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Historical Fiction October 2021
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| The Women of Troy by Pat BarkerWhat it is: A moving, gritty reimagining of the aftermath of the Trojan War, driven by complex female characters who tell first-person stories of grief, trauma, and vengeance.
Starring: Resilient and revenge-minded Briseis, who was enslaved by Achilles; prophetic princess Cassandra, whose visions of the war to come were ignored thanks to a curse from Apollo; Hector's widow Andromache, whose pragmatism might just help her rebuild a life worth living.
Series alert: The Women of Troy is a sequel to Pat Barker's The Silence of the Girls, which focused on women on the other side of the war. |
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| Matrix by Lauren GroffInspired by: The life and works of Marie de France, the pseudonym of a 12th-century French poet, prioress, and literary pioneer known for her works of hagiography, translation, and chivalric romance.
The real Marie? The level of education reflected in her writing has led some historians to conclude that Marie de France was likely related to royalty, with the top candidates being a daughter of King Stephen of England or an illegitimate half-sister of King Henry II of England. |
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| The Magician by Colm TóibínThe Mann, the myth...This sweeping, richly detailed biographical novel follows the tumultuous life of German author and Nobel laureate Thomas Mann, chronicling his career, family ups and downs, defiance of the Nazis, and closeted sexuality.
About the author: Colm Tóibín is an Irish novelist, poet, journalist, playwright, and literary critic whose works include the Greek myth retelling House of Names and the Booker Prize-shortlisted Henry James fictional biography The Master.
Reviewers say: The Magician "vibrates with the strength of Mann’s visions and the sublimity of Tóibín’s mellifluous prose" (Publishers Weekly). |
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Books You Might Have Missed
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| Mrs. Wiggins by Mary MonroeWhat it's about: Maggie Wiggins (née Franklin) is on the road to respectability thanks to her marriage to Hubert, the son of a beloved minister in a small town in Jim Crow-era Alabama. Weighed down by a past that could ruin her future, Maggie soon learns she's not the only one in town with dangerous secrets to keep.
Series alert: Although Mrs. Wiggins is a standalone story, it takes place in the same world as Mary Monroe's Mama Ruby novels.
Also available in eBook on Hoopla |
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| The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly MustianWhat it is: The atmospheric and intricately plotted story of two young women who form an unlikely friendship across the color line in rural 1920s Mississippi.
Starring: White 16-year-old Ada, a pregnant runaway who is forced by circumstances to return to her childhood home (the titular stilt house); Black 17-year-old Matilda, a sharecropper's daughter and aspiring social reformer whose impulsive decision bonds the two girls for life.
Also available in eBook & eAudiobook on Hoopla |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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