Please join us for What's New in Historical Fiction, a regular panel series featuring historical novelists with new and upcoming titles.
What’s New in Historical Fiction brings together four authors whose recent novels explore the lives of women shaped by war, displacement, ambition, secrecy, and survival. Moderated by Colin Mustful, this panel offers a wide-ranging conversation about how historical fiction gives voice to overlooked experiences and reframes familiar moments from the past.
Featured Authors and Novels:
Marthese Fenech, Eight Pointed Cross
Olesya Salnikova Gilmore, The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru
Laura Vogt, In the Great Quiet
Natasha Lester, Chateau on Sunset
Marthese Fenech — Eight Pointed Cross
Set against the violent clash between the Ottoman Empire and the Knights of St. John, Eight Pointed Cross follows siblings Domenicus and Katrina Montesa on the embattled island of Malta, alongside Demir, a young man in Istanbul striving to rise above brutality. As invasion looms, their lives become intertwined across cultures, classes, and faiths. Sweeping across the sixteenth-century Mediterranean, the novel explores courage, loyalty, and survival in a world defined by conflict and shifting power.
Olesya Salnikova Gilmore — The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru
In 1920s Paris, Zina and her grandmother run a tearoom that secretly serves as a hub for séances and fortune-telling among the Russian émigré community. When a royal client seeks answers about a missing Grand Duke, Zina summons more than she intended—awakening a spirit that carries dangerous truths about her family’s past. Blending gothic tension with historical depth, the novel explores trust, identity, and the cost of uncovering buried secrets.
Laura Vogt — In the Great Quiet
Amid the chaos of the 1893 Oklahoma land rush, Minnie Hoopes stakes her claim on a harsh and unforgiving frontier. Determined to build a life of independence, she confronts isolation, violence, and the weight of her own past. As unexpected relationships form and long-held secrets surface, Minnie must decide what home truly means. Inspired by true events, this sweeping novel examines resilience, belonging, and the search for self in the American West.
Natasha Lester — Chateau on Sunset
After the death of her parents, Aria Jones is sent to live with her enigmatic aunt at the famed Chateau Marmont, where glamour and ruin exist side by side. Growing up among Hollywood’s elite, Aria witnesses the hidden costs of fame while struggling to remain invisible in a world that demands performance. When new arrivals disrupt the fragile balance of her life, she is forced to confront her place in it. Spanning decades of entertainment history, Chateau on Sunset is a story of love, loss, and the transformative power of connection.