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Historical Fiction September 2019
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| Meet Me in Monaco: A Novel of Grace Kelly's Royal Wedding by Hazel Gaynor and Heather WebbWhat it's about: American actress Grace Kelly's romance with and marriage to Prince Rainer III of Monaco.
As seen through the eyes of: Provençal parfumeur Sophie Duval, who becomes Kelly's confidante, and British press photographer James Henderson, with whom Sophie falls in love.
For fans of: royal weddings, old Hollywood glamour, atmospheric settings, and bittersweet love stories. |
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Anna of Kleve, the princess in the portrait : a novel
by Alison Weir
Arranged in a doomed marriage to England's infamous Henry VIII, a princess from a small German duchy hides a desperate secret in a hostile foreign court. By the best-selling author of Jane Seymour, The Haunted Queen
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The Innocents
by Michael Crummey
A novel about an orphaned brother and sister who must fend for themselves on a remote fishing outpost in the late 1800s"--
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| The Ventriloquists: A Novel by E.R. RamzipoorBelgium, 1943: Ordered to produce pro-Nazi propaganda, a group of journalists and resistance fighters instead publish a parody newspaper mocking the Fuhrer, knowing full well it will be the last thing they ever do.
Why you might like it: Inspired by true events, this well-researched novel boasts a briskly paced storyline, a balanced blend of humor and suspense, and an LBGTQIA-diverse cast that takes turns narrating.
For fans of: Paul Goldberg's The Yid, which similarly unspools a madcap scheme to thwart fascists by a group of marginalized intellectuals. |
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| The Women of the Copper Country: A Novel by Mary Doria RussellStarring: Labor activist Annie Clements, who in 1913 led a strike against a Montana copper-mining company.
Is it for you? Closer in tone to Doc than The Sparrow, this well-researched historical novel unfolds from multiple perspectives, all rendered in lyrical prose.
Want a taste? "Running lengthwise down the peninsula's center, like the blood gutter of a bayonet, are the richest copper desposits on earth." |
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| The Daring Ladies of Lowell by Kate AlcottWhat it's about: In 1832, Alice Barrow leaves her family's New Hampshire farm to find work at a textile mill in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Complications ensue: While Alice finds camaraderie with her fellow "mill girls," she's troubled by the dangerous working conditions and conflicted by her feelings for Samuel Fiske, the mill owner's son.
Reviewers say: a "spirited story of young working women making hard choices" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| The Last Ballad by Wiley CashWhy you might like it: Set in 1929 North Carolina, this novel follows millworker and single mother Ella May Wiggins as she risks everything to join a union.
About the author: CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning author Wiley Cash is best known for his rural noir, including A Land More Kind Than Home and This Dark Road to Mercy.
For fans of: Ron Rash, Daniel Woodrell, or Doug Marlette. |
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| Work Song by Ivan DoigWhat happens: First introduced in The Whistling Season, itinerant scapegrace Morrie Morgan arrives in Butte, Montana, where he becomes the town's librarian and gets caught up in a labor dispute between the Anaconda Copper Company and its workers.
For fans of: warmhearted tales of the American West featuring compelling characters and a strong sense of place.
Want a taste? "I happily stepped into that role of librarian as bartender of information. Presiding over shelves of intoxicating items, dispensing whatever brand of knowledge was ordered up, I am sure I poured generously." |
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| The Widows by Jess MontgomeryThe setting: 1924, Kinship, Ohio, a hardscrabble coal-mining town in the throes of worker unrest.
Starring: Lily Ross, the new acting sheriff of Bronwyn County, and Marvena Whitcomb, a miner's widow turned union organizer.
What happens: After Lily's husband, the sheriff, is murdered and Marvena's daughter goes missing, the two women team up to discover what happened -- and unearth layer upon layer of secrets and lies. |
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The autumn throne : a novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine
by Elizabeth Chadwick
Recreates the late reign of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who as the widow of Henry II becomes the dowager queen and attempts to pacify her warring sons and bring about a peaceful succession to the throne
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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