Robert Hicks' A Separate Country One of The Washington Post's Best Books of 2009
"Washington Post critics pick their favorite novels, biographies, mysteries, memoirs and more."
Dec 15, 2009
Holiday Guide: Best Books of 2009
The Washington Post
Historical Fiction
ALL OTHER NIGHTS, by Dara Horn (Norton, $24.95). Horn sends her fascinatingly conflicted Jewish protagonist, a Union soldier ordered to murder his uncle, roaming across a Civil War-torn landscape. -- WS
THE CALLIGRAPHER'S DAUGHTER, by Eugenia Kim. (Henry Holt, $26). This sensitive first novel depicts 30 years of Korea's modern history in light of its ancient past. -- Sybil Steinberg
THE CHILDREN'S BOOK, by A.S. Byatt (Knopf, $26.95). That Byatt marries this novel of ideas with such compelling characters testifies to her remarkable spinning energy. -- Keith Donohue
THE CORAL THIEF, by Rebecca Stott (Spiegel & Grau, $25). Treasure may be at the heart of Stott's mystery, but fossils and corals are equally precious in this hybrid novel of action and ideas. -- Anna Mundow
DAY AFTER NIGHT, by Anita Diamant (Scribner, $27). Based on an actual event -- the rescue of more than 200 detainees from Atlit in October 1945 -- "Day After Night" demonstrates the power of fiction to illuminate the souls of people battered by the forces of history. -- WS
THE ELEPHANT KEEPER, by Christopher Nicholson (Morrow, $24.99). "The Elephant Keeper" is a strange tour of late 18th-century England, a natural history of elephants and the story of a most unusual friendship, all told with a touch of the otherworldly elegance and wit of Babar. -- RC
FAR BRIGHT STAR, by Robert Olmstead (Algonquin, $23.95). An intense short novel about a massacre of American soldiers dispatched to Mexico to get Pancho Villa in 1916. -- Sandra Dallas
FOUR FREEDOMS, by John Crowley (Morrow, $25.95). Through his wide-ranging imagination and precise prose, Crowley re-creates life on the home front during World War II -- its culture, its sexual mores, its dominant air of uncertainty -- with seemingly effortless fidelity. -- BS
GIRL IN A BLUE DRESS: A Novel Inspired by the Life & Marriage of Charles Dickens, by Gaynor Arnold (Crown, $25.99). A moving story about the special burden of loving a selfish, universally adored man. -- RC
HONOLULU, by Alan Brennert (St. Martin's, $24.95). This meticulously researched and dynamic story describes the life of a young girl against the unique history of early 20th-century Hawaii. -- Krista Walton
LIMA NIGHTS, by Marie Arana (Dial, $25). This tale of a love affair that crosses ethnic, generational and class lines moves toward a climax that is both unpredictable and inevitable. -- Frances Itani
THE LITTLE STRANGER, by Sarah Waters (Riverhead, $26.95). In this deliciously creepy tale, a malevolent force moves through a crumbling mansion in which live the final two siblings of a faded great family. -- RC
NEW YORK, by Edward Rutherfurd (Doubleday, $30). What makes this novel so entertaining is the riotous, multilayered portrait of a whole metropolis. -- Brigitte Weeks
A RELIABLE WIFE, by Robert Goolrick (Algonquin, $23.95). In this gothic tale of smoldering desire in 1907, a wealthy Wisconsin man receives his mail-order bride. No returns allowed. -- RC
THE ROSE OF SEBASTOPOL, by Katharine McMahon (Putnam, $24.95). A beautifully drawn story about a young English woman who goes looking for her sister, stepbrother and fiancé on the battlefield of the Crimean War. -- Philippa Gregory
SASHENKA, by Simon Montefiore (Simon & Schuster, $27). This historical whodunit, set in 20th-century Russia, has the epic sweep of a Hollywood movie. -- Malena Watrous
A SEPARATE COUNTRY, by Robert Hicks (Grand Central, $25.99). This riveting novel takes up one-legged Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood's life after the Civil War. -- Charlotte Hays
TIN DRUM, by Günter Grass (HMH, $26). With a magic-realist brio, "The Tin Drum," newly translated by Breon Mitchell, mixes fantasy, gallows humor, several pathetic love stories, a tragic family saga, a classic bildungsroman and a powerful account of how great political events affect -- usually disastrously -- a small group of ordinary people. -- MD
THE VAGRANTS, by Yiyun Li (Random House, $25). This powerful, thoughtful novel about two young women in modern China is a revelation. -- CS
WANTING, by Richard Flanagan (Atlantic Monthly, $24). The strange connection between a 7-year-old Tasmanian girl, the renowned Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin and the novelist Charles Dickens makes for a captivating tale of cruelty and disappointment. -- RC
THE WET NURSE'S TALE, by Erica Eisdorfer (Putnam, $24.95). Taking place in vaguely Napoleonic times, about a spirited female living in England, "The Wet Nurse's Tale" is informative, unusual and intelligent. -- CS
THE WHITE QUEEN, by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone, $25.99). Set in the last years of England's infamous Wars of the Roses, "The White Queen" deals with the life of Elizabeth Woodville, a commoner who became queen. -- Diana Gabaldon
WOODSBURNER, by John Pipkin (Doubleday, $24.95). This ingenious novel describes the awful day that Henry David Thoreau accidentally burned down 300 acres around Concord, Mass. -- RC
Dec 15, 2009
Holiday Guide: Best Books of 2009
The Washington Post
Historical Fiction
ALL OTHER NIGHTS, by Dara Horn (Norton, $24.95). Horn sends her fascinatingly conflicted Jewish protagonist, a Union soldier ordered to murder his uncle, roaming across a Civil War-torn landscape. -- WS
THE CALLIGRAPHER'S DAUGHTER, by Eugenia Kim. (Henry Holt, $26). This sensitive first novel depicts 30 years of Korea's modern history in light of its ancient past. -- Sybil Steinberg
THE CHILDREN'S BOOK, by A.S. Byatt (Knopf, $26.95). That Byatt marries this novel of ideas with such compelling characters testifies to her remarkable spinning energy. -- Keith Donohue
THE CORAL THIEF, by Rebecca Stott (Spiegel & Grau, $25). Treasure may be at the heart of Stott's mystery, but fossils and corals are equally precious in this hybrid novel of action and ideas. -- Anna Mundow
DAY AFTER NIGHT, by Anita Diamant (Scribner, $27). Based on an actual event -- the rescue of more than 200 detainees from Atlit in October 1945 -- "Day After Night" demonstrates the power of fiction to illuminate the souls of people battered by the forces of history. -- WS
THE ELEPHANT KEEPER, by Christopher Nicholson (Morrow, $24.99). "The Elephant Keeper" is a strange tour of late 18th-century England, a natural history of elephants and the story of a most unusual friendship, all told with a touch of the otherworldly elegance and wit of Babar. -- RC
FAR BRIGHT STAR, by Robert Olmstead (Algonquin, $23.95). An intense short novel about a massacre of American soldiers dispatched to Mexico to get Pancho Villa in 1916. -- Sandra Dallas
FOUR FREEDOMS, by John Crowley (Morrow, $25.95). Through his wide-ranging imagination and precise prose, Crowley re-creates life on the home front during World War II -- its culture, its sexual mores, its dominant air of uncertainty -- with seemingly effortless fidelity. -- BS
GIRL IN A BLUE DRESS: A Novel Inspired by the Life & Marriage of Charles Dickens, by Gaynor Arnold (Crown, $25.99). A moving story about the special burden of loving a selfish, universally adored man. -- RC
HONOLULU, by Alan Brennert (St. Martin's, $24.95). This meticulously researched and dynamic story describes the life of a young girl against the unique history of early 20th-century Hawaii. -- Krista Walton
LIMA NIGHTS, by Marie Arana (Dial, $25). This tale of a love affair that crosses ethnic, generational and class lines moves toward a climax that is both unpredictable and inevitable. -- Frances Itani
THE LITTLE STRANGER, by Sarah Waters (Riverhead, $26.95). In this deliciously creepy tale, a malevolent force moves through a crumbling mansion in which live the final two siblings of a faded great family. -- RC
NEW YORK, by Edward Rutherfurd (Doubleday, $30). What makes this novel so entertaining is the riotous, multilayered portrait of a whole metropolis. -- Brigitte Weeks
A RELIABLE WIFE, by Robert Goolrick (Algonquin, $23.95). In this gothic tale of smoldering desire in 1907, a wealthy Wisconsin man receives his mail-order bride. No returns allowed. -- RC
THE ROSE OF SEBASTOPOL, by Katharine McMahon (Putnam, $24.95). A beautifully drawn story about a young English woman who goes looking for her sister, stepbrother and fiancé on the battlefield of the Crimean War. -- Philippa Gregory
SASHENKA, by Simon Montefiore (Simon & Schuster, $27). This historical whodunit, set in 20th-century Russia, has the epic sweep of a Hollywood movie. -- Malena Watrous
A SEPARATE COUNTRY, by Robert Hicks (Grand Central, $25.99). This riveting novel takes up one-legged Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood's life after the Civil War. -- Charlotte Hays
TIN DRUM, by Günter Grass (HMH, $26). With a magic-realist brio, "The Tin Drum," newly translated by Breon Mitchell, mixes fantasy, gallows humor, several pathetic love stories, a tragic family saga, a classic bildungsroman and a powerful account of how great political events affect -- usually disastrously -- a small group of ordinary people. -- MD
THE VAGRANTS, by Yiyun Li (Random House, $25). This powerful, thoughtful novel about two young women in modern China is a revelation. -- CS
WANTING, by Richard Flanagan (Atlantic Monthly, $24). The strange connection between a 7-year-old Tasmanian girl, the renowned Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin and the novelist Charles Dickens makes for a captivating tale of cruelty and disappointment. -- RC
THE WET NURSE'S TALE, by Erica Eisdorfer (Putnam, $24.95). Taking place in vaguely Napoleonic times, about a spirited female living in England, "The Wet Nurse's Tale" is informative, unusual and intelligent. -- CS
THE WHITE QUEEN, by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone, $25.99). Set in the last years of England's infamous Wars of the Roses, "The White Queen" deals with the life of Elizabeth Woodville, a commoner who became queen. -- Diana Gabaldon
WOODSBURNER, by John Pipkin (Doubleday, $24.95). This ingenious novel describes the awful day that Henry David Thoreau accidentally burned down 300 acres around Concord, Mass. -- RC