[bookshare-discuss] FW: FW: Historical Fiction September 2010

From: "Kim Friedman" <kimfri11@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, <bksvol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2010 21:00:59 -0700
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Kim Friedman [mailto:kimfri11@xxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2010 8:52 PM
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; bksvol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] FW: Historical Fiction September 2010


Hi, Amber Wallenstein has asked me to send you this for your reading
pleasure. Regards, Kim Friedman.
-----Original Message-----
From: Amber Wallenstein [mailto:amber.wallens@xxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2010 7:45 PM
To: Kim Friedman
Subject: Fw: Historical Fiction September 2010


New and Recently Released!
The Doctor and the Diva: A Novel - by Adrienne McDonnell
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books/Viking
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 07/22/2010
ISBN-13: 9780670021888
ISBN-10: 0670021881
Can a woman have it all--in 1904? Erika, a gifted singer married to
Peter, a wealthy businessman, has been trying for years to have a baby.
But after repeated
failures to conceive, she's on the verge of departing for Florence to
pursue her dream of becoming an opera star when Peter enlists the
services of Dr.
Ravell, an obstetrician with a reputation for helping infertile couples.
Ravell, fascinated by Erika, vows to do whatever is necessary to give
her the
child he believes she wants. Set in the early years of the 20th century,
this character-driven, globe-trotting novel explores locales ranging
from Boston
to Trinidad to Italy.
Percival's Planet: A Novel - by Michael Byers
Publisher: Henry Holt
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 08/03/2010
ISBN-13: 9780805092189
ISBN-10: 0805092188
Obsessed by the notion of canals on Mars and the "race of benevolent
superbeings" that supposedly built them, eccentric Boston astronomer
Percival Lowell
establishes an observatory in Arizona in 1894. Some 30 years later,
Clyde Tombaugh, a Kansas farm boy with his eyes on the skies, is hired
as an assistant
at the observatory, where he searches for--and finds--the legendary
Planet X, soon to be known as Pluto. Stargazing historical fiction fans
who enjoy expansive,
character-driven stories about scientific discovery may also be
interested in The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville or Two Moons by Thomas
Mallon.
First Chapter
The Pirate Devlin - by Mark Keating
Publisher: Grand Central
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 07/27/2010
ISBN-13: 9780446563901
ISBN-10: 0446563900
Although Patrick Devlin never intended to become a pirate, the Irish
manservant rises to the occasion when he's captured during a shipboard
raid, eventually
becoming captain of his own pirate sloop. When he obtains a treasure map
that points the way to a king's fortune in gold, Devlin and his crew
take to the
high seas--pursued by Devlin's former master, a Royal Navy Captain. Set
during the Golden Age of Piracy, this swashbuckling tale might appeal to
fans of
Arturo Perez-Reverte's Captain Alatriste books, which although they take
place a century earlier on both land and sea, also feature an adventurer
with
a strict code of honor and mercenary bent.
Lady of the Butterflies - by Fiona Mountain
Publisher: Putnam
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 07/15/2010
ISBN-13: 9780399156366
ISBN-10: 0399156364
Lady Eleanor Glanville, the daughter of a Puritan nobleman, spends her
days studying butterflies on her father's estate in Somerset and
corresponding with
fellow lepidopterist James Petiver about her findings. Although her
devotion to natural history arouses suspicion--especially given that
butterflies are
traditionally associated with witchcraft--she perseveres, discovering
that it provides more lasting satisfaction than her tumultuous marriage
to a dashing
Cavalier. Set during the Restoration, Lady of the Butterflies portrays
an independent woman struggling against societal expectations during an
era of political
unrest.
Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine - by Alison Weir
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 07/13/2010
ISBN-13: 9780345511874
ISBN-10: 0345511875
In 1152, Eleanor of Aquitaine abandons her first husband, King Louis VII
of France, in favor of 19-year-old firebrand Henry, Count of Anjou, a
man as ambitious
as she is. When he ascends to the throne of England as Henry II, Eleanor
envisions a partnership of equals--but Henry has other ideas. As these
two strong-willed
individuals struggle to gain the upper hand, it could tear the entire
kingdom apart. British historian Alison Weir, author of The Lady
Elizabeth, turns
her attention to another formidable English queen in this "exceedingly
well written and researched" novel (Library Journal).
First Chapter
Table of Contents
Focus on: Africa
Things Fall Apart - by Chinua Achebe
Publisher: Knopf
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 10/01/1995
ISBN-13: 9780679446231
ISBN-10: 0679446230
Set in the late 19th century in what is now Nigeria, Chinua Achebe's
classic 1958 novel depicts the destruction of an Igbo community and its
traditional
way of life at the hands of white Europeans, as seen through the eyes of
a man named Okonkwo. Things Fall Apart is part of a loose trilogy that
explores
the legacy of colonialism in Africa and continues with No Longer at Ease
and Arrow of God. More recent Nigerian history is depicted in Chimamanda
Ngozi
Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun, which focuses on Nigeria's civil war
during the 1960s.
First Chapter
Hottentot Venus - by Barbara Chase-Riboud
Publisher: Random House
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 11/01/2004
ISBN-13: 9781400032082
ISBN-10: 1400032083
In the early 1800s, a young Khoekhoe girl, orphaned by the massacre of
her entire family, becomes the slave of Dutch farmers near Cape Town,
who christen
her Sarah Baartman. Her unusual physical appearance attracts the
attention of an unscrupulous man, who takes her to Europe and exhibits
her in freak shows
as the "Hottentot Venus." Sarah, who only agreed to leave Africa because
she was promised freedom (Britain has outlawed the slave trade),
discovers that
she's traded one form of slavery for another as her new master exploits
her. Based on a true story, Hottentot Venus provides "total immersion in
the spirit
of Sarah Baartman" (Booklist).
First Chapter
Table of Contents
Unconfessed - by Yvette Christiansë
Publisher: Other Press
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 11/01/2006
ISBN-13: 9781590512401
ISBN-10: 1590512405
Abducted from her family in Mozambique as a young child, Sila is sold to
a Dutch family in South Africa's Cape Town colony. While her Mistress
promises
to grant Sila's freedom in her will, inheriting son Theron disregards
his mother's wishes and sells Sila to the sadistic Van der Wat, who
brutalizes her
and her children until she takes a desperate stand. As a result, she
ends up imprisoned on Robben Island, where she breaks rocks, endures
abuse from the
prison guards, and dreams of freedom. With its brave yet vulnerable
protagonist and heartbreaking look at slavery, Unconfessed may remind
readers of Toni
Morrison's Beloved.
First Chapter
Desertion - by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Publisher: Anchor Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 07/11/2006
ISBN-13: 9781400095407
ISBN-10: 1400095409
This generation-spanning saga begins in 1899 Zanzibar (now part of
Tanzania) when British orientalist Martin Pearce, while traveling in the
desert outside
a small unnamed village, is beaten and robbed by his guides before being
rescued by local shopseller Hassanali Zakariya. Pearce soon falls in
love with
Hassanali's sister Rehana and the two embark on a passionate, forbidden
affair. The repercussions of this doomed romance are felt decades later,
in the
early 1950s, as three siblings--Farida and her brothers, Amin and
Rashid--pursue very different paths in the days leading up to Zanzibar's
struggle for
independence.
First Chapter
Assegai - Wilbur A. Smith
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 05/12/2009
ISBN-13: 9780312567248
ISBN-10: 0312567243
In the early 1900s, Second Lieutenant Leon Courtney decides to hang up
his military career after a near-fatal mission in British East Africa
(and a subsequent
court-martial proceeding instigated by a vindictive superior office). He
takes up big-game hunting, but thats only his cover: in reality, he is
working
as a spy, gathering intelligence for his uncle Penrod Ballantyne. Leons
target is Count Otto Von Meerbach, a German weapons manufacturer (the
novel is
set only a handful of years before World War I), but Leon doesnt count
on falling in love with the targets seductive mistress, Eva. Can Leon
foil Von Meerbachsplot
to foment an African rebellion and, at the same time, protect the
beautiful Eva? There is a reason Smith is a hugely popular writer of
historical novels:
his remarkable talent for re-creating historical periods and crafting
characters we care about is virtually unmatched in the genre.
First Chapter
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[bookshare-discuss] FW: FW: Historical Fiction September 2010

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