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Historical Fiction July 2016
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"That my life will be of interest to readers I dare not assume. But it is an unusual one, and for that reason alone, record should be made of it." ~ from Allison Amend's Enchanted Islands
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| Enchanted Islands: A Novel by Allison AmendIn 1937, 50-year-old Frances Frankowski is working as a secretary for the Office of Naval Intelligence when she accepts an unusual mission: marry Ainslie Conway, an undercover intelligence officer 11 years her junior, and accompany him to the Galápagos Islands. Born in Minnesota to Jewish immigrants from Poland, Frances has no idea what to expect from her new island home -- or from Ainslie, a man she hardly knows and who harbors secrets that could get them killed in the dangerous world they now share. Inspired by the memoirs of the real-life Frances Conway, this atmospheric novel vividly evokes its setting while sensitively portraying the unconventional relationship between its central couple. |
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| The Summer Guest: A Novel by Alison AndersonDid Anton Chekhov, acknowledged master of the short story form, once write a novel? That's what Anastasia (Ana) Harding comes to believe when she's hired to translate the diary of physician Zinaida Mikhailovna Lintvaryova (or "Zina"), who met and befriended Anton Pavlovich Chekhov when both were rusticating in the Ukrainian countryside in the summer of 1888. Parallel narratives reveal the connections between Zina, Ana, and Katya, the publisher who employs Ana, as they each contemplate the significance of their lives. With her lyrical prose and intimate character studies, novelist and translator Alison Anderson, who brought Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog to English-speaking audiences, will leave readers wanting to read (or revisit) Chekhov. |
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The house of dreams
by Kate Lord Brown
A tale inspired by the true story of Varian Fry and the real events behind Casablanca follows the experiences of a celebrated painter whose secret connection to the rescue of thousands of World War II-era artists is uncovered by a young journalist. By the best-selling author of The Perfume Garden.
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| Grace: A Novel by Natashia DeónGrace is the name that Josey's mother would have given her, had Naomi not been murdered by slave catchers shortly after giving birth to the blonde, light-skinned child of her former owner. Yet not even death can keep Naomi from watching over her daughter, who grows up on an Alabama plantation and experiences the turmoil of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Narrated by Naomi, Grace utilizes flashbacks from Naomi's life to draw parallels between her experiences and that of her daughter in a moving novel that explores an unbreakable bond between parent and child. |
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Julian Fellowes's Belgravia
by Julian Fellowes
Two families must guard a secret that originates at a legendary ball on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo In this sweeping and rich historical novel from the creator and writer of Downton Abbey.
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| Marlene: A Novel of Marlene Dietrich by C.W. GortnerKinder, Küche, Kirsche. Children, Kitchen, Church: this is what is expected of good German girls. But Maria Magdalena Dietrich has other plans. Traditional ideals of marriage and motherhood hold less appeal for her than performing on the stage -- and not as a concert violinist, as her strict mother insists. From the drag balls and cabarets of Weimar Berlin to the studios of Golden Age Hollywood, Marlene forges her own unconventional path, one that becomes especially dangerous when Hitler (whom she despises) comes to power and insists that she support his regime. Readers mesmerized by the introspective first-person narration of this novel may be interested in Charlotte Chandler's biography Marlene, which draws extensively on the iconic star's own words to tell her life story. |
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The Port-wine Stain
by Norman Lock
Mid-19th-century Philadelphian surgical assistant Edward Fenzil falls under the sway of his mentor, a collector of medical curiosities, and the writer Edgar Allan Poe, both of whose powerful wills challenge his sense of identity as he struggles with his own malevolent doppelganger. By the award-winning author of The Boy in His Winter.
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Freedom of the Mask
by Robert McCammon
The year is 1703, and Matthew Corbett, professional "problem solver," is missing. Last seen by his friends in New York before he departed on a lucrative, seemingly straightforward mission for the Herrald Agency in Charles Town, he's been too long absent. His comrade-in-arms Hudson Greathouse has an increasing sense the young friend he thinks of as a son must have met with some unexpected peril. Following his hunch, Greathouse retraces Matthew's steps only to find him first presumed dead, then accused of murdering a young woman and apparently en route to London with a devious Prussian count last encountered on Professor Fell's Pendulum Island.
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The fox was ever the hunter : a novel
by Herta Müller
An early work by the winner of the Nobel Prize is set during the final months of the Ceausescu totalitarian regime in Romania and traces the experiences of a teacher, a musician, a factory worker and a lover, one of whom is a spy reporting on the others to the secret police.
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What we become : a novel
by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Describes the powerful and ongoing secret love affair between Mecha, a gorgeous high-society woman, and Max, a masterful and elegant thief who has both Spanish spies and the KGB on his trail during their nearly 40 year relationship.
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| Barkskins: A Novel by Annie ProulxIn the deep, dark forests of 17th-century New France (now Canada), indentured censitaires René Sel and Charles Duquet work as "barkskins," or woodcutters bound to their seigneur as they toil to tame the "evil wilderness." Despite their shared circumstances, their fates dramatically diverge: one marries a Mi’kmaw woman and becomes the hardworking patriarch of a large, mixed-race family, while the other escapes and becomes a wealthy trader. Following two families over the course of three centuries, this sweeping family saga may appeal to fans of Joseph Boyden's The Orenda, which shares its setting but focuses on the region's indigenous inhabitants. |
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Amy Snow
by Tracy Rees
An orphan girl, banished from the only home she’s ever known into Victorian London after the unexpected death of her benefactor and protectress, follows a treasure hunt left for her by the deceased that leads to true love.
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That bright land : a novel
by Terry Roberts
Set in the summer of 1866, a year after the Civil War has ended, That Bright Land is the story of Jacob Ballard, a former Union soldier and spy who's been sent south into the North Carolina mountains to find a serial killer who is carrying out his own private war in an isolated community. His journey also takes him home to the mountains where he was born; as he searches for the killer, he meets a war widow who helps him heal his own wounds and make peace with his past. Based on true events, That Bright Land paints a compelling picture of a violent and fragile nation in the wake of the Civil War.
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Katherine of Aragon, the true queen : a novel
by Alison Weir
A first entry in a series centering on the six wives of Henry VIII begins with young Katherine of Aragon, who after being widowed from the future King of England marries his brother and shares a happy marriage that is overshadowed by her failure to bear a healthy son and the king's growing obsession with another woman. By the best-selling author of The Marriage Game.
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A certain age
by Beatriz Williams
Falling in love with her paramour, a married Jazz Age socialite, unable to divorce because of conventions, tries to make the best of the situation and reconsiders her values when her lover falls for her soon-to-be sister-in-law. By the best-selling author of A Hundred Summers and The Secret Life of Violet Grant.
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The edge of the fall
by Kate Williams
Celia de Witt leaves her family, still struggling with the loss of her brother in the Great War, and moves to Roaring Twenties London, in theNew York Times best-selling author's second installment of the trilogy followingThe Storms of War
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Focus on: Native American and First Nations People
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| The Orenda by Joseph BoydenSet in 17th-century Ontario during the French conquest of Canada, this sweeping, richly detailed historical epic unfolds through the eyes of three individuals: Huron (Wyandot) warrior Bird, his Iroquois captive Snow Falls, and Jesuit Missionary Père Christophe. As the French exploit long-standing conflicts between the Huron and the Iroquois to gain control of their respective territories, shifting alliances between all three groups irrevocably alter the landscape of North America and the lives of its indigenous people. For those interested in Canadian history, Annie Proulx's Barkskins, though more focused on the experiences of European colonizers, also explores this period and setting. |
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| The Plague of Doves by Louise ErdrichIn 1911, the murder of a white farming family in Pluto, North Dakota leads to the lynching of three Ojibwe men, an event that casts a long shadow over the descendants of both the (wrongly accused) men and the lynch mob. Evelina Harp, a part-Ojibwe, part-white girl growing up in the 1960s and '70s, learns the story from her Mooshum (grandfather), widely known as a repository of family and tribal history whose personal connection to the tragedy has made him who he is. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize when it was published in 2008, The Plague of Doves is part of a loose trilogy along with The Round House and the recently published LaRose. |
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| People of the Longhouse by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal GearWhen Yellowtail Village is raided by the enemy warriors, 11-year-old Odion and his sister Tutelo are taken captive and delivered to Gannajero the Trader, a woman rumored to use children's bodies in the practice of witchcraft. As the siblings endure slavery, their parents, War Chief Koracoo and Deputy Gonda, search for them. Set among the Northern Iroquois tribes of 15th-century North America, People of the Longhouse is the 1st book in a four-volume series that focuses on the lives of Iroquois Confederacy founders Dekanawida, Hiyawento (Hiawatha), and Jigonsaseh; it continues with The Dawn Children, followed by The Broken Land and People of the Black Sun. |
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| House of Purple Cedar by Tim TingleFor 11-year-old Rose Goode, growing up in Skullyville's Choctaw community in pre-statehood Oklahoma, 1896 is a bad year: first, an arsonist burns down her school, killing 20 of her classmates; later, Amafo, her beloved grandfather, is severely beaten by the town Marshal, an event with far-reaching consequences. As conflict between Skullyville residents and land-grabbing nahullos (white men) escalates, Rose and her family fear for their survival, while clinging to the hope that better times will come. For another novel featuring Native American communities in what is now Oklahoma, check out Margaret Verble's Maud's Line, about a 1930s Cherokee woman who longs to escape her hardscrabble life on a government allotment. |
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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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