Winners
Fiction: Historical
2020 WINNERS - FICTION: HISTORICAL
Watch the following video to see which of the three finalists below won gold, and which won silver.
2024 FINALISTS - FICTION: HISTORICAL
See below for the list of 2024 finalists in the FICTION: HISTORICAL category, for books with a copyright date of 2023.
Blood to Rubies
2024 Finalist
Author: Deborah Hufford
Publisher: Koehler Books
ISBN: 9798888240748
Deborah Hufford's award-winning and bestselling debut novel, BLOOD TO RUBIES, is a scorching saga of injustice, love and redemption in the West, told through a frontier photographer. NYT #1 bestselling author, William Kent Krueger, hails it as: "phenomenal," "utterly riveting," "sensual," and "mark my words, destined to be a classic."
Hangtown
2024 Finalist
Author: Michael Bailey
Publisher: Written Backwards
ISBN: 9798986748887
Based on a true story, Hangtown is a historical western about the hangings in a placer mining town that once went by that moniker, one of the first established diggings during the chaos of the Gold Rush. Set in 1848 to 1850, the unlawful were punished and hanged swiftly for crimes of theft and violence, haunting forever what is now Placerville, California.
Of White Ashes: A WWII historical novel inspired by true events
2024 Finalist
Authors: Constance Hays Matsumoto and Kent Matsumoto
Publisher: Apprentice House Press
ISBN: 9781627204200
A historical novel inspired by our family’s story, OF WHITE ASHES is about the remarkable lives of two Japanese Americans who endure seemingly unbearable hardship during WWII. Serious, heartbreaking, heartwarming and compelling reflection, OF WHITE ASHES blends human experiences of the Japanese American incarceration and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
2023 WINNERS - FICTION: HISTORICAL
See below for the list of 2023 winners in the FICTION: HISTORICAL category, for books with a copyright date of 2022.
The Blue Butterfly: A Novel of Marion Davies
2023 Gold Winner
Author: Leslie Johansen Nack
Publisher: She Writes Press
ISBN: 978-1-64742-347-6
The true-life story of Marion Davies’ thirty-four-year relationship with William Randolph Hearst including a whirlwind courtship, a movie career spanning two decades and forty-four films, a secret child, and harrowing family excesses, not to mention a secret love affair with Charlie Chaplin.
Crippled Jack: A Novel
2023 Silver Winner
Author: Boston Teran
Publisher: High-Top Publishing LLC
ISBN: 978-1-56703-101-0
In a time when bloodthirsty violence ruled the day a boy was bound and gagged and left to die in the desert. He was not yet nine and suffered what they called the palsy. There was a note pinned to his chest - It's up to God now. But the boy did not die. He rises to become a formidable marksman, instrumental in overturning the power of the robber barons of the nation and shaping the modern American labor movement.
Gone, the Redeemer: A Novel
2023 Silver Winner
Author: Scott Gates
Publisher: Blue Ink Press
ISBN: 978-1-948449-14-4
Spanish-American War deserter Thomas Sparkman finds himself on an unforeseen journey from the Cuban front to return home to his wife, expecting their first child in California. He crosses paths with rogues, loners, and hired guns—some searching for redemption, some working to stop him dead in his tracks.
2022 WINNERS - FICTION: HISTORICAL
See below for the list of 2022 winners in the FICTION: HISTORICAL category, for books with a copyright date of 2021.
Lady Be Good: The Life and Times of Dorothy Hale
2022 Gold Winner
Author: Pamela Hamilton
Publisher: Koehler Books
ISBN: 978-1-64663-272-5
Hailed by critics as a gripping novel “delicately woven into a masterpiece of fact and fiction,” Lady Be Good is a moving portrait of Dorothy Hale, the legendary 1930s socialite immortalized in one of Frida Kahlo's most celebrated paintings. At the dawn of the Roaring Twenties, two ambitious socialites break from conventions of high society to achieve success on their own terms and find themselves at the center of dangerous political intrigue.
The Girl in the Triangle
2022 Silver Winner
Author: Joyana Peters
Publisher: Amaryllis Press
ISBN: 978-1-7369373-0-3
There are 740 Days until the fire that changes history. It's 1909. Seventeen-year-old Ruth survived the Russian Revolution and is reunited with her betrothed in New York. But when an uprising of 20,000 women vows to overturn a greedy factory owner, can Ruth stay away? Who will survive? Will they ever be the same?
Tears of Honor: A Novel of Japanese American Heroism in World War II
2022 Silver Winner
Author: James A. Ardaiz
Publisher: Pace Press
ISBN: 978-1-61035-900-9
A sweeping novel of history, war, and courage in the face of injustice, Tears of Honor tells the story of the heroic Japanese American soldiers who fought against Nazi tyranny in Europe, while their families were imprisoned in America.
2021 WINNERS - FICTION: HISTORICAL
See below for the list of 2021 winners in the FICTION: HISTORICAL category, for books with a copyright date of 2020. Click here to watch the Gold and Silver winner speeches.
Freedom Dues: A Novel
2021 Gold Winner
Author: Indra Zuno
Publisher: Spinning a Yarn Press
ISBN: 981734165210
In this historical novel set in Colonial America, two indentured servants fall in love. One, an Ulster-Scot youth who sells his freedom to pay for his passage from Ireland to the New World. The other, a London pickpocket girl, sentenced to servitude. Together, they carve out their own destiny.
Copy Boy: A Novel
2021 Silver Winner
Author: Shelley Blanton-Stroud
Publisher: She Writes Press
ISBN: 978-1-63152-697-8
It’s 1937. Jane escapes an irrigation ditch crime, landing in Depression-era San Francisco. She cross-dresses to get work at a newspaper. Everything’s looking up, until her father appears on the front page. Jane’s got to find him before he finds her, and before everyone else finds her out.
It Happened in Silence: A Novel
2021 Silver Winner
Author: Karla M. Jay
Publisher: Book Circle Press
ISBN: 978-0-578-79251-4
Set in 1921, where women of the KKK betray their neighbors, where horrors of unscrupulous foundling homes come to light, and buried mysteries are not all that hidden. This is a powerful tale of family, a celebration of decency, and the heartbreak of society’s injustices then that rings true today.
2020 WINNERS - FICTION: HISTORICAL
See below for the list of 2020 winners in the FICTION: HISTORICAL category, for books with a copyright date of 2019.
Moccasin Track
2020 Gold Winner
Author: Reid Lance Rosenthal
Publisher: Rockin' SR Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-9821576-4-0
Fourth novel of the #1 Bestselling epic saga of men and women of uncommon cultures, differing origins and competing ambitions weaving the diverse tapestry of 1850's America--recipient of 27 National awards.
Breaking Point: A Novel of the Battle of Britain
2020 Silver Winner
Author: John Rhodes
Publisher: Suncoast Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-7330792-1-1
Hitler’s triumphant Third Reich has crushed all Europe—except Britain. Hitler launches a massive aerial assault only the heavily outnumbered Fighter Command and the iron will of Winston Churchill can overcome.
General Meade: A Novel of the Civil War
2020 Silver Winner
Author: Robert Kofman
Publisher: Lion Valley Publishing LLC
ISBN: 978-1-7329910-0-2
At Gettysburg, Meade defeats Lee saving the Union. Meade falls victim to a smear campaign but survives to help lead the Union to ultimate victory.
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