|
Historical Fiction January 2018
|
|
|
|
| Mrs. Osmond: A Novel by John BanvilleStarring: Isabel Archer, heroine of The Portrait of a Lady, in a sequel to Henry James' classic novel.
Book buzz: Critics are raving about this "superb Henry James pastiche" (The Guardian), an "epochal act of imitation, salutation, and imagination" (NPR) that evokes "James's limpid prose, deft plotting, and finely limned characterization" (Library Journal, starred review).
You might also like: Colm Tóibín's The Master, an introspective novel that examines Henry James' personal life. |
|
| Enchantress of Numbers: A Novel of Ada Lovelace by Jennifer ChiaveriniIntroducing: Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace: the mathematician (and daughter of Romantic poet Lord Byron) who's widely considered to be the first computer programmer.
Why you might like it: This fictional memoir illuminates Ada's complicated personal life as well as her professional partnerships with Charles Babbage and Mary Somerville.
Try this next: Joan Spicci's Beyond the Limit, about Sofya Kovalevskaya, stars another unconventional 19th-century woman mathematician. |
|
| Ravenspur: Rise of the Tudors by Conn IgguldenWhat it's about: This concluding volume of the Wars of the Roses series traces the fall of the Plantagenets and the rise of the Tudors.
For fans of: the intricate dynastic politics of Sharon Kay Penman's historical sagas and the fast-paced, visceral military action of Bernard Cornwell's novels.
You might also like: Philippa Gregory's Cousins' War series, which depicts this period from the perspective of the women involved. |
|
|
The Water Beetles by Michael KaanThe Leung family leads a life of secluded luxury in Hong Kong. But in December 1941, the Empire of Japan invades the colony. The family is quickly dragged into a spiral of violence, repression, and starvation. To survive, they entomb themselves and their friends in the Leung mansion. But this is only a temporary reprieve, and the Leungs are forced to send their children away. Based loosely on the diaries and stories of the author's father, this mesmerizing story captures the horror of war through the eyes of a child.
|
|
|
Beneath a scarlet sky : a novel
by Mark T Sullivan
A teenage boy in 1940s 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. Original.
|
|
|
The unruly passions of Eugénie R. by Carole DeSantiA tale set in France's Second Empire period finds young Eugénie rendered pregnant and penniless by a man she thought she loved before struggling to reclaim the daughter she is forced to give up, an effort during which she falls in love on the turbulent eve of the Franco-Prussian War.
|
|
|
News of the world : a novel
by Paulette Jiles
In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a widower and itinerant news reader, is offered fifty dollars to bring an orphan girl, who was kidnapped and raised by Kiowa raiders, from Wichita Falls back to her family in San Antonio
|
|
| A Piece of the World: A Novel by Christina Baker KlineFeaturing: Christina Olson, a disabled woman who lives a solitary life on her family's farm in rural Maine before befriending artist Andrew Wyeth and becoming the subject of his iconic painting, "Christina's World."
For fans of: engaging and richly detailed historical novels that imagine the creation of famous artworks, such as Gloria Goldreich's The Bridal Chair or Maureen Gibbon's Paris Red. |
|
| The Wind Is Not a River: A Novel by Brian PaytonWhat it's about: In 1943, journalist John Easley embeds with a bomber crew headed for the Japanese-occupied Aleutian Islands. Shot down over the island of Attu, John and aviator Karl Bitburg must survive while evading enemy soldiers.
Why you might like it: Focusing on the only World War II battle to be fought on North American soil, this compelling novel movingly recreates a little-known historical event through the eyes of its sympathetic characters. |
|
| The Light Between Oceans: A Novel by M.L. StedmanWhat it's about: An emotionally scarred World War I veteran becomes a lighthouse keeper on a small island off the coast of Australia. When a boat washes ashore carrying an infant girl, he and his wife decide to keep the baby -- a decision with far-reaching consequences.
You might also like: Karen Viggers' The Lightkeeper's Wife, another moving novel about a lighthouse keeper who starts an unconventional family on an isolated island off the coast of Australia. |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
Lambton County Library 787 Broadway St. Wyoming, Ontario N0N1T0 519-845-3324www.lclibrary.ca |
|
|
|