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Historical Fiction April 2022
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| Chorus by Rebecca KauffmanWhat it is: the lyrical and character-driven story of the seven Shaw siblings, each of whom shares their perspectives on two defining moments in their lives -- one of the siblings' teenage pregnancy and their mother's mysterious early death.
Where it's set: the Shaw family farm in rural Virginia between 1903 and 1959.
Reviewers say: Chorus is "a superbly executed saga" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth MacnealWhat it's about: Nell has always been stared at in her small English village thanks to the mottled birthmarks that cover her body, but fate gives her the chance for attention on her own terms after her father sells her to a traveling circus and its proprietor lets her perform acrobatic stunts instead of being a sideshow attraction.
Read it for: Nell's indefatigable spirit; the sense of foreboding that builds as Nell becomes the most popular act in the circus; the thought-provoking juxtaposition between the story's Victorian setting and the modern questions raised about autonomy and media manipulation. |
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On a Night of a Thousand Stars
by Andrea Yaryura Clark
After hearing a woman’s cryptic comments to her wealthy diplomat father at their annual summer soiree, Paloma becomes curious about his past, setting in motion a chain of events that cause her to question her family and identity, but also puts her life in danger.
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The Saints of Swallow Hill
by Donna Everhart
In Georgia’s Swallow Hill turpentine camp in 1932, Rae Lynn Cobb, disguised as a man, hides out from those who would wrongly accuse her for murdering her husband and struggles to survive harsh, brutal conditions with the help of two individuals with their own tragic pasts.
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Lessons in Chemistry
by Bonnie Garmus
In the early 1960s, chemist and single mother Elizabeth Zott, the reluctant star of Americas most beloved cooking show due to her revolutionary skills in the kitchen, uses this opportunity to dare women to change the status quo.
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Free Love
by Tessa Hadley
In 1967 London, a pretty, dutiful homemaker and wife drinks too much at a party and ends up kissing the son of an old friend who comes for dinner, causing her to question her life.
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Angels of the Pacific
by Elise Hooper
An American Army nurse serving in Manila in 1941 is captured as a prisoner of war by the Japanese Army and teams up with a Filipina university student and resistance member to fight back and save lives.
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The Last Confessions of Sylvia P.
by Lee Kravetz
Blending past and present, and told through three unique interwoven narratives that build on one another, a novel reimagines a chapter in the life of Sylvia Plath, telling the story behind the creation of her classic semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar.
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The Tobacco Wives
by Adele Myers
In 1947 North Carolina, seamstress Maddie Sykes, a dressmaker for Bright Leaf’s most influential women—the wives of powerful tobacco executives, uncovers dangerous truths about this lucrative industry in a place where everyone depends on Big Tobacco to survive.
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The Diamond Eye
by Kate Quinn
Known as Lady Death, a lethal hunter of Nazis, Mila Pavlichenko, sent to America on a goodwill tour, forms an unexpected friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and a connection with a silent fellow sniper, offering her a chance at happiness until her past returns with a vengeance.
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The Lady's Mine
by 1947- Rivers, Francine
In 1875, Kathryn Walsh arrives in a mining town nestled in the Sierra Nevadas where she relaunches her uncle's newspaper, pitting herself against the town's most powerful men until she finds an ally in the local saloon owner who believes in what she stands for.
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The School of Mirrors
by Eva Stachniak
When she discovers her true identity as the daughter of Louis XV, midwife Marie-Louise, whose mother, once the King's favorite must tread very carefully as the new King ascends the throne.
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The Last Grand Duchess
by Bryn Turnbull
As war approaches, Grand Duchess Olga Romanov trades her gown for a nursing habit, but when troubling rumors about her parents trickle in from the Front and the controversy over Rasputin grows into a fiery protest, a call for revolution threatens to end three hundred years of Romanov rule.
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French Braid
by Anne Tyler
Follows the Garrett family from 1959 onward as they discover that their actions advance across decades and ripple through generations.
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Things Past Telling
by Sheila Williams
Recalling the last 100-plus years of her triumphant and tumultuous life, the narrator shares how her midwifery skills allowed her to sometimes transcend the racial and class barriers of her enslavement and how she never lost her sense of self.
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The Wedding Veil
by Kristy Woodson Harvey
The sweeping new novel follows four extraordinary women across generations, bound by a beautiful wedding veil and a connection to the Vanderbilt legacy that changes their lives -- and history as they know it.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Côte Saint-Luc Public Library 5851 Cavendish Blvd. Côte Saint-Luc, Quebec H4W 2X8 514-485-6900csllibrary.org/ |
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