| Star path: People of Cahokia by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal GearStarring: Morning Star, god incarnate, and his mortal sister Night Shadow Star, who must defeat their evil brother Walking Smoke.
Why you might like it: Written by a pair of archaeologists, this dramatic novel of pre-Columbian North America recreates the Cahokia settlement (1100 CE) and Mississippian culture in vivid detail.
Should you start here? This 4th book in the Morning Star series follows plotlines established in previous books; newcomers should start with People of the Morning Star. |
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| Deep River: A novel by Karl MarlantesIntroducing: Ilmari, Aino, and Matti Koski, Finnish siblings who immigrate to the United States in the early 1900s and settle in Deep River, a hardscrabble logging community in the Pacific Northwest.
What happens: Brothers llmari and Matti risk life and limb in the timber industry, while sister Aino becomes a labor activist.
Author alert: Karl Marlantes' debut, Matterhorn, won the Society of American Historians Prize for his haunting depiction of the Vietnam War. |
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The falling sword
by Ben Kane
Reeling from his defeat at the hands of the Macedonians, Rome's furious General Flamininus gathers his legions for the final strike on King Philip's mighty phalanx. Both leaders know the victor will rule Greece, and both armies will do everything in their power to claim the ultimate prize. Fighting on opposing sides, Felix and Demetrios think they have survived the worst of the campaign. But between vicious infighting, unruly locals, and intense battle, both will be tested as the final showdown between two great civilisations begins.
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The lost girls of Paris
by Pam Jenoff
1946, Manhattan. One morning while passing through Grand Central Terminal on her way to work, Grace Healey finds an abandoned suitcase tucked beneath a bench. Unable to resist her own curiosity, Grace opens the suitcase, where she discovers a dozen photographs, each of a different woman. In a moment of impulse, Grace takes the photographs and quickly leaves the station. Grace soon learns that the suitcase belonged to a woman named Eleanor Trigg, leader of a network of female secret agents who were deployed out of London during the war. Twelve of these women were sent to Occupied Europe as couriers and radio operators to aid the resistance, but they never returned home, their fates a mystery. Setting out to learn the truth behind the women in the photographs, Grace finds herself drawn to a young mother turned agent named Marie, whose daring mission overseas reveals a remarkable story of friendship, valour and betrayal.
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When you are near
by Tracie Peterson
After her father's death, Lizzy Brookstone, the star trick rider of the all-female Brookstone Wild West Extravaganza, loses interest in performing. What she longs for is a life with the Brookstone ranch foreman, Wesley DeShazer, the man who once broke her heart. Meanwhile, Jason Adler, son of the show's new financial partner, comes to help with the show, and Lizzy soon finds him vying for her affection. Ella Fleming is fleeing a forced engagement when she stows away on the Brookstone train. Lizzy finds her and gives her a job in the costume department, but Ella has a dangerous secret that could affect all of their lives, as well as the future of the Brookstone Extravaganza. When Mary Reichert, a former sharpshooter for the show, learns that her brother, August, has been killed at the Fleming farm, she refuses to believe it was an accident. She returns to the show to find the truth, but is she seeking justice or vengeance?
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The Tubman command
by Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman
What it's about: iconic abolitionist Harriet Tubman and her role in the 1863 Raid on Combahee Ferry, in which black soldiers from the 2nd South Carolina Infantry raided lowcountry plantations, destroying Confederate supplies and liberating 750 enslaved men and women.
What sets it apart: This well-researched novel by the author of The Hamilton Affair focuses on Tubman's lesser-known deeds as a scout and spy for the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Further reading: Catherine Clinton's biography Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom.
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The splendor before the dark: A novel of the Emperor Nero
by Margaret George
What it is: the highly anticipated sequel to The Confessions of Young Nero, whose intimate portrayal of the infamous Roman emperor reveals him to be more misunderstood than monstrous.
What to expect: Rome burns and Nero wrestles with assassination plots, betrayals, conspiracies, rebellions, and shifting public opinion.
Want a taste? "Emperors did not retire into private life, like philosophers. There was only one retirement for an emperor -- the grave. And if he is lucky, a natural descent into it at an advanced age."
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| The north water: A novel by Ian McGuireWhat it's about: In 1859, the whaling vessel Volunteer sets sail for the Arctic under the command of the corrupt Captain Brownlee.
Featuring: a motley crew that includes Patrick Sumner, a former army surgeon with a laudanum habit and a trunk full of secrets, and Henry Drax, an alcoholic harpooner with a thirst for brutal violence.
Is it for you? If you like fast-paced, violent sea stories that leave you wondering who (if anyone) will survive, check out The North Water. |
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| Landfalls by Naomi J. WilliamsWhat it is: a richly detailed fictional account of the Lapérouse expedition, which sets out in 1785 to circumnavigate the globe -- and never returns.
Why you might like it: Comprised of interlinked vignettes, this meticulously researched novel unfolds from multiple perspectives that illuminate different aspects of the ill-fated expedition.
Reviewers say: This debut "conjures up the long-forgotten past" with "astonishing vividness and immediacy" (The Guardian). |
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Preservation
by Jock Serong
Preservation, based on the true story of the wreck of the Sydney Cove, sees master storyteller Jock Serong turn his talents to historical narrative. On a beach not far from the isolated settlement of Sydney in 1797, a fishing boat picks up three shipwreck survivors, distressed and terribly injured. They have walked hundreds of miles across a landscape whose features, and inhabitants, they have no way of comprehending. They have lost fourteen companions along the way. Their accounts of the ordeal are evasive. It is Lieutenant Joshua Grayling’s task to investigate the story. He comes to realise that those fourteen deaths were contrived by one calculating mind and, as the full horror of the men’s journey emerges, he begins to wonder whether the ruthless killer poses a danger to his own family.
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Mad boy: An account of Henry Phipps in the War of 1812: A novel
by Nick Arvin
Young Henry Phipps is on a quest to realize his dying mother’s last wish: to be buried at sea, surrounded by her family. Not an easy task considering Henry’s ne’er-do-well father is in debtor’s prison and his comically earnest older brother is busy fighting the red coats on the battlefields of Maryland. But Henry’s stubborn determination knows no bounds. As he dodges the cannon fire of clashing armies and picks among the ruins of a burning capital he meets looters, British defectors, renegade slaves, a pregnant maiden in distress, and scoundrels of all types. Mad Boy is at once an antic adventure and a thoroughly convincing work of historical fiction that recreates a young nation’s first truly international conflict and a key moment in the history of the emancipation of African-American slaves.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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