Historical fiction set in 1968: the most pivotal year of a pivotal decade

1968 – the most pivotal year of a pivotal decade. The assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy...Tet, the North Vietnamese incursion into the South...LBJ’s decision not to seek a second term...the riots at the Chicago Democratic Convention...the election of Richard Nixon... 

Today, LitNuts is shining a spotlight on two historical novels from acclaimed author Libby Fischer Hellmann. Both novels are set in 1968, and both capture the emotions, conflicts, and consequences of that time. You’ll see, smell, feel, and taste the tumult, hope, and despair in Set the Night on Fire and A Bend in the River. 

Historical note: Set the Night on Fire takes place in Chicago during the time of the 1968 Democratic Convention. With the 2024 Democratic Convention set to take place in Chicago August 19 - 24, now is the perfect time to read a novel set against the backdrop of the historic events of the 1960s.

Someone is trying to kill Lila Hilliard. During the Christmas holidays she returns from running errands to find her family home in flames, her father and brother trapped inside. Later, she is attacked by a mysterious man on a motorcycle—and the threats don’t end there.

As Lila desperately tries to piece together who is after her and why, she uncovers information about her father’s past in Chicago during the volatile days of the late 1960s—information he never shared, but information that now threatens to destroy Lila.

Part thriller, part historical novel, and part love story, Set the Night on Fire paints an unforgettable portrait of Chicago during a turbulent time: the riots at the Democratic Convention…the struggle for power between the Black Panthers and SDS…and a group of young idealists who tried to change the world.

Praise for Set the Night on Fire

In 1968 two young Vietnamese sisters flee to Saigon after their village on the Mekong River is attacked by American forces and burned to the ground. The only survivors of the brutal massacre that killed their family, the sisters struggle to survive but become estranged, separated by sharply different choices and ideologies. Mai ekes out a living as a GI bar girl, but Tâm’s anger festers, and she heads into jungle terrain to fight with the Viet Cong.

For nearly ten years, neither sister knows if the other is alive. Do they both survive the war? And if they do, can they mend their fractured relationship? Or are the wounds from their journeys too deep to heal? In a stunning departure from her crime thrillers, Libby Fischer Hellmann delves into a universal story about survival, family, and the consequences of war.

Praise for A Bend in the River

Get a Free Gift!
Sign up for Libby's monthly newsletter and get a collection of seven short stories intended to help you get to know Libby's style and voice as a writer—which will help you decide which novel of hers you will want to read next!

Libby Fischer Hellmann is a critically acclaimed crime writer loved by readers the world over for her compulsively readable thrillers and strong female characters. Her fast-paced crime fiction spans 17 novels and 25 short stories. She also writes historical fiction standalones and edited the evergreen crime fiction anthology Chicago Blues. Doubleblind, her newest PI Georgia Davis thriller, #6 in the series, was released in March 2022.

Libby's richly varied novels have won numerous awards, and Libby has also served as the National President (2005-2006) of Sisters in Crime, a 4,000+ member organization dedicated to strengthening the voice of female mystery writers.

Libby started out in broadcast news, beginning her career as an assistant film editor for NBC News in New York before moving to DC to work with Robin MacNeil and Jim Lehrer at N-PACT, the public affairs production arm of PBS. Retrained as an assistant director when Watergate broke, Libby helped produce PBS's night-time broadcast of the hearings. She moved to Chicago to work for public relations firm Burson-Marsteller in Chicago, and then later created Fischer Hellmann Communications.

Originally from Washington, D.C., Libby earned a BA in History from the University of Pennsylvania, and then a Masters Degree in Film Production from New York University. She's lived in Chicago more than forty years now, has two kids and a cat.

Learn more at LibbyHellmann.com, get seven free short stories by signing up for Libby's newsletter, and be sure to follow her online: