History, culture, and strong women are at the core of the two novels: The History Makers by Val Bodurtha and The Ballet Lover by Barbara Baer. You’ll want to remember these two authors.

Val Bodurtha’s first novel, The History Makers, is chilling, funny, and a smart coming of age story which imagines a contemporary Aztec civilization, as if the Aztecs had prevailed over the Spanish.

Barbara Baer’s recent book, The Ballet Lover, is set in the 1970’s ballet world, with Soviet defectors, and a searing event that has Rudolph Nureyev letting Natalia Makarova fall to the floor.