Best New Historical Fiction - March 2025
The Antidote by Karen Russell
Publisher: Knopf
Release Date: March 11, 2025
Synopsis:
The Antidote opens on Black Sunday, as a historic dust storm ravages the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska. But Uz is already collapsing—not just under the weight of the Great Depression and the dust bowl drought but beneath its own violent histories. The Antidote follows a "Prairie Witch,” whose body serves as a bank vault for peoples’ memories and secrets; a Polish wheat farmer who learns how quickly a hoarded blessing can become a curse; his orphan niece, a basketball star and witch’s apprentice in furious flight from her grief; a voluble scarecrow; and a New Deal photographer whose time-traveling camera threatens to reveal both the town’s secrets and its fate.
Russell's novel is above all a reckoning with a nation’s forgetting—enacting the settler amnesia and willful omissions passed down from generation to generation, and unearthing not only horrors but shimmering possibilities. The Antidote echoes with urgent warnings for our own climate emergency, challenging readers with a vision of what might have been—and what still could be.
Why We Recommend It!
A mesmerizing Dust Bowl epic, The Antidote by Karen Russell intertwines the lives of five unforgettable characters, revealing hidden truths and urgent warnings for our climate-challenged world.
The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree by India Hayford
Publisher: A John Scognamiglio Book
Release Date: March 25, 2025
Synopsis:
Disguised by a name she found on a tombstone and accompanying a Vietnam vet she met in a graveyard, an unconventional young snake-handler who talks to the dead returns to the ghosts of her childhood home in 1967 Arkansas...
Genevieve Charbonneau talks to ghosts and has a special relationship with rattlesnakes. In her travels, she’s wandered throughout the South, escaping a mental hospital in Alabama, working for a Louisiana circus, and dancing at a hoochy-kootch in Texas. Now for the first time in a decade, she’s allowed her winding path to bring her to the site of her grandmother’s Arkansas farmhouse, a place hallowed in her memory.
She intends only to visit briefly – to pay respects to her buried loved ones and leave. But a chance meeting with a haunted young Vietnam vet reconnects her with the remnants of a family she thought long gone, and their union becomes a catalyst for change and salvation. An abused woman and her daughters develop the courage to fight back, a ghost finds the path away from life, and a sanctimonious predator becomes the prey. In the process, Genevieve must choose between her longing for meaningful connection after years as an outsider and her equally excruciating impulse to run.
Written by a naturalist and set on the land where her family roots stretch back two centuries, The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree is a haunting story about letting go and the things we leave behind, the power of names, and the ties that bind. It is both harrowing and triumphant, a visceral Southern debut as otherworldly and beautiful as it is unflinching and wry.
Why We Recommend It!
A haunting and triumphant tale, The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree by Indian Hayford explores the power of names and the ties that bind, as Genevieve Charbonneau confronts her past and finds unexpected connections in 1967 Arkansas.
The Filling Station by Vanessa Miller
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: March 11, 2025
Synopsis:
Two sisters. One unassuming haven. Endless opportunities for grace.
Sisters Margaret and Evelyn Justice have grown up in the prosperous Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma--also known as Black Wall Street. In Greenwood, the Justice sisters had it all--movie theaters and entertainment venues, beauty shops and clothing stores, high-profile businesses like law offices, medical clinics, and banks. While Evelyn aspires to head off to the East Coast to study fashion design, recent college grad Margaret plans to settle in Greenwood, teaching at the local high school and eventually raising a family.
Then the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre upends everything they know and brings them unspeakable loss. Left with nothing but each other, the sisters flee along what would eventually become iconic Route 66 and stumble upon the Threatt Filling Station, a safe haven and the only place where they can find a shred of hope in oppressive Jim Crow America. At the filling station, they are able to process their pain, fill up their souls, and find strength as they wrestle with a faith in God that has left them feeling abandoned.
But they eventually realize that they can't hide out at the filling station when Greenwood needs to be rebuilt. The search for their father and their former life may not give them easy answers, but it can propel them--and their community--to a place where their voices are stronger . . . strong enough to build a future that honors the legacy of those who were lost.
Why We Recommend It!
A poignant tale of resilience and hope, The Filling Station by Vanessa Miller follows the Justice sisters as they navigate loss and renewal after the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, finding strength and purpose at a haven along Route 66.
The King’s Messenger by Susanna Kearsley
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Release Date: March 4, 2025
Synopsis:
It is the year 1613, and King James is sending his messenger Andrew Logan into Scotland with secret orders to arrest Sir David Moray, close friend and advisor of the late Prince Henry. Secrets are second nature to Andrew, who must hide his Second Sight to stay alive. Joined by a court scrivener and the scrivener's spirited daughter Phoebe, Andrew slowly untangles the true purpose of his mission--to frame Sir David for Prince Henry's murder. But Andrew is unwilling to betray an innocent man.
Phoebe Westaway dislikes Andrew, and their history makes it hard for her to trust him. But as their journey draws them deeper into the dark web of court intrigue, Phoebe begins to suspect that she might have more need of the King's Messenger and his unusual gifts than she could ever have foreseen.
Why We Recommend It!
A masterful blend of romance and intrigue, The King's Messenger by Susanna Kearsley captivates with its tale of loyalty, love, and the perilous dance of court politics in 1613 Scotland.
The Wretched and Undone by J. E. Weiner
Publisher: HTF Publishing
Release Date: March 18, 2025
Synopsis:
A searing Southern Gothic saga unfolds in the Texas Hill Country, where history's silenced voices rise amidst an astonishing tale.
On the eve of the Civil War, Polish immigrants Marcin and Agnieszka Anderwald arrive in Bandera, Texas, seeking a fresh start in a new land of fertile soil and freedom. But their dreams quickly become nightmares when Marcin provokes a sinister specter hell-bent on revenge. A battle ensues for the hearts, minds, and souls of the Anderwalds and their extended family of immigrant outcasts, Arab camel wranglers, wounded warriors, and a songstress on the verge of madness. As the generations unfold, each must confront its darkest fears. Can faith, love, and sacrifice overcome unrelenting evil, or will the Anderwalds remain forever wretched and undone?
The Wretched and Undone is a sweeping saga set in the heart of the Texas Hill Country and inspired by real people and actual events. Heralded as "a genre-bending thrill ride through Old Texas," with "characters so well-crafted they crawl off the page," the novel was named a Killer Nashville Top Pick for 2024 and a Claymore Award Finalist for Best Southern Gothic.
Why We Recommend It!
A searing Southern Gothic saga, The Wretched and Undone by J. E. Weiner, published by HTF Publishing, immerses readers in a gripping tale of faith, love, and sacrifice as Polish immigrants face unrelenting evil in the Texas Hill Country on the eve of the Civil War.
