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Historical Fiction February 2021
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Welcome to the February Historical Fiction Newsletter! This month’s selections include: novels set in Australia, Chicago, Ireland, Spokane, the Napoleonic era in France, and two, family sagas, one set in Amsterdam the other in the USA. Have you tried our “Book Match” service? Based on your input we provide recommendations. The next “Brown Bag with Books “Book Club” will be on March 3rd. It features: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. |
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Dominicana by Angie CruzThe award-winning author of Soledad draws on her mother’s story in a tale set in a turbulent 1960s Dominican Republic, where a young teen agrees to marry a man twice her age to help her family’s immigration to America.
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An elegant woman by Martha McPhee"For fans of Mary Beth Keane and Jennifer Egan, this powerful, moving multigenerational saga from National Book Award finalist Martha McPhee-ten years in the making-explores one family's story against the sweep of 20th century American history"
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Lovecraft country : a novel by Matt RuffBlends multiple genres in a visceral exploration of the Jim Crow era and its legacy, tracing the story of young Army vet Atticus Turner, who in 1954 Chicago travels with his publisher uncle and childhood friend to search for his missing father only to encounter human and supernatural terrors at the estate of a descendant of slave owners.
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Snow by John BanvilleInvestigating the murder of a 1957 County Wexford priest, Detective Inspector St. John Strafford navigates harsh winter weather and the community’s culture of silence to expose an aristocratic family’s dangerous secrets. By the award-winning author of The Seas.
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House on endless waters : a novel by Emunah ElonReturning to his birthplace in Amsterdam, a successful writer uncovers heartbreaking secrets about his Dutch-Jewish family’s wartime experiences. By the best-selling author of If You Awaken Love.
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The exiles : a novel by Christina Baker KlineSent to a Tasmanian penal colony after conceiving her employer’s grandchild, a young governess befriends a talented midwife and an orphaned Aboriginal chief’s daughter while confronting the harsh realities of British colonialism and oppression in 19th-century Australia.
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The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun KimSuspecting foul play in the wake of her mother’s accidental death, Margot Lee investigates her mother’s past as a Korean War orphan and undocumented immigrant before uncovering profound secrets. A first novel.
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The girl in the letter by Emily GunnisIn the winter of 1956 pregnant young Ivy is sent in disgrace to St Margaret's, a home for unmarried mothers in the south of England, run by nuns, to have her child. Her baby daughter is adopted. Ivy will never leave. Sixty years later, journalist Samantha stumbles upon a series of letters from Ivy to her lover, pleading with him to rescue her from St Margaret's before it is too late. As Sam pieces together Ivy's tragic story, terrible secrets about St Margaret's dark past begin to emerge. What happened to Ivy, to her baby, and to the hundreds of children born in the home? What links a number of mysterious, sudden deaths in the area? And why are those who once worked at St Margaret's so keen that the truth should never be told? As Sam unpicks the sinister web of lies surrounding St Margaret's, she also looks deep within - to confront some unwelcome truths of her own...
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The cold millions : a novel by Jess WalterEnduring the corruption of their union employment, two young day laborers are respectively drawn to a feminist activist and a vaudeville singer whose experiences reflect an unjust world on the brink of upheaval.
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Ross Poldark by Winston GrahamRoss must begin his life anew when he returns home from war to find his father dead, his home overrun by livestock and drunken servants, and his intended now engaged to his cousin.
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After the Armistice Ball by Catriona McPhersonFeeling restless in the years after World War I, Scottish gentry wife Dandy Gilver investigates the whereabouts of a cache of stolen diamonds, a case that tests Dandy's scruples and is complicated by the untimely death of a young woman.
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Night soldiers: a novel by Alan FurstAfter his brother is murdered by Bulgarian fascists in 1934, Khristo Stoianev is recruited by the Soviet intelligence service, the NKVD, trained in Moscow, and sent to Spain to serve Russian interests in the Spanish Civil War.
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The last kingdom : a novel by Bernard CornwellIn the middle years of the ninth century, the fierce Danes stormed onto British soil, hungry for spoils and conquest. Kingdom after kingdom fell to the ruthless invaders until only one realm remained. Suddenly the fate of all England--and the course of history--depended upon one man, one king. This title is available as an audiobook through BRDC and as an ebook through Hoopla.
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