Booth (2022)

Before beginning Booth, Karen Joy Fowler's masterful 2022 historical novel, a reader might fairly assume that the central character of Booth will be Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth. Fowler surprises us, however. The central role is given to the entire family as a unit, and John Wilkes is actually one of the lesser figures in this drama. The assassination itself is not a central focus - this novel is very much a family saga. From father Junius Booth down to the several Booth children who died young, the members of the famous American acting family each take roles to form a company in the telling of this tale. 

John Wilkes' brother Edwin and sister Asia - both prolific journal and letter writers - provided much of the primary research material for Fowler. Little known sister Rosalie, however, plays the central role as the oldest sister who sees it all play out. Fowler is able to fill in the blanks in Rosalie's life, making her narrative the one that ties all the other family member stories together. 

To place the Booth story in its historical context, Abraham Lincoln is included as an off-stage presence, his political life outlined in third-person sections interspersed among those of various Booths, all following a chronological presentation.

Thanks also to Fowler for adding a detailed "Author's Note" at the end, explaining the many and sundry sources consulted. I hope to see more historical fiction from this author. Highest marks across the board!

The Song of Achilles (2011)

The Song of Achilles (2011), the first novel by classics scholar Madeline Miller, retells Homer's ''The Iliad'' from boyhood to Achilles' death on the battlefield of Troy. Homeric events after that are skimmed over at the end. The first-person straight-narrative viewpoint is that of Patroclus, Achilles' best friend and lover. Being a minor character in ''The Iliad'' lets the Patroclus character be more accessible, with a more modern viewpoint than other more-familiar names in the story. At the same time, the unenlightened historical setting means the two boys have to begin from cluelessness to work out what it means to have and respond to homosexual feelings.

Starting so young makes this a coming-of-age story, as the two boys grow up and have to face the greed and power-lust of the adult world, while dealing with its opposition to their feelings for each other. Complicating matters are Achilles' half-divine nature, his sea-nymph mother, the always-feuding Greek gods, and the war against Troy instigated by the gods' constant meddling in mortal affairs (if only we could still blame "the gods" for our screwups!).

Miller obviously knows her Homer, so the persons and events in The Song of Achilles are faithful to The Iliad and selected supporting mythology. Miller also chooses to ignore some familiar Achilles lore, notably the story of his famous heel. The Iliad certainly can't be read as straight history, so this is not exactly a historical novel, but it reads like one and Miller earns high marks for faithfulness to her sources.  

A Dangerous Business (2022)

Jane Smiley won a Pulitzer Prize for a different historical novel - A Thousand Acres - but I was attracted to A Dangerous Business because it is set in Monterey, California; a town I'm pretty familiar with, not too far from where I live. The murder-mystery plot unfolds over a short span of years from 1850 to 1853, and falls into a category Amazon calls "amateur sleuths". Eliza was brought from Michigan to California by her new husband who dreamed of striking it rich in the gold fields, but he never makes it out of Monterey - killed in a barroom shooting. Eliza is left to fend for herself, and eventually finds employment at a local brothel. She makes a friend, and the two of them set out to find the killer of several other women from Eliza's profession. Along the way, Eliza learns a lot about life, and about herself. The climax comes, of course, when the killer is revealed.

Monterey itself is a character, and Smiley puts considerable effort into conveying a sense of its geography and climate, although a number of small details give away the fact that the author herself has not lived there. Only some very general Monterey history is included, and no historical persons - just general descriptions of the types of people that would have been found there in 1850: Californios, sailors, ranchers, etc. Many of the old streets and a few historical places make cameo appearances - as when Eliza and her friend follow a local lawyer to the courthouse in Colton Hall, but neither the building nor its namesake Walter Colton are described. 

The novel is well-written and enjoyable, but oddly low key for a murder mystery. The murder story seems to be mainly a plot device whose twists and turns allow Eliza room for some adventure and self-discovery. I was disappointed that the plot didn't incorporate more actual history (a la David Liss), which keeps this novel below my highest ranking, but it was fun to read a story set in old Monterey.