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Historical FictionAugust 2015
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"I don't care what is written about me so long as it isn't true." ~ Dorothy Parker (1893-1967), American writer and satirist
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| The Gods of Tango: A Novel by Carolina De RobertisAs soon as Italian immigrant Leda Mazzoni steps off the boat in Argentina in 1913, she learns that she's a widow: her husband has been killed during a political protest. Since returning home isn't an option, Leda dons his clothes and takes his name. Playing the violin on the streets of Buenos Aires, "Dante" earns a living as a busker until a local bandleader recruits the young musician for his troupe. What follows is a lush and lyrical coming-of-age story, set against the vivid backdrop of a city obsessed with the seductive rhythms of the tango. |
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| The Convictions of John Delahunt by Andrew HughesFrom a prison cell in 1840s Dublin, a condemned criminal pens his confession while awaiting execution. John Delahunt's life of crime began when a chance encounter with a corrupt constable turned the impoverished Trinity College student into a police informant. Delahunt received payment for testimony, both real and invented; and the more serious the offense, the greater his fee. When Delahunt's expenses began to outpace his earnings, he discovered a simple solution: commit murder, implicate others in the crime, and then testify against them. |
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| Death and Mr. Pickwick: A Novel by Stephen JarvisIn 1836, a weekly serial entitled The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club made its debut. Written by Charles Dickens under the pseudonym "Boz," the immensely popular series featured illustrations by artist Robert Seymour, who would commit suicide before the publication of the final installment. This novel attributes the origin of The Pickwick Papers to Seymour, describing how the ambitious young Dickens wrested control of the story and took the credit. Featuring a large cast of memorable characters, an engagingly discursive narrative, and leisurely pacing that allows readers to savor rich period details, this novel will appeal to Dickens devotees as well as fans of more recent Victorian-set sagas, such as Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White. |
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| Under a Dark Summer Sky by Vanessa LafayeAs the 1935 "Labor Day" Hurricane approaches, a different sort of storm threatens to destroy racially segregated Heron Key, Florida. During a town barbecue, Hilda Kinkaid, the wife of one of Heron Key's most prominent white citizens, suffers a brutal beating. Suspicion falls on Henry Roberts, an African-American World War I veteran who has recently returned home after a long absence. This powerful debut unfolds from the perspectives of multiple flawed, yet sympathetic, characters, including the Kinkaids; their black housekeeper Missy Douglas; Henry's sister Selma; local physician Doc Williams; and deputy sheriff Dwayne Campbell. |
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| Circling the Sun: A Novel by Paula McLainFrom her wild childhood in Kenya to her storied career as a pilot and horse trainer, Beryl Markham broke boundaries, both personal and professional. When she wasn't setting aviation records (she was the first woman to complete a solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic from East to West), she conducted scandalous love affairs, most notably with hunter and bush pilot Denys Finch Hatton (much to the dismay of his lover, Baroness Karen von Blixen, also known as Out of Africa author Isak Dinesen). Drawing on Markham's own autobiography, West with the Night, this lyrical, atmospheric novel by the author of The Paris Wife depicts a woman whose lust for life has come to define her legacy. |
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Focus on: The Roaring Twenties
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| Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese FowlerZelda Sayre is the belle of the ball even before she meets aspiring novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country club dance in her hometown of Montgomery, Alabama. Their romance, which flourishes after the publication of This Side of Paradise, takes them to Paris, where the celebrity couple lives in style while befriending other notable expatriates. But their relationship unravels as Scott descends into alcoholism and Zelda struggles with mental illness. Fascinated by the intimate portrait of Ernest and Hadley Hemingway's turbulent marriage in Paula McLain's The Paris Wife? Be sure to read Z, which also vividly depicts the lives and loves of literary luminaries during the Roaring Twenties. |
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| The Jazz Bird: A Novel by Craig HoldenOn October 6, 1927, Cincinnati bootlegger George Remus murders his wife Imogene, a glamorous society lady known as "the Jazz Bird." Because Remus immediately turns himself in to the police, prosecutor Charlie Taft, son of former president William Howard Taft, initially believes that the case will make his career. However, Remus' trial raises more questions than answers. Why did he kill his wife? Was Imogene involved with the federal agents investigating her husband? What happened to the couple's considerable fortune? Told in flashbacks from the perspectives of the principal characters, this novel vividly evokes the grit and glamour of the Roaring Twenties as it investigates who betrayed whom. |
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| The Chaperone: A Novel by Laura MoriartyHired to chaperone 15-year-old budding starlet Louise Brooks in New York City during the summer of 1922, respectable Kansas housewife Cora Carlisle has her work cut out for her -- Louise is as cunning as she is charismatic, not to mention precocious, willful, and self-destructive. But Cora has her own private reasons for accepting the job, and her pursuit of her hidden agenda will change her life forever. Although The Chaperone takes place more than a decade before Amor Towles' Rules of Civility, both New York-set novels explore complicated relationships between women who test cultural boundaries in the pursuit of self-discovery while defying their era's social conventions to achieve their goals. |
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| The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures by Caroline PrestonDespite her impoverished upbringing, New Hampshire-born Frankie Pratt dreams of becoming a writer. A scholarship to Vassar College promises liberation, but Frankie faces numerous obstacles en route to her artistic destiny -- as well as some surprising opportunities and dramatic reversals of fortune. Presented in the form of a scrapbook filled with full-color vintage memorabilia from author Caroline Preston's personal collection, this poignant coming-of-age story reveals what life during the Roaring Twenties might have been like for a plucky, determined young woman. |
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| City of Jasmine by Deanna RaybournGabriel Starke is dead. Good riddance, thinks his estranged wife, celebrated aviatrix Evangeline Starke. After a passionate but tempestuous four-month marriage, Gabriel abandoned her in Shanghai before boarding the Lusitania and accompanying the ship to its watery grave. Then Gabriel unexpectedly resurfaces in Damascus -- in 1920, five years after his supposed demise. Determined to get some answers, Evangeline travels to Syria and discovers that Gabriel's life is far more complicated (and dangerous) than she ever imagined. And, like it or not, she's involved. Brimming with adventure, mystery, and romance, this engaging novel loosely overlaps with author Deanna Raybourn's A Spear of Summer Grass. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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