C.L.R. Peterson Blog
Book Reviews & More
Mystery and Music in Prague
Imagine you’re a young musicologist, who at a friend’s urging meets with an ageing holocaust survivor.
How could this brief encounter possibly change the course of your life? Prague Sonata, a musical mystery and historical novel, spans two continents and more than three centuries.
Between Crown and Chisel: The Princess Who Wouldn’t Yield Her Dream
How could you live out your identity if you were Princess Louise, daughter of the domineering, grief-obsessed Queen Victoria?
Heather B. Moore answers this question in her recent historical novel, In the Shadow of a Queen, based on her research into the life of Princess Louise, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
From Persecution to Privilege: The Unlikely Journey of a Fille du Roi
What does it mean to risk everything for faith and freedom? Kerry Chaput’s evocative novel, Daughter of the King, follows Isabelle Colette—a young Huguenot woman whose courage and convictions propel her from the shadows of persecution in France to the uncertain promise of New France.
The Cost of Conscience: The Courage of Georges Picquart
Imagine you discovered evidence that an innocent man was sentenced to life in prison. Would you try to exonerate him if it would cost you your career? Georges Picquart, the head of France’s spy agency in 1894, faces this dilemma in An Officer and a Spy, Robert Harris’s 2013 historical novel that overwhelmingly remains faithful to the facts of the Dreyfus Affair.
Risking It All for the Unknown: Julia Hancock’s Journey
If you could trade a comfortable, predictable future, dictated by your family, for a life of adventures with a famous explorer you hardly knew, would you do it?
In Brook Allen’s recent novel, West of Santillane, teenager Julia Hancock faced those choices in the early 1800s on her family’s Virginia plantation.
Not Quite as Sung: The Story Behind the Sound of Music
My review of Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp explains why this novel about the Sound of Music’s main character became a bestseller when it came out in 2024.
Get My New Short Story!
Verona, 1571.
When Caterina welcomes her husband’s brilliant student, Alessandro, into their home, she has no idea how he will heighten the danger her family faces as the Inquisition closes in.
Immerse yourself in rich historical detail and high emotional stakes in this dramatic story of danger and conscience!