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Historical Fiction April 2021
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Band of Sisters
by Lauren Willig
Starring: Kate Moran, a former Smith College scholarship student eschewed by her wealthy graduated classmates.
What happens: Kate reluctantly volunteers to help World War I French civilians before finding herself surrounded by desperate families in villages decimated by German bombs.
Who will like it: Fans of dramatic, engaging historical fiction such as The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen or The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.
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The Gates of Athens
by Conn Iggulden
Inspired by: The ancient world’s Battle of Marathon and the Last Stand at Thermopylae.
What happens: Against all odds, the Athenians emerge victorious against Darius the Great’s invading Persian army. But 10 years later, Athens itself succumbs to factionalism and betrayal.
You may also enjoy: Imperium by Robert Harris or Medea by Kerry Greenwood both include dramatic, richly detailed storytelling with well-developed characters.
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Send For Me
by Lauren Fox
What it is: Based on letters from the author's own family, "a sweeping, achingly beautiful new novel that moves between Germany on the eve of World War II and present day Wisconsin, unspooling a story of love, longing, and the ceaseless push and pull of motherhood."
The appeal: Fans of We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter or The Guest Book by Sarah Blake will enjoy this moving family saga.
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The Lost Apothecary
by Sarah Penner
18th Century London: A London apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them.
Present day: An aspiring historian stumbles upon a clue to the unsolved apothecary murders that haunted London two hundred years ago. Her life collides with the apothecary's in a stunning twist of fate, and not everyone will survive.
For fans of: Intricately plotted historical novels such as The Necklace by Claire McMillan or A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas.
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| Those Who Are Saved by Alexis LandauWhat it is: A compelling and thought-provoking story of survival and family separation set during the Nazi occupation of France.
Vichy France, 1940: Russian Jewish émigrés Vera and Max Volosenkova entrust their young daughter Lucie to governess Agnes after being ordered to report to an "internment" camp.
California, 1945: Although the couple were unexpectedly given a chance to escape Nazi custody, there was no way to return for their daughter along the way. The war now over, Vera is desperate to get back to France to search for Lucie in the postwar sea of refugees. |
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| The Evening and the Morning by Ken FollettWhat it is: A sweeping and descriptive prequel to The Pillars of the Earth set during England's tumultuous 10th century.
Starring: Down-on-his-luck boat builder Edgar; spirited young Norman noblewoman Ragna; scholarly and reform-minded cleric Brother Aldred.
Why you might like it: This intricately plotted tale of a land torn between its Saxon and Viking identities shows how a tiny riverside hamlet began its transformation into the town that series fans know as Kingsbridge. |
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| Fifty Words for Rain by Asha LemmieWhat it's about: Noriko Kamiza is the illegitimate child of an African American GI and a Japanese aristocrat born during World War II. Abandoned by her mother, she lives a confined, deprived existence with her status-conscious grandmother in Kyoto, Japan.
Read it for: the unanticipated strong bond Noriko forms with her half-brother Akira, the family's legitimate heir; the parallels drawn between social change and Noriko's burgeoning independence after she escapes to Swinging Sixties London.
Reviewers say: "A truly ambitious and remarkable debut" (Booklist). |
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| House of Gold by Natasha SolomonsThe premise: In 1911, strong-willed Austrian heiress Greta Goldbaum moved to England to marry a man she didn't know for the sake of her family's business interests. Though they get off to a rough start, Greta and her new husband build a life together, and soon they fall in love for real.
The problem: At the outbreak of World War I, Greta finds herself torn between her family of origin and the family she has created, both of which are threatened by the increasing antisemitism that's spreading across Europe.
For fans of: Barbara Taylor Bradford's Cavendon Hall, another family saga steeped in doomed Belle Époque glamour in the run-up to World War I. |
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| Jacob's Ladder by Ludmila UlitskayaWhat it is: A sweeping epistolary novel that chronicles three generations of a Russian family, from just before the Revolution to the 1970s.
Read it for: The engaging narrative voice and creative juxtaposition of personal and political upheaval.
Reviewers say: "A sweeping, ambitious story reminiscent at times of Pasternak in its grasp of both history and tragedy" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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Contact your librarian for more great books?
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