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Historical Fiction December 2017
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| Birdcage Walk by Helen DunmoreFrom the safety of 1790s Bristol, England, freethinker and radical pamphleteer Julia Elizabeth Fawkes reacts, first with eagerness and then with dismay, as the promise of the French Revolution gives way to the bloody reality of the Reign of Terror. However, the conflict abroad poses more personal danger to Julia's daughter, Lizzie, whose property developer husband finds his business interests threatened by the prospect of war and descends into obsession and paranoia. Complex characters and Gothic atmosphere add intrigue to this historical domestic drama. |
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| The Revolution of Marina M. by Janet FitchAs revolutionary fervor engulfs 1916 St. Petersburg, budding Bolshevik Marina Makarova rejects her bourgeois background and embraces radical politics. The resulting societal upheaval will affect not only Marina but also her family, friends, and lovers. This sweeping saga stars a courageous and passionate heroine who survives a turbulent era of Russian history and may appeal to fans of Simon Sebag-Montefiore's Sashenka. |
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An unwilling conquest
by Stephanie Laurens
Determined to remain unmarried, despite London's matchmaking mothers and widows, Harry Lester heads to Newmarket only to encounter widow Lucinda Babbacombe, who he vows to protect from the town full of lonely gambling men
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Uncertain Weights and Measures by Jocelyn ParrMoscow, 1921. Tatiana and Sasha meet in a bookstore the night it is bombed. They fall in love. Tatiana follows her mentor, Dr. Bekhterev, to the Institut Mozga, established to study the source of genius. She thrives in the state-sponsored research institute, but Sasha, an artist, feels left behind in this new world where his art seems without place or function. When Bekhterev suddenly dies, Tatiana is disconcerted and unable to find answers to her questions about his death, she plunges into doubt -- about her work as a scientist, her naivete about the Revolution, her faith in the state, and her relationship with Sasha. Provocative and compelling, Uncertain Weights and Measures takes place in the heady days of post-Revolution Russia, when belief in a higher purpose was everything. Written in beautifully incisive prose, Jocelyn Parr vividly captures the ambiance of 1920s Moscow and the frisson of real-life events while also spinning a captivating tale of a love torn apart by ideology and high-stakes politics.
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Beneath a scarlet sky : a novel by Mark T SullivanA teenage boy in 1940's Italy becomes part of an underground railroad that helps Jews escape through the Alps but is forced by his parents to enlist as a German soldier for his own protection, where he becomes a spy for the Allies.
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| The Last Midwife by Sandra DallasThe only midwife in the isolated mining town of Swandyke, Colorado, Gracy Brookens believes with all her heart that delivering babies is her life's purpose. When a wealthy mine owner accuses her of murdering his infant son, Gracy's life and livelihood are threatened. Although Gracy knows that she's innocent, she also realizes that it may not matter -- being a witness to people's private lives makes her dangerous to those with secrets to keep. Like author Sandra Dallas' previous novel, Fallen Women, The Last Midwife employs well-researched details of life in 1880s Colorado to tell the dramatic story of a marginalized woman who confronts a small town's social elite in her pursuit of truth. |
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| The Midwife of Hope River: A Novel by Patricia HarmanDuring the Great Depression, West Virginia midwife Patience Murphy delivers babies to women who can't afford a doctor. Dogged by her own scandalous history, Patience maintains a solitary lifestyle until she unexpectedly acquires an African-American apprentice, Bitsy, and a colleague, Daniel Hester, a World War I veteran to whom she slowly opens her heart. But when Patience's past eventually catches up with her, it threatens to destroy everything she's worked for. Author Patricia Harman, a certified nurse-midwife, skillfully depicts the profession of midwifery while bringing to life a rural Appalachian community of the 1930s. |
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| The Orphan Mother: A Novel by Robert HicksBorn into slavery, Mariah Reddick (first introduced in The Widow of the South) is now a free woman and a successful midwife in Franklin, Tennessee. Occupied with her work and the management of her modest property holdings, she's always steered clear of politics. Then her only child, Theopolis, is killed at a rally, prompting Mariah to seek his killers and bring them to justice. Set during Reconstruction, this novel explores a mother's grief while exposing the racial fault lines in a segregated Southern town. |
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| The Birth House: A Novel by Ami McKayIn 1917 Nova Scotia, 17-year-old Dora Rare, the first daughter in five generations of her family, becomes an apprentice to elderly midwife Marie Babineau. Together they use herbs and folk remedies to help the women of their isolated community during difficult labors, unwanted pregnancies, and heartbreaking losses. Then a medical doctor arrives in their village promising sterile and painless births in a modern maternity hospital, and Dora and Marie's traditional methods come under scrutiny. This absorbing debut novel was a bestseller in Canada. |
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| The Midwife of Venice: A Novel by Roberta RichWith her merchant husband, Isaac, held captive by pirates, midwife Hannah Levi is desperate to earn his ransom. Although a Papal edict forbids Jewish healers from treating Christian patients, Hannah risks her life, first by delivering a countess' baby and then by continuing to provide assistance to the new mother and her sickly infant. For another richly detailed, character-driven historical novel about a 16th-century female Venetian physician who braves misogyny, religious persecution, and political unrest to aid others, check out Regina O'Melveny's The Book of Madness and Cures. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Lambton County Library 787 Broadway St. Wyoming, Ontario N0N1T0 519-845-3324www.lclibrary.ca |
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