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Historical Fiction -- The Early 20th Century
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Books that take place prior to WWII
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The Nesting Dolls
by Alina Adams
Spanning 1930s Siberia to contemporary Brighton Beach, a family saga finds three generations of women in a Jewish-Russian family making fateful choices in their respective efforts to break free from historical dynamics and pursue personal fulfillment.
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Saint Mazie
by Jami Attenberg
Running a Jazz Age movie theater that is transformed by Prohibition and the Great Depression, Mazie Phillips reflects on her poverty-stricken youth and converts the theater into a shelter in ways that reverberate nearly a century later. By the New York Times best-selling author of The Middlesteins.
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The Girls in the Picture
by Melanie Benjamin
An intimate reimagining of the powerful creative partnership between Hollywood superstars Frances Marion and Mary Pickford traces their friendship and boundary-breaking achievements against a backdrop of pre-World War I Hollywood. By the best-selling author of The Swans of Fifth Avenue.
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Palisades Park
by Alan Brennert
Sharing a family life in the 1930s near the legendary Palisades Amusement Park, a family of dreamers explores ambitions and cultural boundaries that are challenged by the realities of the Great Depression, multiple wars and the park's eventual closing in 1971. By the award-winning author of Moloka'i.
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China Star
by Bartle Bull
A prequel to the trilogy that included Café on the Nile is set in 1920s Paris, where a Russian count, Alexander Karlov, and Soviet agent Viktor Polyak hunt each other through a series of grand hotels, sewers, fashion houses, and embassy parties before Karlov and his twin sister, Katerina, set sail for China.
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The Dust that Falls from Dreams
by Louis De Bernières
The Edwardian-era friendship shared among the four McCosh sisters and their neighbors in the London countryside are indelibly changed by the horrifying realities of World War I and its aftermath. By the award-winning author of Corelli's Mandolin.
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The Boston Girl
by Anita Diamant
Recounting the story of her life to her granddaughter, octogenarian Addie describes how she was raised in early 20th-century America by suspicious Jewish immigrant parents in a teeming multicultural neighborhood. Online reading group guide. By the author of The Red Tent and Day After Night.
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The Pull of the Stars
by Emma Donoghue
A novel set in 1918 Dublin offers a three-day look at a maternity ward during the height of the Great Flu pandemic. By the best-selling author of Room.
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Songs of Willow Frost
by Jamie Ford
Confined to Seattle's Sacred Heart Orphanage during the Great Depression, Chinese-American boy William Eng becomes convinced that a certain movie actress is actually the mother he has not seen since he was seven years old, a belief that compels a determined search for answers. By the award-winning author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.
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The Museum of Extraordinary Things
by Alice Hoffman
The daughter of a curiosities museum's front man pursues an impassioned love affair with a Russian immigrant photographer who after fleeing his Lower East Side Orthodox community has captured poignant images of the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. By the best-selling author of Here on Earth.
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Ellis Island
by Kate Kerrigan
After her husband, a soldier for the Irish Republican Army, is injured and can no longer work, Ellie Hogan immigrates to New York City where she, working as a maid for a wealthy socialite, becomes tempted by this glittering new world--and by a charming suitor who can give her all she ever wanted.
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I Was Anastasia
by Ariel Lawhon
An evocative retelling of the Anastasia survival myth follows the appearance of a traumatized, badly scarred young woman who claims to be the youngest Romanov daughter, launching a half-century of questions, accusations and changing perspectives on identity as conveyed by her supporters and detractors. By the author of Flight of Dreams.
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The Lightning Keeper
by Starling Lawrence
Arriving in New York in 1914 after fleeing the bloody violence in the Balkans, Toma Pekocevic, a gifted inventor, designs a powerful water turbine that leads to not only a career within General Electric but also a love affair with Harriet Bigelow, the daughter of a powerful New England dynasty that has fallen on hard times.
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Chicago
by David Mamet
The Oscar-nominated screenwriter of The Untouchables and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Glengarry Glen Ross presents a novel set against a backdrop of the 1920s Chicago mob scene and follows the experiences of a World War I veteran who seeks vigilante justice against the man responsible for killing the woman he loved.
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The Twelve Tribes of Hattie
by Ayana Mathis
Traces the story of Great Migration-era mother Hattie Shepherd, who in spite of poverty and a dysfunctional husband uses love and Southern remedies to raise nine children and prepare them for the realities of a harsh world. A first novel.
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Titans
by Leila Meacham
A privileged heiress to a sprawling Fort Worth cattle ranch and a sweet-natured farm boy from north Texas are drawn together by an unexpected connection during the sweeping oil boom changes of the early 20th century. By the best-selling author of Roses.
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Sold on a Monday
by Kristina McMorris
When struggling reporter Ellis Reed takes a photograph of a sign advertising two children for sale in 1931, it leads to his big break and evokes memories from his past.
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The Buddha in the Attic
by Julie Otsuka
The author of When the Emperor Was Divine presents the stories of six Japanese mail-order brides whose new lives in early 20th century San Francisco are marked by backbreaking migrant work, cultural struggles, children who reject their heritage and the prospect of wartime internment.
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The Poppy Wife: A Novel of the Great War
by Caroline Scott
Hired by other families looking for MIA soldiers, a grieving man searches for his own missing brother along the Western Front, where he photographs soldier graves while making life-changing discoveries. Original. A first novel.
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The First of July
by Elizabeth Speller
Follows the lives of four very different men, Frank, Benedict, Jean-Batiste and Harry, in the three years prior to the start of World War I and through their experiences through the catastrophes in and trenches of war-torn Europe.
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Falling to Earth
by Kate Southwood
A tale inspired by the historic Tri-State tornado of 1925 follows the experiences of businessman Paul Graves and his family, who throughout a year after the storm watch their community struggle to rebuild and who miscalculate growing resentment about the twist of fate that left their home and business untouched.
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