful her work may bring her and her husband a boy to adopt. This could ease the unhappiness in their home.

This is a heartwarming inspirational romance inspired by historical events.

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4. The Trackers by Charles Frazier

During the Depression painter Val Welch travels to rural Dawes, Wyoming, on a New Deal assignment to create a mural representing the region for their new post office. He is hosted by wealthy art lover John Long and his wife Eve on their sprawling ranch.

Rumors and intrigue surround the couple. Eve was once a singer in a western swing band. John was a WWI sniper who now has political aspirations. When Eve flees with a valuable painting, John enlists Val to help him find her. They journey from homeless encampments to San Francisco night clubs to Florida swamps. Will they find Val and what secrets will they uncover along the way?

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5. Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane

In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston. Mary Pat Fennessy is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. She has lived her entire life in the housing projects of “Southie,” the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to old tradition and stands proudly apart.

One night Mary Pat’s teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn’t come home. That same evening, police find a young Black man dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances.

The two events seem unconnected. But Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her missing daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched. She's asking questions that bother Marty Butler, chieftain of the Irish mob, and the men who work for him. These men don’t take kindly to any threat to their business.

“Small Mercies is a jaw-dropping thriller, set in the fury of Boston's 1974 school-desegregation crisis, and propelled by a hell-bent woman who's impossible to ignore. Thought-provoking and heart-thumping, it's a resonant, unflinching story written by a novelist who is simply one of the best around.” —Gillian Flynn

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