| The immortals of Tehran by Ali AraghiWhat it is: a sweeping saga that follows a cursed Iranian family and its patriarch, a mute poet whose writing takes on mythological significance during the country's 1979 revolution.
Why you might like it: in the vein of classics like The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, The Immortals of Tehran uses magical realism to enrich the story of one family's journey through important historical moments. And there are cats. Lots and lots of cats. |
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| A thousand moons by Sebastian BarryWhat it's about: a makeshift family's story of growth and survival in Reconstruction-era Tennessee, a dangerous place to be for anyone who lives outside the lines.
Starring: Winona Cole, a 16-year-old Lakota girl first introduced in the novel Days Without End; Civil War veterans John Cole and Thomas McNulty, Winona's adoptive fathers; Tennyson and Rosalee, siblings and former slaves who later join the Cole family.
Read it for: the complex characters, lyrical language, and meditations on what it takes to build a family. |
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The Kommandant's girl
by Pam Jenoff
Author Pam Jenoff shows the unimaginable sacrifices one woman must make in a time of war. Nineteen-year-old Emma Bau has been married only three weeks when Nazi tanks thunder into her native Poland. Within days Emma's husband, Jacob, is forced to disappear underground, leaving her imprisoned within the citys decrepit Jewish ghetto. But then, in the dead of night, the resistance smuggles her out. Taken to Krakow to live with Jacob's Catholic aunt, Krysia, Emma takes on a new identity as Anna Lipowski, a gentile. Emma's already precarious situation is complicated by her introduction to Kommandant Richwalder, a high-ranking Nazi official who hires her to work as his assistant. Urged by the resistance to use her position to access details of the Nazi occupation, Emma must compromise her safety and her marriage vows in order to help Jacob's cause. As the atrocities of war intensify, Emma must make choices that will force her to risk not only her double life, but also the lives of those she loves.
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Lady Fortescue steps out
by M. C. Beaton
Life is not easy for the poor relations of England's upper crust, but fate and clever schemes bring them together. Lady Fortescue and Colonel Sandhurst hatch a plan: What if they were to transform her decrepit Bond Street home into a posh hotel, offering their guests the pleasure of being waited upon by nobility? With the help of other down-and-out aristocrats, they do just that, and London's newest hotel, the Poor Relation, is born. The establishment is an immediate hit with London's most illustrious citizens, save the Duke of Rowcester, Lady Fortescue's nephew. Rowcester believes that his aunt's entry into the trade will denigrate their family name and is determined to shut the hotel down until he meets Miss Harriett James, the lovely young woman who accepts Lady Fortescue's offer to become the Poor Relation's chef after the death of her parents and the loss of her fortune. Rowcester moves into the Poor Relation for the season ostensibly to keep an eye on his aunt's business.
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The secret messenger
by Mandy Robotham
The world is at war, and Stella Jilani is leading a double life: by day she works in the lion's den as a typist for the Reich office; by night, she risks her life as a messenger for the Venetian resistance - imparting Nazi secrets, transporting essential supplies across the city, and, most crucially, producing an underground newspaper on her beloved typewriter. But when German commander, General Breugal, becomes suspicious, it seems he will stop at nothing to find the mole, and Stella knows she faces an uncertain future. Years later, grieving Luisa Belmont finds a mysterious old Olivetti with a dropped e in her attic. Determined to find out who it belonged to, Luisa delves into the past, and soon uncovers a story of fierce love, unimaginable sacrifice, and, ultimately, the worst kind of betrayal.
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Magnus and the Crossroads Brotherhood
by Robert Fabbri
Marcus Salvius Magnus, leader of the Southern Quirinal Crossroads Brotherhood, has long dominated his part of Rome's criminal underworld. From rival gangs and unpaid debts to rigged chariot races and blood feuds if you have a problem, Magnus is the man to solve it. He'll do everything in his power to preserve his grip on the less-travelled back alleys of Rome, and of course, make a profit. But while Magnus inhabits the underbelly of the city, his patron, Gaius Vespasius Pollo, moves in a different circle. As a senator, he needs men like Magnus to do his dirty work as he manoeuvres his way deeper into the imperial court.
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The Queen's Tiger
by Peter Watt
It is 1857. Colonial India is a simmering volcano of nationalism about to erupt. Army surgeon Peter Campbell and his wife Alice, in India on their honeymoon, have no idea that they are about to be swept up in the chaos. Ian Steele, known to all as Captain Samuel Forbes, is fighting for Queen and country in Persia. A world away, the real Samuel Forbes is planning to return to London with potentially disastrous consequences for Samuel and Ian both. Then Ian is posted to India, but not before a brief return to England and a reunion with the woman he loves. In India he renews his friendship with Peter Campbell, and discovers that Alice has taken on a most unlikely role. Together they face the enemy and the terrible deprivations and savagery of war and then Ian receives news from London that crushes all his hopes.
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| Liberation by Imogen KealeyWhat it’s about: the life and work of Nancy Wake, a real-life operative for the French Resistance and Special Operations Executive that the Nazis called "the white mouse" for her ability to escape tight situations.
About the author: Imogen Kealey is the collective pseudonym of novelist Imogen Robertson and screenwriter Darby Kealey.
Media buzz: A film adaptation of the novel is in development and set to star Oscar-winning actress Anne Hathaway. |
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| Exile Music by Jennifer SteilWhat it's about: the flight of a Jewish family of musicians after the Nazi invasion of Austria destroys their culturally vibrant Viennese community, and their efforts to rebuild their lives in Bolivia.
Why you should read it: While most people are aware of the postwar escapes of Nazis to South American countries like Chile and Argentina, the stories of prewar Jewish refugees are less discussed.
About the author: Jennifer Steil is a journalist and memoirist whose previous novel The Ambassador's Wife was published in 2013. |
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The illness lesson
by Clare Beams
Starring: failed utopian Samuel Hood; his educated but bored daughter Caroline; his disciple David, who has come to help them open a progressive school for girls in late 19th century Massachusetts.
What happens: The students are suddenly plagued by mysterious sickness, and desperate for the school not to fail, Samuel and David send for a doctor in the burgeoning field of psychology. Caroline has a terrible feeling about the doctor, and his twisted, invasive ideas about "treatment" for the girls soon make everything much, much worse.
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The lady of the ravens
by Joanna Hickson
Elizabeth of York, her life already tainted by dishonour and tragedy, now queen to the first Tudor king, Henry the VII. Joan Vaux, servant of the court, straining against marriage and motherhood and privy to the deepest and darkest secrets of her queen. Like the ravens, Joan must use her eyes and her senses, as conspiracy whispers through the dark corridors of the Tower. Through Joan's eyes, The Lady of the Ravens inhabits the squalid streets of Tudor London, the imposing walls of its most fearsome fortress and the glamorous court of a kingdom in crisis.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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