August 2025 list by Holly Whistler |
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The Traitor of Sherwood Forest
by Amy S. Kaufman
Peasant girl Jane Crowe becomes a spy for the cunning Robin Hood, navigating the dangerous world of noble secrets and outlaws, while questioning his true motives and her own role as his schemes spiral into violence and betrayal.
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Gabriële
by Anne Berest
An atmospheric, exuberant novel from the best-selling author of The Postcard, Anne Berest, and her sister, Claire Berest, about love and sex, art and revolution, experimentation and creativity, and three young people who changed the world.
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Where the Rivers Merge
by Mary Alice Monroe
The first of two epic novels celebrates one intrepid woman's life across multiple generations in the American South.
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The Chosen Queen: A Novel of the Pendragon Prophecy
by Sam Davey
Igraine, destined mother of King Arthur, takes center stage for a powerful, feminist retelling of Camelot which begins not with the sword in the stone-but rather with a twisted chain of murder, magic, and deceit.
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The Phoenix Pencil Company
by Allison King
A hidden and nearly forgotten magic—of Reforging pencils, bringing the memories they contain back to life—holds the power to transform a young woman's relationship with her grandmother, and to mend long-lost connections across time and space.
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Blonde Dust
by Tatiana de Rosnay
Pauline, a young chambermaid who works at the legendary Mapes Hotel in Reno, Nevada, is asked to step in for a colleague and clean Suite 614. Although she was told the rooms were empty, a dazed, sleepy woman appears before her. This is Mrs. Miller, aka Marilyn Monroe, whose stay in Reno coincides with the breakdown of her marriage to Arthur Miller and the filming of what was to be her last film, The Misfits.
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The House of Two Sisters
by Rachel Louise Driscoll
Clementine's translation of a cryptic amulet at her father's Egyptian relic party in 1887 Essex coincides with a series of tragedies, leading her five years later to Cairo, where she joins a perilous journey down the Nile to return the artifact.
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A Family Matter
by Claire Lynch
A heartbreaking and hopeful exploration of love and loss, intimacy and injustice, custody and care, and whether it is possible to heal from the wounds of the past in the changed world of today.
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Across the Crying Sands
by Jane Kirkpatrick
Married at sixteen, Mary Gerritse thought she knew everything she wanted - a husband and a family. So why doesn't that satisfy her soul? When the chance comes to take on a treacherous mail route along the Oregon coast, she wonders if this will be the adventure she longs for. Inspired by a true story.
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Six Wild Crowns
by Holly Race
Clever, ambitious Boleyn is determined to be her beloved Henry's favorite queen. She relishes the games at court and the political rivalries with his other wives. Seymour is the opposite. But when the two queens become the unlikeliest of friends and allies - the balance of power begins to shift. Together, they uncover a dark and deadly truth at the heart of the island's magic. Boleyn and Seymour's only hope of survival rests on uniting all six of the rival queens - but Henry will never let that happen.
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Shopgirls
by Jessica Anya Blau
A novel of found family, growing up and the best and worst of the 1980s revolves around San Francisco's most exclusive department store, I. Magnin.
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