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Historical Fiction April 2021
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| Dangerous Women by Hope AdamsWhat it is: a moving, well-researched debut novel inspired by the true story of the 1841 voyage of the ship Rajah as it transported a group of female convicts to Tasmania.
What goes wrong: As an intricate but tenuous web of connections develops between the women onboard, the violent death of a passenger threatens to unearth a multitude of secrets beyond the identity of the murderer.
For fans of: locked-room murder mysteries and ensemble casts. |
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| Vera by Carol EdgarianWhat it's about: chosen family, resilience, and coming-of-age, set against the backdrop San Francisco just after the massive 1906 earthquake.
Starring: Vera, the 15-year-old daughter of emotionally distant Barbary Coast madam Rose; Swedish-American Pie, Vera's pragmatic foster sister; Lifang, Vera's half-Chinese half-sister who enjoys a much closer relationship with their mother.
You might also like: A Splendid Ruin by Megan Chance, which follows another feisty young woman making a life for herself in the devastated city. |
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| A Thousand Ships by Natalie HaynesWhat it is: an atmospheric and witty retelling of the Trojan War, from the shifting perspectives of both familiar and unfamiliar female characters.
Starring: the goddess Calliope, who decides to make the most of her role as a Muse; Penelope, who starts losing patience after learning why it's taking so long for her husband Odysseus to return; Oenone, who was abandoned by her husband Paris for Helen of Sparta.
About the author: Classicist and comedian Natalie Haynes is a regular contributor to The Sunday Telegraph and The Independent. Her previous works include the novels The Furies and The Children of Jocasta, children's book The Great Escape, and the nonfiction book The Ancient Guide to Modern Life. |
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The Venice Sketchbook
by Rhys Bowen
What it's about: Inheriting her beloved great-aunt’s sketchbook, a recently divorced woman uncovers mysteries about her great-aunt’s star-crossed romance with a nobleman in World War II Venice. By the award-winning author of In Farleigh Field.
Venice, 1938: Lettie arrives in Venice to teach and hopefully reconnect with an Italian lover.
Venice today: Lettie's great niece returns to Venice with three keys and her aunt's whisper of Venice to solve the final mystery.
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| Those Who Are Saved by Alexis LandauWhat it is: a compelling and thought-provoking story of survival and family separation set during the Nazi occupation of France.
Vichy France, 1940: Russian Jewish émigrés Vera and Max Volosenkova entrust their young daughter Lucie to governess Agnes after being ordered to report to an "internment" camp.
California, 1945: Although the couple were unexpectedly given a chance to escape Nazi custody, there was no way to return for their daughter along the way. The war now over, Vera is desperate to get back to France to search for Lucie in the postwar sea of refugees. |
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| The Evening and the Morning by Ken FollettWhat it is: a sweeping and descriptive prequel to The Pillars of the Earth set during England's tumultuous 10th century.
Starring: down-on-his-luck boat builder Edgar; spirited young Norman noblewoman Ragna; scholarly and reform-minded cleric Brother Aldred.
Why you might like it: This intricately plotted tale of a land torn between its Saxon and Viking identities shows how a tiny riverside hamlet began its transformation into the town that series fans know as Kingsbridge. |
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| Fifty Words for Rain by Asha LemmieWhat it's about: Noriko Kamiza is the illegitimate child of an African American GI and a Japanese aristocrat born during World War II. Abandoned by her mother, she lives a confined, deprived existence with her status-conscious grandmother in Kyoto, Japan.
Read it for: the unanticipated strong bond Noriko forms with her half-brother Akira, the family's legitimate heir; the parallels drawn between social change and Noriko's burgeoning independence after she escapes to Swinging Sixties London.
Reviewers say: "A truly ambitious and remarkable debut" (Booklist). |
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| House of Gold by Natasha SolomonsThe premise: In 1911, strong-willed Austrian heiress Greta Goldbaum moved to England to marry a man she didn't know for the sake of her family's business interests. Though they get off to a rough start, Greta and her new husband build a life together, and soon they fall in love for real.
The problem: At the outbreak of World War I, Greta finds herself torn between her family of origin and the family she has created, both of which are threatened by the increasing antisemitism that's spreading across Europe.
For fans of: Barbara Taylor Bradford's Cavendon Hall, another family saga steeped in doomed Belle Époque glamour in the run-up to World War I. |
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Elizabeth I
by Margaret George
What it is: The personalized story of a young Elizabeth the first and her rivalry with a young cousin. Lettice Knollys.
Read it for: rich characterizations of these historical figures, including Shakespeare, Marlowe and Raleigh.
Critics say: "This is a story of two women of fierce intellect and desire, one trying to protect her country, and throne, the other trying to regain power and position for her family and each vying to convince the reader of her own private vision of the truth about Elizabeth's character."
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Lonesome Dove : A Novel
by Larry McMurtry
What it's about: Set in the late-nineteenth century, this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel chronicles a cattle drive from Texas to Montana and follows the lives of Gus and Call, two cowboys heading the drive, Gus's woman, Lorena, and Blue Duck, a sinister Indian renegade.
Read it for: a sweeping epic of history, love and adventure in small Texas town in the 1800s.
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Contact your librarian for more great books?
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BRAZORIA COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM 912 N. Velasco Angleton, Texas 77515 (979) 864-1505bcls.lib.tx.us |
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