| Birdcage Walk by Helen DunmoreFrom the safety of 1790s Bristol, England, freethinker and radical pamphleteer Julia Elizabeth Fawkes reacts, first with eagerness and then with dismay, as the promise of the French Revolution gives way to the bloody reality of the Reign of Terror. However, the conflict abroad poses more personal danger to Julia's daughter, Lizzie, whose property developer husband finds his business interests threatened by the prospect of war and descends into obsession and paranoia. Complex characters and Gothic atmosphere add intrigue to this historical domestic drama. |
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The Boat Runner: A Novel
by Devin Murphy
The son of a successful Dutch industrialist, 14-year-old Jacob Koopman enjoys a privileged upbringing that includes sailing lessons and...a summer at Hitler Youth Camp? Jacob's father, eager to cultivate business contacts, encourages his sons to embrace German culture -- until Holland is invaded and the Koopman family loses everything. Should they flee the country? Collaborate with the Nazis? Join the resistance? There are no easy answers in this dramatic coming-of-age story.
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The World of Tomorrow
by Brendan Mathews
In a madcap adventure that should please fans of Roddy Doyle's The Last Roundup trilogy, three Irish brothers -- a convict, a jazz musician, and a seminarian -- escape to the United States after running afoul of the IRA. Set against the backdrop of the 1939 New York World's Fair, this lively debut boasts a cast of appealing characters and the "wit of a 30s screwball comedy" (Publishers Weekly).
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We were strangers once : a novel
by Betsy Carter
Escaping Germany on the eve of World War II, a successful Jewish doctor and son of two famous naturalists finds himself in a tight-knit group of fellow immigrants in Manhattan who share the stories of respective degradations and triumphs. By the author of Swim to Me. 25,000 first printing.
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| The Last Midwife by Sandra DallasThe only midwife in the isolated mining town of Swandyke, Colorado, Gracy Brookens believes with all her heart that delivering babies is her life's purpose. When a wealthy mine owner accuses her of murdering his infant son, Gracy's life and livelihood are threatened. Although Gracy knows that she's innocent, she also realizes that it may not matter -- being a witness to people's private lives makes her dangerous to those with secrets to keep. Like author Sandra Dallas' previous novel, Fallen Women, The Last Midwife employs well-researched details of life in 1880s Colorado to tell the dramatic story of a marginalized woman who confronts a small town's social elite in her pursuit of truth. |
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| Monsoon Summer by Julia GregsonAfter serving as a nurse during World War II, trainee midwife Kit Smallwood marries Anto Thekken, an Oxford-educated Indian physician, and accompanies him to Bombay, where she's accepted a position overseeing a charitable maternity hospital. An already challenging job is made more difficult by the disapproval of both her Anglo-Indian mother and her husband's traditional family. Set in a newly independent India, Monsoon Summer introduces an idealistic young woman navigating both married life and a society in transition. |
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| The Midwife of Hope River: A Novel by Patricia HarmanDuring the Great Depression, West Virginia midwife Patience Murphy delivers babies to women who can't afford a doctor. Dogged by her own scandalous history, Patience maintains a solitary lifestyle until she unexpectedly acquires an African-American apprentice, Bitsy, and a colleague, Daniel Hester, a World War I veteran to whom she slowly opens her heart. But when Patience's past eventually catches up with her, it threatens to destroy everything she's worked for. Author Patricia Harman, a certified nurse-midwife, skillfully depicts the profession of midwifery while bringing to life a rural Appalachian community of the 1930s. |
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| The Orphan Mother: A Novel by Robert HicksBorn into slavery, Mariah Reddick (first introduced in The Widow of the South) is now a free woman and a successful midwife in Franklin, Tennessee. Occupied with her work and the management of her modest property holdings, she's always steered clear of politics. Then her only child, Theopolis, is killed at a rally, prompting Mariah to seek his killers and bring them to justice. Set during Reconstruction, this novel explores a mother's grief while exposing the racial fault lines in a segregated Southern town. |
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| The Midwife of Venice: A Novel by Roberta RichWith her merchant husband, Isaac, held captive by pirates, midwife Hannah Levi is desperate to earn his ransom. Although a Papal edict forbids Jewish healers from treating Christian patients, Hannah risks her life, first by delivering a countess' baby and then by continuing to provide assistance to the new mother and her sickly infant. For another richly detailed, character-driven historical novel about a 16th-century female Venetian physician who braves misogyny, religious persecution, and political unrest to aid others, check out Regina O'Melveny's The Book of Madness and Cures. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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