April 2021 list by Katherine N.
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Band of Sisters
by Lauren Willig
In 1917, A diverse group of young women from Smith College form an organization with the goal of helping French civilians decimated by the German war machine. The volunteers are armed with money, supplies, and good intentions—all of which immediately go astray. With the Germans threatening to break through the lines, can the Smith Unit pull together and be truly a band of sisters?
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Beauty Among Ruins
by J'nell Ciesielski
American socialite Lily Durham is known for enjoying one moment to the next, with little regard for consequences. But just as she is banished to England as a “cure” for her frivolous ways, World War I breaks out and wreaks havoc. She joins her cousin in nursing the wounded at a convalescent home in Scotland. The home is housed in a crumbling castle, where its laird, Alec, is less than welcoming. Lily and Alec are thrown together when mysterious events threaten to ruin everything. Can they put aside their differences to find the culprit before it’s too late, or will their greatest distraction be falling in love?
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The Blizzard Party
by Jack Livings
On the night of February 6, 1978, a catastrophic nor'easter struck the city of New York. On that night, in a penthouse in the Upper West Side, a crowd gathered for a wild party. And on that night, Mr. Albert Haynes Caldwell―a partner emeritus at Swank, Brady & Plescher; Harvard class of '26; father of three; widower; atheist; and fiscal conservative―hatched a plan to fake a medical emergency and toss himself into the Hudson River, where he would drown. In the eye of this storm: Hazel Saltwater, age six. The strange events of that night irrevocably altered many lives, but none more than hers.
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The Children's Train
by Viola Ardone
1945: The war is finally over, but Italy has been decimated, especially in the south. Seven-year-old Amerigo lives with his mother in Naples, surviving on odd jobs and his wits like the rest of his poor neighbors. But one day, Amerigo learns that he, along with thousands of other children, will be sent north to spend the winter with families less affected by the war, where he will be safe and have warm clothes and food to eat. Through his eyes, we see a nation rising from the ashes of war, reborn. As he comes to enjoy his new surroundings and the possibilities for a better future, Amerigo realizes he must make the heartbreaking choice to leave his mother and become a member of his adoptive family.
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The Heiress: The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh
by Molly Greeley
As a fussy baby, Anne de Bourgh’s doctor prescribed laudanum to quiet her, and now the young woman must take the opium-heavy tincture every day, and lives like an invalid. After her father dies, leaving her his vast fortune, Anne has a moment of clarity: what if her life of fragility and illness isn’t truly real? What if she could free herself from the medicine that clouds her sharp mind. Might there be a better life without the medicine? In desperation, Anne discards her laudanum and flees to a London cousin, who helps her recover. Yet once she returns to health, new challenges await. The once wan, passive Anne gives way to a braver woman determined to control her own life and fortune.
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Lana's War
by Anita Abriel
Paris 1943: Lana Antanova is on her way to see her husband with the thrilling news that she is pregnant. But when she arrives at the convent where he teaches music, she’s horrified to see Gestapo officers execute him for hiding a Jewish girl in the piano. A few months later, grieving both her husband and her lost pregnancy, Lana is shocked when she’s approached to join the resistance on the French Riviera. Lana agrees and goes undercover to gain access to the Gestapo leader who killed her husband.
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The Last Garden in England
by Julia Kelly
Present day: Emma Lovett, who has dedicated her career to breathing new life into long-neglected gardens, has just been given the opportunity of a lifetime: to restore the gardens of the famed Highbury House estate. But as Emma dives deeper into the gardens’ past, she begins to uncover secrets that have long lain hidden. 1907: A talented artist, Venetia Smith is hired to design the gardens of Highbury House, determined to make them a triumph. 1944: Land girl Beth Pedley, cook Stella Adderton, and widow Diana Symonds, the mistress of Highbury House, are drawn together by a secret that will last for decades.
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Last Night at the Telegraph Club
by Malinda Lo
America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day, and eventually, Lily must decide if owning her truth is worth everything she has ever known.
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The Moonlight School
by Suzanne Woods Fisher
Haunted by her sister's mysterious disappearance, Lucy Wilson arrives in Rowan County, Kentucky, in the spring of 1911 to work for Cora Wilson Stewart, superintendent of education. When Cora sends Lucy into the hills to act as scribe for the mountain people, Lucy is repelled by the primitive conditions and intellectual poverty she encounters. Few adults can read and write. Cora hatches a plan to open the schoolhouses to adults on moonlit nights. The best way to combat poverty, she believes, is to eliminate illiteracy. But will the people come?
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The Prophets
by Robert Jones
Isaiah was Samuel's and Samuel was Isaiah's. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. These two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation find refuge in each other while transforming a quiet shed into a haven for their fellow slaves. But then an enslaved preacher declares their bond sinful. Tensions build and the weight of centuries—of ancestors and future generations to come—culminates in a painful reckoning.
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When the Apricots Bloom
by Gina Wilkinson
At night, in Huda’s fragrant garden, a breeze sweeps in from the desert encircling Baghdad, rustling the leaves of her apricot trees and carrying warning of visitors at her gate. Huda, a secretary at the Australian embassy, lives in fear of the mukhabarat—Saddam Hussein's secret police who watch and listen for any scrap of information that can be used against America and its allies. Huda’s former friend, Rania, once the privileged daughter of a sheikh, is also battling to keep her child safe and a roof over their heads. As the women’s lives intersect, their hidden pasts spill into the present. Facing possible betrayal, all three must trust in a fragile, newfound loyalty, even as they discover how much they are willing to sacrifice to protect their families.
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While Paris Slept
by Ruth Druart
Santa Cruz, 1953. Jean-Luc is a man on the run from his past. A survivor of Nazi occupation in France, he now, has a new life in California. He never expected the past to come knocking on his door. Paris, 1944. A young Jewish woman's past is torn apart in a heartbeat. Herded onto a train bound for Auschwitz, in an act of desperation she entrusts her most precious possession to a stranger. All she has left now is hope. Told from alternating perspectives, the novel explores the strength of family ties, and what it really means to love someone unconditionally.
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Yellow Wife
by Sadeqa Johnson
Born on a plantation in Charles City, Virginia, Pheby Delores Brown has lived a relatively sheltered life. Shielded by her mother’s position as the estate’s medicine woman and cherished by the Master’s sister. Unexpectedly, when she turns 18, she is forced to leave home and finds herself in an infamously cruel jail.
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