That one lady at the library who changed how I see historical fiction

I used to skip any book set before 1900 because I thought it'd be boring. Then about 5 years ago, I was at the county library picking up a mystery novel and an older woman in the fiction aisle stopped me. She held up a copy of a book about a female spy during the Civil War and said, "Honey, history ain't about dates, it's about people trying to survive." I took her advice and read that book in 3 days. Now I can't get enough of historical fiction, and I always wonder who else got a random recommendation from a stranger that stuck with them.

2 comments

2 Comments

kai_west27d agoMost Upvoted

Also it wasn't a female spy, it was a female scout named Sarah Wakeman.

flores.tessa27d ago

And you're right @kai_west, that does change things. It's funny how we keep running into this pattern where women in history get their roles simplified or turned into something more dramatic, like the "spy" label. I notice it in my own book club sometimes, we'll talk about a female historical figure and someone will call her a "helper" or "assistant" when she was really doing the same work as the men around her. It's like people can't just let a woman be a scout or a soldier without adding a layer of mystery to it. Makes you wonder how many everyday accomplishments by women get quietly downgraded like that.