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Historical Fiction July 2020
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Bonnie
by
Christina Schwarz
Texas, 1930's: A reimagining of the life of Bonnie Parker traces the experiences of a young woman from a desolate region of Depression-era Texas whose consuming love for Clyde Barrow culminates in a violent and ultimately fatal crime spree.
What you might like: the infusion of the psychological acuity of literary fiction with the relentless pacing of a thriller. A plaintive and page-turning account of a woman destroyed by a lethal combination of longing and love.
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The Color of Air : a Novel
by
Gail Tsukiyama
Hilo, Hawaii, 1918 & 1935: Daniel Abe, a young doctor in Chicago, is finally coming back to Hawai'i. He has his own reason for returning to his childhood home, but it is not to revisit the past. His arrival coincides with the awakening of the Mauna Loa volcano with its dangerous path toward his village.
Alternating between past and present: the stories of Daniel, his uncle Koji, and his mother Mariko are interwoven to create a rich, vibrant, bittersweet chorus that celebrates their lifelong bond to one another and to their immigrant community.
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The Lions of Fifth Avenue : a Novel
by
Fiona Davis
New York, 1913 & 1933: Laura Lyons and her granddaughter, Sadie, must each, in their own times, deal with thefts of valuable books at the New York Public Library. While investigating the missing books, each woman makes discoveries that may alter her life forever.
What you'll like: The facts and history of this famous library, the mystery behind the thefts, strong female characters, early feminist movement.
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People of the Canyons
by
Kathleen O'Neal Gear
American Southwest, Ancient Times: The authors use artifacts found in modern times to flesh out a story of life in ancient times. This is part of a series, but can be read independently of the others.
What happens: A healer allies himself with a witch hunter to prevent a tyrant from claiming an artifact of power, while his adopted granddaughter uncovers terrifying truths about her parents.
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The Pull of the Stars
by
Emma Donoghue
Dublin, Ireland, 1918: A three-day look at a maternity ward during the height of the Great Flu pandemic.
Memorable characters: Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city center, where expectant mothers who have come down with the terrible new Flu are quarantined together. Into Julia's regimented world step two outsiders -- Doctor Kathleen Lynn, a rumoured Rebel on the run from the police , and a young volunteer helper, Bridie Sweeney.
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Saving Ruby King
by
Catherine Adel West
Chicago, Illinois, Contemporary: When Ruby King's mother is found murdered in their home, the police dismiss it as another act of violence in a black neighborhood. But for Ruby, it's a devastating loss that leaves her on her own with her violent father. While she receives many condolences, her best friend, Layla, is the only one who understands how this puts Ruby in jeopardy.
Read it for: it's views on racial divides, faith, friendship and loyalty.
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Highlight - New World War Two Titles |
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The Black Swan of Paris
by
Karen Robards
Paris: WWII: Celebrated singer Genevieve Dumont is both a star and a smokescreen. An unwilling darling of the Nazis, the chanteuse’s position of privilege allows her to go undetected as an ally to the resistance. When her estranged mother, Lillian de Rocheford, is captured by Nazis, Genevieve knows it won’t be long, before the Gestapo succeeds in torturing information out of Lillian that will derail the upcoming allied invasion.
What happens: Reuniting with her long-lost sister, she must find a way to navigate the perilous cross-currents of occupied France undetected, and in time to save Lillian's life.
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The Book of Lost Names
by
Kristin Harmel
Poland, 1942: Eva, a graduate student, is forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town, she and a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, begin forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. They decide to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are, by cryptically recording them in The Book of Lost Names.
Florida, 2007: Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. It's an image of a book she hasn't seen in sixty-five years, a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names.
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Her Last Flight
by
Beatriz Williams
Kauai, Hawaii, 1947: Photographer and war correspondent Janey Everett arrives at a remote surfing village on the Hawaiian island of Kauai to research a planned biography of forgotten aviation pioneer Sam Mallory. Janey discovers Irene Lindquist, the owner of a local island-hopping airline, whom she believes might actually be the legendary Irene Foster, Mallory's onetime student and flying partner.
Read it for: the twists and turns, romance, mystery, and intrigue.
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The Vanishing Sky
by
L. Annette Binder
Germany, 1945: Etta Huber is a mother in a rural German community towards the end of the war. She must deal with her husband Josef’s escalating nationalism; Max, her traumatized soldier son; and her younger son, Georg, who flees the Hitler Youth.
Read it for: its perspective of a German family, depictions of the irreparable damage of war on the home front, and one family's participation, both voluntary and involuntary, in a dangerous regime.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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