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Historical Fiction April 2021
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Welcome to the April Historical Fiction Newsletter! This month we have stories beginning in 1936 Liverpool and 1965 USA. Other novels are set in 1937 Italy, 1938 Germany, WWII Paris, 1950s India, 1800s France, the 1890s American west, the 1600s (Caribbean, New York & New England) and a novel set on a southern plantation in the era of slavery. Our picks include 4 family sagas. One story involves Syria, Beirut and the USA. Two follow four generations; one of American women and the other of Texans. The fourth story features Cuba and immigrants to the USA. Four of our selections are stories with parallel narratives, including the present and WWII Germany, France and England, the 1850s England and the Victorian era. Have you tried our “Book Match” service? Based on your input we provide recommendations. |
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Outlawed by Anna NorthWhat it is: The fast-paced and compelling story of apprentice midwife and erstwhile doctor Ada, whose inability to bear children leads her to develop a unique kinship with a group of female and nonbinary outlaws, whose defiance of social expectations offers Ada a chance for life on her own terms in the Dakota territory.
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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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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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When twilight breaks by Sarah Sundin"Two Americans meet in 1938 in the heart of Nazi Germany. Their efforts to expose oppression attract unwanted attention, pulling them deeper into danger as the world marches toward war"
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The Paris library : a novel by Janet Skeslien CharlesBased on a true story, describes how a lonely, 1980s teenager befriends an elderly neighbor and uncovers her past as a librarian at the American Library in Paris who joined the Resistance when the Nazis arrived.
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My name is Anton : a novel by Catherine Ryan HydeRealizing that a neighbor is trapped in an abusive marriage, a smitten 18-year-old youth, haunted by his brother’s accidental death, offers the woman shelter and a means to escape. By the award-winning author of Pay It Forward.
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The forgotten home child by Genevieve GrahamNinety-seven-year old Winnifred Ellis, longing to find long-lost friends, recalls her past as a young girl on the streets of Liverpool, with fellow runaways Mary and Jack, after they were sent by the authorities to Canada, where they were separated and she found herself forced to work as an indentured servant on a farm
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Eternal by Lisa ScottolineAn aspiring writer, an athlete from a professional cyclist family and a mathematics prodigy find their bond tested by a love triangle and the spread of anti-Semitism and fascism in 1937 Italy. By the Edgar Award-winning author of Someone Knows.
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Magic lessons : The Prequel to Practical Magic by Alice HoffmanA prequel to the movie-inspiring novel unveils the origin story of Maria Owens, who after being discovered as an abandoned baby in rural 17th-century Salem is taught in the “Unnamed Arts” before cursing her own family in love.
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The arsonists' city by Hala AlyanThe scattered members of a Middle-Eastern clan unite at an ancestral home in Beirut to change a new patriarch’s decision to sell the property, igniting revelations about their family’s past in Lebanon, Syria and the United States.
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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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Lone stars by Justin DeablerInvited by his husband to share his ancestral history with their son, Julian reflects on generations of his Texas family and how it was shaped by immigration, the Vietnam War and other historical events.
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Of women and salt by Gabriela GarciaThe daughter of a Cuban immigrant battles addiction and the fallout of her decision to take in the child of an ICE detainee, while her mother wrestles with displacement trauma and complicated family ties.
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Who was the real George Eliot? In Love with George Eliot is a glorious debut novel which tells the compelling story of England’s greatest woman novelist as you’ve never read it before. Marian Evans is a scandalous figure, living in sin with a married man, George Henry Lewes. She has shocked polite society, and women rarely deign to visit her. In secret, though, she has begun writing fiction under the pseudonym George Eliot. As Adam Bede’s fame grows, curiosity rises as to the identity of its mysterious writer. Gradually it becomes apparent that the moral genius Eliot is none other than the disgraced woman living with Lewes. Meanwhile, in another rudderless century, two women compete to arrive at an interpretation of Eliot as writer and as woman …
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The Paris Secret by Natasha LesterDiscovering a priceless collection of Dior gowns in her grandmother’s vacant cottage, a fashion conservator delves into the mystery of their origins in the years following World War II while uncovering her beloved grandmother’s remarkable story.
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The liar's dictionary : a novel by Eley WilliamsTasked with identifying false entries in an encyclopedic dictionary before it is digitized, a young intern questioning her sexuality and place in the world uncovers the laugh-out-loud mountweazels of a disaffected Victorian lexicographer.
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Send for me by Lauren Fox"From the author of the highly praised Days of Awe: a sweeping, achingly beautiful new novel that moves between Germany on the eve of World War II and present day Wisconsin, unspooling a story of love, longing, and the ceaseless push and pull of motherhood"
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Holmes on the range by Steve HockensmithIn 1893, inspired by their hero, master sleuth Sherlock Holmes, two cowboys, Big Red and Old Red Amlingmeyer, put their detecting skills to use to uncover the truth about the murder of a ranch hand on their Montana cattle ranch.
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A curious beginning : a Veronica Speedwell mystery by Deanna RaybournReceiving a warning from a mysterious baron after suffering a home invasion, Veronica Speedwell accepts the baron's shelter and teams up with an ill-tempered naturalist when her host is subsequently murdered. By the award-winning author of the Lady Julia Grey mysteries.
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Somewhere in France by Jennifer RobsonDefying her parents, Lady Elizabeth Neville-Ashford moves to London and becomes an ambulance driver in the newly formed Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, which takes her to the Western Front where she falls in love with a Scottish surgeon
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