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Historical Fiction April 2021
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| Dangerous Women by Hope AdamsWhat it is: a moving, well-researched debut novel inspired by the true story of the 1841 voyage of the ship Rajah as it transported a group of female convicts to Tasmania.
What goes wrong: As an intricate but tenuous web of connections develops between the women onboard, the violent death of a passenger threatens to unearth a multitude of secrets beyond the identity of the murderer.
For fans of: locked-room murder mysteries and ensemble casts. |
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| Vera by Carol EdgarianWhat it's about: chosen family, resilience, and coming-of-age, set against the backdrop San Francisco just after the massive 1906 earthquake.
Starring: Vera, the 15-year-old daughter of emotionally distant Barbary Coast madam Rose; Swedish-American Pie, Vera's pragmatic foster sister; Lifang, Vera's half-Chinese half-sister who enjoys a much closer relationship with their mother.
You might also like: A Splendid Ruin by Megan Chance, which follows another feisty young woman making a life for herself in the devastated city. |
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Surviving Savannah
by Patti Callahan Henry
What it's about: A tale based on the Pulaski disaster of 1838 follows the efforts of a Savannah history professor to guest-curate a museum collection of wreck artifacts while researching the stories of 11 family members who were aboard the doomed steamship.
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Magic lessons : The Prequel to Practical Magic
by Alice Hoffman
A prequel to the movie-inspiring novel unveils the origin story of Maria Owens, who after being discovered as an abandoned baby in rural 17th-century Salem is taught in the “Unnamed Arts” before cursing her own family in love. 200,000 first printing.
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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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The princes of Ireland : the Dublin saga
by Edward Rutherfurd
A fictional account of the legend of Cuchulainn recreates such events as the mission of Saint Patrick, the Viking invasion, the trickery of Henry II that led to England's establishment in Ireland, the failed rebellion of 1798, and the Great Famine. By the author of Sarum and London.
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The daughter's tale : a novel
by Armando Lucas Correa
What's it about: A tale of love and redemption based on the 1944 Oradour-Sur-Glane massacre follows an octogenarian's receipt of a cache of letters, written by her mother during World War II, that uncover decades of secrets.
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The other queen
by Philippa Gregory
The story continues... The best-selling author of The Other Boleyn Girl presents a tale based on the life of Mary Queen of Scots that follows her extended imprisonment as a "guest" of the Earl of Shrewsbury and her calculated, often ruthless plans to reclaim her throne while wresting power from Queen Elizabeth.
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Contact your librarian for more great books?
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Grand Ledge Area District Library 131 E Jefferson St Grand Ledge, Michigan 48837 (517) 627-7014https://gladl.org |
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