Larry Zuckerman
Historical fiction, kept real
I write stories about independent-minded people who resist injustice and seek hope and strength through love
Press bio
An award-winning historian turned historical novelist, Larry Zuckerman has published four books. His most recent, To Save a Life (Cynren Press, 2025), was named a Foreword INDIES Award fiction finalist; reviewers cited his empathic, characterizations, vivid portrayal of early 1900s New York, and grasp of social and political issues.
For ten years, Larry reviewed a historical novel a week on his former blog Novelhistorian, which is where he discovered that many novels begin in the wrong place. On the strength of that blog, he served as an editor at Historical Novels Review for a couple years and still reviews for them. An accomplished, stimulating speaker, Larry has lectured on three continents and been interviewed on podcasts and radio broadcasts in this country and around the world.
Interviews and appearances
Here are links to two from a baker’s dozen of radio and podcast interviews I did to promote To Save a Life:
Cyrus Webb, Amazon Live or on YouTube
Kate Daniels, KRWM-FM, Seattle
A shout-out . . .
to my friends at Third Place Books, Seattle, where I spoke about To Save a Life. They made that evening special.
Reviews of To Save a Life
“Readers will enjoy Zuckerman’s well-researched historical novel and its strong characters.”– Barbara Bibel, Library Journal
“Highly recommended, especially to readers who have immigrant ancestors and wonder what their lives may have been like.”– B. J. Sedlock, Historical Novels Review
“Through its richly drawn characters and historical detail, the novel offers a compelling social commentary on the trials and transformations of Jewish immigrant life in a rapidly changing city.–Gabor Por, Jewish Book World
“. . . To Save a Life‘s special blend of personal, social, and political revelations makes for involving, unforgettable, and thoroughly immersive reading.”–Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review
“Beautifully written, brimming with scenic details of 1900s New York from pickets to pushcarts to singing waiters, this is a historical novel readers will relish.”– Jennifer Rosner, author of The Yellow Bird Sings and Once We Were Home
“Zuckerman writes with empathy, insight, and delightful flashes of wry humour, creating characters that seem to breathe beyond the page. I loved it.”– Robyn Cadwallader, author of The Anchoress and The Fire and the Rose
Making History, Taking Heat
A free audio newsletter about people who changed the world and caused a firestorm. Every month, subscribers will receive an email containing a link to an mp3 file playable on demand, on almost any device.
Each 9-minute episode will:
- inspire
- inform
- entertain
- provide insights relevant to today
This month’s history maker
A shy, reclusive zoologist, she wrote a book that roused a nation and brought her both great acclaim and denunciation.
Who was she, and what was she trying to do?
A historical novel on a similar theme
I highly recommend Butcher’s Crossing, by John Williams, a masterpiece about the American West in the 1870s–a hard-edged coming-of-age story about greed and the power of money, written in tactile, vivid prose. (Skip the jacket flap, which reveals too much.) If you read it, let me know what you think.
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