What’s New in Historical Fiction brings together four acclaimed authors whose latest novels place women at the center of history—from Gilded Age Chicago and nineteenth-century presidential politics to the Manhattan Project and the struggle over slavery and freedom. Moderated by Robin Henry, the conversation will explore how historical fiction recovers overlooked lives and examines enduring questions of power, courage, freedom, and belonging.
Featured Authors and Novels:
Siobhan Hartsell, The Innkeeper’s Wife
Kate Danaher, Unstoppable
Tara Lynn Masih, The Silent Women
Jessica McCann, All Different Kinds of Free
Siobhan Hartsell — The Innkeeper’s Wife
In Gilded Age Chicago, Bertha Honoré Palmer refuses to remain merely the wife of wealthy hotelier Potter Palmer. After the Great Chicago Fire destroys much of the city—and the Palmers’ growing empire—Bertha helps rebuild both. Her ambitions eventually carry her to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, where she leads the Board of Lady Managers and fights to place women’s achievements on the international stage. The Innkeeper’s Wife tells the story of a woman learning to wield influence in a world determined to underestimate her.
Kate Danaher — Unstoppable
In 1872, nearly fifty years before women win the right to vote, Victoria Woodhull runs for president of the United States. Born into poverty and married at fifteen, she rises into the highest circles of New York politics and finance, challenging conventional ideas about women, marriage, and power. But her campaign for equality brings scandal, betrayal, and powerful enemies determined to silence her. Unstoppable is a sweeping portrait of a controversial woman who demanded a voice before the nation was prepared to listen.
Tara Lynn Masih — The Silent Women
After surviving the Dust Bowl, Song Holloway is recruited to work at a classified military facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee—a secret city central to the Manhattan Project. There, she joins thousands of women contributing to the war effort without knowing the true purpose of their work. When government agents order her to spy on the women closest to her, Song must confront the cost of silence and complicity. The Silent Women is a powerful story of chosen family, moral courage, and the burden of hidden truths.
Jessica McCann — All Different Kinds of Free
In 1837, bounty hunters seize Margaret Morgan and her children from their Pennsylvania home and drag them south into slavery. Margaret insists she was born free, but her fate becomes entangled in a legal battle that reaches the U.S. Supreme Court. Based on the true story behind Prigg v. Pennsylvania, All Different Kinds of Free restores a human voice to the woman at the center of a landmark case and follows one mother’s fight to preserve her family, dignity, and hope.