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Historical Fiction June 2024
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| All the World Beside by Garrard ConleySet in a small Massachusetts village during the First Great Awakening, this well-researched, heartwrenching tale of faith and forbidden love centers on the very passionate (and equally dangerous) romantic connection that develops between devout preacher Nathaniel Whitfield and the town doctor Arthur Lyman. For fans of The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr. and The Disenchantment by Celia Bell. |
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A Net for Small Fishes
by Lucy Jago
What it is: an engaging story of desperation and court intrigue, inspired by the 1613 poisoning of English courtier Sir Thomas Overbury.
Starring: Frances Howard, the unhappily married Countess of Essex, who develops a scandalous extramarital connection with the king's favorite Robert Carr; Anne Turner, a doctor's widow who, after forming an unlikely bond with Frances, reveals her potentially useful set of skills.
Reviewers say: Author Lucy Jago presents "a remarkable exploration of the power, limits, and price of women’s friendship" (Publishers Weekly).
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A Sign of Her Own
by Sarah Marsh
This is the reflective and richly detailed story of Ellen Lark, a deaf woman who just wants to express herself on her own terms. While studying with Alexander Graham Bell to learn his Visual Speech technique, Ellen begins to question society's shunning of sign language and the pressure deaf people faced to assimilate.
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Above the Salt
by Katherine Vaz
In this sweeping and heartwrenching love story, young lovers João and Maria separately flee religious persecution on the island of Madeira and reunite to make new lives in Illinois. After forming a connection with up-and-coming politician Abraham Lincoln, the couple are again separated in the upheaval of the Civil War but share an indelible bond that will shape the rest of their lives.
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Four Treasures of the sky
by Jenny Tinghui Zhang
What it's about: Daiyu is a young Chinese woman who moves to an Idaho mining town after escaping sexual slavery in 1880s San Francisco. Living as "Jacob Li" she works for a kindly pair of Chinese general store owners, until her new life is threatened by increasingly racist attitudes toward Asian people.
Why you should read it: Through Daiyu's story, author Jenny Zhang explores the complex history of Chinese Americans in the shadow of the uptick in anti-Asian violence during the COVID pandemic.
For fans of: How Much of These Hills is Gold by C. Pam Zhang (no relation); The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu by Tom Lin.
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Essex Dogs
by Dan Jones
How it starts: with titular Essex Dogs -- a rough-and-tumble band of 10 mercenaries-- landing on the beaches of Normandy in 1346 to join up with King Edward III's invasion of France.
Read it for: the chance to get to know this engaging, ragtag bunch of men-at-arms, including a volatile priest, a brooding young archer, and their battle-hardened, world weary captain.
About the author: British historian Dan Jones is known for his well-researched and accessible books including The Templars, The Hollow Crown, and Magna Carta. Essex Dogs is his first novel.
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Hester
by Laurie Lico Albanese
What it's about: Abandoned by her husband upon their arrival in 1820s Salem, Massachusetts, Scottish seamstress Isobel Gamble can't help but reflect on her ancestor who was tried as a witch -- even more so after she befriends Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose own ancestor played a major role in the notorious local witch trials.
An unlikely muse: Built on shared feelings of stifled creativity and being outsiders, the connection formed between Isobel and Nathaniel transforms them both and later inspires the creation of The Scarlet Letter.
You might also like: The Whale by Mark Beauregard, which similarly imagines the development of Herman Melville's Moby Dick, this time with Nathaniel Hawthorne as the muse.
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Contact your library for more great books!
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