Historical Fiction Favorites

What makes historical fiction stick isn’t the costumes or the dates. It’s the moment you realize the past isn’t past at all, it’s a mirror. We bring four historical fiction book recommendations that hit that nerve in totally different ways, from eerie hope to full-body dread, and we talk honestly about who each pick is for (and who should check trigger warnings first).

German starts with The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin, a Nazi conspiracy thriller that turns into a sharp debate about nature versus nurture and the terrifying idea that “the conditions” are what create the monster. Jacqui follows with The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, a post Spanish Civil War Barcelona mystery where a hidden library, burned books, and buried secrets turn reading itself into the heartbeat of the story. Then we head to World War I with Angel Down by Daniel Kraus, a brutal, surreal mission into no man’s land that finds a fallen angel and exposes what war strips out of people and what it can’t. Jacqui closes with The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock, a Southern Gothic gut-punch where violence, hypocrisy, and weaponized faith collide in rural America.

We also toss out rapid-fire historical fiction recommendations, share what we’re reading now, and tease our next theme: beach reads and summer reads. If you like an engaging book podcast with memorable picks, subscribe, share this with a reader friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find us.

Books Discussed in this episode:

• The Boys from Brazil - Ira Levin (1976)
• The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafón (2009)
• Angel Down - Daniel Kraus (2025)
• The Devil All the Time (2011)

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Transcript

Welcome And Genre Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to his book her book, the conversation of how to cannot be with a former offense husband and his children happy when they try to understand each other's reading choices, class taste, and stay happily married through middle month. Together we'll deliver the stories from opposite ends of the bookshelf, laughing, debating, recommending, and occasionally roasting each other's text. Because in this relationship, there's one guarantee. The only thing scarier than his numbers is my TBR shelf. This is his book Her Book, hosted by German and Jackie. Sit back, grab a snack, and enjoy the literary chaos.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Welcome to his book, Her Book. We're your host, German.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

And Jackie.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

So last week we talked about a couple of our favorite tropes. Jackie, you spoke about time travel. And I was all about the haunted houses, haunted places. This episode, we're both going to be talking about historical fiction.

unknown 1:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Jackie, what do you love about historical fiction?

SPEAKER_00 1:10

I love this genre so much. It's actually funny. Looking through my annual reading lists, I was a bit surprised that so many of my high-rated reads are historical fiction. It was so difficult to narrow down some books to talk about today. So I kind of think this might be a genre or category can maybe discuss a couple more times on the street.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

This is your genre for sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

It's going to sound very basic, but when reflecting on what it is I love so much about Story Set in the past, it's just like really simple and bare bones. I love history. I love fiction. I pretty much hate our present times. So being able to immerse myself in another period and place holds like added satisfaction for me as a reader.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

I see that. I mean, and for for me on coming from the horror side, it's such a rich genre, subgenre, historical horror fiction. And it kind of lends itself to a time, an era, a historical event, even that most most everybody at least knows something about, and then adds either fiction or characters or narrative or twist, or the for me for the horror. And in horror, actually, I have a lot of choices too, even though it's not doesn't make a bulk of my library up. There's The Terror by Dan Simmons, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones, Our Sheriff Knight, which we both read. Yes. And the formatory, which I haven't read. Oh, yeah, I read that one. I love that one. Tenerife Dude. So that's another good one, too.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Yeah, I would say selectively, the past can be pretty terrifying.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

Seriously, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

It definitely lends itself as a good backdrop for horror. Yes, it does. That being said, do you want to get us started with your first recommendation?

The Boys From Brazil Breakdown

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Let's do it. All right. All right. My first book this week is The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin, published in 1976. Not necessarily horror, but you guys will get it.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Carried the synopsis. Yes, Jackie. All right, here we go. Nazi hunter Yaakov Lieberman uncovers a shocking plot by Joseph Mengela. The infamous doctor has cloned Adolf Hitler 94 times, placing the boys with families engineered to replicate Hitler's childhood, and is now having their father's murder to complete the psychological blueprint. Lieberman must stop the conspiracy before history has a chance to repeat itself.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Thanks, Jackie. All right.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

I can see why that's not lying.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

All right. So this novel may not specifically be horror per se, but we're talking about Nazis, Dr. Jesse Bengala, and the plant valves trying to create the next Hitler. You can't get much more historical horror fiction than that, I think. So before I get into the book, I remember being a kid way, way back in the day, and this novel is being made into a movie. And I would see the commercial for The Boys of Brazil, the film. And even from way back then, it caught my attention, including up to last year when I finally decided, you know what? I should I should read that novel.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Did you ever see the movie?

SPEAKER_02 4:12

I never saw the movie, strangely enough. We'll have to watch the movie. And you gotta read the book first. And anyway, it's an older novel, 1976, but it's such a good one. And if you know, if you guys aren't big on reading long novels, it's only about 200, 300, 280, 300 pages. So it's a short short read, yeah. So opening of the book, we find Mengela seated with some ex SS officers at a restaurant in South America, Brazil. And unknown to them at the time, Barry Kohler, who's a journalist, is secretly listening and recording the meeting. Kohler then contacts Yaqov Lieberman, Nazi hunter and also the protagonist, to tell him what he's heard. What he's heard is that Mengela is sending these SS guys out to kill 94 men living in the US and Western Europe. Unfortunately, the reporter gets killed before he can get more information out to Lieberman. But this sets the story in motion. At the same time, he's investigating and putting two and two together about what's going on with the murders. And he finds that the victims are all about or even the same age. They are all civil servants, and they all have adopted young sons. Now the big theme in this book is nature versus nurture. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

Mengela, Team Nature, believes you can clone a monster, Hitler, but can you? The boys have the DNA, the upbringing, the same life experiences, or at least as close as you can get. You stealing the world, the world with and everything that happens with it in and around it for that to work. But Mengele doesn't trust the DNA himself, so that's why he's trying to create the exact environment as well. Now Lieberman, Team Nurture, knows that the boys didn't choose their DNA, and without the specific historical conditions that shaped and created Hitler, including the humiliation of Germany post-World War I and the economic catastrophe and the economic catastrophe, the genetics produced nothing, just an angry kid with some German shepherds. Which when you read the book, you'll understand what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Deep questions for sure.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

Now almost as much of a fan of thrillers as I am of horror novels, almost. Boys from Brazil is a political thriller, but I love this book. It's a fast read, like I said, just under 300 pages. And I'm kind of a slow reader. But I really ran through it too. Like like I finished this probably in like a week, which is really fast for me.

unknown 6:57

That is fast for you.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

And uh and then Lieberman, he's not your modern-day action hero, so don't expect that. He's an aging and a tired man, but he's also very intelligent and determined. And and is he's our moral hero. And you feel you're right there with him as he's hunting down Mengala, figuring out the murders. We're with him the whole way, step by step. Oh, and in the final confrontation with Mengala and the one boy we actually meet. Oh my god, it's such a good climax. It's it's it's super tension. What's gonna happen? What's wrong with the kid? Is he good? Is he bad? It's it's just it's just so good. Now, here's a scary takeaway from the book in 2026. And it's not cloning. There's a passage in the book where Lieberman states that the conditions, it's the conditions that matter. You need the right opportunist to take advantage of the right calamity to create the monster. Now that's scary. Also scary, the real Mengela was alive and out there when the book was published in 1976. He actually died in 1979. He drowned while swimming in Brazil. A bit of trivia for you guys, too. The Boys from Brazil is now a golden anniversary book celebrating its 50th anniversary now in 2026.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Well, unrelated to that, I just wanted to back up uh speaking on something that you had said that I really liked regarding it's the conditions that make the monster.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

And it just got me thinking about some of the eerie parallels between the kind of negative utopia, dystopian future novels, and today.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Um, I just finished 1984. It's my first time reading that book. And Parable of the Sower is another one that just has some pretty creepy parallels. So I bet. I bet. All right. So, who do we recommend Boys from Brazil to?

SPEAKER_02 8:54

Okay, I'll keep it short but sweet. So obviously, fans of fiction and historical fiction, and fans who also love a great hero and a great villain, because this book has both. And any horror enthusiast who kind of wanna take a walk outside the line a little bit, but still love a thriller, I think they'll love it too.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Yeah. Thriller, historical fiction. I definitely have to check this one out.

SPEAKER_02 9:18

Great characters, memorable.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

All right, Jackie, what's your first book?

The Shadow Of The Wind Love Letter

SPEAKER_00 9:23

My first book is The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, published in 2009.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

All right. Yeah, I do. The story follows Daniel, a young boy in post-war Barcelona, who discovers a mysterious novel in a hidden library known as the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. Fascinated by its forgotten author, Julian Caracks, Daniel begins a search to uncover his life, only to find a trail of burned books, lost loves, and long-buried secrets. As Daniel's own life begins to mirror Julian's tragic past, he is drawn into a haunting mystery where love, memory, and fate intertwine across generations. Very nice. Sounds nice. Sounds good.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

This book. So when I started Shadow of the Wind, it was just such a joy because from the first sentence I was hooked. And with each page, I fell more and more in love with the author, his rich writing, his complex story. It's so much more than the synopsis. This is one of those books when I finished it. And I wasn't aware that the author had actually passed away in 2020.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Yeah. So obviously heartbreaking on many levels for selfish reasons. I think listeners will agree it's such a loss to the literary world when someone so talented has just a life cut short. And you know, they probably had so many more stories to tell. I also learned that although this book could absolute, absolutely be a standalone novel, he wrote it as the first of a series called The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. And that includes Angel's Game, The Prisoner of Heaven, The Labyrinth of Spirits, which the library, our library didn't carry any of these books. I found a translated version of The Labyrinth of Spirits on eBay. So stay tuned. Hopefully, I'll eventually find the whole series. I want to read them in order. All right. Okay, back to the book. Where do I begin? To start, since we're talking about historical fiction, I should mention this book takes place just after the Spanish Civil War, which puts us around 1939, 1940. The backdrop is Barcelona, and honestly, the city sort of acts as a character itself. You feel totally immersed in the atmosphere of the streets, the homes, the shops. That's really cool. Before I get into the rest of the characters, I briefly want to mention just how cool the structure of the storytelling is. As readers, we're constantly moving between Daniel's coming of age, Julian Cracks's tragic past, essentially watching how their lives echo each other. This book just kind of does this back and forth really, really well. The main character, Daniel, is so, so greatly developed. We meet him as a child. We watch him mature and grow as the story unfolds. And he's just so easy to love. I think something that really resonates too is that he's not like a professional detective. He doesn't have this like kind of like hero and a sense about him. He's just a reader like us. He's thoughtful and curious, and his journey from childhood innocence to adult awareness just feels so honest and real. Another unforgettable unforgettable character. I'm gonna butcher this name. Let's see.

SPEAKER_02 13:28

Famine Romero de Torres.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

Thank you. I have to use my Spanish a little bit. So the friendship with him and Daniel is almost like an emotional spine of this novel. He's a very complex character with a pretty terrifying backstory of political oppression, torture. This makes you just want to point out again the richness and intricacy of the author's storytelling. There's so many layers to each of these characters. So, of course, I also have to mention the author within the novel, the mysterious Julian. We kind of piece together his story through like letters, testimonies, whispers, and rumors. His life honestly reads like a gothic tragedy, and this is a life we don't want to see Daniel repeat. And that leads me to one of the primary themes I noticed while reading this book that's repetition, basically how trauma loops across generations. As Daniel is uncovering Julian's past, he's also facing a possible version of his own future. Other themes would be like the power of books, the salvation of friendship, the dangers of silence, how stories can connect lives across time. Sorry, I'm just going on and on, wrapping up. I just can't stress how beautiful the writing is. There's almost like a poetic tone to it. It's dramatic, but intentionally so, in just the best way. I mean sounds great.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

No, you keep going, keep going. All right. So, question, of course, is who would you recommend this to? Sorry, guys, I dropped the book.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

I would categorize this book as historical fiction, but it's also a mystery. So if you're a reader who loves mysteries and you want that kind of layered with emotion, obviously historical fiction with just incredible atmosphere. To all my fellow readers who love books about books, this novel is so mesmerizing, so magical. I didn't want it to end. I can't wait to get my hands on the second book of the series. I can just kind of keep it going. Sounds okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

I like it to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Yeah, yeah, it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

All right.

Angel Down And The Madness Of War

SPEAKER_02 15:39

Well, my next book is Angel Down by Daniel Krause, published in 2025. And Jackie synopsis?

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Here we go. October 1918, the final weeks of World War I. Private Cyril Bagger, a con man and small-time swindler who has survived the war by avoiding the worst of it, is sent with four other soldiers on a grim mission to no man's land to euthanize a wounded comrade who won't stop screaming. What they find is not a dying soldier, it's a fallen angel shot down by artillery fire. Artillery fire. She may hold the key to ending the war, but only if these five deeply flawed men can set aside their jealousy, greed, and paranoia long enough to work together. Yep. Can't wait to read this book.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

Oh my god. All right. So I, like a lot of other readers, love this book. So good, so good. And I came to find it, Angel Down, because I read Daniel Krauss's previous uh novel, Whalefall last year, which I I also love.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Yeah, I remembered.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

One note, actually, before I get into the book, but about the writing of this book that most of you may have heard already. It's a one-sentence structure novel. And it kind of reads kind of like one long thought, no periods, lots of commas. When I we first started the book, honestly, after a few pages, I turned to Jackie and I said, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to keep reading this because it just was it was weird kind of the follow-up, yeah, rhythm-wise. So it does get a take a bit to get used to. At least for me it did. But after a few chapters, honestly, you kind of just fall in sync with how it's how it's written. And it works so well for the story. Kraus actually in interview says said he was really worried when he sent the draft to his publisher, but he felt like this is how he had to write the novel. Because it's the madness of war, and we're in the protagonist's head, and his thoughts do not stop. And that's that's exactly how it reads, and it works fabulously. So, protagonist, his name is Cyril Bagger, and we begin and end the novel with him. He takes us on his journey through the unspeakable horrors of World War One. And I don't know if we can call him the hero, but he is the protagonist, like I said. But he also happens to be a riverboat hustler and a con man. Even in war, he figured out how to con his way into burial duty, which we find out is the furthest point from where the battle and the front lines are, so he's trying to be as safe as he can. He figures if he can he has to be here, then he'll find a way to stay safe and do his time. Well, actually that's not gonna happen, because before we know it, Bagger and four of his fellow soldiers are handpicked by the crooked commander to go on this kind of suicide mission to find and kill mercy kill what everyone believes is a stuck and dying wounded soldier, whose never-ending shrieks and screams are driving the whole company crazy. It's going on for like days and hours. Now I said Bagger heads out with four of his fellow soldiers, and he does, but what I found is each soldier represents a trait. We have Cyril Bagger, who's the protagonist. Then we have Ben Vec, who's kind of the tragic figure of the novel. We have Popkin, who's this big brute thug, and the and a bully.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Popkin kind of sounds like a character from that other book. Popkin, yeah, good catch from How to Sell a Haunted House.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Yeah. Popkin and Pupkin, I thought the same thing. Um, we also have Good Speed, who's the opportunist, and finally there's Lewis Arno, who's an innocent 14-year-old who lied his way, lied about his age to be able to enlist. And Arno, I thought, is the heart of the story. Like to me, that's where the heart of the book is, is with Bagger, Bagger and Arno and their journey with each other and with the angel. Now I said Bagger isn't necessarily the hero the hero, but you know what? I couldn't help but fall in love with the guy through the journey. His big brother, little brother, or father-son sort of relationship that it is with Arno is so genuine, it to me at least makes up for his flaws. Arno's illiterate, and Bagar even reads aloud to himself. Like specifically, he reads from a comic, The Son of Tarzan, which is a father-son story. And you kind of discover that this guy, Bagar, does actually care about something or some of something or someone other than himself, which is what made me care about him. And what happens to him, where he's going, what he's doing or trying to do, is he gonna make it, and who is still who's still be there with him if he does make it. Now, before I wrap it up, I gotta say something about the angel, of course. I wondered at first, is she really an angel? She has no wings, she's got no halo, and when they find her, I'm sorry, she has no halo when they find her, she also doesn't utter one word for most of the book. To the point that I wonder maybe she's a MacGuffin, but a McGuffin's kind of a yes.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

What's a MacGuffin? I'm not familiar with this, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:53

I'm sure a lot of people aren't, and I wasn't for a while either. But a MacGuffin is something, something that the characters in a book or a movie are all after, and that kind of helps move the story forward. Like think about the uh the briefcase in Pulp Fiction, remember? Kind of was there, it was after it. It didn't really have any importance to us as the audience, but it helped move the story forward. Exactly. So I guess that's that's my best definition of MacGuff. So to each of the soldiers, going back to the angel on the mission, she appears as something different. Someone's mother, someone's daughter, girlfriend, or object of desire, or a cash cow, even. She's a mirror to the men and what they want or need most, or even to their deepest wounds. Now, being a mirror, she was actually watching what they would do. And I think Kraus did such a good job disguising her as almost just a package that men were moving from place to place before you even realize she's so much more. The book to me took me on such an emotional ride beyond one sentence structure, and at the same time, because Of it, it was hard to stop reading and go to sleep, and then hard to fall asleep afterwards because I was just thinking about the book and I wanted to keep reading. And this is the first and only novel I've read of this type, the one-sentence structure. But like I said, Krauss does such an amazing job reeling you in that before you know it, you're past the sort of unfamiliarity of it and you're right in there in the chaos of Bagger's mind. Which I think where he wanted to put you and where you need to be.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Sounds so good. Oh my god, it's yeah, I'm can't tell you how much I enjoyed.

SPEAKER_02 22:34

So good.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Well, who would you recommend read this book?

SPEAKER_02 22:38

All right. Good question. So, book lovers in general, I think it I'd definitely recommend it to them. And people who just love reading and and aren't afraid of something a little different to start out with. Yeah, in terms of like horror level who I would say like entry-level horror, because it was, I mean, yes, the horrors of war for sure, and there's a lot of it, there's plenty of it in the book, but it's not you know necessarily in there for the scares. It's more of a story of Bagger, really, and Arno.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

So even maybe people who aren't the biggest fans of horror but enjoy historical fiction, World War One, 100%.

SPEAKER_02 23:18

Yeah, people into war novels, entry into horror, and character-driven novels, which I know you love.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:27

So you would definitely love this. And actually, you know what? I almost forgot, and that but I won't. This book, Angel Down, has recently won the Pulitzer Prize.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

Yes, it did.

SPEAKER_02 23:37

And and deservedly so. It was amazing. It was so good. Jackie, what's your next book?

The Devil All The Time Gets Dark

SPEAKER_00 23:44

All right. Well, again, thank you for that recap of Angel Down. I'm like I said, really excited to read it. Maybe I'll get to do a little uh opinion piece on it.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

Oh, I can't wait.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

My next book is The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock. This was published in 2011. You want to read the synopsis? I do, I love this book, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 24:09

So Devil All the Time. Set in rural America in the years following World War II, The Devil All the Time follows a web of deeply disturbed characters, including corrupt creatures, a twisted sheriff, and a husband and wife serial killers, whose paths collide with Arvind Russell, a young man fighting to protect his loved ones from the evil surrounding them.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Thank you, German. Okay, so we're heading into dark territory with this pick. This was a book recommended to me by actually one of your good friends.

SPEAKER_02 24:43

Yeah, one of my best friends, Punch. It's such a great recommendation.

SPEAKER_00 24:46

This was one of his favorites, and I'm so grateful because it's also a favorite of mine. I hadn't heard of this book or this author prior to Punch's recommendation. And I'm so in awe of Pollock's writing, like, could not get enough of it. So naturally, immediately needed to read everything else he had published. So there was another novel he wrote called The Heavenly Table, and a collection of short stories called Knock Em Stiff. They're all so good. Uh I do have to recommend checking trigger warnings before picking this book up. It is not going to be for everyone. I think you can attest to that. German has read this book. There's quite a bit of graphic content. This is not at all a light read. It's for sure unsettling. It dives deep into topics many would prefer not to explore, but I hope this makes our listeners more intrigued than apprehensive. I've seen this book categorized as Southern Gothic, which I know is a pretty popular subgenre. The story takes us through rural Ohio and West Virginia. I do consider it historical fiction. The time period is about post-World War II and also like into the 1960s. A little bit about the plot here. We're not following one main character. The book weaves together multiple lives, each one more like anguish-inducing than the last. German, you mentioned in the synopsis, we meet Arvin. He's a young man shaped by his father's trauma and extreme religious beliefs. We meet corrupt preachers, predatory couple. There are several other characters whose paths inevitably collide. Pollock connects these storylines gradually, and when they come together, it's very messy, uncomfortable. And I think that's very much the point. The story is meant to be gritty, horrifying, start to finish. Speaking of these adjectives, one of the most striking and I think terrifying things about this book really is the characters themselves. They're not just flawed, but deeply, deeply damaged. Pollock does not shy away from emphasizing the worst in people. Obsession, violence, desperation, hypocrisy. And he just has a way of making them so believable, despite them also being so terribly disturbing. Literally, next level character development here. I do want to talk a little bit about the themes. Religion plays a major role in this story, not in a comforting way, but as a destructive force, the emphasis being on how humans use religion as a tool for control and corruption and as justification for terrible actions. Basically, faith and belief are the guys for validating cruelty. Personally, I love deep dives into the dark side of religion. So this theme was a very satisfying one for me. Violence is another constant present throughout the novel, and I'll add with absolutely no heroic framing, just the raw impact of what people are capable of doing to each other. And what I think is very unique is that woven through these characters and their actions, there's just no sense of morality whatsoever. And I know that's bleak, but I also find it refreshing that Pollock writes with what I describe as a no-apologies mentality. It's unexpected that a book will drop you into just the cesspool of society and then leave you there knowingly without a way out. It's rogue, it's risky. I love it. Overall, The Devil All the Time is not a book you read to escape. It's a book that kind of forces you to confront uncomfortable truths about the human condition, the most depraved side of human nature. This is a heavy but extremely memorable read. I'm sure you remember. Oh my God.

SPEAKER_02 28:52

I love that book. It's it's so engaging.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

Yeah. And I'll note too, because if you were to like Google the book, there was a movie adaptation, not too many years after. I'm not sure. I I can't say that I would recommend it. I don't think it really showcased the book well. So I would say skip the movie adaptation, read the book, maybe watch the adaptation later, form your own opinion. Lots of great actors. And I do think that Pollock was actually a part of the screenplay for it as well. All right. Who would I recommend this? Well, anyone interested in character-driven stories that don't always end happily, I really can't emphasize that enough. Um, stories that explore the darker side of humanity, if you appreciate atmospheric writing, morally complex narratives. I would not recommend this if you're sensitive to violence or if you're looking for something that's light and hopeful. But I'd really like to hear what our listeners think about this one. It's maybe more divisive. So I'd love to discuss others' takeaways. That's a good question.

SPEAKER_02 30:09

Yeah, definitely let us know.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

Let's see. I don't know if you have any other hot takes on this one.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

No, you covered it pretty pretty well. I remember when Poncha told me about it and you read it first, and then you recommended it to me. And you know, I went in not knowing anything about it, but it's like you said, it's not there's necessary, I don't think there's anyone that's necessarily likable in it. But it was so Arvin, yeah, for sure. But it was so engaging. Like it's one of those, I mean, it said a lot, but you couldn't put down, you know, I wanna know what happens next. And I hate everybody in this book except maybe Arvin, but but I still wanted to know what happened. And like you said, how he he weaved all the characters to eventually come together was just genius.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

Yeah, my best friend also read it, and him and I are in a two-person, unofficial book club. I I think um we're always either reading the same book or recommending what we just read one of mine right now. He is, yes, he's actually reading the troop right now. And I was interested in his take, and I'll never forget a comment he made about how Pollock has this like insane ability to create completely developed characters in so few words, and that's so true. His way with language and description and his overall writing style is just so brilliant. So um, again, I don't I don't want to scare anyone away, but again, you've been warned.

Rapid Fire Historical Fiction Recs

SPEAKER_02 31:33

But read it.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

I did have a few additional books I wanted to highlight, just briefly, uh, obviously, in the interest of keeping the podcast length digestible, give you some like rapid fire recommendations. I always hope that everyone leaves this show wanting to read one or many of our recommendations. So, just quickly, a couple other historical fiction books that just linger with me. One is Trespasses by Louise Kennedy. Uh, this was published in 2022, uh, primarily set in 1975 during the height of the troubles in Northern Ireland. Um, this is a backdrop I'm always drawn to. So beautifully written debut novel. Next would be The Great Believers by Rebecca Mackay. This was published in 2018. This book follows a close-knit group of friends in Chicago during the height of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. There's also a dual timeline that takes the reader to Paris in 2015. And I know you're looking at me. How is this historical fiction? The 1980s, even though it doesn't seem like it should be historical fiction, by definition, it does fall under the umbrella of it. So I'm just gonna leave that there. Lastly, if you like being just emotionally decimated and you were a fan of The Nightingale by Kristen Hanna, I strongly recommend The Great Alone. This was also written by Hannah. Honestly, I loved it even more than The Nightingale. This one takes place primarily in rural Alaska in the mid-1970s. I would definitely recommend not reading this one in public. You're gonna ugly cry a lot. So you're warned on that front too. Like I said earlier, I could probably rattle off 50 plus more books that I'd recommend that fit in this category. So plan on talking about this genre definitely again in the future.

SPEAKER_02 33:28

Yeah, and I think we already said uh Our Share of Night, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:32

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Big chunks of historical fiction in that one. Yeah, so good.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

So just to recap, I realized that I forgot to mention some trigger warnings from my choices this week. So as always, just check them before you read the books. Boys of Brazil, Boys from Brazil had some obviously anti-Semitism and torture. Angel Down had a lot of graphic violence and gore. So just check them out before you read.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

Yeah, you know, I already mentioned trigger warnings for at least the devil all the time. But just one other thing I wanted to mention, something kind of interesting of note regarding my picks this episode. The Shadow of the Wind is a story that's fueled by hope and optimism. And on the contrary, The Devil All the Time is like relentlessly hopeless. Um, so basically, completely different vibes, but both five-star reads for me. So I think the takeaway would be not to pigeonhole yourself into thinking certain books aren't for you. To stay curious, you might be surprised by what you like.

SPEAKER_02 34:33

Yeah, good note, really good note.

Trigger Warnings And Stay Curious

SPEAKER_02 34:35

And actually, on that note, don't forget to follow the show on your favorite podcasting service, whether that be Apple or Spotify or any of the amazing others, and share the episode with friends.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Also, connect with us on Instagram at podcast underscore his book, her book. It's been really awesome connecting with you guys. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:56

And actually, we should talk about what we're reading right now. Yeah.

What We Are Reading Now

SPEAKER_00 34:59

What are you reading?

SPEAKER_02 35:00

Right now, I am reading December Park by Ronald Malfey. It was published in 2014. It's coming of age story. It's some horror.

SPEAKER_00 35:09

So I'm assuming you're liking it. So I'm loving it so far. Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

And what are you reading right now or have you read?

SPEAKER_00 35:16

I just finished Severance by Ling Ma. This was a recommendation by my book buddy Brittany. And thank you for the recommendation because I love, love, loved it. And then I also just finished Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. There was so much going on in this book. I'm still thinking about it. There's this, this is like a time travel one. And like I'd mentioned about time travel books, there you're not passive when you're reading it. So a lot to unpack. I'm very excited to read other books by her. And then I just just started Forget Me Not by Stacey Willingham. And I have in the past read A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things, and I really loved both those books. So I'm very much looking forward to kind of getting deeper into this one.

SPEAKER_02 36:08

Right on. Okay, cool. And what's up for next episode?

Next Up Summer Reads

SPEAKER_00 36:11

Well, next episode, we're going to be reviewing or recommending some of our favorite beach reads or summer reads.

SPEAKER_02 36:20

I gotta do some searching.

SPEAKER_00 36:21

So time appropriate. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 36:24

Well, I hope you join us for our next episode. And until then, thank you for listening to his book, her book.

SPEAKER_00 36:31

Hopefully they become your books. Bye.