A registry of my passage upon the Earth: Stories by Daniel Mason What it is: a reflective and lyrical collection of short stories that span a range of historical settings, from Ancient Egypt to London during the Great Smog of 1952.
Story titles include: For the Union Dead; The Ecstasy of Alfred Russel Wallace; and The Miraculous Discovery of Psammetichus.
About the author: physician and writer Daniel Mason is best known for his novels, including The Winter Soldier. | |
|
The queen's fortune : a novel of Desiree, Napoleon, and the dynasty that outlasted the empire
by Allison Pataki
As the French revolution ravages the country, Desiree Clary is faced with the life-altering truth that the world she has known and loved is gone and it's fallen on her to save her family from the guillotine. A chance encounter with Napoleon Bonaparte, the ambitious and charismatic young military prodigy, provides her answer. When her beloved sister Julie marries his brother Joseph, Desiree and Napoleon's futures become irrevocably linked. Quickly entering into their own passionate, dizzying courtship that leads to a secret engagement, they vow to meet in the capital once his career has been secured. But her newly laid plans with Napoleon turn to sudden heartbreak, thanks to the rising star of Parisian society, Josephine de Beauharnais. Once again, Desiree's life is turned on its head. Swept to the glittering halls of the French capital, Desiree is plunged into the inner circle of the new ruling class, becoming further entangled with Napoleon, his family, and the new Empress. But her fortunes shift once again when she meets Napoleon's confidant and star general, the indomitable Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte. As the two men in Desiree's life become political rivals and military foes, the question that arises is: must she choose between the love of her new husband and the love of her nation and its Emperor?
|
|
|
The Paris Model
by Alexandra Joel
After a shocking discovery, Grace Woods leaves her vast Australian sheep station and travels to tumultuous post-war Paris in order to find her true identity. While working as a mannequin for Christian Dior, the world's newly acclaimed emperor of fashion, Grace mixes with counts and princesses, authors and artists, diplomats and politicians. But when Grace falls for handsome Philippe Boyer she doesn't know that he is leading a double life, nor that his past might inflict devastating consequences upon her. As she is drawn into Philippe's dangerous world of international espionage, Grace discovers both the shattering truth of her origins and that her life is in peril.
|
|
|
The king at the edge of the world
by Arthur Phillips
What it is: the fast-paced and dramatic story of Mahmoud Ezzedine, a physician in service to the Ottoman ambassador to England who has been given an important secret mission, one that he must complete before he can return home to his family.
A question of faith: As the reign of Queen Elizabeth I draws to a close, Mahmoud must determine the true religious outlook of likely successor James VI of Scotland -- no easy task for an "infidel" stuck on the already religiously divided isle of Britain.
Read it for: its unique and intriguing premise; the circumstances which force the extremely-unqualified-to-spy Mahmoud to learn on the job.
|
|
|
The Saracen's Mark
by S. W. Perry
1593. Five years on from the Armada and England is taking its first faltering steps towards a future as a global power. On an undercover mission to find out the fate of one of the queen's informers, physician and reluctant spy, Nicholas Shelby, travels from the dark alleys of London to the dazzling Moor city of Marrakesh. Meanwhile in London, Shelby's companion, Bianca Merton, must fight against the ravaging plague that is stalking the city. Can their budding relationship weather the threats of pestilence and conspiracy? And will Nicholas survive his mission and the unpredictability of Marrakesh to return home? A brilliantly realised, utterly compelling historical mystery that will take you to far-flung destinations and into the very heart of a deadly conspiracy.
|
|
|
The light after the war : a novel
by Anita Abriel
"It is 1946 when Vera Frankel and her best friend Edith Ban arrive in Naples. Refugees from Hungary, they escaped from a train headed for Auschwitz and were hidden by farmers until the end of the war while the rest of their families perished. Now, they want to start new lives abroad, and armed with a letter of recommendation from an American general, Vera finds work at the United States embassy and falls in love with Captain Anton Wight. But as Vera and Edith grapple with the aftermath of the war, so toodoes Anton, and when he disappears, Vera is forced to change course, trying to find refuge first in America (where she and Edith are turned away) and then in Venezuela. Their quest for a better life takes Vera and Edith from Naples to Ellis Island to Caracas as they start careers, reunite with old friends, and rebuild their lives after terrible loss."
|
|
The color of air by Gail Tsukiyama Hawaii, 1935: On the Big Island, the town of Hilo is home to a tight-knit community of Japanese immigrants and their families, eking out an existence in the shadow of sugarcane plantations. Also in the background: the volcano Mauna Loa, which is on the verge of its biggest eruption in years.
Featuring: Daniel Abe, a medical student whose return to Hilo coincides with the volcanic disaster; Daniel's estranged father Kenji, who is deep in mourning for Daniel's recently deceased mother Mariko; Maile, Daniel's high school sweetheart who is also back in Hilo after a brush with racist violence in Honolulu. | | A bend in the stars by Rachel Barenbaum Russia, 1914: When her physicist brother, Vanya, goes missing en route to observe a solar eclipse, Jewish surgeon Miri Abramov embarks on a desperate rescue mission, accompanied by a charming army deserter.
What's at stake: Vanya believes that photographing the eclipse will verify or disprove Einstein's general theory of relativity, while Miri fears that if the coming war doesn't kill them both, the Czar's pogroms will.
Reviewers say: "exhilarating" (Publishers Weekly). | | Enchantress of numbers: A novel of Ada Lovelace by Jennifer Chiaverini What it's about: the unusual childhood and later life of mathematician and aristocrat Ada Lovelace, the only legitimate child of legendary English poet Lord Byron and creator of the first computer program.
Don't miss: the development of Ada's complex relationship with her mother, who was desperate to keep Ada from turning out like her dissolute father.
Reviewers say: "a wonderful blend of history and fiction, poetry and math" (Publishers Weekly). | | Trinity by Louisa Hall What it is: a mosaic novel about physicist and Manhattan Project director J. Robert Oppenheimer, told from the perspectives of seven different characters.
About the author: Louisa Hall's previous novel, Speak, also employed interconnected narratives to explore humanity's conflicted relationship with world-altering technologies.
Reviewers say: "Its genius is not to explain but to embody the science and politics that shaped Oppenheimer’s life" (The New York Times). | | The Essex serpent by Sarah Perry What it's about: Victorian era widow and aspiring naturalist Cora Seaborne relocates to coastal Essex to look for evidence of a local cryptid, a huge sea serpent that allegedly has the wings of a dragon.
You might also like: Other novels that deal with the intersection of natural (and unnatural) phenomena and the social expectations placed on young women, such as The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff, or Tracy Chevalier's Remarkable Creatures. | |
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|