[bksvol-discuss] Fw: Historical Fiction February 2009

From: "Amber Wallenstein" <amber.wallens@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:24:49 -0500
New and Recently Released!

Eve: A Novel of the First Woman - by Elissa Elliott
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 1/27/2009
ISBN: 9780385341448
ISBN-10: 038534144X
We've all heard the story of Adam and Eve and how they were banished from the 
Garden of Eden, but what happened after that? In this novel, which combines
Biblical characters and ancient Mesopotamian culture, Eve finally tells her 
side of the story. Still wracked with guilt for succumbing to Lucifer's 
temptation,
Eve recounts how she and Adam wandered the world before settling down to create 
their own garden. Their success in cultivating the soil, however, is matched
by their failure to manage their children. Daughter Naava falls in love with 
the prince of a neighboring city, which results in a clash of cultures that
forces the family to flee, while Cain and Abel's lifelong rivalry turns deadly 
in this "highly original look at Original Sin" (Kirkus Reviews).
First Chapter

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: A Novel - by Jamie Ford
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 1/27/2009
ISBN: 9780345505330
ISBN-10: 0345505336
In 1942 Seattle, Chinese-American Henry and Japanese-American Keiko are the 
only Asians in their school. Their friendship, initially based on their shared
experience of being outsiders, eventually blossoms into love. But when Keiko 
and her family are sent to an internment camp, the childhood sweethearts lose
touch. Although Henry promises to wait for her, life intervenes and it is only 
years later, when Henry is a widower with a son of his own, that he attempts
to discover what happened to Keiko. If you enjoyed David Guterson's Snow 
Falling on Cedars with its Pacific Northwest setting and its examination of the
Asian-American experience during WWII, you'll want to read this poignant book.

People of the Thunder - by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear
Publisher: Forge
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 1/6/2009
ISBN: 9780765314390
ISBN-10: 0765314398
In the 1300s, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi, the power-hungry and 
bloodthirsty Smoke Shield rules the Sky Hand people from his stronghold at Split
Sky City. As he plots to expand their territory and enslave the Albaamaha 
people, it becomes clear that his ambitions will lead the Sky Hand people either
to victory or total destruction. Meanwhile, three travelers attempt to stop 
them: the prophet Old White, the mysterious Trader, and shaman woman Two Petals,
who does everything backwards. The authors, a husband-and-wife team of 
archaeologists, incorporate Native American history and mythology in this 
detailed
novel based on the civilization of the Mississippian Mound Builders.

The Piano Teacher - by Janice Y.K. Lee
Publisher: Viking
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 1/13/2009
ISBN: 9780670020485
ISBN-10: 0670020486
In 1952, newlywed Claire Pendleton accompanies her civil servant husband to 
Hong Kong and is hired by the wealthy Chen family as a piano instructor for
their young daughter. Through her position with the Chens, she meets their 
chauffeur, Will Truesdale, and embarks on a passionate affair with him. However,
Will has a troubled past, which began during the Japanese occupation at the 
onset of WWII when Will fell in love with Chinese-Portugese beauty Trudy Liang.
Now, as Will's past catches up to him, Claire realizes that her future is in 
jeopardy. The Piano Teacher is a "rich and intimate look at what happens to
people under extraordinary circumstances" (Booklist).

Land of Marvels: A Novel - by Barry Unsworth
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 1/6/2009
ISBN: 9780385520072
ISBN-10: 0385520077
In 1914, Europe and America descend upon the Middle East in search of oil, and 
British archaeologist John Somerville, excavating an ancient Assyrian palace,
lands in the middle of the struggle. The site stands in the way of a proposed 
railroad connecting Constantinople and the Persian Gulf, which will facilitate
trade and serve as a supply line in the event of war. Meanwhile, Somerville's 
neglected wife Edith seeks solace in the arms of American geologist Alex
Elliott--who's got a hidden agenda of his own. As political tension erupts into 
armed conflict, the region--along with the lives of its inhabitants--is
altered forever. Complex characters and thrilling suspense flavor this 
historical melodrama.
Focus on: American Slavery

The Last Days of Dogtown: A Novel - by Anita Diamant
Publisher: Scribner
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 6/28/2006
ISBN: 9780743225748
ISBN-10: 0743225740
The village of Dogtown on Cape Ann in Massachusetts is home to society's 
outcasts: widows, spinsters, prostitutes, and former slaves--all of whom are 
despised
by the residents of the neighboring towns. In this declining community, whose 
members are too poor, old, or obstinate to move away, we follow the lives
of characters such as Judy Rhines, an unmarried white woman whose love for 
freed slave Cornelius Finson is forbidden even in Dogtown, and Black Ruth, an
African woman who dresses in men's clothing and works as a stonemason. Don't 
miss this book, which Booklist says artfully "evokes the minutiae of everyday
living."
First Chapter
Table of Contents

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman - by Ernest J. Gaines
Publisher: Bantam Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 9/1/1996
ISBN: 9780553263572
ISBN-10: 0553263579
In 1962, centenarian Miss Jane Pittman, born into slavery and at 110 years old, 
one of the oldest participants in the American Civil Rights Movement, tells
her extraordinary story. Born into slavery on a Louisiana plantation, young 
"Ticey" changes her name to Jane when Union soldiers emancipate her, an act
that symbolizes her new status as a free woman. Granted her freedom, she 
decides to walk North, despite not knowing where it is or what she's supposed
to do when she gets there. In the years that follow, she witnesses significant 
events in African-American history as she builds a life for herself. If
you haven't yet read Ernest J. Gaines' classic novel, be sure to check it out.
First Chapter

Soul Catcher - by Michael White
Publisher: William Morrow
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 9/1/2007
ISBN: 9780061340727
ISBN-10: 0061340723
A disillusioned veteran of the Mexican-American War, Augustus Cain longs to 
head West and start a new life. But he'll need money to do so and, with few
marketable skills, Augustus must rely on the morally bankrupt work of slave 
catching--retrieving runaways from the North and returning them to their former
masters. When he's hired by a plantation owner to capture and return a runaway 
slave named Rosetta, Augustus tracks his quarry from Richmond to Boston
and succeeds in capturing her. However, as he gets to know Rosetta and her 
story, he begins to question the morality of what he's doing in this absorbing
novel about a nation on the verge of war.
First Chapter

Someone Knows My Name - by Lawrence Hill
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 11/30/2007
ISBN: 9780393065787
ISBN-10: 0393065782
Abducted at age 11 from her African home, Aminata Diallo is enslaved and 
brought to South Carolina in 1745, where she becomes the property of an indigo
trader and is later traded to a Jewish duty inspector in Manhattan. As she 
dreams of freedom and returning home, she secretly learns to read and write.
These skills serve her well as she works to compile The Book of Negroes, a list 
of thousands of black loyalists. Aminata's hope is that the British, struggling
to suppress an American revolution, will free those slaves who are loyal to the 
Crown and transport them back to Africa. Will she succeed? For a different
perspective on American slavery, read this bestselling novel by Canadian author 
Lawrence Hill.

The Amalgamation Polka - by Stephen Wright
Publisher: Random House Inc
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 6/12/2007
ISBN: 9780679772941
ISBN-10: 0679772944
In 19th-century New York, Liberty Fish, the child of fervent abolitionists and 
the grandson of South Carolina slaveholders, receives an eccentric upbringing
on the way to an even more surreal adulthood. Enlisting in the Union Army at 
17, Liberty participates in several horrific battles before deserting his
regiment and seeking shelter at Redemption Hall, his ancestral home. Here, he 
finds his grandmother bedridden and his grandfather Asa hard at work performing
bizarre genetic experiments on his slaves. When the Union Army catches up to 
Liberty, he and Asa flee aboard a blockrade runner heading for the Bahamas.
And that's only the beginning. This picaresque novel will delight you with its 
action-packed plot and larger-than-life characters.
First Chapter
[bksvol-discuss] Fw: Historical Fiction February 2009

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