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Historical Fiction May 2018
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The patchwork bride
by Sandra Dallas
Ellen is putting the finishing touches on a wedding quilt made from scraps of old dresses when the bride-to-be―her granddaughter June―unexpectedly arrives and announces she’s calling off the marriage. With the tending of June’s uncertain heart in mind, Ellen tells her the story of Nell, a Kansas-born woman who goes to the High Plains of New Mexico Territory in 1898 in search of a husband.
Working as a biscuit-shooter, Nell falls for a cowboy named Buddy. She sees a future together, but she can’t help wondering if his feelings for her are true. When Buddy breaks her heart, she runs away.
In her search for a soul mate, Nell will run away from marriage twice more before finding the love of her life. It’s a tale filled with excitement, heartbreak, disappointment, and self-discovery―as well as with hard-earned life lessons about love. Another stunning, emotional novel from a master storyteller.
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| My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura KamoieStarring: Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, wife of American founding father Alexander Hamilton -- a complex and determined woman who contributed much to the birth of the United States while enduring many personal and public tribulations.
For fans of: the musical Hamilton who are hungry for more about this Revolutionary War-era figure.
You might also like: I, Eliza Hamilton by Susan Scott Holloway and The Hamilton Affair by Elizabeth Cobbs. |
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The summer I met Jack
by Michelle Gable
New York Times bestselling author imagines the affair between John F. Kennedy and Alicia Corning Clark - and the child they may have had.
Based on a real story - in 1950, a young, beautiful Polish refugee arrives in Hyannisport, Massachusetts to work as a maid for one of the wealthiest families in America. Alicia is at once dazzled by the large and charismatic family, in particular the oldest son, a rising politician named Jack.
Alicia and Jack are soon engaged, but his domineering father forbids the marriage. And so, Alicia trades Hyannisport for Hollywood, and eventually Rome. She dates famous actors and athletes and royalty, including Gary Cooper, Kirk Douglas, and Katharine Hepburn, all the while staying close with Jack. A decade after they meet, on the eve of Jack’s inauguration as the thirty-fifth President of the United States, the two must confront what they mean to each other.
The Summer I Met Jack by Michelle Gable is based on the fascinating real life of Alicia Corning Clark, a woman who J. Edgar Hoover insisted was paid by the Kennedys to keep quiet, not only about her romance with Jack Kennedy, but also a baby they may have had together.
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| Varina by Charles FrazierWhat it’s about: Varina Davis, wife of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America during the U.S. Civil War, learns that her marriage of security and comfort comes at a steep price.
Why you might like it: If you enjoyed bestselling author Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain, you will rejoice as he returns to the same time period in U.S. history.
Read it for: the fascinating character study of Varina Davis through which we can ponder topics like culpability and complicity. |
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The Lost Family
by Jenna Blum
In 1965 Manhattan, patrons flock to Masha’s to savor its brisket bourguignon and to admire its dashing owner and head chef Peter Rashkin. With his movie-star good looks and tragic past, Peter, a survivor of Auschwitz, is the most eligible bachelor in town. But Peter does not care for the parade of eligible women who come to the restaurant hoping to catch his eye. Running Masha’s consumes him, as does his terrible guilt over surviving the horrors of the Nazi death camp while his wife, Masha—the restaurant’s namesake—and two young daughters perished.
Then exquisitely beautiful June Bouquet, an up-and-coming young model, appears at the restaurant, piercing Peter’s guard. Though she is twenty years his junior, the two begin a passionate, whirlwind courtship. When June unexpectedly becomes pregnant, Peter proposes, believing that beginning a new family with the woman he loves will allow him to let go of the horror of the past. But over the next twenty years, the indelible sadness of those memories will overshadow Peter, June, and their daughter Elsbeth, transforming them in shocking, heartbreaking, and unexpected ways.
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| The Other Alcott by Elise HooperIntroducing: May Alcott, sister and rival to Louisa May Alcott and the model for Amy March in Louisa’s classic Little Women, who aspires to greatness in the male-dominated art world.
Reviewers say: “Not to be missed” (Library Journal).
You might also like: Marie Benedict’s The Other Einstein, which also focuses on a less well-known relative of a historical icon, or Priya Parmar's Vanessa and Her Sister, another biographical historical novel that addresses complex sisterly relationships. |
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| The Moon in the Palace by Weina Dai RandelWhat it’s about: In Tang Dynasty China, 12-year-old Mei believes that her life is over when her father dies and her family is cast out of their home. But Mei’s fortunes change when she is summoned to the emperor’s palace to serve as one of 15 maidens in the Inner Court.
Is it for you? If you like historical fiction with a heavy dose of romance, don’t miss this lush and sweeping page-turner (and make note that the sequel is The Empress of Bright Moon). |
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