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Historical Fiction December 2020
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Miss Benson's beetle : a novel
by Rachel Joyce
Leaving London behind, Margery Benson, a schoolmarm and spinster in 1950, embarks on a quest to the other side of the world in search of her childhood obsession – the golden beetle of New Caledonia – with the help of a fun-loving assistant who changes her life forever.
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The star-crossed sisters of Tuscany
by Lori Nelson Spielman
Visiting an octogenarian relative in Italy who declares that she will break a family curse that has prevented all second-born daughters from marrying, three second daughters embark on a journey to help their great-aunt fulfill her final wish.
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V2
by Robert Harris
A World War II German rocket engineer under orders to launch V2 rockets at London from Occupied Holland and an actress-turned-English Intelligence officer who would neutralize the bombings land on opposite sides in a desperate hunt for a saboteur.
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Dark tides : a novel
by Philippa Gregory
A sequel to Tidelands finds 17th-century London warehouse owner Alinor reuniting with a man from her past while reaching out to her brother in war-torn New England for proof of her son’s survival.
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The lady brewer of London : a novel
by Karen Brooks
Reopening her late mother’s brewery when her family is bankrupted by a tragedy at sea, a woman in 15th-century London teams up with a brothel owner to protect loved ones from dangerous rivals.
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| Eli's Promise by Ronald H. BalsonGermany, 1946: Despite the betrayal of his employee-turned-war-profiteer Max Poleski, Polish Jewish businessman Eli Rosen and his son Isaac have both survived the Holocaust and managed to reunite. With no sign of his wife Esther however, Eli begins the daunting task of searching for her in a sea of displaced people.
Chicago, 1965: Eli learns that Max is up to his old ways, exploiting political corruption and the Vietnam War for financial gain. Seeing a chance to stop the destruction of more lives, Eli's new plan is to bring Max to justice by any means necessary. |
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| The Lost Shtetl by Max GrossWhere it's set: Kreskol, an insular Polish shtetl so isolated that its residents escaped the horrors of the Holocaust and the rest of the 20th century.
What happens next: A divorcee's flight from the village inadvertently sets off a chain of events that will drag Kreskol and its people into the 21st century, for better or worse.
Read it for: the surprising moments of absurdity and laugh-out-loud humor in this thought-provoking novel. |
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| Actress by Anne EnrightWhat it is: a character-driven account of the larger-than-life personality and career of Irish acting legend Katherine O'Dell, as told by her novelist daughter Norah.
Read it for: the engaging portrait of well-meaning but complex Katherine, who struggles to navigate fame and single motherhood in an era without models for either.
About the author: Irish writer Anne Enright's previous novels include The Green Road and Man Booker Prize-winning The Gathering. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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