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Historical Fiction November 2016
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| The Other Einstein: A Novel by Marie BenedictOne of the few women at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, Mileva Marić is the only female physics student in her class. Accustomed to being lonely and misunderstood, she's thrilled to find an intellectual and romantic partner in fellow student Albert Einstein. Then she becomes pregnant. Although Albert (eventually) agrees to marry her, he insists that she give up her research in order to focus on domestic duties. Meanwhile, her husband's womanizing ways cause her to reflect on how much she's sacrificed for the sake of marital harmony. |
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| The Fortunes: A Novel by Peter Ho DaviesFour interlinked stories examine the Chinese-American experience from the 19th century to the present. "Gold" follows a mixed-race immigrant from the Pearl River Delta who becomes the valet of a railroad baron. "Silver" introduces 1930s Hollywood actress Anna May Wong, whose career ambitions are thwarted by institutional racism. "Jade," set against the backdrop of 1980s Detroit's struggling auto industry, recounts a hate crime, while the contemporary "Pearl" describes a biracial writer's adoption of a child from China. Like The Welsh Girl, author Peter Ho Davies' debut novel, The Fortunes sensitively explores issues of identity and belonging. |
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The Eastern Shore
by Ward S Just
Pursuing journalism and rising to the position of city editor in spite of his judge father's disapproval, Ned exposes the criminal past of a town haberdasher with ramifications that haunt him throughout the rest of his career. By the National Book Award-winning author of Echo House.
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| Napoleon's Last Island: A Novel by Thomas KeneallyImprisoned on the British-controlled island of Saint Helena in 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte endures his banishment under the supervision of the Balcombe family. Although 13-year-old Betsy Balcombe inititally dubs him The Great Ogre, she ultimately bonds with the emperor-in-exile, forming an unlikely friendship that will have far-reaching consequences for Betsy and her family. For another fictional treatment of Napoleon and Betsy's unconventional relationship, check out Brooks Hansen's The Monsters of St. Helena. |
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Cruel beautiful world : a novel
by Caroline Leavitt
The 1969 flight of 16-year-old Lucy to what she believes will be a rural paradise off the grid in Pennsylvania proves nightmarish for her older sister, Charlotte, who has sacrificed her own youth to care for the troubled Lucy. By the award-winning author of Is This Tomorrow.
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| The Blind Astronomer's Daughter: A Novel by John PipkinAfter astronomer Arthur Ainsworth plummets from his rooftop observatory, his daughter Caroline learns that she's adopted, a discovery that forever alters the course of her life. Unfolding alongside Caroline's story is the parallel narrative of the elder Ainsworth's rival, musician-turned-astronomer William Herschel, and his sister and assistant, also named Caroline. At once a compelling family drama and an examination of Enlightenment-era scientific inquiry, The Blind Astronomer's Daughter may appeal to readers who enjoyed Carrie Brown's The Stargazer's Sister, which focuses on the Herschels. |
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Pharaoh
by Wilbur A Smith
Royal advisor and former slave Taita is caught up in a whirlpool of ruthless intrigue that tests the limits of his intelligence, alchemy and cunning as he endeavors to protect the empire, his Pharaoh and those he loves. By the best-selling author of Golden Lion.
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Focus on: Literary Characters
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| Nelly Dean: A Return to Wuthering Heights by Alison CaseThe daughter of a servant, Nelly Dean grows up at Wuthering Heights alongside the Earnshaw children, Catherine and Hindley. Although she realizes that she is not her companions' social equal, she's treated more or less as such...until the arrival of a strange orphan boy called Heathcliff, which sets in motion a series of tragic events familiar to fans of Emily Brontë's haunting novel. Fans of Jo Baker's Longbourn, which retells Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice from the servants' perspective, may be interested in Nelly Dean. |
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| Havisham by Ronald FrameThe daughter of a wealthy brewer, Catherine Havisham is sent to London to stay with the aristocratic Chadwyck family, an arrangement that her father hopes will enable her to marry a suitable gentleman. All goes according to plan until Catherine meets the charming Charles Compeyson. As readers of Dickens' Great Expectations already know, their romance does not have a happy ending, but how does the beautiful young heiress become the embittered recluse of the tomb-like Satis House? To find out, read this "intelligently imagined" (Kirkus Reviews) prequel to a classic novel. |
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Death comes to Pemberley : [a novel]
by P. D. James
Pemberley is thrown into chaos after Elizabeth Bennett's disgraced sister Lydia arrives and announces that her husband Wickham has been murdered
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| The Cosmopolitans by Sarah SchulmanSet in Greenwich Village in the 1950s, this adaptation of Honoré de Balzac's Cousin Bette (by way of James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room) introduces Bette, a Midwestern transplant turned "spinster" secretary, and Earl, a gay, African-American struggling actor who works in a meatpacking plant. Rejected by their families of origin and unlucky in love, Bette and Earl are next-door neighbors who have built a strong friendship over the past three decades. Although the drama centers around the unexpected arrival of Bette's cousin, Hortense, the heart of the novel lies in its penetrating psychological portraits of the main characters and the vividly rendered urban setting they inhabit. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Prince George's County Memorial Library System 9601 Capital Lane Largo, Maryland 20774 301-699-3500www.pgcmls.info/ |
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