Today’s Inspired By comes from Kathleen Shoop, who recently made a move away from historical fiction with her new women’s fiction book, Love and Other Subjects! Kathleen shares with us the five books that inspire her to be a writer:

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

This book tells about the bond that grew among an unlikely trio involving a circus veterinarian, the show’s star and the main attraction. It is one of love and trust, and, ultimately, their only hope for survival.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition–its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires. As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life–sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty.

Distant Hours by Kate Morton

A long lost letter arrives in the post and Edie Burchill finds herself on a journey to Milderhurst Castle, a great but moldering old house, where the Blythe spinsters live and where her mother was billeted 50 years before as a 13 year old child during WWII.

Mary by Janis Cooke Newman

In Janis Cooke Newman’s debut novel, Mary Todd Lincoln shares the story of her life in her own words. Writing from Bellevue Place asylum, she takes readers from her tempestuous childhood in a slaveholding Southern family through the years after her husband’s death.

Pinterest PS – Check out this cute Love and Other Subjects-inspired Pinterest board!