Historical Fiction December 2025 |
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Mrs. Endicott's Splendid Adventure
by Rhys Bowen
Surrey, England, 1938. After thirty devoted years of marriage, Ellie Endicott is blindsided by her husband's appeal for divorce. It's Ellie's opportunity for change too. The unfaithful cad can have the house. She's taking the Bentley. Ellie, her housekeeper Mavis, and her elderly friend Dora--each needing escape--impulsively head for parts unknown in the South of France. With the Rhãone surging beside them, they have nowhere to be and everywhere to go. Until the Bentley breaks down in the inviting fishing hamlet of Saint Benet. Here, Ellie rents an abandoned villa in the hills, makes wonderful friends among the villagers, and finds herself drawn to Nico, a handsome and enigmatic fisherman. As for unexpected destinations, the simple paradis of Saint Benet is perfect. But fates soon change when the threat of war encroaches. Ellie's second act in life is just beginning--and becoming an adventure she never expected--
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Circle of Days
by Ken Follett
A FLINT MINER WITH A GIFT: Seft, a talented flint miner, walks the Great Plain in the high summer heat, to witness the rituals that signal the start of a new year. He is there to trade his stone at the Midsummer Rite, and to find Neen, the girl he loves. Her family live in prosperity and offer Seft an escape from his brutish father and brothers, within their herder community. A PRIESTESS WHO BELIEVES THE IMPOSSIBLE: Joia, Neen's sister, is a priestess with a vision and an unmatched ability to lead. As a child, she watches the Midsummer ceremony, enthralled, and dreams of a miraculous new monument, raised from the biggest stones in the world. But trouble is brewing among the hills and woodlands of the Great Plain. A MONUMENT THAT WILL DEFINE A CIVILIZATION Joia's vision of a great stone circle, assembled by the divided tribes of the Plain, will inspire Seft and become their life's work. But as drought ravages the earth, mistrust grows between the herders, farmers and woodlanders - and an act of savage violence leads to open warfare..--
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Daughter of Genoa
by Kat Devereaux
Enthralling and eloquently bittersweet--a vivid historical portrait of the pivotal yet overlooked struggle to save Italian Jews in WWII, and how one unforgettable woman risks everything for love. Devereaux writes with great authority and masterfully blends imagination and history. A deeply affective novel that captivated me from the first page. -- Shelly Sanders, bestselling author of Daughters of The Occupation and The Night SparrowBased on a true story, The Daughter of Genoa is a moving and inspiring story, revealing the hope, humanity, and quiet heroism of ordinary people in their extraordinary efforts to help others. A powerful journey of heartbreak, love, and bravery, this is a book that will stay with readers for a long time. -- Madeline Martin, New York Times bestselling author of The Booklover's Library The author of Escape to Florence returns with a thrilling adventure set in the war-torn 1940s and inspired by true events, about a young woman who risks everything to help Jewish Italians flee the fascists, and falls in love with the brave aviator behind a daring secret rescue operation.Anna's family fled to America years ago, to escape the Fascist regime, but Anna had stayed behind. Alone and terrified of discovery, Anna meets Father Vittorio, a Jesuit priest who takes her to shopkeepers Bernardo and Silvia, an older couple who offer shelter and safety without question. But when Anna discovers that this kind, quiet couple is part of a network of ordinary people daring to help Father Vittorio smuggle Jewish citizens, stripped of their status and rights, out of Italy, she is determined to help.Anna offers skills essential to the cause: she has a deft hand at ledgers and forgery, talents she learned at the high-powered job she held before the Racial Laws were passed--a past she conceals. Working in secrecy, not knowing others' real names or sharing her own, Anna begins producing fake identity cards and soon meets another member of the operation: a man known as Mr. X., whom she recognizes instantly as the wealthy aviator Massimo Teglio. And suddenly, without warning--despite the threat of imprisonment, torture, and death--Anna finds herself taking the most dangerous of risk of all: falling in love. And she's not the only one.Based on the true story of the DELASEM--the Delegation for the Assistance of Jewish Emigrants, an organization of brave volunteers working tirelessly to save innocent lives from the concentration camps--Daughter of Genoa is a poignant look at those who loved and lost yet continued to risk everything to create a better world.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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