[bksvol-discuss] Fw: Historical Fiction April 2008
- From: "Amber Wallenstein" <amber.wallens@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:03:49 -0400
Historical Fiction April 2008
"There is no mistaking a real book when one meets it. It is like falling in
love."
~ Christopher Morley (1890-1957), American journalist and author
New and Recently Released!
Daughter of York - by Anne Easter Smith
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 2/12/2008
ISBN: 9780743277310
ISBN-10: 0743277317
In 1461 England, intelligent young Margaret of York becomes a political pawn
when Edward, her eldest brother, raises an army and seizes the throne. Margaret
is promised in marriage to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and the two wed
only a week after their first meeting. Though Margaret eventually settles
into her new life across the sea, she never forgets her English blood or her
love for the married Sir Anthony Woodville. This richly detailed book revisits
many of the characters in A Rose for the Crown, author Anne Easter Smith's
debut novel.
First Chapter
The Painter from Shanghai - by Jennifer Cody Epstein
Publisher: W.W. Norton
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 3/30/2008
ISBN: 9780393065282
ISBN-10: 0393065286
From debut novelist Jennifer Cody Epstein comes this re-imagining of the life
of Pan Yuliang, one of the most talented and provocative Chinese artists of
the 20th century. The story opens in 1913 when 14-year-old Xiuquing's
opium-addicted uncle sells her into servitude at a brothel. Renamed Yuliang, she
rises from maid to "top girl" and later becomes a concubine to Pan Zanhua, a
customs official who helps her make her way as an artist. Moving from prewar
Shanghai to 1920s Paris and back to revolutionary China, this captivating epic
will appeal to fans of Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha.
The German Bride: A Novel - by Joanna Hershon
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 3/25/2008
ISBN: 9780345468451
ISBN-10: 0345468457
Berlin, 1865. In the aftermath of a disastrous affair, desperate young Eva
Frank, the daughter of a Jewish banker, quickly marries the ambitious merchant
Abraham Shein, who has returned home from the American West to find a bride.
Together the newlyweds leave Germany for Santa Fe, New Mexico, where--in the
midst of wild and unfamiliar surroundings, multiple failed pregnancies, and
Abraham's compulsive gambling and womanizing--Eva is determined to make a new
and full life for herself. Kirkus Reviews calls The German Bride "a beautifully
written tale of small sufferings and redemptions."
Genghis: Lords of the Bow - by Conn Iggulden
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 3/25/2008
ISBN: 9780385339520
ISBN-10: 0385339526
Having already unified the Mongol tribes, 12th-century warlord Genghis Khan now
embarks on a quest to conquer the mighty Chin empire. As Genghis and his
brothers Kachiun and Khasar make their way toward the capital city of Yenking,
they become caught up in sibling rivalry but still manage to leave a devastating
trail of destruction in their wake. Genghis: Lords of the Bow, which Publishers
Weekly calls a "triumph of historical fiction," is the 2nd well-researched
entry in the Conqueror series, after Genghis: Birth of an Empire.
First Chapter
Song Yet Sung - by James McBride
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 2/5/2008
ISBN: 9781594489723
ISBN-10: 1594489726
In a small town in antebellum Maryland, a group of slaves is being held
prisoner by the notorious slave catcher Patty Cannon. Among them is runaway Liz
Spocott, who has strange visions about the future of her race. When one of
Patty's partners attacks Liz, a breakout ensues, and Liz evades capture with
the help of the Underground Railroad. However, danger isn't far behind, as
former slave catcher Denwood Long has come out of retirement to track her down.
The New York Times praises the "richness and subtlety of the writing" and the
"well-designed, gripping plot" in this powerful tale.
Dreamers of the Day: A Novel - by Mary Doria Russell
Publisher: Random House
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 3/4/2008
ISBN: 9781400064717
ISBN-10: 1400064716
In the wake of the Great War and the influenza epidemic, 40-year-old Ohio
schoolteacher Agnes Shanklin uses money from an inheritance to take a trip to
Egypt and the Holy Land. When she and her dachshund, Rosie, arrive at her
hotel, the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference has just gotten underway. Agnes is
delighted
to make the acquaintance of Winston Churchill, T.E. Lawrence and Lady Gertrude
Bell, but she also encounters Karl Weilbacher, a German spy who takes a
romantic interest in her. Both entertaining and enlightening, Dreamers of the
Day features captivating characters and fascinating details about the history
of the Middle East.
Classics Revisited
Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues - by Linda Berdoll
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 5/1/2004
ISBN: 9781402202735
ISBN-10: 1402202733
Fans of Jane Austen who have yet to discover author Linda Berdoll are in for a
treat with Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife, for the characters in this well-written
sequel to Pride and Prejudice ring very true to those in the original novel.
The story picks up the day after Elizabeth and Darcy's wedding and follows
the couple as their relationship matures and they adjust to married life.
Familiar characters like Charles Bingley, George Wickham, and Elizabeth's
sisters
Jane and Lydia also make appearances. Readers who can't get enough of
all-things-Austen might also consider authors Elizabeth Aston and Pamela Aidan.
March - by Geraldine Brooks
Publisher: Viking
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 3/3/2005
ISBN: 9780670033355
ISBN-10: 0670033359
The husband and father of the delightful females in Louisa May Alcott's Little
Women gets his own in-depth treatment in this 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner.
Mr. March (who is based on Alcott's father) has left his wife, Marmee, and his
daughters Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth in Concord, Massachusetts, in order to
serve as a Union chaplain in the Civil War. His letters home indicate that
things are well and he's in good spirits, but the truth is a much darker and
longer story. The Los Angeles Times Book Review says that March is a
"beautifully wrought" story.
First Chapter
Finn: A Novel - by Jon Clinch
Publisher: Random House
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 2/20/2007
ISBN: 9781400065912
ISBN-10: 1400065917
If you've read Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, then you are no
doubt familiar with the dark figure of Pap, Huck's alcoholic father. In this
debut novel, author John Clinch takes readers back to the Mississippi River to
explore the mysterious life and death of Pap, here known as Finn, and to
introduce a host of other unforgettable characters: Will, Finn's sickly
brother; Bliss, a blind moonshiner; Mary, a former slave who becomes Finn's
mistress;
and young Huck himself. The Washington Post says that Finn is
"haunting...nothing short of revelatory."
First Chapter
Angel and Apostle - by Deborah Noyes
Publisher: Unbridled Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 10/25/2005
ISBN: 9781932961102
ISBN-10: 1932961100
Pearl, the illegitimate daughter of Hester Prynne (whom readers will remember
from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter), comes of age in this lyrical
and beautifully written debut novel. In 1649 Boston, elfish young Pearl forms a
bond with another outsider, the blind Simon Milton, but their friendship
comes to a temporary end when Pearl and her mother leave New England for the
English countryside. Years later Simon's brother Nehemiah meets and marries
Pearl, but it is her childhood friend Simon who truly understands her. Booklist
says that Noyes "does a remarkable job of capturing Puritan New England
and the spirit and willfulness of Pearl."
The Wind Done Gone - by Alice Randall
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 6/28/2001
ISBN: 9780618104505
ISBN-10: 061810450X
Fans of Gone with the Wind know that fiery Scarlett O'Hara had two sisters,
Careen and Suellen, but in this fascinating spin-off of that classic novel,
author Alice Randall presents Cynara, the beautiful, illegitimate daughter of
Mr. O'Hara and Mammy and half-sister to the O'Hara girls. From Cynara's diary
we learn of her life as a mulatto slave at Tara and her fate during
Reconstruction, and in the process receive a view of the Old South that stands
in marked
contrast to that of the original book. For another take on GWTW, check out
Donald McCaig's Rhett Butler's People.
First Chapter
The two Mrs. Grenvilles : a novel - by Dominick Dunne
Publisher: Crown Publishers
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 5/1/1985
ISBN: 9780517557136
ISBN-10: 0517557134
Writing the story of Iris Grenville's life, Brady Campion is introduced to a
beautiful woman, uncultured but determined to become a member of society's
elite, who killed her husband and whose lawyers convinced a jury that she
mistook him for a prowler.
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