Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/18/2013
ISBN-13: 9781594487446
ISBN-10: 1594487448

Despite the restrictions of her 19th-century Quaker community, 24-year-old amateur astronomer Hannah Price searches the skies above Nantucket with her telescope each night in the hope of discovering a new comet. Her father expects her to marry (and soon!), but Hannah only cares about astronomy -- until she meets Isaac Martin, a black sailor from the Azores who asks Hannah to teach him the science of navigation. Although Hannah's staunchly abolitionist neighbors condemn slavery, they do not recognize racial equality, which presents considerable obstacles to Hannah and Isaac's relationship. Loosely based on the life of Maria Mitchell, the first American woman to become a professional astronomer, The Movement of Stars is a thought-provoking and dramatic story about breaking down boundaries of gender and race.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/12/2013
ISBN-13: 9781451693416
ISBN-10: 1451693419

In 1883, Irish immigrant Mary Mallon arrives in New York to pursue her dream of becoming a cook. Success seems within reach when she's hired by a wealthy Manhattan family, but quickly recedes when her employers fall violently ill. She flees, but the pattern repeats itself and the death toll rises until the New York Department of Health catches up to her. As an asymptomatic carrier of salmonella typhi, the strain of bacteria responsible for typhoid fever, Mary appears healthy but is capable of infecting others. Dubbed "Typhoid Mary," the city's notorious patient zero is placed under quarantine and spends the rest of her life alternately campaigning for her freedom and, despite the danger to all involved, attempting to return to the work she loves.

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/12/2013
ISBN-13: 9780547939940
ISBN-10: 0547939949

Having survived the 1915 Armenian genocide in their native Turkey, Maral Pegorian's family -- now resettled in France -- observe the German occupation of Paris with rising apprehension. Although teenage Maral's parents urge her to stay out of trouble, she discovers that she can't sit by and do nothing once her older brother Missak and his friends, Zaven and Barkev, join the Resistance. For another moving, lyrical novel about the lives of refugees in Paris during World War II, try Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. Or, if you're interested in following the branching trail of the 20th-century Armenian diaspora, pick up Chris Bohjalian's The Sandcastle Girls.

First Chapter  

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/04/2013
ISBN-13: 9780399158247
ISBN-10: 0399158243

Left destitute after her father's death, 19-year-old Frances Irvine has little choice but to marry her cousin, Dr. Edwin Matthews, and accompany him to South Africa. Although she only knows Edwin well enough to realize that she doesn't like him, she accepts his proposal and travels to Cape Town. En route, she meets dashing diamond smuggler William Westbrook, with whom she embarks on a passionate shipboard affair -- an interlude that will haunt her as she begins a slow, painful transition from spoiled girl to mature woman. With its dramatic plot and a richly detailed African setting serving as a lush backdrop for its protagonist's journey of self-discovery, The Fever Tree may appeal to fans of Lauren Willig's The Ashford Affair or Deanna Raybourn's A Spear of Summer Grass.

Publisher: W.W. Norton
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/15/2013
ISBN-13: 9780393079579
ISBN-10: 0393079570

By 1683, 16 years after the events of Restoration, middle-aged physician Sir Robert Merivel has grown restless and dissatisfied with his comfortable existence at Bidnold Manor, his Norfolk estate. Leaving behind his faithful retainer Will and his daughter Margaret, Merivel travels to King Louis XIV's court at Versailles to be "dazzled by Wonders" -- not to mention distracted from his increasing melancholy. Alas, his travels leave him depleted in spirit, while events back home in England force him to reflect seriously on his life and legacy. In this lyrical, introspective novel, whose leisurely pacing allows for a wealth of richly described period detail, Merivel's malaise parallels that of his monarch, Charles II, whose reign is drawing to a close.

Publisher: Touchstone
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/06/2010
ISBN-13: 9781416563693
ISBN-10: 1416563695

Set during the Wars of the Roses, this novel tells the story of Elizabeth Woodville, a young widow who enters into a controversial marriage with King Edward IV. The marriage is a happy one, but when Edward dies, Elizabeth learns that her life depends on his brother and successor, King Richard III, who may or may not be responsible for the disappearance of two of her sons from the Tower of London. Readers who enjoyed Philippa Gregory's novels about the Tudors can now read about their predecessors, the Plantagenets, in this 1st installment of the Cousins' War series, followed by The Red Queen.

Publisher: HarperCollins
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/01/2006
ISBN-13: 9780060580520
ISBN-10: 0060580526

As the daughter of England's first printer, Nell Caxton is familiar with life at the royal court. And her involvement with the House of York provides her with unusual insight into the machinations of those who covet the throne of England -- including Richard, Duke of Gloucester. In 1483, before 12-year-old Edward V can be crowned king, he and his 9-year-old brother are abducted and imprisoned in the Tower of London shortly before their uncle becomes King Richard III. Although the fate of the young princes has never been definitively discovered, To the Tower Born offers a "brand-new twist on this oft-told story" (Booklist). For another possible solution to the puzzle, check out Josephine Tey's Daughter of Time, a mystery in which an injured detective investigates this centuries' old crime from his hospital bed.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Harper
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/02/2010
ISBN-13: 9780061689857
ISBN-10: 0061689858

During the idyllic post–War of the Roses reign of Edward IV, two daughters of a wealthy merchant take divergent roads to success and power. Isabel, widowed young, resolves to pursue her mother-in-law's silk business. Isabel's sister, Jane, becomes Edward's third mistress, a position of comfort, though lacking in security. Isabel finds a lover of her own in Edward's brother, Richard, duke of Gloucester. When Edward dies suddenly and Richard makes a grab for the throne, the sisters must make difficult choices to ensure their survival. Bennett immerses readers at once in Yorkist England, and while the narrative favors the dynamic Isabel over the flirtatious Jane, it's easy to root for them both. Readers of historical fiction will be pleased with Bennett's sure-handed storytelling.