Yes, that title needed all caps for a reason. I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you to one of my favorite authors. If you've read this blog at all, you know my obsession with history. You know that I can't watch historical films that pretend they're the real deal because they are so wrong in so many ways that it hurts. But you also know then that I do reading historical fiction as long as it's done right. And Ann Rinaldi does it right. She's written countless books about fascinating periods in history and what I love about these books is that she is straight up honest about what is true and what is from her imagination. Her richly created characters all come into contact with famous individuals like John Adams, John Brown, Jefferson Davis, John Wilkes Booth, Thomas Jefferson, etc., but most are fictional creations. She details in the back of each book who is real, who is made-up, where she found and did her research, when I read these books, I know that I'm getting a slightly fictionalized version of real historical events. And that is what good historical fiction is about. So let me summarize a few of my favorites and encourage you to go out and read them on your own. For a complete list, please visit, http://www.annrinaldi.net/docs/Rinaldi_books.html.
I'm not sure if this was the first Ann Rinaldi book I read but certainly the one I've read the most. A Stitch in Time is the first of the Quilt Trilogy (the other two books are Broken Days and The Blue Door). The trilogy follows the Chelmsford family through three generations. In A Stitch in Time, Hannah attempts to hold together her broken family. Her older brother Lawrence never lives up to standards, her younger sister Abby elopes under her father's nose, Thankful is the wicked beauty of the family and her father's favorite, and Cabot is revealed to not be Father's son and is therefore shunned and ignored. The three books deal with conflicts, resolutions, trust, secrecy and above all, family. Hannah tries to keep everything together through a quilt that she and her sisters are creating. This quilt theme comes back when in Broken Days, a half white/half Native American returns to the Chemlsford family, claiming to be Thankful's daughter (Thankful had been kidnapped by Indians on a trip out west). In The Blue Door, Abby's granddaughter returns to Massachusetts as well but when her portion of the quilt is stolen, she has no way to prove that she is a Chelmsford and ends up having to work in the Lowell Mills. Although no major characters in history are seen in this triology, the characters come into contact with major events such as the Indian massacres of the post-REvolutionary War era, the War of 1812 (Abby's son is killed in a battle), the plight of the works in the Lowell Mills, etc., Hannah is my absoulute favorite character in the entire Ann Rinaldi canon and I would highly recommend the trilogy as your first foray into her world.
Time Enough for Drums is another Revolutionary War story. Jemima Emerson is a Patriot through and through, despite being tutored by John Reid, a Tory. She finds herself in the middle of the Revolutionary War conflict, desiring freedom for herself and for her country but feeling restricted on every single level. There's a wonderful twist in this book that I won't spoil that makes me love this story even more.
The Fifth of March is told from the point of view of Rachel Marsh, a nanny and housemaid for John and Abigail Adams, living in Boston Massachusetts at the height of pre-war activities. At this time, the British begin posting sentries on street corners and Rachel, after resisting as much as she can at first, begins to create a friendship with a British private named Matthew Kilroy. Her loyalties are divided when Matthew ends up as one of the soldiers on trial for his participation in the Boston Massacre. Things are complicated even more when John Adams decides to defend the soldiers, putting his role as a Patriot himself into question. Rachel is a fictional character, but much of the background for this story was taken from letters and diaries from John and Abigail Adams (John Adams is my favorite president) and from court proceedings from the Boston Massacre Trial. It's a wonderful story about loyalties and love.
This time, the scene of the action is in Salem during its most controversial years. Susanna English is a young girl caught in-between her fear of being accused of being a witch by Ann Putnam and her posse of hysterical girls and her knowledge that these girls are not possessed but using their power to get what they want. It's a thrilling story about a town that, for several months, becomes frighteningly captivated by the cries of several young girls and their accusations of witchcraft. Susanna stands watching in the shadows as innocent people are accused, jailed, tried and hung and only is able to step forward when her own family starts to be accused. The Salem Witch Trials is an absolutely fascinating time in history and this story just adds to the excitement of the times.
Who doesn't love a good story about grave-digging? Narrator Emily Pigbush is sent to live with her Uncle Valentine after her mother passes away. Life in Washington, D.C. at this time is chaotic as PResident Lincoln has been assassinated and Emily discovers that her best friend's mother was an accomplice to John Wilkes Booth. While she deals with this piece of news, she also begins to slowly discover that she's not entirely sure what her Uncle's profession is. Again, there are some great twists that I don't want to give away but this is a much darker novel and well worth reading.
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