Introduction Historical fiction lives or dies on plausibility. A novelist can pile on cliff-hangers and lyrical prose, yet if the era feels flimsy, discerning readers slip out of the story as surely as pilots slipping across the Pyrenees. Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale (2015) claims a lofty ambition: to illuminate the largely unsung wartime heroism of French women. How faithfully does the novel honor the…

Gregory Maguire’s Wicked is far from a traditional fantasy novel. While it draws inspiration from L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Maguire’s work offers a much deeper exploration of themes like morality, power, and identity. It raises critical questions about what it truly means to be “good” or “wicked,” and whether such labels are fair or even relevant in a world full…