What others are saying

“What an engaging author! Her depictions of the characters are spot on. At times, writers can only sympathetically portray characters of their own sex. Not so with Mira Kanehl, she is gifted in the art of exposing her characters personalities so well, that I feel as if I have personally become acquainted with them. These characters were real, and she did her research to portray them as to who they were in real life. To me, the story line was incidental to my enjoyment of the skillful writing. I felt like I was watching a good old B&W 1940s movie. I think she had fun writing it; I know I enjoyed reading it.”

PAR

On Amazon (The Adventuress)

“Wow, what a story. Well donen [sic|”

Scott Groff

Amazon (The Adventuress)

“It was an interesting, exciting and so very enjoyable book as I found that I couldn’t put the book down. I wish all books could be like this book as many are never as enjoyable and great”

Roberta Bade_Powell

Amazon (Her Majesty’s Quill)

“… An exploration of Victorian medicine and colonial Hawaii, this novel explores some fascinating topics and themes through Balzac’s perspective. With a cast of varied and uniquely complicated characters, this novel is a fascinating exploration of two colliding cultures which are not often placed in conversation with each other. Kanehl’s characters are the start of the show with their complex and dynamic personalities, while the worldbuilding in this novel is absolutely incredible. The depth of detail, information, and research in this novel is astounding and really creates the vibrant tropical setting. …”

Lily

Goodreads

“A great tale of Jean Lafitte, piracy and some history of the Deep South.”

Amazing Grace

Amazon (The Adventuress)

“… I am a sucker for medical history of the late 18th and 19th century so having it explained correctly and put forth so truthfully was an important factor in how much I liked the book. …”

Stephee

Emailed response

“DEFINITELY left me wanting more (as did the prequel).”

TaniaRina

Goodreads

FAQs

The three best-selling novels of all time are—lo-and-behold—three novels (or series) that can be placed in or at least overlap with historical fiction: Don Quixote (500m. copies), A Tale of Two Cities (200m. copies), and Lord of The Rings (150 m. copies). All time bestsellers are Shakespeare with over 2 billion books, Agatha Cristie with almost the same, and Barbara Cartland with over 500m. books. Modern quills of historical fiction celebrated by historians include Manda Scott, Gore Vidal, and Robert Harris.

Our brains are wired for story; it’s how we learn. Story engages our emotions and lets us remember events much more easily than if we read an academic history book. The main reason we read historical fiction is entertainment, putting ourselves into the shoes of someone who trod this soil many years before in a very different setting.

Reading historical fiction books can enhance the reader’s empathy with different mindsets and see similarities among the many differences.

Setting. Reading historical fiction and immersing oneself in a character is the closest we’ll get to time travel.

The historical fiction genre is defined as a fictional plot which takes place in a specific time and place in the past, usually including real historical events. By this definition, books written as contemporary fiction in the long gone past may now be (debatably) considered historical fiction books.