December 10: The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey

During a troubled Ireland at the turn of the 20th century, a Northern Irish woman’s life is tangled in political and personal turmoil as she struggles to hold her family together and follow her heart.

Eileen O’Neill’s family is torn apart by religious intolerance and secrets from the past. As war is declared on a local and global scale, Eileen cannot separate the politics from the very personal impact the conflict has had on her own life.

She is soon torn between two men, each drawing her to one extreme. One is a charismatic and passionate political activist determined to win Irish independence from Great Britain at any cost, who appeals to her warrior’s soul. The other is the wealthy and handsome black sheep of the pacifist family who owns the mill where she works, and whose persistent attention becomes impossible for her to ignore.

An engaging narrative of class differences and interesting and factual historical content make this one a terrific historical fiction novel.

January 14: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

The Vanishing Half examines sisterhood, black identity, and parenthood with compassion and conviction. The Vignes twins grew up inseparable in the ’60s in Mallard, Louisiana, a small town reserved for black residents with light skin. Stella and Desiree Vignes are tall and beautiful, and they dream of lives beyond the lynching of their father and housekeeping for white people, like their mother does. When they flee to New Orleans as teenagers, Stella discovers that she can pass as white, and so begins the fracture that will forever separate the twins. A riveting and sympathetic story about the bonds of sisterhood and just how strong they are, even at their weakest.