Vignette-style Historical Novels

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Vignette or non-linear style
• Historical stories
• Emphasis on relationships
• Non-sentimental stories

The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
By Umberto Eco
F ECO
Yambo is an antiquarian bookseller who suffers a stroke and loses all his memories except for those about things that he has read and seen. He begins a process of going through a considerable collection of family papers, photographs, comic books, pop music, school books and record albums from his youth in an attempt to trigger his lost memories.

Broken For You
By Stephanie Kallos
F KALLOS
Margaret Hughes is an eccentric, elderly woman who lives alone in a large Seattle mansion. When she learns she has a malignant brain tumor, she refuses cancer treatment and takes in a boarder—a young woman named Wanda Schultz. Both women are deeply troubled by their past. The friendship which develops between these two women works to quiet the past and evinces hope for the future.

Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky
F NEMIROVS
A compelling novel about the German occupation of France which was written during 1941-1942 from firsthand experience. The author's life and career were cut short after she and her husband were deported to Auschwitz. Beneath the larger story of invasion and occupation, Nérimovsky’s stories show how personal experiences and feelings pre-dating the war motivated either collaboration with or resistance to the Germans. She also demonstrates how and why French women fraternized with the German soldiers and the consequent feelings of resentment and humiliation.

Three Junes
By Julia Glass
F GLASS
An artful exploration of the relationships three main characters during three different Junes spread over ten years. First there is Scotsman Paul Mcleod, recently widowed, and on a group tour of the Greek Isles while he reminisces about his wife and raising his three sons. Second is Fenno Mcleod, one of Paul’s sons, who is a gay bookseller in New York City. Third comes Fern—an artist in New York City who met Paul years earlier during a tour of the Greek Isles. A story with unexpected twists and imbued with alternating episodes of joy and sadness.

Fall on Your Knees
By Ann-Marie MacDonald
F MACDONAL
This epic story of five generations of a family in the coal-mining communities of Nova Scotia features family history and the family secrets of four sisters and their father.