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Historical FictionJanuary 2015
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"If you're reading to find friends, you're in deep trouble. We read to find life, in all its possibilities. The relevant question isn't 'Is this a potential friend for me?' but 'Is this character alive?'" ~ Claire Messud
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New and Recently Released!
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| The Boston Girl: A Novel by Anita DiamantWhen her beloved granddaughter asks her about their family history, 85-year-old Addie Baum gladly obliges. The youngest daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants, Addie describes growing up in a tenement in Boston's North Shore, frequenting the local settlement house, and spending summers at Rockport Lodge, a seaside inn where she formed lasting friendships with other young working-class women whose dreams encompassed more than marriage and motherhood. Addie's coming of age coincides with World War I, the Spanish influenza epidemic, and the women's suffrage movement, among other historical events, and her engaging narration provides a detailed look at immigrant life in early 20th-century America. |
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Sisters of Treason
by Elizabeth Fremantle
Readers interested in Tudor history are doubtless familiar with Lady Jane Grey, who at the tender age of 16 became Queen of England for just nine days in 1553 before her execution. However, her younger sisters, Lady Catherine and Lady Mary, are less well-known. Although their family may have fallen out of favor at court, their Tudor blood makes the girls a potential threat to Queen Mary I, who imprisons them lest her rivals use them as political pawns. Although the sisters are as different as night and day -- beautiful Catherine is flirtatious and impetuous; shy, sensible Mary is sensitive about her small stature and hobbled by her deformed spine -- both long for the freedom to make their own choices, even as they're forced to depend on Flemish court painter Levina Teerlinc to protect them.
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| Vanessa and her Sister: A Novel by Priya ParmarIn 1905, the Stephen siblings -- Vanessa and Virgina, Thoby and Adrian -- set up house in the Bloomsbury area of central London, which quickly becomes a popular gathering place for a coterie of artists and intellectuals. Among their regular guests are art critic Clive Bell, whom Vanessa marries, and Leonard Woolf, who becomes Virginia's husband. However, despite the sisters' various romantic entanglements, it's their own sibling rivalry that takes center stage in this atmospheric, character-driven novel. Readers interested in the Bloomsbury Group, particularly the loving but contentious relationship between Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf, may also want to read Susan Sellers' Vanessa and Virginia. |
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| The Paris Winter: A Novel by Imogen RobertsonAs her meager funds dwindle, Englishwoman Maud Heighton, an aspiring painter studying at Paris' Académie Lafond, wonders how much longer she'll be able to pursue her art. Unexpected assistance arrives in the form of Monsieur Christian Morel, who hires Maud as a live-in companion and tutor to his fragile sister, Sylvie. To Maud, the offer seems too good to be true -- and, of course, it is. Best known for her Westerman and Crowther mysteries, author Imogen Robertson employs her eye for period detail and her skill in creating suspenseful stories in this atmospheric novel, which vividly depicts the lives of artists during La Belle Époque. |
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| The Mountain of Gold by J.D. DaviesThis exciting sequel to Gentleman Captain begins with Captain Matthew Quinton's capture of Barbary pirate "Omar Ibrahim" (né Brian Doyle O'Dwyer), who claims to have discovered a "mountain of gold" in Africa. Although Quinton is skeptical of the prisoner's story, his sovereign, King Charles II, is not and dispatches captain and crew to Dutch-occupied West Africa in pursuit of the legendary landmark. Naval historian and author J.D. Davies infuses his swashbuckling tale with authentic period detail, vividly evoking the world of the 17th-century British Navy. If you enjoy The Mountain of Gold, check out its sequel, The Blast That Tears the Skies. |
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The sins of the father
by Jeffrey Archer
A second installment in a planned five-part series that began with Only Time Will Tell finds Harry despairing of a marriage to Emma and joining the Merchant Navy before assuming the identity of a fallen American soldier whose past proves even more turbulent than Harry's own. 300,000 first printing.
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Reefs and shoals : An Alan Lewrie Naval Adventure
by Dewey Lambdin
A latest high-seas romp by the author of The Invasion Year is set in the privateer era of 1805 and pits battle-scarred King's Navy adventurer Alan Lewrie against a series of bawdy and bloodthirsty adversaries
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| Dark Voyage: A Novel by Alan FurstAdrift since the Nazis invaded his native Holland, Captain E.M. DeHaan of the merchant ship Noordendam finds a renewed sense of purpose when he's recruited by the Royal Dutch Navy's Bureau of Naval Intelligence to participate in clandestine operations for the Allied forces. With his ship now disguised as the Spanish freighter Santa Rosa, DeHaan and his crew must carry out dangerous missions throughout the ports of Europe and the Mediterranean. Although Dark Voyage is a stand-alone novel, this compelling, suspenseful 8th installment of Alan Furst's Night Soldiers series adds to the rich mosaic of European espionage during World War II. |
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| Kydd: A Kydd Sea Adventure by Julian StockwinPress-ganged into the Royal Navy in 1793, wig-maker Thomas Paine Kydd must quickly adjust to his new life aboard the Duke William, a 98-gun ship of the line. In addition to the hardships of life at sea, Kydd and his shipmates face the prospect of war with France. This opening volume of Julian Stockwin's long-running series should please fans of C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower novels and Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series. Readers who enjoy naval adventure stories rich in nautical detail may also enjoy S. Thomas Russell's Under Enemy Colors, set during the same period. |
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Prince George's County Memorial Library System 6532 Adelphi Rd. Hyattsville, Maryland 20782 301-699-3500http://www.pgcmls.info/ |
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