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Historical Fiction March 2018
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| The Atomic City Girls by Janet BeardWhat it's about: Although the young women employed in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, are told that their work will help the U.S. win World War II, they have no idea that they're involved in building an atomic bomb.
You might also like: Denise Kiernan's The Girls of Atomic City, a nonfiction account of the military installation at Oak Ridge and it's predominantly female workforce; TaraShea Nesbit's The Wives of Los Alamos, a novel about the spouses of Manhattan Project scientists and the close-knit community they form. |
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The Indigo Girl: A Novel
by Natasha Boyd
Taking charge of her family's plantation, 16-year-old Eliza Lucas decides to pay off her father's debts with a lucrative commodity: indigo dye. However, in 1739 South Carolina, indigo is an experimental crop and dye-making is a mysterious process known only to the estate's enslaved workers, who brought the knowledge with them from Africa. In exchange for their expertise, Eliza teaches her new assistants to read and write, which is against the law. This atmospheric novel draws on letters and archival documents to tell the story of a real-life entrepreneur and the first woman to be inducted into South Carolina's Business Hall of Fame.
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| Winter Sisters by Robin OliveiraWhat it's about: When two young girls disappear during a blizzard, physician Mary Stipp continues to search for them long after everyone else gives up.
Read it for: an intriguing mystery, stirring courtroom drama, and a well-researched and richly detailed depiction of 1870s Albany, New York.
Crossover alert: Though not, strictly speaking, a sequel to My Name is Mary Sutter, this novel reunites readers with some familiar characters. |
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| Half-Blood Blues by Esi EdugyanWhat it's about: In 1940, biracial trumpet player Hieronymus Falk is taken by the Gestapo, leaving the remaining members of the Hot-Time Swingers jazz ensemble to wonder about his fate. Decades later, they discover the truth.
Try this next: Nicole Mones' Night in Shanghai, a dramatic novel about an African-American jazz musician who flees racial discrimination at home only to confront the looming threat of WWII. |
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| Dollface: A Novel of the Roaring Twenties by Renée RosenWhat it's about: Enthralled by the vibrant nightlife of 1920s Chicago, flapper Vera Abramowitz soon gets a glimpse of its seamy underbelly through her relationships with two made men: Tony Liollo, one of Al Capone's henchmen, and Shep Green, a bootlegger-turned-nightclub owner.
Why you might like it: Richly detailed and atmospheric, this fast-paced tale of mobsters and gun molls stars a plucky Jewish heroine who reinvents herself during Prohibition. |
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| The Wicked City by Beatriz WilliamsWhat it's about: Flapper girl Geneva "Gin" Kelly teams up with Prohibition agent Oliver Anson to track down her abusive stepfather, a notoriously ruthless bootlegger.
About the author: Beatriz Williams is known for her use of parallel, past-and-present narratives that unravel historical and romantic intrigue.
For fans of: Kate Morton's atmospheric and intricately plotted novels in which modern-day protagonists delve into long-buried family secrets. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Keene Public Library
60 Winter St.
Keene, New Hampshire 03431
603-352-0157
http://www.keenepubliclibrary.org/
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