|
Historical Fiction May 2018
|
|
|
|
|
The Lost Family
by Jenna Blum
What it's about: Resigning himself to solitude, chef and Auschwitz survivor, Peter Rashkin, in 1965 Manhattan, devotes himself to running Masha’s restaurant, until he meets and marries June, but the horrors of his past soon overshadow him, June and their daughter.
What reviewers are saying: "This exquisitely crafted and compassionate novel offers a lesson in honesty, regardless of how difficult the truth may be. It will offer plenty of discussion for book groups." -- Library Journal.
|
|
| My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura KamoieStarring: Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, wife of American founding father Alexander Hamilton -- a complex and determined woman who contributed much to the birth of the United States while enduring many personal and public tribulations.
For fans of: the musical Hamilton who are hungry for more about this Revolutionary War-era figure.
You might also like: I, Eliza Hamilton by Susan Scott Holloway and The Hamilton Affair by Elizabeth Cobbs. |
|
| Varina by Charles FrazierWhat it’s about: Varina Davis, wife of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America during the U.S. Civil War, learns that her marriage of security and comfort comes at a steep price.
Why you might like it: If you enjoyed bestselling author Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain, you will rejoice as he returns to the same time period in U.S. history.
Read it for: the fascinating character study of Varina Davis through which we can ponder topics like culpability and complicity. |
|
| The Room on Rue Amélie by Kristin HarmelWhat it’s about: Three disparate characters are drawn together in Nazi-occupied Paris: Ruby Benoit, an American newlywed with questions about her secretive French husband; Ruby’s Jewish neighbor, 11-year-old Charlotte Dacher; and British Royal Air Force pilot Thomas Clarke.
Why you should read it: This poignant tale is based loosely on the true story of an American woman who aided Allied soldiers in Paris as part of a resistance group called the Comet Line.
For fans of: World War II-era fiction like Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and Martha Kelly’s Lilac Girls. |
|
|
My Mother's Son
by David Hirshberg
What it is: a riveting coming-of-age story that plays out against the backdrop of the Korean War, the aftermath of the Holocaust, the polio epidemic, the relocation of a baseball team, and the shenanigans of politicians and businessmen.
What the reviewers are saying: "This colorful and complex portrait of a 1950s Jewish family is warm and nostalgic, yet grounded by deep history." -- FOREWORD
|
|
| Ecstasy by Mary SharrattWhat it’s about: Set amid the spectacular whirl of turn-of-the-20th-century Vienna, Ecstasy introduces readers to aspiring composer Alma Schindler, who -- while capturing the heart of the much-older conductor Gustav Mahler -- dares to defy the expectations of her time.
Who it’s for: Readers who like strong female heroines, especially women in history whose stories deserve to be better known.
You might also like: Elizabeth Hickey's The Painted Kiss, about the relationship between painter Gustav Klimt and Emilie Fleoge. |
|
|
Ill Will: The Untold Story of Heathcliff
by Michael Stewart
Starring: William Lee: brute; liar, and graveside thief, whom readers will know by another name, from another story.
What it's about: Heathcliff has left Wuthering Heights. He is travelling across the moors to Liverpool in search of his past, and towards the terrible misdeeds – and untold riches – that will one day send him home to Wuthering Heights.
|
|
|
The Mercy Seat : A Novel
by Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop
What it's about: During the hours leading up to the scheduled execution of a black teen for the alleged rape of a white woman in 1943 Louisiana, a meticulous portrait of race, racism and injustice in the Jim Crow era South traces the experiences of the convicted boy, his father, the District Attorney, the convict truck driver delivering the executioner's chair and a couple grappling with grief and secrets.
Also by Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop: Fireworks; The Why of Things.
|
|
| The Courtesan by Alexandra CurryWhat it’s about: Born during Dowager Empress Cixi's reign, legendary Qing dynasty courtesan Sai Jinhua witnesses numerous transitions throughout her long and eventful life. From being sold to a brothel for a handful of coins at the age of seven to traveling to Vienna as the concubine of a government official, Jinhua’s story reaches a dangerous climax during the Boxer Rebellion.
For fans of: Authors Lisa See and Amy Tan as well as Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha. |
|
| The Mapmaker's Daughter: The Confessions of Nurbanu Sultan, 1525-1583 by Katherine Nouri HughesWhat it’s about: From her deathbed, Cecilia Baffo Veniero -- the illegitimate daughter of a Venetian mapmaker -- recounts the story of her rise to become Queen Mother Nurbanu, the most powerful woman in the Ottoman Empire.
Media buzz: The Netflix series Magnificent Century is loosely based on Nurbanu’s dramatic life story.
Further reading: The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Shafak, which is also set in the Ottoman Empire during the 16th century. |
|
|
|
|
|