“Inventing Victoria” by Tonya Bolden

Inventing Victoria is the perfect example of how historical fiction can shine a light on hidden stories the past.

As longtime historical fiction readers, there's nothing we love more than having the chance to dive into the details of a time and place that we wouldn't have access to otherwise.

That was one of the reasons we were so intrigued by the premise of Tonya Bolden's 2019 young adult novel Inventing Victoria, which follows the transformation of the teenage Essie from the child of a brothel owner in the Deep South into "Victoria," the regal Black debutante who dives into a life filled with possibilities in post-Civil War Washington, DC.