April 2026 Reading

My best reads in April were The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl and three rereads - Spring Magic by D.E. Stevenson (the ultimate in comfort reads as April was chilly and reading required a cozy blanket) and The Ivy Tree and Marry in Haste for the 1961 Club.

The Harvey Girls in Fiction

Fred Harvey (1835–1901) was an entrepreneur who created the first American restaurant chain, multiple locations that served those traveling on the railroad. Beginning in 1876, he began opening restaurants along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. He hired young women between the ages of 18 and 30, known as “Harvey Girls,” who worked as waitresses, wore attractive uniforms, lived under strict chaperonage, and signed a contract not to marry before a year was up (the imbalance of women in the American southwest during this period meant they were in high demand). 

from CowgirlMagazine.com

Historical Fiction for 2026 and a 2025 Recap

Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, and there are several books coming in 2026 that I am excited to read:

The Sea Stone Sisters by Eleanor Buchanan – In 1931, after a businessman takes down four historic stones on the Scottish headland, he finds his fortune lost, his wife dead and his four daughters torn apart. The sisters each cling to a ring they inherited from their mother, hoping to be reunited (June)