|
|
Historical Fiction December 2017 |
|
|
|
| The Indigo Girl: A Novel by Natasha BoydTaking charge of her family's plantation, 16-year-old Eliza Lucas decides to pay off her father's debts with a lucrative commodity: indigo dye. However, in 1739 South Carolina, indigo is an experimental crop and dye-making is a mysterious process known only to the estate's enslaved workers, who brought the knowledge with them from Africa. In exchange for their expertise, Eliza teaches her new assistants to read and write, which is against the law. This atmospheric novel draws on letters and archival documents to tell the story of a real-life entrepreneur and the first woman to be inducted into South Carolina's Business Hall of Fame. |
|
| The Revolution of Marina M. by Janet FitchAs revolutionary fervor engulfs 1916 St. Petersburg, budding Bolshevik Marina Makarova rejects her bourgeois background and embraces radical politics. The resulting societal upheaval will affect not only Marina but also her family, friends, and lovers. This sweeping saga stars a courageous and passionate heroine who survives a turbulent era of Russian history and may appeal to fans of Simon Sebag-Montefiore's Sashenka. |
|
| I, Eliza Hamilton by Susan Holloway Scott"Love is not easy with a man chosen by Fate for greatness," declares Elizabeth Schuyler as she proceeds to recount her long (and sometimes tumultuous) relationship with her husband, Alexander Hamilton. From the couple's first meeting to Hamilton's death in a now-infamous duel, this richly detailed novel provides readers with a glimpse into a couple's marriage and a woman's heart. Readers interested in Alexander's perspective of events may enjoy Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman's The Hamilton Affair. |
|
| 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. |
|
|
|
The Amish Midwife
by Mindy Starns Clark
A burning desire to learn about her biological family leads nurse-midwife Lexie Jaeger to the heart of Pennsylvania Amish country, where she meets Marta Bayer, a mysterious lay-midwife who desperately needs help after an Amish client and her baby die..
|
|
|
|
The Harlot's Tale: A Midwife Mystery
by Samuel S. Thomas
"It is August, 1645, one year since York fell into Puritan hands. As the city suffers through a brutal summer heat, Bridget Hodgson and Martha Hawkins are drawn into a murder investigation more frightening than their last. In order to appease God's wrath--and end the heat-wave--the city's overlords have launched a brutal campaign to whip the city's sinners into godliness. But for someone in York, this is not enough. First a prostitute and her client are found stabbed to death, then a pair of adulterers are beaten and strangled. York's sinners have been targeted for execution. Bridget and Martha--assisted once again by Will, Bridget's good-hearted nephew--race to find the killer even as he adds more bodies to his tally. The list of suspects is long: Hezekiah Ward, a fire and brimstone preacher new to York; Ward's son, Praise-God, whose intensity mirrors his father's; John Stubb, one of Ward's fanatic followers, whose taste for blood may not have been sated by his time in Parliament's armies. Or could the killer be closer to home? Will's brother Joseph is no stranger to death, and he shares the Wards' dreams of driving sin from the city. To find the killer, Bridget, Martha, and Will must uncover the city's most secret sins, and hope against hope that the killer does not turn his attention in their direction"
|
|
| 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. |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
|
|
|