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Historical Fiction March 2018
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| The Atomic City Girls by Janet BeardWhat it's about: Although the young women employed in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, are told that their work will help the U.S. win World War II, they have no idea that they're involved in building an atomic bomb.
You might also like: Denise Kiernan's The Girls of Atomic City, a nonfiction account of the military installation at Oak Ridge and it's predominantly female workforce; TaraShea Nesbit's The Wives of Los Alamos, a novel about the spouses of Manhattan Project scientists and the close-knit community they form. |
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| The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph CassaraStarring: members of the House of Xtravaganza, outcasts who form a family as they navigate New York City's underground ballroom scene.
Read it for: a heart-wrenching, character-driven story and a lyrical look at Latinx LGBTQ life in the 1980s and '90s.
For fans of: Jennie Livingston's 1990 documentary Paris is Burning. |
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| Only Killers and Thieves by Paul HowarthWhat it's about: The pursuit of vengeance makes for strange bedfellows, as teenage siblings Billy and Tommy McBride discover when they seek assistance in tracking down their parents' killers.
Is it for you? Set in 1885 Queensland, this gritty, blood-drenched Western tells a dramatic coming-of-age story while grappling with Australia's complex legacy of colonialism and genocide.
You might also like: Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang or Courtney Collins' The Untold, both suspenseful historical novels about the hardscrabble lives of impoverished young people in rural Australia. |
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| Winter Sisters by Robin OliveiraWhat it's about: When two young girls disappear during a blizzard, physician Mary Stipp continues to search for them long after everyone else gives up.
Read it for: an intriguing mystery, stirring courtroom drama, and a well-researched and richly detailed depiction of 1870s Albany, New York.
Crossover alert: Though not, strictly speaking, a sequel to My Name is Mary Sutter, this novel reunites readers with some familiar characters. |
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| The Girl from the Savoy by Hazel GaynorWhat it's about: A chance meeting with an actress and her songwriter brother draws Dolly Lane, a hotel chambermaid with dreams of becoming a chorus girl, into a world of glitz and glamour.
Why you might like it: Beneath the glittering facade of this novel's Jazz Age London setting is a poignant, character-driven story of people attempting to reinvent themselves in the wake of tragedy.
You might also like: D.J. Taylor's Ask Alice, about a London socialite with big ambitions and a scandalous past. |
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| The Jazz Palace by Mary MorrisA downloadable eBook. What it is: A sweeping saga of two Jewish families linked by tragedy, set in an artfully rendered 1920s Chicago.
Featuring: Benny Lehrmann, who turns his back on the family business to join a jazz band, and Pearl Chimbrova, who becomes the proprietress of a speakeasy known as the Jazz Palace.
Read it for: well-drawn characters, a strong sense of place, and authentic period detail informed by meticulous research. |
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| The Wicked City by Beatriz WilliamsAudio Book on CD: 11 audio discs (13 1/4 hr.) What it's about: Flapper girl Geneva "Gin" Kelly teams up with Prohibition agent Oliver Anson to track down her abusive stepfather, a notoriously ruthless bootlegger.
About the author: Beatriz Williams is known for her use of parallel, past-and-present narratives that unravel historical and romantic intrigue.
For fans of: Kate Morton's atmospheric and intricately plotted novels in which modern-day protagonists delve into long-buried family secrets. |
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Circling the Sun: A Novel
by Paula McLain
What it's about: From her wild childhood in Kenya to her storied career as a pilot and horse trainer, Beryl Markham broke boundaries, both personal and professional. When she wasn't setting aviation records (she was the first woman to complete a solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic from East to West), she conducted scandalous love affairs, most notably with hunter and bush pilot Denys Finch Hatton (much to the dismay of his lover, Baroness Karen von Blixen, also known as Out of Africa author Isak Dinesen).
Why you might like it: Drawing on Markham's own autobiography, West with the Night, this lyrical, atmospheric novel by the author of The Paris Wife depicts a woman whose lust for life has come to define her legacy.
Also available as a downloadable audio book.
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Jazz moon
by Joe Okonkwo
What it's about: After meeting an ambitious trumpet player in a basement Harlem jazz club in 1925, a poet follows the musician to Paris, where the pair become enmeshed in the city’s decadent underground scene. By the author of The Danish Girl.
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Becoming Bonnie : The Crash of the Century: When Bonnie Met Clyde
by Jenni L. Walsh
What it's about: A young woman determined to escape poverty secretly takes a night job in a 1927 speakeasy while maintaining her wholesome-girl identity by day, an endeavor that reveals her fiancé's licentious nature and introduces her to convicted felon Clyde Barrow, who entices her to become his partner in crime.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Central Mississippi Regional Library System
100 Tamberline Street
Brandon, Mississippi 39042
601-825-0100
http://www.cmrls.lib.ms.us
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