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Historical Fiction March 2021
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The invisible woman
by Erika Robuck
"In the depths of war, she would defy the odds to help liberate a nation...A gripping historical novel based on a remarkable true story of World War II heroine Virginia Hall, from the bestselling author of Hemingway's Girl. France, March 1944. Virginia Hall wasn't like the other young society women back home in Baltimore-she never wanted the debutante ball or silk gloves. Instead, she traded a safe life for adventure in Europe, and when her beloved second home is thrust into the dark days of war, she leaps in headfirst. Once she's recruited as an Allied spy, subverting the Nazis becomes her calling. But even the most cunning agent can be bested, and in wartime trusting the wrong person can prove fatal. Virginia is haunted every day by the betrayal that ravaged her first operation, and will do everything in her power to avenge the brave people she lost. While her future is anything but certain, this time more than ever Virginia knows that failure is not an option. Especially when she discovers what-and whom-she's truly protecting"
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Glamour girls : a novel
by Marty Wingate
Enlisting in the women’s Air Transport Authority during World War II, talented aviatrix Rosalie Wright heroically serves in the face of male skepticism before finding herself torn between a cynical, wisecracking playboy and a heartthrob fellow pilot.
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| Better Luck Next Time by Julia Claiborne JohnsonWhat it is: an amusing and dramatic story set in 1930s Nevada as Reno becomes the center of a burgeoning industry in quickie divorces.
Starring: Yale dropout Ward Bennett, who takes a desperately needed job at a dude ranch that hosts soon-to-be-divorcées; guest Emily Sommer, who shares an undeniable spark with Ward despite her cool veneer of patrician superiority; larger-than-life aviatrix Nina O'Malley, a guest who is on divorce number 3. |
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| Yellow Wife by Sadeqa JohnsonThe setup: Mixed-race Pheby Brown is anxiously awaiting her 18th birthday, when her white father (and owner) Jacob has promised to set her free.
What goes wrong: A carriage accident kills Pheby's mother and incapacitates her father, and Jacob's bitter and jealous wife seizes the chance to sell Pheby to a cruel jailer, whose treatment Pheby endures until an unexpected opportunity arrives.
Reviewers say: Yellow Wife is a "powerful, unflinching account of determination in the face of oppression" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr.What it is: a lyrical and heartwrenching story of the power of human connection under even the worst circumstances.
The premise: Enduring the horrors of slavery, two young men living on a Mississippi plantation find love and solace in each other. But when another slave becomes a preacher to gain favor with their master, they soon become a target of his sermons and their community begins to fracture.
You might also like: Edward P. Jones's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Known World, which also features arresting writing and centers on the complex relationships that develop in communities of enslaved people. |
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Books You Might Have Missed
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A Bend in the Stars
by Rachel Barenbaum
Russia, 1914: When her physicist brother, Vanya, goes missing en route to observe a solar eclipse, Jewish surgeon Miri Abramov embarks on a desperate rescue mission, accompanied by a charming army deserter.
What's at stake: Vanya believes that photographing the eclipse will verify or disprove Einstein's general theory of relativity, while Miri fears that if the coming war doesn't kill them both, the Czar's pogroms will.
Reviewers say: "exhilarating" (Publishers Weekly).
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| Aria by Nazanine HozarWhat it's about: the difficult childhood of Iranian orphan Aria and her own journey into motherhood as the 1979 Revolution unfolds around her.
Try this next: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, another sweeping novel that features a woman navigating complex personal circumstances against a backdrop of major social upheaval.
Reviewers say: Aria is a "vibrant, unsettling portrait" of "a nation's fraught history" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| The Henna Artist by Alka JoshiStarring: artistic Lakshmi Shastri, who has left behind her arranged marriage to make a new life for herself in 1950s Jaipur, India, where she works as a henna artist for wealthy women in the city.
The problem: Lakshmi's 13-year-old sister Radha arrives at her door with news that their parents have died, and in her grief Lakshmi must find a way to keep her own dreams alive while making room for her sister in her life.
Why you might like it: Lush writing evokes the sensory experience of hectic, beautiful Jaipur; Lakshmi's determination and adaptability, which make her easy to root for. |
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| An Elegant Woman by Martha McPheeWhat it is: a sweeping saga that chronicles four generations of women in the Stewart family, from a one-room Montana schoolhouse in the early 1900s to East Coast respectability a century later.
Read it for: the rich historical details; the complexity of its well-developed characters, including gutsy matriarch and suffragist Glenna, imaginative and wily chameleon Katherine.
Reviewers say: "Delicately rendered characters inform a richly textured family portrait" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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A Country Road, A Tree
by Jo Baker
Starring: Irish playwright Samuel Beckett (although he remains nameless throughout this spare, evocative novel).
What happens: Soon after his 1939 arrival in Paris, World War II begins; for the next six years, he and his lover, Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil, hide from the Germans while aiding the French Resistance.
Is it for you? Written in second person and in present tense, A Country Road, A Tree marks a stylistic departure from the author's previous novel, Longbourn.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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