| The Attic Child by Lola JayeStarring: Dikembe, a twelve-year-old boy brought to Britain after he was taken from his home near the Congo River in 1905 by an English explorer; young orphan Lowra, whose life takes a dark turn after her father's death in 1974.
What unites them: an attic room, where each child spends most of their time locked up at the whims of cruel adults and a shared struggle to survive a profound burden of trauma.
Inspired by: the short life of Ndugu M'Hali (also known as Kalulu), an African boy brought to England by Henry Morton Stanley after the latter's famous journey to rescue Dr. David Livingstone. |
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| Hester by Laurie Lico AlbaneseWhat 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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| The Matchmaker's Gift by Lynda Cohen LoigmanStarring: Sara Glikman, a Russian Jewish immigrant whose knack for matchmaking gets her in trouble with the male-dominated marriage brokers in her tight-knit 1920s community; Sara's granddaughter Abby, a divorce attorney in 1990s Manhattan who explores her similar gift after her grandmother's recent death.
Read it for: the heartwarming tone, intricate plotting, and seamless transitions between the alternating perspectives.
Reviewers say: "The details are painstaking but never tedious, and the relationships are exciting, sincere, and beautiful" (Booklist). |
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| Jacqueline in Paris by Ann MahBefore Jackie O: Vassar college girl Jacqueline Bouvier spent a year abroad in post-WWII Paris, mingling with aristocratic French families and communist student activists alike.
Read it for: a vividly rendered portrait of the savvy future First Lady, and of European citizens struggling to rebuild trust among one another.
Try this next: Louis Bayard's Jackie & Me. |
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| The Ways We Hide by Kristina McMorrisThe setup: In the early 1940s, Fenna Vos is part of a traveling Houdini-inspired magical act, working with an increasingly volatile partner and trying to forget her traumatic past.
What changes: An audience member offers Fenna an unusual job with British Intelligence after noticing her particular set of skills, which could prove invaluable against the Nazis.
Reviewers say: "Readers will be drawn into Fen’s frustrations, anger, terror, joy, and constant drive to innovate when new challenges are put in her way" (Booklist). |
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| Nights of Plague by Orhan PamukThe setting: the (fictional) Mediterranean island Mingheria in the year 1900, a remote outpost of the Ottoman Empire that's home to Greeks, Turks, Christians, Muslims, and home-grown nationalists.
The situation: a plague of uncertain provenance breaks out and as the international community enforces a strict quarantine, tensions build and threaten to turn the island into a powder keg.
About the author: Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish novelist, memoirist, and social critic whose best known English-language works include Snow and My Name is Red. |
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| The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna QuinnWhat it's about: Cristabel Seagrave and her half-siblings Flossie and Digby pass their wild and carefree childhoods on a family estate off the coast of Devon after World War I, drawing strength and skills from those times as they work in various capacities serving the Allied effort during World War II.
Read it for: the whimsical yet moving tone, complex characters, and examination of halcyon days captured in amber.
For fans of: Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, or Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. |
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| The Village Idiot by Steve SternWhat it is: a lyrical, leisurely paced reimagining of the life of Jewish Belarusian painter Chaim Soutine, with a special focus on his years in Paris between the first and second World Wars.
Is it for you? In a portrayal as complex as the man himself, author Steve Stern readers will be immersed in the lushly descriptive language as they navigate the novel's stylistically complex writing style.
Reviewers say: "An outstanding portrait by a writer at the top of his form" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| The Last Dreamwalker by Rita WoodsWhat it's about: After her mother's death, Layla Hurley inherits some family property on island off the coast of South Carolina, a haunting place steeped deeply in its Gullah-Geechee heritage. Sharing this inheritance is her cousin Charlotte, setting them up for an acrimonious relationship until they discover unexpected common bond they share.
For fans of: magical realism and atmospheric settings that feel haunted by the past.
You might also like: Conjure Women by Afia Atakora; The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates. |
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| The Picture Bride by Lee Geum-yiHow it starts: In 1918, a young Korean woman named Willow becomes a "picture bride" and travels to Hawaii to meet the new husband she was told was a well-off land owner who would allow her to continue her education.
What's next? Willow arrives in Hawaii with other picture brides to find were misled about nearly everything, and as Korea's troubled early 20th-century history unfolds, she will have to navigate complexities she never anticipated in order to keep her friends and family together.
Reviewers say: "Historical fiction buffs and readers interested in little-known history will enjoy" (Library Journal). |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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