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Historical Fiction May 2020
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Workhouse Girl by Holly GreenCan she escape her past? Patty Jenkins has come a long way from her poverty-stricken days in Brownlow workhouse. She now has a coveted position in the kitchens at Freeman's Department store in Liverpool and even the prospect of advancement. For Patty has always enjoyed baking and her flair for it has caught the attention of the store owner who intends to have her create elaborate cakes and pastries to serve at afternoon tea to Freeman's clientele. But when you're a workhouse girl you can never quite forgive your past and when you've fallen on hard times before, you're always aware how easy it is to lose everything...
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| The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế MaiWhat it is: the sweeping and lyrical multigenerational saga of one family in Vietnam, from the height of the French colonial era to the late 1970s.
Narrated by: Diệu Lan, who lost her life of privilege in the 1930s, weathered the Japanese occupation in the 1940s, and made difficult choices during the famine of the 1950s; Diệu Lan's granddaughter Huong, who develops her survival skills amidst the tumultuous and traumatic years of the American War. |
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The mirror & the light
by Hilary Mantel
"If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?" England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Thomas Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith's son from Putney emerges from the spring's bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen before Jane dies giving birth to themale heir he most craves. Cromwell is a man with only his wits to rely on; he has no great family to back him, no private army. Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry's regime to the breaking point, Cromwell's robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. But can a nation, or a person, shed the past like a skin? Do the dead continually unbury themselves? What will you do, the Spanish ambassador asks Cromwell, when the king turns on you, as sooner or later he turns on everyone close to him? With The Mirror & the Light, Hilary Mantel brings to a triumphant close the trilogy she began with Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. She traces the final years of Thomas Cromwell, the boy from nowhere who climbs to the heights of power, offering a defining portrait of predator and prey, of a ferocious contest between present and past, between royal will and a common man's vision: of a modern nation making itself through conflict, passion, and courage.
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The Bass Rock : a novel
by Evie Wyld
"The lives of three women weave together across centuries in the dazzling new book from the Granta Best of Young British Novelist, author of All the Birds, Singing. Surging out of the sea, the Bass Rock has always borne witness to the lives that pass under its shadow on the Scottish mainland. And across the centuries, the fates of three women are inextricably linked to this place and to each other. Sarah, accused of being a witch, is fleeing for her life. Ruth, in the aftermath of the Second World War, is navigating a new marriage and the strange waters of the local community. Six decades later, Viv, still mourning the death of her father, is cataloguing Ruth's belongings in the now-empty house. As each woman's story unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that their choices are circumscribed, in ways big and small, by the men who seek to control them. But in sisterhood there is also the possibility of survival and a new way of life. Intricately crafted and compulsively readable, The Bass Rock burns bright with love and fury--a devastating indictment of violence against women, and an empowering portrait of their resilience through the ages"
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The Secret Letter by Kerry BarrettLondon, 1910. Twenty-one-year-old Esther Watkins would do anything for the Suffragette cause. Imprisoned, force-fed and beaten, she is determined to fight for what she believes is right - no matter what it costs her. With new love Joseph by her side, will she get the better future she dreams of? Kent, 2019. With her marriage in tatters, school teacher Lizzie Armstrong moves to sleepy Elm Heath for a fresh start, and her pupils and the community soon steal her heart. So when the school is threatened with closure, Lizzie knows she has to fight, and she looks to the school's founder for inspiration. What makes Esther, born and bred in London, a proud Suffragette, suddenly leave the city and escape to Elm Heath? And when Lizzie uncovers Esther's heartbreaking secret, could it give her the strength she needs to save not just the school, but her new beginning too?
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| Miss Emily by Nuala O'ConnorWhat it's about: the unexpectedly close friendship that develops between young housemaid Ada Concannon and "Miss Emily," none other than celebrated American poet Emily Dickinson, with insight into each woman's mind as they alternate narrating each chapter.
Fresh off the boat: Irish immigrant Ada quickly lands a job in Amherst after arriving in America, where her irreverent personality and love of nature endear her to Miss Emily. Emily soon begins to confide in Ada and their bond deepens, but will be tested when tragedy strikes their quiet world. |
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The Daughter of Victory Lights by Kerri Turner 1945: After the thrill and danger of volunteering in an all-female searchlight regiment protecting Londoners from German bombers overhead, Evelyn Bell is secretly dismayed to be sent back her rigid domestic life when the war is over. But then she comes across a secret night-time show, hidden from the law on a boat in the middle of the Thames. Entranced by the risque and lively performance, she grabs the opportunity to join the misfit crew and escape her dreary future. At first the Victory travels from port to port to raucous applause, but as the shows get bigger and bigger, so too do the risks the performers are driven to take, as well as the growing emotional complications among the crew. Until one desperate night... 1963: Lucy, an unloved and unwanted little girl, is rescued by a mysterious stranger who says he knows her mother. On the Isle of Wight, Lucy is welcomed into an eclectic family of ex-performers. She is showered with kindness and love, but gradually it becomes clear that there are secrets they refuse to share. Who is Evelyn Bell?
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The Paris Model by Alexandra JoelAfter a shocking discovery, Grace Woods leaves her vast Australian sheep station and travels to tumultuous post-war Paris in order to find her true identity. While working as a mannequin for Christian Dior, the world's newly acclaimed emperor of fashion, Grace mixes with counts and princesses, authors and artists, diplomats and politicians. But when Grace falls for handsome Philippe Boyer she doesn't know that he is leading a double life, nor that his past might inflict devastating consequences upon her. As she is drawn into Philippe's dangerous world of international espionage, Grace discovers both the shattering truth of her origins - and that her life is in peril. Inspired by an astonishing true story, The Paris Model is a tale of glamour, family secrets and heartbreak that takes you from the rolling plains of country Australia to the elegant salons of Paris.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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