Five top epistolary works of historical fiction

Rachel Brittain is a writer, Day Dreamer, and Amateur Aerialist. Her short fiction has appeared in Luna Station Quarterly, Andromeda Spaceways, and others. She is a contributing editor for Book Riot, where she screams into the void about her love of books. Brittain lives in Northwest Arkansas with a rambunctious rescue pup, a snake, and a houseful of plants (most of which aren’t carnivorous).

At Book Riot she tagged five epistolary historical fiction novels, including:

Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar

Author Priya Parmar imagines a world where Virginia Woolf’s sister, the gifted painter Vanessa, keeps a diary of their lives. When the Stephen siblings, Vanessa, Virginia, Thoby, and Adrian, leave London behind for a home in Bloomsbury, they bring together a group of gifted friends that will eventually become known as the legendary Bloomsbury Group. Sisters Virginia and Vanessa are the beating heart of the talented group of artists. But when Vanessa falls in love, her brilliant sister, accustomed to Vanessa’s constant attention, begins to unravel. Soon, with the family on the brink of destruction, Vanessa will have to decide whether to finally live her life for herself, even if it means leaving her beloved sister behind.

Read about another entry on the list.

Vanessa and Her Sister is among Jen Harper's ten books celebrating influential women in history.

--Marshal Zeringue