|
The scribe of Siena : a novel
by Melodie Winawer
Taking an unexpected trip to a Tuscan city to settle her brother's estate, a grieving neurosurgeon discovers the journals and paintings of a 14th-century artist before finding herself transported through time to the artist's world just prior to the outbreak of a devastating plague. A first novel.
|
|
|
Dragon Springs Road
by Janie Chang
After being abandoned by her mother in 1908 Shanghai, a young Eurasian girl, Jialing, becomes the bond servant to the new owners of a grand estate until she befriends a young English girl who mysteriously disappears and forever changes her life.
|
|
|
Mr. Rochester
by Sarah Shoemaker
A literary retelling of Charlotte Bronte's beloved classic, Jane Eyre, is presented from the perspective of the dashing and mysterious Mr. Rochester.
|
|
|
Goodnight from London
by Jennifer Robson
In the summer of 1940, ambitious young American journalist Ruby Sutton gets her big break: the chance to report on the European war as a staff writer for Picture Weekly news magazine in London. She jumps at the chance, for it's an opportunity not only to prove herself, but also to start fresh in a city and country that know nothing of her humble origins. But life in besieged Britain tests Ruby in ways she never imagined. Although most of Ruby's new colleagues welcome her, a few resent her presence, not only as an American but also as a woman. She is just beginning to find her feet, to feel at home in a country that is so familiar yet so foreign, when the bombs begin to fall. As the nightly horror of the Blitz stretches unbroken into weeks and months, Ruby must set aside her determination to remain an objective observer. When she loses everything but her life, and must depend upon the kindness of strangers, she learns for the first time the depth and measure of true friendship—and what it is to love a man who is burdened by secrets that aren’t his to share.
|
|
| Days Without End: A Novel by Sebastian BarryA survivor of Ireland's Great Famine and a recent immigrant to the United States, 17-year-old Thomas McNulty joins the U.S. Army in 1851 with his best friend and fellow orphan, John Cole. Sent first to the Great Plains to butcher the Sioux, and later, to the battlefields of the Civil War, the young carry out their orders despite their horror of the carnage. Meanwhile, they become lovers and must find a way to build a life together in a society that doesn't recognize or understand romantic relationships between men. Originally published in the U.K., Days Without End recently won the Costa book of the year award. |
|
|
The night she won Miss America : a novel
by Michael Callahan
Catapulted into the 1950 Miss America Pageant by her ambitious mother, Betty falls for her mercurial escort, Griff, and impulsively runs away with him, unaware that an enamored reporter would expose her paramour's dark secret. By the author of Searching for Grace Kelly.
|
|
|
Miss Burma
by Charmaine Craig
A prominent family navigates the traumas of war and political oppression in mid-20th-century Burma while trying to build a meaningful life in the face of forbidden love, colonialism and the Japanese Occupation. By the best-selling author of The Good Men.
|
|
|
Salt houses
by Hala Alyan
Foreseeing blessings and troubles in the lives of her daughter and grandchildren, Salma endures hardships stemming from the Six-Day War of 1967 in Palestine before rebuilding in Kuwait, before the family is scattered by Saddam Hussein's regime. A first novel.
|
|
|
Once, in Lourdes : a novel
by Sharon Solwitz
A poignant novel of teen friendship set during a two-week span in the turbulent summer of 1968 follows a suicide pact made by four high-school friends who plan to live for each other for the rest of the season before leaping off a high bluff, an agreement that is shaped by personal complications and doubts. By the award-winning author of Bloody Mary.
|
|
|
Before we sleep : a novel
by Jeffrey Lent
A 1960s teen embarks on a search for her biological father after discovering his identity in a cache of letters, while her mother reflects on how their family was profoundly changed by World War II. By the best-selling author of In the Fall.
|
|
|
A bridge across the ocean
by Susan Meissner
Brette Caslake visits the haunted Queen Mary and makes a discovery that will help her solve a 70-year old tragedy involving two European war brides who sailed on the same vessel to New York Harbor in 1946.
|
|
| Rasputin's Daughter by Robert AlexanderAuthor Robert Alexander follows up his acclaimed debut The Kitchen Boy with another spellbinding journey to revolutionary Russia, this time to tell the story of the notorious "Mad Monk" Rasputin. Grigori Rasputin, despite his powerful influence over the Tsar's court as a mystic and healer, is an enigma -- even to his 18-year-old daughter, Maria, who narrates the story. Is he a visionary or a charlatan? As Maria attempts to reconcile the public image of her father with her private experiences of the man, she finds herself at the center of a plot to destroy Rasputin, the royal family, and even herself. For another richly detailed, atmospheric novel that documents the Russian Revolution and the downfall of the Romanov dynasty from Maria's perspective, try Kathryn Harrison's Enchantments. |
|
| The Mirrored World: A Novel by Debra DeanNarrated by her closest friend, this novel recounts the life of Xenia Grigoryevna, patron saint of St. Petersburg. After Xenia loses her family at a tender age, she becomes a singer in the Imperial choir, marries a handsome military officer, and -- in the wake of a terrible, fateful vision -- loses him, along with their child. Reeling from the tragedy, Xenia relinquishes all her worldly possessions and takes to the streets, where she ministers to the poor. Alas, Xenia's behavior as a "holy fool" incurs the displeasure of the royal family, who view her actions as a criticism of their extravagant lifestyle. Readers interested in 18th-century courtly life in Russia may also enjoy Eva Stachniak's The Winter Palace and Empress of the Night, which follow Catherine the Great's reign. |
|
| The Siege by Helen DunmoreSet during the 1941 siege of Leningrad, this novel follows teacher Anna Levin; her ailing father, Mikhail; and her five-year-old brother, Kolya, as they struggle to survive on meager rations during a bitterly cold winter in a city cut off from the rest of the world. Their limited resources are further strained by an unexpected addition to their household in the form of her father's former mistress, although their hopes are lifted by Andrei, a physician in love with Anna. Readers who wish to continue their acquaintance with the Levin family should pick up The Betrayal, set ten years after this novel. |
|
| The Yid by Paul GoldbergIn 1953, state security officials show up to arrest Solomon Levinson, formerly an actor with the now-defunct Moscow State Jewish Theater. Their "operation" goes awry when Levinson, an elderly but spry war veteran, decides he'd rather not be imprisoned in Lubyanka. After violently dispatching the men, Levinson learns that they represent a larger effort on the part of Stalin to exterminate the country's Jews, prompting him to assemble a ragtag team to assassinate the Soviet leader. Like a Yiddish-inflected, Soviet-era take on Quentin Tarantino's film Inglourious Basterds, The Yid infuses meticulous research and multilingual wit into its action-movie plot. |
|
| The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great by Eva StachniakWhen 14-year-old Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, the timid daughter of impoverished Prussian nobles, arrives in St. Petersburg in 1743 to wed the future Emperor Peter III, there's little indication that she'll one day become the formidable Catherine the Great. Sixteen-year-old servant Vavara, tasked by the Empress Elizabeth to spy on her heir's new fiancée, befriends Sophie -- rechristened "Catherine" -- and observes her transformation from a political pawn into the canny ruler who commands the Imperial court. This novel is the 1st book in a trilogy, which continues with Empress of the Night. |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|