Columbus Museum of Art

Tracy Chevalier, the internationally bestselling author of such blockbusters as Girl with a Pearl Earring and Falling Angels, turns her attention for the first time to evoking an extraordinary time in American history. The Oberlin graduate found herself fascinated with the discovery of the important role Oberlin, Ohio played with the activities of the Underground Railroad, and the Quakers who made it run. The result is The Last Runaway, historical fiction about a modest young Quaker girl, skilled in the art of quilting, who finds herself drawn into the clandestine activities of the network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom. Rich in detail, drama, and the complexity of human emotions, The Last Runaway is Chevalier at her best in bringing history alive. Tracy was born and raised in Washington, D.C., and now lives in London with her family.

Cost: $20 for adults; $18 for students and seniors (MDGentleReader)… (more)

No writer—except perhaps for his father, Michel Shaara and his Pulitzer Prize-winning historical novel, The Killer Angels, better brings the Civil War to life than Jeff Shaara. The multiple-award-winning, New York Times bestselling author began a new Civil War trilogy in 2012 with A Blaze of Glory, about the Battle of Shiloh. A Chain of Thunder: A Novel of the Siege of Vicksburg is the second book , and depicts the turning point of the Civil War through not just the well-known personalities like Grant and Pemberton. Shaara’s unique skill is in bringing the soldiers themselves alive, in getting the reader to feel what it was like on that bloody battlefield where over 19,000 soldiers lost their lives. Jeff lives in Florida.

Cost: $20 for adults; $18 for students and seniors (MDGentleReader)… (more)