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Historical Fiction July 2024
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| Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. ChungUsing her family history, debut novelist Eve J. Chung depicts an aristocratic mother and three daughters in 1948 China after the men of the family flee the communists, leaving them behind. But the quartet fight for survival, traveling from the country to British Hong Kong and finally Taiwan, as the middle daughter dreams of more. Read-alikes: Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah; The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave. |
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| Spitting Gold by Carmella LowkisTwenty-something Baroness Sylvie Devereux agrees to help her estranged younger sister with one last spiritualist con in 1866 Paris. They target the de Jacquinots, who believe they are being haunted by an ancestor...and they just might be right. This "twisty debut plays with the conventions of the gothic novel" (Kirkus Reviews) and depicts intriguing relationships and compelling characters. Read-alikes: The London Séance Society by Sarah Penner; The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas. |
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| Ella by Diane RichardsThis "electrifying" (Publishers Weekly) first novel focuses on three pivotal years in the life of legendary singer Ella Fitzgerald. In 1932, at the age of 15, Ella begins working for the mob after her mother dies. Later, she ends up at an infamous reform school for girls. Then in 1934, she's on stage for the Apollo Theatre's famed amateur night, preparing to dance. Read-alikes: Can’t We Be Friends by Denny S. Bryce and Eliza Knight; On the Rooftop by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton. |
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| The Library Thief by Kuchenga ShenjéIn Victorian England, white-passing Florence Granger, who her father brought home from Jamaica as a baby, is kicked out after a scandal. Having learned bookbinding from him, she cleverly acquires a position restoring rare books in the forbidding Rose Hall. But events lead her to believe that Lord Belfield's late wife was murdered. For fans of: The Fraud by Zadie Smith; The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. |
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Unforgettable Historical Reads |
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The Echo of Old Books: A Novel
by Barbara Davis
Rare-book dealer Ashlyn Greer's affinity for books extends beyond the intoxicating scent of old paper, ink, and leather. She can feel the echoes of the books' previous owners--an emotional fingerprint only she can read. When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound volumes that appear to have never been published, her gift quickly becomes an obsession. Not only is each inscribed with a startling incrimination, but the authors, Hemi and Belle, tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance. With no trace of how these mysterious books came into the world, Ashlyn is caught up in a decades-old literary mystery, beckoned by two hearts in ruins, whoever they were, wherever they are. Determined to learn the truth behind the doomed lovers' tale, she reads on, following a trail of broken promises and seemingly unforgivable betrayals. The more Ashlyn learns about Hemi and Belle, the nearer she comes to bringing closure to their love story--and to the unfinished chapters of her own life.
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Weyward: A Novel
by Emilia Hart
Told over five centuries through three connected women, this riveting novel follows Kate, in 2019, as she seeks refuge in Weyward Cottage; Altha, in 1619, as she uses her powers to maintain her freedom; and Violet, in 1942, as she searches for the truth about her mother's death.
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Lady Tan's Circle of Women: A Novel
by Lisa See
Sent into an arranged marriage, Tan Yunxian, forbidden to continue her work as a midwife-in-training as well as see her forever friend Meiling, is ordered to act like proper wife and seeks a way to continue treating women and girls from every level of society in 15th-century China.
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The Covenant of Water
by Abraham Verghese
What it's about: Set in Kerala, India from 1900 to 1977, this atmospheric family saga follows a family of St. Thomas Christians (a local Christian community present in the region since late antiquity) that loses at least one member to drowning each generation.
About the author: Physician and award-winning author Abraham Verghese is known for his memoir My Own Country and two previous novels The Tennis Partner and Cutting for Stone.
Reviewers say: "Verghese outdoes himself with this grand and stunning tribute to 20th-century India" (Publishers Weekly).
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Michigan City Public Library 100 E. 4th Street Michigan City, Indiana 46360 219-873-3044mclib.org/ |
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