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Historical FictionMarch 2014
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"We'll have no loose girls at Lowell." ~ from Kate Alcott's The Daring Ladies of Lowell
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New and Recently Released!
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| The Daring Ladies of Lowell by Kate AlcottTo escape her family's New Hampshire farm, 20-year-old Alice Barrow travels to Lowell, Massachusetts in 1832, finding employment in one of the city's textile mills. As a factory girl, Alice works at the looms for three dollars a week. Although the hours are long, the work is dangerous, and the pay is meager, Alice makes a friend in fellow mill girl Lovey Cornell and even attracts a potential suitor: Samuel Fiske, the mill owner's son. However, when Alice speaks out against deplorable labor conditions, she risks both her livelihood and her life. This novel by the author of The Dressmaker explores one young woman's decision to do the right thing despite mounting pressure to remain silent. |
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| A Burnable Book by Bruce HolsingerBefore Canterbury Tales scribe Geoffrey Chaucer secured his place in the English literary canon, he served as a government official -- and an (unofficial) information broker in 1380s London. Chaucer recruits fellow poet John Gower to find a "burnable book" whose contents are so sensitive that merely possessing it is high treason. Gower's attempts to locate the manuscript soon lead him into the midst of a labyrinthine conspiracy that could depose reigning monarch Richard II and destabilize the kingdom. A suspenseful, intricate narrative rife with historical detail and strong characterizations makes this debut an enticing journey into a Medieval England that "never tasted so rich nor smelled so foul." (Library Journal). |
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| The Wives of Los Alamos: A Novel by TaraShea NesbitWhen their scientist husbands are recruited for a top-secret government project during World War II, the women of this compelling, richly detailed debut abandon their established lives and careers in order to relocate to Los Alamos, New Mexico. Despite their differences, the wives bond over their shared situation, forming a community from which they draw support during this strange and uncertain time. Like Julie Otsuka's The Buddha in the Attic, The Wives of Los Alamos is narrated by a collective "we" that seamlessly interweaves the individual experiences of a diverse group of women. |
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| I Always Loved You: A Novel by Robin OliveiraAgainst the wishes of her affluent family in Philadelphia, Mary Cassatt packs up and moves to Paris to pursue her dream of becoming a painter. However, when her work is rejected by the conservative jury of the Académie des Beaux-Arts for its Paris Salon exhibition, Mary considers giving up her artistic ambitions altogether...until she meets fellow artist Edgar Degas. Their 40-year relationship, by turns tender and turbulent, fuels their creative achievements and helps found the school of Impressionism. Set in Belle Epoque Paris, this intimate, character-driven novel explores the life of an unconventional woman determined to succeed in a male-dominated field. |
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| The Secret of Raven Point by Jennifer VanderbesIn 1943, 17-year-old Juliet Dufresne's beloved brother Tuck is declared missing in action in Europe. Determined to locate him, Juliet lies about her age, volunteers as an Army nurse, and ends up at a field hospital in Italy, where she works closely with psychiatrist Dr. Henry Willard, a specialist in battle fatigue. Their unlikely friendship only deepens as they treat a wounded deserter, Christopher Barnaby, who served in the same unit as Tuck and may be able to provide some clue to his whereabouts. But time is running out for Barnaby, who's been sentenced to death. Can Juliet save her patient and learn the true fate of her lost brother? |
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| Empire of the Sun: A Novel by J.G. BallardJust 11 years old on the eve of Pearl Harbor, Jim, the son of wealthy British expatriates living in Shanghai, is separated from his parents when the Japanese occupy the city. This gritty, haunting coming-of-age tale follows Jim as he survives on the streets, first alone and then in the company of a ragtag group of merchant seamen before he's sent to the Lunghua prison camp and, later, forced to endure a harrowing death march to the port of Nantao. Originally published in 1984 and based on author J.G. Ballard's boyhood experiences, Empire of the Sun was made into a 1987 film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring a young Christian Bale. |
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| War Trash: A Novel by Ha JinCaptured by enemy forces in 1951 while serving in Korea, Chinese army officer Yu Yuan finds himself interned in an American POW camp, where his proficiency in English places him in a relatively privileged position as an interpreter. It also lands him in the middle of a power struggle between the camp's opposing factions: the pro-Nationalists, whose leader is the charismatic but sadistic Liu Tai-an, and the Communists, headed by the manipulative Pei Shan, to whom people are merely useful...until they're not. Yu Yuan, a dutiful but apolitical soldier who only wants to return home, must find a way to navigate the intrigues of the camp and survive his increasingly untenable situation. |
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| The Legend of Fire Horse Woman by Jeanne Wakatsuki HoustonBorn under the inauspicious sign of the Fire Horse, beautiful, strong-willed Sayo seems destined to live an unusual life. An arranged marriage takes her from Japan to the United States in 1902, where she thrives...until the outbreak of World War II, when she's sent to an internment camp along with her daughter, Hana, and granddaughter, Terri. For another moving multigenerational tale of the Japanese-American experience during World War II, try Sophie Littlefield's Garden of Stones. |
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| When the Emperor was Divine: A Novel by Julie OtsukaShortly after the arrest and detention of her husband, a Japanese woman living in Berkeley, California receives an evacuation order, goes home, and packs up her family's possessions. Her 11-year-old daughter recounts a long train ride through the Utah desert, while her eight-year-old son describes their life in the internment camp where the family is held. This spare, lyrical novel begins in April 1942, the "fourth week of the fifth month of the war," and ends with the family's release and bittersweet reunion three years later, bringing to life a painful period in American history. |
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| The Garden of Evening Mists: A Novel by Twan Eng TanIn 1951, 28-year-old Yun Ling Teoh -- recently released from a Japanese prison camp -- returns to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where she and her sister (who died in the camp) once delighted in visiting the city's intricate gardens. Yun Ling, who hopes to create a memorial garden to honor her sister's memory, becomes the unlikely apprentice of Nakamura Aritomo, the exiled former gardener to the Emperor of Japan. Told through flashbacks by an older Yun Ling as she reflects on the past, this haunting, lyrical story of love and loss demonstrates the redemptive power of art. |
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