Historical Happy Hour

Jane Healey welcomes New York Times bestselling author of The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post, Allison Pataki, is our guest! Join us to discuss her new novel, Finding Margaret Fuller. This is an epic reimagining of the life of Margaret Fuller—America’s forgotten leading lady and the central figure of a movement that defined a nation.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah  joins Jane Healey to talk about her new novel, The Women.

From master storyteller Kristin Hannah, bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds, comes the story of a turbulent, transformative era in America: the 1960s. The Women is that rarest of novels—at once an intimate portrait of a woman coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided by war and broken by politics, of a generation both fueled by dreams and lost on the battlefield.

Debut author Avery Cunningham  joins Jane Healey to talk about her new book, The Mayor of Maxwell Street. This tells the story of an ambitious Black debutante and aspiring journalist enlists the help of a low-level speakeasy manager to identify the head of an underground crime syndicate in the dangerous world of Prohibition-era Chicago.

Bestselling author and host of Historical Happy Hour discusses her latest novel, Goodnight from Paris.

Bestselling author Gill Paul joins Jane Healey to talk about her new book, A Beautiful Rival. This stunning new novel reveals the unknown history of cosmetic titans Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein and their infamous rivalry that spanned not only decades, but also broken marriages, personal tragedies, and a world that was changing dramatically for women—perfect for fans of Fiona Davis, Marie Benedict, and Beatriz Williams.

Bestselling author Ariel Lawhon joins Jane Healey to talk about her new book, The Frozen River. From the New York Times bestselling author of I Was Anastasia and Code Name Hélène comes a gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.

Bestselling author Aimie K. Runyan, joins Jane Healey to discuss her latest novel, A Bakery in Paris. 

From the author of The School for German Brides, this captivating historical novel set in nineteenth-century and post–World War II Paris follows two fierce women of the same family, generations apart, who find that their futures lie in the four walls of a simple bakery in a tiny corner of Montmartre.

Aimie K. Runyan is a multipublished and bestselling author of historical fiction. She has been nominated for a Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer of the Year award and two Colorado Book Awards. She lives in Colorado with her wonderful husband and two (usually) adorable children.

Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of seven historical fiction, joins Jane Healey to discuss her new book, The Spectacular.  This is a thrilling story about love, sacrifice, and the pursuit of dreams, set amidst the glamour and glitz of Radio City Music Hall in its mid-century heyday.

FIONA DAVIS is the New York Times bestselling author of seven historical fiction novels set in iconic New York City buildings, including THE SPECTACULAR, THE MAGNOLIA PALACE, THE ADDRESS, and THE LIONS OF FIFTH AVENUE, which was a Good Morning America book club pick. Her novels have been chosen as “One Book, One Community” reads and her articles have appeared in publications like The Wall Street Journal and the Oprah magazine. She first came to New York as an actress, but fell in love with writing after getting a master's degree at Columbia Journalism School. Her books have been translated into over twenty languages and she's based in New York City.

Melanie Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author, joins Jane Healey to discuss her latest novel California Golden, tells the story of two sisters navigating the thrilling, euphoric early days of California surf culture in a dazzling saga of ambition, sacrifice, and the tangled ties between mothers and daughters.

Entertainment Weekly calls California Golden “A shimmering rendering . . . pairs the surf culture of the Beach Boys with the sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll of Daisy Jones & The Six.”

New York Times and International Bestselling author Madeline Martin joins Jane Healey to talk about her latest novel The Keeper of Hidden Books. It's a heartwarming story about the power of books to bring people together based on the real life heroic efforts of Warsaw's librarians during WWII. It is a BookBub pick for best historical fiction of summer 2023.

Weina Dai Randel joins Jane Healey to talk about her novel, Night Angels. From the author of The Last Rose of Shanghai comes a profoundly moving novel about a diplomatic couple who risked their lives to help Viennese Jews escape the Nazis, based on the true story of Dr. Ho Fengshan, Righteous Among the Nations.

Julie Gerstenblatt joins Jane Healey to talk about her much buzzed about debut novel Daughters of Nantucket: "Set against Nantucket’s Great Fire of 1846, this sweeping, emotional novel brings together three courageous women battling to save everything they hold dear.” Please join us! 

Julie Gerstenblatt holds a doctorate in education in Curriculum and Instruction from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her essays have appeared in The Huffington Post, Grown&Flown, and Cognoscenti, among others. When not writing, Julie is a college essay coach, as well as a producer and on-air host for A Mighty Blaze. A native New Yorker, Julie now lives in coastal Rhode Island with her family and one very smart shichon poo. Daughters of Nantucket is her first novel.

New York Times bestselling author Alka Joshi joins Jane Healey to talk about her new novel, The Perfumist of Paris.

Paris, 1974. Radha is now living in Paris with her husband, Pierre, and their two daughters. She still grieves for the baby boy she gave up years ago, when she was only a child herself, but she loves being a mother to her daughters, and she’s finally found her passion—the treasure trove of scents.

She has an exciting and challenging position working for a master perfumer, helping to design completely new fragrances for clients and building her career one scent at a time. She only wishes Pierre could understand her need to work. She feels his frustration, but she can’t give up this thing that drives her.

Tasked with her first major project, Radha travels to India, where she enlists the help of her sister, Lakshmi, and the courtesans of Agra—women who use the power of fragrance to seduce, tease and entice. She’s on the cusp of a breakthrough when she finds out the son she never told her husband about is heading to Paris to find her—upending her carefully managed world and threatening to destroy a vulnerable marriage.

New York Times bestselling author Kristina McMorris joins Jane Healey to discuss her new novel, The Ways We Hide, a sweeping World War II tale of an illusionist whose recruitment by British intelligence sets her on a perilous, heartrending path.

Paulette Kennedy joins Jane Healey to discuss her new novel, The Witch of Tin Mountain, a witchy southern gothic set in rural Northern Arkansas during the Great Depression from Lake Union Publishing.

Jane Healey welcomes Lynda Cohen Loigman, the bestselling author of The Two-Family House and The Wartime Sisters, to talk about her new novel, The Matchmaker's Gift. It's a heartwarming story of two extraordinary women from two different eras who defy expectations to utilize their unique gift of seeing soulmates in the most unexpected places.

Bestselling author Rhys Bowen is Jane Healey's latest guest to discuss her new novel, Where the Sky Begins.  A woman’s future is determined by fate and choice in a gripping WWII novel about danger, triumph, and second chances by the New York Times bestselling author of The Venice Sketchbook and The Tuscan Child.

London, 1940. Bombs fall and Josie Banks’s world crumbles around her. Her overbearing husband, Stan, is unreachable, called to service. Her home, a ruin of rubble and ash. Josie’s beloved tearoom boss has been killed, and Josie herself is injured, with nothing left and nowhere to go.

Evacuated to the English countryside, Josie ends up at the estate of the aristocratic Miss Harcourt, a reluctant host to the survivors of the Blitz. Awed as she is by the magnificent landscape, Josie sees opportunity. Josie convinces Miss Harcourt to let her open a humble tea shop, seeing it as a chance for everyone to begin again. When Josie meets Mike Johnson, a handsome Canadian pilot stationed at a neighboring bomber base, a growing intimacy brings her an inner peace she’s never felt before. Then Stan returns from the war.

Now a threat looms larger than anyone imagined. And a dangerous secret is about to upend Josie’s life again. Her newfound courage will be put to the test if she is to emerge, like a survivor, triumphant.

This book pick for Historical Happy Hour is perfect for Halloween! Please join Jane Healey and the fabulous author Kris Waldherr as we celebrate the launch of her latest novel Unnatural Creatures: A Novel of the Frankenstein Women.

Some tales aren't what you think. For the first time, the untold story of the three women closest to Victor Frankenstein is revealed in a dark and sweeping reimagining of Frankenstein by the author of The Lost History of Dreams and Doomed Queens.

Kris Waldherr’s books for adults and children include The Lost History of Dreams, Bad Princess, Doomed Queens, and The Book of Goddesses. The Lost History of Dreams received a Kirkus starred review and was called "an unexpected delight" by Booklist. The New Yorker praised Doomed Queens as “utterly satisfying” and “deliciously perverse.” The Book of Goddesses was a One Spirit/Book-of-the-Month Club’s Top Ten Most Popular Book. Her picture book Persephone and the Pomegranate was lauded by the New York Times Book Review for its “quality of myth and magic.” Her fiction has won fellowships from the Virginia Center of the Creative Arts, and a works-in-progress reading grant from Poets & Writers. Upcoming books include Unnatural Creatures: A Novel of the Frankenstein Women.

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Jane Healey discusses The Thread Collectors by Alyson Richman and Shaunna Edwards. 1863: In a small Creole cottage in New Orleans, an ingenious young Black woman named Stella embroiders intricate maps on repurposed cloth to help enslaved men flee and join the Union Army. Bound to a man who would kill her if he knew of her clandestine activities, Stella has to hide not only her efforts but her love for William, a Black soldier and a brilliant musician.

Meanwhile, in New York City, a Jewish woman stitches a quilt for her husband, who is stationed in Louisiana with the Union Army. Between abolitionist meetings, Lily rolls bandages and crafts quilts with her sewing circle for other soldiers, too, hoping for their safe return home. But when months go by without word from her husband, Lily resolves to make the perilous journey South to search for him.

As these two women risk everything for love and freedom during the brutal Civil War, their paths converge in New Orleans, where an unexpected encounter leads them to discover that even the most delicate threads have the capacity to save us. Loosely inspired by the authors' family histories, this stunning novel will stay with readers for a long time.

Three Fabulous Authors: Piper Huguley, Libbie Grant and Aimie K. Runyan. Jane Healey welcomes them together to celebrate the launch of Piper Huguley’s novel, By Her Own Design. It's the incredible untold story of how Ann Lowe, a Black woman and granddaughter of slaves, rose above personal struggles and racial prejudice to design and create one of America's most famous wedding dresses of all time for Jackie Kennedy. NYT Bestselling author Kate Quinn says Huguley has crafted a “heroine for the ages."