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Historical Fiction October 2017
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A column of fire
by Ken Follett
A half-century love affair between a man in service to Elizabeth I and a woman on the opposing side of England's religious divide is challenged by violent ideological power shifts, torn loyalties and the queen's circle of spies, in a latest entry in the best-selling series that includes The Pillars of the Earth.
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Love and other consolation prizes : a novel
by Jamie Ford
A half-Chinese orphan whose mother sacrificed everything to give him a better chance is raffled off as a prize at Seattle's 1909 World's Fair, only to land in the ownership of the madam of a notorious brothel where he finds friendship and opportunities, in a story based on true events. By the best-selling author of Songs of Willow Frost.
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The Cottingley secret
by Hazel Gaynor
The best-selling author of The Girl Who Came Home re-imagines the early 20th-century story of cousins Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright, who became a national sensation when they claimed they photographed fairies in their garden, winning the support of novelist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
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The twelve-mile straight
by Eleanor Henderson
When a Depression-era girl gives birth to twins including one that is dark skinned, a black man is murdered amid allegations of rape, an act that forces the young mother to raise her children in an environment fraught with precarious lies. A fresh view on big American themes-- race, heredity, inequality, shame -- set in a time of financial crisis and racialized violence. By the author of Ten Thousand Saints.
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| The Good People by Hannah KentMisfortune seems to stalk Nóra Leahy, who becomes the guardian of her severely disabled four-year-old grandson, Micheál, after the sudden deaths of her daughter and husband. Soon, rumors begin to spread that Micheál is one of the "good people" (the fair folk). An atmospheric novel that explores the darkness of the human heart, The Good People blends bleakness and lyricism in a way that should captivate fans of Emma Donoghue's The Wonder, which also features an isolated rural community in 19th-century Ireland gripped by superstition. |
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| The World of Tomorrow by Brendan MathewsIn a madcap adventure that should please fans of Roddy Doyle's The Last Roundup trilogy, three Irish brothers -- a convict, a jazz musician, and a seminarian -- escape to the United States after running afoul of the IRA. Set against the backdrop of the 1939 New York World's Fair, this lively debut boasts a cast of appealing characters and the "wit of a 30s screwball comedy" (Publishers Weekly). |
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The ninth hour
by Alice McDermott
A portrait of the Irish-American experience is presented through the story of an Irish immigrant's suicide and how it reverberates through innumerable lives in early twentieth-century Catholic Brooklyn
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Caroline : Little house, revisited
by Sarah Elizabeth Miller
Authorized by the Little House estate, a retelling of the early pioneering journeys of the Ingalls family is told from the perspective of a pregnant Caroline, who in the frigid winter of 1870 leaves the safety of Wisconsin for a life of hazards and promise in unsettled Kansas Indian Territory.
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Savage Country: A Novel
by Robert Olmstead
To pay off her late husband's debts and save the family ranch, widow Elizabeth Coughlin organizes a bison-hunting expedition in Comanche territory, enlisting her brother-in-law, Michael, to help. What follows is a dramatic story of survival in a harsh and inhospitable landscape.
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| Under a Pole Star: A Novel by Stef PenneyWhaler's daughter Flora Mackie is 12 years old in 1883 when she first crosses the Arctic Circle, igniting a lifelong passion for polar exploration. However, her desire to attend university and dedicate her life to scientific discovery places her at odds with Victorian society. This haunting, character-driven novel by the author of The Tenderness of Wolves, may appeal to fans of the independent and unconventional heroines of Eowyn Ivey's To the Bright Edge of the World and Elizabeth Gilbert's The Signature of All Things. |
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The amber shadows
by Lucy Ribchester
While doing her part for the British war effort during World War II, a transcriber of decrypted German messages begins receiving strange packages postmarked from Russia and realizes someone is trying to tell her something and resolves to unravel the mystery.
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A boy in winter
by Rachel Seiffert
In a small Ukrainian town that is overrun by the SS in 1941, the lives of its residents—including Ephraim, a Jew under the threat of deportation who awaits word of his missing sons; Yasia, who has come in search of her lover only to confront new and harsh truths about those closest to her; and a young boy determined to survive—become intertwined.
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Miss Kopp's midnight confessions
by Amy Stewart
The best-selling author of Girl Waits with Gun and Lady Cop Makes Trouble continues her extraordinary journey into the real lives of the forgotten but fabulous Kopp sisters. Deputy sheriff Constance Kopp is outraged to see young women brought into the Hackensack jail over dubious charges of waywardness, incorrigibility, and moral depravity. The strong-willed, patriotic Edna Heustis, who left home to work in a munitions factory, certainly doesn't belong behind bars. And sixteen-year-old runaway Minnie Davis, with few prospects and fewer friends, shouldn't be publicly shamed and packed off to a state-run reformatory. But such were the laws--and morals--of 1916. Constance uses her authority as deputy sheriff, and occasionally exceeds it, to investigate and defend these women when no one else will. But it's her sister Fleurette who puts Constance's beliefs to the test and forces her to reckon with her own ideas of how a young woman should and shouldn't behave. Drawn once again from the true story of the Kopp sisters, Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions is a spirited, page-turning story that will delight fans of historical fiction and lighthearted detective fiction alike"
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The hidden light of Northern fires : a novel
by Daren Wang
A tale inspired by the lesser-known history of the only secessionist town north of the Mason-Dixon Line follows the experiences of an outspoken abolitionist who navigates Confederate adversaries, a slaver and her own brother to help a handsome escaped slave cross to freedom. A first novel.
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Focus on: Queens of England
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| The Winter Crown: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine by Elizabeth ChadwickAt the heart of this novel is the tumultuous marriage of Alienor (Eleanor) of Aquitaine and King Henry II of England, whose once-passionate union has devolved into acrimony. After 14 years of marriage and eight children, Henry casts aside Alienor in favor of his long-time mistress, prompting a rebellion on Alienor's part that will have devastating consequences for the entire family. The Winter Crown is the 2nd book in a trilogy that follows the life of this formidable queen, after The Summer Queen, which focuses on her first marriage to Louis VII of France. |
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| The Lady of Misrule: A Novel by Suzannah DunnWhen 16-year-old Lady Jane Grey is dethroned (following her nine-day reign) and sent to the Tower of London in 1553, she's accompanied by Elizabeth Tilney, a "good Catholic girl" who has her own private reasons for serving as chaperone. Both women view their time in the Tower as a temporary interruption of their lives; neither expects that one of them won't survive it. Other novels about England's shortest reigning monarch include Philippa Gregory's The Last Tudor, Alison Weir's Innocent Traitor, and Ella March Chase's Three Maids for a Crown. |
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| Elizabeth I by Margaret GeorgeWell-known for her biographical novels about powerful, much-mythologized female rulers (including Cleopatra and Mary, Queen of Scots), author Margaret George attempts to unknot the tangled relationship between Queen Elizabeth I of England and Lettice Knollys, her cousin and rival, whose marriage to Elizabeth's favorite courtier, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, incurs the monarch's wrath. This "meticulously envisioned" (Booklist) dual portrait compares and contrasts the self-sacrificing Virgin Queen, wedded to her beloved England, and the thrice-married, self-serving Lettice, who, as it turns out, may not be that different from her royal relative. |
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| Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa GregoryAs girls, Katherine of Aragon and her sisters-in-law, Margaret and Mary Tudor, form a strong, if complicated, bond. As adults, they are destined to become bitter rivals as the demands of marriage and politics lead to betrayal. Unfolding primarily from Margaret's (acerbic) point of view, this dramatic novel is a must for Tudor aficionados who enjoy gossip, scandal, and intrigue. |
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| Katherine of Aragon, The True Queen: A Novel by Alison WeirThis opening installment of novelist and historian Alison Weir's Six Tudor Queens series begins as the 16-year-old Catalina de Aragon arrives in England to marry Arthur, Prince of Wales, who dies shortly after their wedding. She then weds his brother, Henry VIII, and theirs is a happy union -- at least initially, until their inability to produce an heir causes Henry's eye to wander. Can't get enough Tudor drama? Next up is Anne Boleyn: A King's Obsession. |
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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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