Between Two Fires

A disgraced knight and an orphaned girl cross plague-year France in 1348, in a novel that takes the medieval supernatural literally.

Why it’s on the list: Named in the historical-fiction thread. The draw is the reconstruction of the Black Death year from inside the belief system of the people living through it.

Where I saw it: In Kyle’s “Books To Read” Apple Note, recovered from the reply thread to @moseskagan asking “What historical fiction should I read next? (Bonus points for something involving building or trade, rather than violence)” (April 13, 2025). The full recovered list lives on What historical fiction should I… (tweet).

Kyle’s line was the bare “Between Two Fires”. Read as Buehlman’s 2012 medieval novel rather than Joshua Yaffa’s 2020 book on Putin’s Russia, since the thread asked for historical fiction. Disambiguated in the filename; flagged confidence: low.

Connections

• What historical fiction should I… (tweet) — the thread this came out of; the full recovered list lives there.