Historical Fiction And Why We Like It

Historical fiction, what is it exactly? We at Little Yellow House Publishing describe it as taking real people and events that have transpired in the past and adding fictional twists and turns to the story. We take a topic or story and add intrigue or humor, especially stories where mysteries still abound with conspiracy theories. Living in Dallas, Texas,  one of the premiere conspiracy theories that people still discuss at the evening dinner table is the JFK assassination and who was really behind the killing of the 35th President? Some believe Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone shooter since he had ties to Russia whereas others believe that the mafia ended the President's life that fateful day in Dallas. So when we look at stories such as these, where there's no solid answers, we feel they're ripe for added interpretation. 

One of my personal favorites that's a classic is Willa Cather's book "Death comes for the archbishop." Here's a great example of historical fiction. Ms. Cather truly described the essence of New Mexico during that particular time period yet the story is considered fiction. Archbishop Lamy was a real man and the families from Las Vegas, New Mexico that were described are pretty close to today's reality. And if you've not read her book, I highly recommend it. It's personally one of my favorites.

The Zion Covenants, by Bodie Thoene, are Tiffany's favorite for good insight into World War II. I've heard her say more than a few times how many parts of history were better explained to her through the eyes of Elisa Lindheim, a concert violinist, and daughter of Theo Lindheim, Department Store owner (and Jew). She would also tell you that she cried crocodile tears when she read about the Ghost Ship, the MS St. Louis, a ship full of Jewish refugees, was not allowed by the United States to dock, sentencing every passenger to an ultimate return to the hell they had tried to escape.

How did we land on this particular topic? Actually we realized that each of us loves history, and we also both enjoy a good fast paced novel. I personally read non-fiction and mostly books on historical events whereas Tiffany, who also enjoys history,  prefers that the history be delivered with some fun plots, intrigue and mystery. In addition we both have journalism as part of our undergraduate degrees and early careers, so we like to take the facts and fancy them up a bit with a little lipstick and mascara.

We have a number of books in the works that fall directly in this category of historical fiction. With both Tiffany and I being natural born Texans, we know there are a lot of great stories about how our State came to be, when Texas was part of Mexico, and the many people who came to this land when it was inhabited by fairly unfriendly people. We have a treasure trove of stories to explore and that we intend to share with you. Get ready, hold onto your hats, we're going to take you on a wild ride!