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Historical Fiction April 2019
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Carolyn and Harold Helfenstein - Author Visit
Thursday, April 25, 6:30 p.m.
Cobourg Library, Rotary Room
Join local authors Carolyn and Harold Helfenstein for a reading and talk about their newest book: Rock Solid: a Newfoundland tale. Spanning generations, Rock Solid follows the lives of a young couple who travel to the New World to escape their families; the Newfoundlanders who welcome them and the community that takes shape around them. Registration is required. Books will be available for purchase at the event.
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Daisy Jones & the Six : a novel
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Two rising 70s rock-and-roll artists are catapulted into stardom when a producer puts them together, a decision that is complicated by a pregnancy and the seductions of fame. By the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
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| The Last Year of the War by Susan MeissnerWhat it's about: After her father is accused of being a Nazi sympathizer, German American teen Elise and her family are sent to a Texas internment camp, where she befriends Japanese American Mariko.
For fans of: Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Karin Tanabe's The Diplomat's Daughter.
Want a taste? "I've a thief to thank for finding the one person I need to see before I die." |
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The Turn of Midnight
by Minette Walters
As the year 1349 approaches, the Black Death continues its devastating course across England. In Dorseteshire, the quarantined people of Develish question whether they are the only survivors. Guided by their beloved young mistress, Lady Anne, they wait, knowing that when their dwindling stores are finally gone they will have no choice but to leave. But where will they find safety in the desolate wasteland outside? One man has the courage to find out. Thaddeus Thurkell, a free-thinking, educated serf, strikes out in search of supplies and news. A compelling leader, he and his companions quickly throw off the shackles of serfdom and set their minds to ensuring Develish's future -- and freedom for its people. But what use is freedom that cannot be gained lawfully? When Lady Anne and Thaddeus conceive an audacious plan to secure her people's independence, neither foresees the life-threatening struggle over power, money and religion that follows.
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| The Island of Sea Women by Lisa SeeIntroducing: best friends Young-sook and Mi-ja, who train as haenyeo, divers in the all-women fishing collectives of Korea's Jeju Island. Closer than sisters, their bond is shattered by wartime betrayal.
Why you might like it: This lyrical and heartbreaking novel presents a detailed look at life in a matrifocal society whose ancient traditions are threatened by modernity.
About the author: From Snow Flower and the Secret Fan to China Dolls, historical novelist Lisa See is acclaimed for her moving depictions of female friendships forged in adversity. |
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The house of dreams
by Kate Lord Brown
A tale inspired by the true story of Varian Fry and the real events behind Casablanca follows the experiences of a celebrated painter whose secret connection to the rescue of thousands of World War II-era artists is uncovered by a young journalist. By the best-selling author of The Perfume Garden.
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Saint Mazie: A Novel
by Jami Attenberg
After a childhood spent running wild on the sidewalks of New York, Mazie Phillips becomes the proprietress of 1920s Manhattan's popular Venice movie theater. However, Mazie finds her true calling in life once the Great Depression hits and she opens her doors to the homeless. Fans of the popular blog Humans of New York will appreciate the tough-talking, big-hearted "Saint Mazie, Queen of the Bowery," a real person first introduced to the reading public in a 1940 New Yorker profile by Joseph Mitchell. This novel builds on that foundation by interweaving the facts of Mazie's life with well-researched fictional elements, including diary entries and interviews with friends and neighbors.
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| The Cottingley Secret by Hazel GaynorWhat happens: In 1917, cousins Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright claim that they've photographed fairies in their Yorkshire garden -- and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believes them.
And then: Present-day bookshop owner Olivia Kavanagh discovers a manuscript that reveals the story behind the famous images.
Reviewers say: "a lovely meditation on the power of belief and hope" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| Court of Lions by Jane JohnsonWhat it's about: A scrap of paper concealed in a wall in the Alhambra links a 21st-century British woman living in Granada and the 15th-century companion of Prince Mohammad XII.
Read it for: a suspenseful tale of courtly intrigue in Islamic Spain and a well-researched recreation of the last days of the Emirate of Granada.
Further reading: The Alhambra, Robert Irwin's myth-busting history of the iconic palace complex, or Steven Nightingale's Granada, a blend of history and travelogue focused on the Andalusian city. |
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The secret wife
by Gill Paul
Leaving London for her grandfather's remote cabin in the Adirondacks, Kitty Fisher discovers a pendant that leads her discover that her grandfather was cared for by Grand Duchess Tatiana in 1914 Russia
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Lost in September
by Kathleen Winter
Through Kathleen Winter's incredible act of empathy, we enter the world of a character named General James Wolfe--a tall, red-haired, homeless thirty-something ex-soldier, battered by PTSD--as he camps out on the streets of modern-day Quebec City, trying to remember and reclaim his youth. In creating this extraordinary character, Kathleen Winter pored over the real-life letters of General Wolfe, which were acquired by the University of Toronto in 2013 for an astronomical sum. The letters, written to his mother, begin when he was a child soldier of 13, and end when he was 32, already a scarred veteran of war, just two weeks before his famous death on the Plains of Abraham. What emerges from this little-seen cache is the opposite of the public face: history portrays Wolfe as the iconic victor but his correspondence reveals a lifelong struggle with melancholy and trauma, a desperate longing for poetry, dance, enlightenment. It also depicts how, at 25, Wolfe was awarded a two-week study leave in Paris. He was ecstatic... but before he could depart, Britain adopted Europe's Gregorian calendar and the entire country lost eleven days forever: September 2 was followed by September 14. Wolfe forfeited his longed-for leave, and exactly 7 years later, on September 13, 1759, he died. In her inventive retelling, Winter gives Wolfe the gift of those lost eleven days in September--but in a different era: he is dropped into the world of contemporary Quebec. Her befuddled soldier is determined to reclaim his time and understand what has become of the British North America for which he'd abandoned his personal happiness. What he finds is not an answer, but unsettling questions about the price war exacts and the cost of all empires, past and present.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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