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Historical FictionApril 2015
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"Books were a friend to anyone who opened them." ~ from LaShonda Katrice Barrett's Jam on the Vine
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New and Recently Released!
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| A Touch of Stardust: A Novel by Kate AlcottAs (fake) Atlanta burns, Julie Crawford gets fired by film director David O. Selznick. Julie, an aspiring screenwriter from Indiana, arrived in California in 1938, finding work on the set of Gone With the Wind before becoming the personal assistant of movie star (and fellow Fort Wayne native) Carole Lombard. Julie's backstage access gives her a front row seat to the blossoming love affair between Lombard and Clark Gable, recently cast as Rhett Butler. Witnessing a burgeoning scandal (Gable's married) that could derail the stars' careers as well as a troubled shoot that's constantly over-budget and behind schedule, Julie quickly discovers the chaos and heartbreak beneath Hollywood's glittering facade. |
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| Jam on the Vine: A Novel by LaShonda Katrice BarnettPilfering old newspapers from her mother's white employer ignites Ivoe Williams' passion for journalism while helping her cope with life as a poor, African-American Muslim girl in rural, racially segregated turn-of-the-century Texas. With few opportunities available in her tiny hometown, Ivoe keeps her eyes on the horizon, first earning a college scholarship and later moving to Kansas City with her former teacher and lover, Ona. Together, the women start Jam! On the Vine, the nation's first female-run Black newspaper. Loosely based on pioneering journalist Ida B. Wells and Charlotta Bass (the first African-American woman to own and operate a newspaper), this dramatic debut should enchant readers who enjoy strong female characters and well-researched stories full of vivid period detail. |
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| The Strangler Vine by M.J. CarterWith his sensational writings, English expatriate Xavier Mountstuart scandalized polite society even before he went missing in 1837 Calcutta while (rumor has it) investigating the notorious thuggee organization. However, the city is also the home base of the East India Company, which effectively controls the entire Indian subcontinent. Into this politically charged situation stumbles William Avery, an ensign tasked with accompanying intelligence operative Jeremiah Blake on a mission to rescue Mountstuart. Far from being, in Avery's words, "some tragic, leprous, broken-down creature...too opium-added to collect his own pension," Blake -- though admittedly eccentric -- is a brilliant investigator whose facility for languages, disguises, and navigating different strata of society introduces Avery to an India he never imagined, full of peril as well as beauty. |
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| The Siege Winter: A Novel by Ariana Franklin and Samantha NormanSet during the 12th-century war of succession between Empress Matilda and King Stephen -- rival claimants to the English throne -- this novel focuses on ordinary individuals caught up in extraordinary circumstances. Mercenary and arbalist Gwilherm de Vannes rescues peasant girl Em from a brutal assault; Em disguises herself as a boy and becomes apprentice archer Penda as the pair hunts down her attackers. Their paths soon cross that of 16-year-old Maud of Kenniford, reluctant wife to an ailing lord, who offers her castle as safe haven to Empress Matilda and soon finds herself and her household in the midst of a siege. Begun by the late Ariana Franklin and completed by her daughter, Samantha Norman, this suspenseful, intricately plotted novel stands on its own but is loosely connected to Franklin's Adelia Aguilar series (beginning with Mistress of the Art of Death). |
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| Prudence by David TreuerIn the autumn of 1942, the hunt for an escaped German soldier from a Minnesota POW camp ends in tragedy: the search party that forms at the nearby Pines resort fatally shoots a girl from the local Indian reservation. That terrible event affects the lives of all involved, including enlisted soldier Frankie Washburn; Billy, Frankie's "half-breed" childhood friend (and secret love interest); Felix, the Pines' Ojibwe caretaker as well as a widowed World War I veteran; and the dead girl's sister, Prudence, a troubled young woman with whom Felix bonds. With well-drawn characters coping with deep reservoirs of pain, guilt, and heartbreak, the bleak, haunting Prudence may not be an easy read, but it is a memorable one. |
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| Sharpe's Tiger: Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Seringapatam, 1799 by Bernard CornwellA less-than-heroic infantryman in the British Army's 33rd Regiment of Foot, private Richard Sharpe is contemplating desertion with the widow of a fallen comrade when his actions earn him a court martial and a sentence of 2,000 lashes. One of Sharpe's superiors intervenes and halts the punishment, but only to give the disgraced soldier a dangerous assignment. Sharpe must masquerade as a member of Tipu Sultan's army, infiltrate the besieged city of Mysore, and establish contact with a Scottish spy. Set during the Seige of Seringapatam in 1799, Sharpe's Tiger is the 1st book in the long-running Richard Sharpe series. Although the action eventually shifts to Europe's battlefields, this novel and its immediate sequels, Sharpe's Triumph and Sharpe's Fortress, take place in India. |
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| Niccolò Rising by Dorothy DunnettWhen Claes, a dyer's apprentice in 1460 Bruges, finds himself on the run from the authorities, he escapes the city (and certain death) by joining a company of mercenaries on its way to Milan. This sets the stage for his transformation from a mischievous lad of uncertain birth and few prospects into Nicholas "Niccolò" van der Poele: merchant, banker, spy, diplomat, and royal adviser. Originally published in 1986, this fast-paced, engaging novel by the late Dorothy Dunnett kicks off the eight-volume House of Niccolo series, which continues with The Spring of the Ram. |
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| Jack Absolute: A Novel by C.C. HumphreysA character in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's classic 1775 comedy The Rivals comes to life in this fast-paced, action-packed tale of a British soldier's experiences during the American Revolution. A handsome rogue with a "talent for trouble," Jack is equally skilled on the battlefield and in the bedroom. Like George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman books, Jack Absolute combines adventure and comedy as it follows a smart, swashbuckling scoundrel and his Mohawk friend Até as they skirmish with enemies, infiltrate secret societies, and (narrowly) survive all manner of sticky situations. For more, check out the novel's sequel, Absolute Honor, as well as its prequel, The Blooding of Jack Absolute. |
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| Shield of Three Lions by Pamela KaufmanLady Alix Wanthwaite is a bright and resourceful 12-year-old -- but she doesn't realize just how resourceful she is until her family is brutally murdered and their estate on the Scottish border seized. In an attempt to win back her family's land, Alix becomes "Alex," dressing as a boy and taking to the road in order to petition the King. Along the way, she meets Scotsman Enoch (who's on a quest of his own) and a traveling theater troupe whose performance for recently crowned Richard the Lionheart leads to Alix becoming the king's page -- and accompanying him to the Holy Land on crusade. If you enjoy this rollicking novel of the Middle Ages, you'll want to read its sequels, Banners of Gold and The Prince of Poison. |
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| Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-ReverteCaptain Alatriste is a mercenary in 17th-century Spain, offering his skills as a swordsman (and, let's face it, an assassin) to the highest bidder. In this swashbuckling series opener, a group of mysterious masked men have hired Alatriste to kill a pair of visiting Englishmen. However, when Alatriste elects not to go through with the assassination, his decision angers his employers and soon the sellsword finds himself fending off threats from all sides. Full of action and adventure as well as rich historical detail, Captain Alatriste is a "pleasure of swash, buckle and atmosphere" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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