Bookshelf, Spring 2026

Those seasons keep on flying past, and each one brings a new set of books on my bookshelf. All of those in the current crop will be the subject of author interviews, either here on the blog or on the New Books Network, and so far I’ve already finished only one of them, although I should get cracking on Abigail Adams. That interview is just three weeks away.

Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie, A Founding Mother: A Novel of Abigail Adams (William Morrow, May 2026).

I previously interviewed Stephanie Dray here on the blog about her novel Madam Secretary, featuring Frances Perkins, the first female cabinet secretary and the force behind Social Security. Abigail Adams, the subject of this co-written novel, is another favorite historical figure of mine. I’m sure the upcoming semi-quincentennial has something to do with its publication, but I’m eager to read the book anyway for a podcast interview in mid-May.

Shana Galen, A Shop Girl’s Guide to Wooing a Lord (Berkley, June 2026).

As I’ve mentioned numerous times, romance—even historical romance—is not my preferred genre these days, but certain approaches do tempt me. Having read Shana Galen’s 2025 Regency stand-alone Don’t You Forget About Me, which is smart and funny and just a bit off the beaten path, I agreed to dive into this first entry in a new series, The Heiress Hunters, in time for a New Books Network interview in June.

April Howells, The Unforgettable Mailman (Crooked Lane Books, April 2026).

Although set in the 1960s, which is technically now historical fiction but doesn’t always feel that way to me, I agreed to cover this new novel in part because I lived in Chicago when the mail strike that forms the backdrop to the book took place (see not always historical fiction, above), and in part because it deals with issues of aging and memory. The author and I will be discussing all those topics on my New Books in Historical Fiction interview for July.

Kristen Perrin, How to Cheat Your Own Death (Dutton, April 2026).

This third entry in the Castle Knoll Mysteries is every bit as engaging and beautifully written as its two predecessors, How to Solve Your Own Murder and How to Seal Your Own Fate. Each book builds on its predecessors, so I recommend reading them in order, but check back here the first Friday in May for an overview of the series.

Caitlin Shetterley, The Gulf of Lions (Harper, May 2026)

A contemporary novel about a woman who suffers a serious illness which in turn affects her everyday life in unexpected and sometimes unwanted ways is billed as more biographical than the author expected when she set out to write the book. Much of it takes place in southern France, so it travels in space if not in time, and I look forward to finding out what it has to say. Although not historical fiction in any sense, it will be the subject of a blog interview in mid- to late June.

Marian Yee, 4 Janes (Little A, June 2026)

Jane Austen spinoffs are a dime a dozen, but it takes a certain amount of attitude not only to switch the focus to Charlotte Brontë but to send Jane Eyre into a series of alternative lives in different areas of the world and times. Not historical fiction, obviously—even the original was not, since it took place in the author’s own time—but the concept fascinates me, and I can’t wait to find out what Marian Yee does with it. Check back in late June/early July for an interview here on the blog.