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Historical Fiction December 2019
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| Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi; translated by Marilyn BoothWhat it is: a multi-generational family saga set in 20th-century Oman, which focuses on three sisters and unfolds against a backdrop of dramatic societal change.
Why you might like it: At the center of this novel, told in linked vignettes, is a group of complex female characters navigating a deeply patriarchal society.
Book buzz: Celestial Bodies is the first novel written in Arabic to win the Man Booker International Prize; its author, Jokha Alharthi, is the first female Omani writer to be translated into English. |
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Sword of Kings
by Bernard Cornwell
The twelfth installment of Bernard Cornwell's New York Times bestselling series chronicling the epic saga of the making of England. It is a time of political turmoil once more as the fading King Edward begins to lose control over his successors and their supporters. There are two potential heirs and doubt over whether the once separate states of Wessex and Mercia will hold together .
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Task Force Baum
by James D. Shipman
In the tradition of Saving Private Ryan and Bridge Over the River Kwai, bestselling author James D. Shipman delivers a powerful, action-packed novel that illustrates the long-buried secrets and unending costs of war. Based on the true story of General Patton's clandestine unauthorized raid on a World War II POW camp.
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| The Innocents by Michael CrummeyIntroducing: Everard and Ada Best, adolescent siblings whose only contact with the outside world is a ship that periodically delivers supplies to the desolate Newfoundland outport where they eke out a hardscrabble existence following their parents' deaths.
Why you might like it: Magical realist touches and a vividly rendered setting lend a timeless quality to this bleak and often disturbing tale by Canadian author Michael Crummey (River Thieves), which was inspired by an incident recorded in an 18th-century clergyman's diaries. |
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The Second Sleep
by Robert Harris
Arriving in a remote mid-15th-century Exmoor village, a young priest discovers his late predecessor’s possibly fatal obsession with the ancient coins, glass and human bones strewn throughout the region. By the author of Fatherland.
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The Accomplice
by Joseph Kanon
Entreated by his dying Auschwitz-survivor uncle to track down a Nazi war criminal who committed atrocities at the side of Mengele, a rogue CIA agent investigates the hidden scientist’s alluring daughter to uncover complicated truths.
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| On Swift Horses by Shannon PufahlWhat it's about: the complicated emotional ties that bind two brothers, Korean war veterans Lee and Julius, and Muriel, a gambler who marries Lee but feels drawn to Julius, who's gay.
Why you might like it: Shifting between the racetracks of 1950s San Diego and the casinos of Las Vegas, this character-driven novel offers an intimate exploration of hidden subcultures in lush, lyrical prose.
Reviewers say: "a queer Western for an utterly contemporary audience" (Booklist). |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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