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Historical Fiction October 2019
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| Out of Darkness, Shining Light by Petina GappahWhat it's about: The harrowing 1,500-mile, nine-month journey undertaken by the African servants of Scottish missionary Dr. David Livingstone as they transport his body to the coast of Tanzania.
Narrated by: cynical Halima, the band's cook, and loyal Jacob Wainwright, educated by missionaries following his manumission.
What sets it apart: Livingstone is a minor character in Zimbabwean author Petina Gappah's novel, which "captures the diverse cultural milieu of colonial Africa with compelling detail" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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Tidelands
by Philippa Gregory
In a tale set during England’s mid-17th-century civil war, an herbalist seeking to escape an abusive relationship is targeted by witchcraft mania in her tidelands community. By the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Other Boleyn Girl.
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The guest book
by Sarah Blake
The bereaved matriarch of a powerful early-twentieth-century American family makes a fateful decision that reverberates throughout two subsequent generations further impacted by racism, reversed circumstances, and disturbing revelations
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The water dancer : a novel
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
A Virginia slave narrowly escapes a drowning death through the intervention of a mysterious force that compels his escape and personal underground war against slavery. By the National Book Award-winning author of Between the World and Me. (historical fiction). (This book was listed in a previous issue of Forecast.) Tour.
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This tender land : a novel
by William Kent Krueger
Fleeing the Depression-era school for Native American children who have been taken from their parents, four orphans share a life-changing journey marked by struggling farmers, faith healers, and lost souls
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Focus on: Creepy Historical Fiction
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Love and death among the cheetahs
by Rhys Bowen
Georgie and her husband, Darcy, navigate the decadent parties and rampant infidelities of the aristocracy in Kenya’s paradise Happy Valley to identify a killer in hiding. By the Edgar Award-winning author of the Molly Murphy Mysteries.
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| The Owl Killers by Karen MaitlandWhat it's about: escalating tensions between the members of a beguinage -- a self-supporting community of lay religious women -- and a group of powerful men known as the Owl Masters in the 14th-century English village of Ulewic.
Why you might like it: Human nature may be the most frightening part of this eerie novel by Karen Maitland (Company of Liars), which immerses readers in a bleak medieval world of disease and famine, religion and superstition. |
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The binding : a novel
by Bridget Collins
In a magical world where books are repositories of individual lives, a reviled Bookbinder's apprentice crafts elegant memory volumes to help troubled customers before discovering that others in his profession use their skills for dark ends.
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Washington Black
by Esi Edugyan
What it's about: In 1830, 11-year-old enslaved child George Washington Black -- a.k.a. "Wash" -- is hired out as a manservant to Christopher "Titch" Wilde, an inventor who needs the boy's help to test his hot-air balloon. Everything goes wrong, and that's just the beginning.
Reviewers say: "strong, beautiful and beguiling" (The Guardian)
Book Buzz: This novel by acclaimed Canadian author Esi Edugyan (Half-Blood Blues) was recently shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
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| The Little Stranger by Sarah WatersWhat it's about: Upon arriving at Hundreds Hall in 1948, Dr. Faraday is alarmed to learn that the aristocratic Ayres family -- widowed Mrs. Ayres; her troubled son, former RAF pilot Roderick; and her "spinster" daughter, Caroline -- believe they're being menaced by supernatural forces.
For fans of: Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House
Reviewers say: readers will enjoy this "eerie ghost story mixed with piercing class commentary" (Booklist). |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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