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Historical fiction

  • Author:
    Lindbergh, Judith
    Summary:

    In 985 A.D. the life of a Viking thrall in newly settled Greenland is harsh and unforgiving. Katla, a proud, beautiful slave girl, is ostracized because of her arrogant ways and the mystical rosary beads she wears. She survives a violent rape only through the compassion of Thorbjorg, a pagan seeress and shaman. But Katla's mure daughter--concieved during the rape and reared by Torbjorg to be a shaman--maliciously exploits the pagan teachings to exact revenge on her mother for abandoning her.

  • Author:
    Mitchell, David
    Summary:

    In 1799, the artificial island of Dejima lies in Nagasaki Harbor as Japan's outpost for the Dutch East Indies Company. There, Jacob de Zoet has come to make a fortune large enough to return to Holland and marry the woman he loves.

  • Author:
    Legault, Stephen
    Summary:

    It is the spring of 1885 and the Northwest Rebellion has broken out. Amid the chaos of the Battle of Batoche, a grisly act leaves Reuben Wake dead. A Metis man is arrested for the crime, but he claims innocence. When Durrant Wallace, sergeant in the North West Mounted Police, begins his own investigation into the man’s possible motives, he learns there were many who wanted Wake dead. What Durrant uncovers is a series of covert conspiracies surrounding Metis leader and prophet Louis Riel. And, during the week-long intermission in Riel’s trial, he sets a trap to find Wake’s true killer.The Third Riel Conspiracy is the second book in the Durrant Wallace Mysteries, a series of historical murder mysteries set during pivotal events in western Canada’s history.

  • Author:
    Carner, Talia
    Summary:

    From the author of Jerusalem Maiden comes a remarkable story, inspired by little-known true events, about the thousands of young Jewish women who were trafficked into prostitution at the turn of the 20th century, and whose subjugation helped build Buenos Aires. The turn of the 20th century finds fourteen-year-old Batya in the Russian countryside, fleeing with her family endless pogroms. Desperate, her father leaps at the opportunity to marry Batya to a worldly, wealthy stranger who can guarantee his daughter an easy life and passage to America. Feeling like a princess in a fairytale, Batya leaves her old life behind as she is whisked away to a new world. But soon she discovers that she's entered a waking nightmare. Her new "husband" does indeed bring her to America: Buenos Aires, a vibrant, growing city in which prostitution is not only legal but deeply embedded in the culture. And now Batya is one of thousands of women tricked and sold into the oldest profession in the world. As the years pass, Batya forms deep bonds with her "sisters" in the brothel as well as some men who are both kind and cruel. Through it all, she holds onto one dream: to bring her family to America, where they will be safe from the anti-Semitism that plagues Russia. Just as Batya is becoming a known tango dancer, she gets an unexpected but dangerous opportunity-to help bring down the criminal network that has enslaved so many young women and has been instrumental in developing Buenos Aires into a major metropolis. A powerful story of finding courage in the face of danger, and hope in the face of despair, The Third Daughter brings to life a dark period of Jewish history and gives a voice to victims whose truth deserves to finally be told.

  • Author:
    Wilson, John, Yao, Xiaoming
    Summary:

    The Third Act deals with the intercultural struggles faced by Chinese students studying in North America in the present day and by an American playwright, Neil Peterson, caught up in the Nanjing Massacre of 1937. The contemporary story focuses on three Chinese friends (Tone, Pike and Theresa) who grapple in their own ways with the pressure to succeed in an unfamiliar culture. The historical tale concerns Peterson's effort to find his literary voice and save the woman he loves amidst the chaos and horror of the fall of Nanjing in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The two stories are tied together by a play that Peterson attempted to write after his return to America. The students in the present day get caught up in putting on a performance of the missing third act of Peterson's play, and in doing so they are forced to confront their cultural and personal pasts and futures.

  • Author:
    Yarros, Rebecca
    Summary:

    Told in alternating timelines, THE THINGS WE LEAVE UNFINISHED examines the risks we take for love, the scars too deep to heal, and the endings we can't bring ourselves to see coming. Twenty-eight-year-old Georgia Stanton has to start over after she gave up almost everything in a brutal divorce-the New York house, the friends, and her pride. Now back home at her late great-grandmother's estate in Colorado, she finds herself face-to-face with Noah Harrison, the bestselling author of a million books where the cover is always people nearly kissing. He's just as arrogant in person as in interviews, and she'll be damned if the good-looking writer of love stories thinks he's the one to finish her grandmother's final novel...even if the publisher swears he's the perfect fit. Noah is at the pinnacle of his career. With book and movie deals galore, there isn't much the "golden boy" of modern fiction hasn't accomplished. But he can't walk away from what might be the best book of the century-the one his idol, Scarlett Stanton, left unfinished. Coming up with a fitting ending for the legendary author is one thing, but dealing with her beautiful, stubborn, cynical great-granddaughter, Georgia, is quite another. But as they read Scarlett's words in both the manuscript and her box of letters, they start to realize why Scarlett never finished the book-it's based on her real-life romance with a World War II pilot, and the ending isn't a happy one. Georgia knows all too well that love never works out, and while the chemistry and connection between her and Noah is undeniable, she's as determined as ever to learn from her great-grandmother's mistakes-even if it means destroying Noah's career.

  • Author:
    Jenoff, Pam
    Summary:

    An ambitious novel that spans decades and continents, The Things We Cherished tells the story of Charlotte Gold and Jack Harrington, two fiercely independent attorneys who find themselves slowly falling for one another while working to defend the brother of a Holocaust hero against allegations of World War II-era war crimes. The defendant, wealthy financier Roger Dykmans, mysteriously refuses to help in his own defense, revealing only that proof of his innocence lies within an intricate timepiece last seen in Nazi Germany. As the narrative moves from Philadelphia to Germany, Poland, and Italy, we are given glimpses of the lives that the anniversary clock has touched over the past century and learn about the love affair that turned a brother into a traitor. Rich in historical detail, Pam Jenoff's astonishing new work is a testament to true love under the worst of circumstances.

  • Author:
    Rimmer, Kelly
    Summary:

    Alina and Tomasz are childhood sweethearts. The night before he leaves for college, Tomasz proposes marriage at a woody hill between their homes. But when their rural village falls to the Nazis, Alina does not hear from Tomasz. Is he alive or dead? USA, present day Alice is challenged by life with her son, Eddie, who has autism spectrum disorder. She feels isolated as her husband struggles to accept their son. When her beloved 95-year-old grandmother, Hanna, is hospitalized, a hidden box of mementoes reveals a tattered photo of a handsome young man, a tiny handmade leather shoe, and a letter too faded to read. Hanna begs Alice: Will she travel to Poland to see what became of those Hanna held dearest, so that she can lay to rest the ghosts of the past before she dies?

  • Author:
    Simmons, Dan.
    Summary:

    The men on board the HMS Terror -part of the ill-fated 1945 Franklin Expedition-are entering a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, stranded in a nightmarish landscape of ice and desolation. Endlessly cold, they struggle to survive with poisonous rations and a dwindling coal supply. But their real enemy is even more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror clawing to get in. "A bone- and spine-chilling novel."- Minneapolis Star-Tribune "The best and most unusual historical novel I have read in years."-Katherine A. Powers, Boston Globe "A mesmerizing thriller. . . . Simmon's epic, like the frozen sea that trapped the sailors, holds you fast."-Jennifer Reese, Entertainment Weekly

  • Author:
    Boyle, T. Coraghessan
    Summary:

    As climate change threatens the earth, eight scientists have been selected to live in a prototype of a possible off-earth colony. But as these "Terranauts" face increased scrutiny and a host of disasters, their mantra: "Nothing in, nothing out," becomes a dangerously ferocious rallying cry.

  • Author:
    Chung, Catherine
    Summary:

    The first thing I remember being said of me with any consistency was that I was intelligent-and I recognized even then that it was a comment leveled at me with as much disapproval as admiration. Still, I never tried to hide or suppress my mind as some girls do, and thank God, because that would have been the beginning of the end. From childhood, Katherine knows she is different, and that her parents are not who they seem to be. But in becoming a mathematician, she must face the most human of problems-who is she? What is the cost of love, and what is the cost of ambition? On her quest to conquer the Riemann Hypothesis, the greatest unsolved mathematical problem of her time, she turns to a theorem with a mysterious history that holds both the lock and key to her identity, and to secrets long buried during World War II in Germany. Forced to confront some of the most consequential events of the twentieth century and rethink everything she knows of herself, she strives to take her place in the world of higher mathematics and finds kinship in the stories of the women who came before her-their love of the language of numbers connecting them across generations. In The Tenth Muse, Catherine Chung offers a gorgeous, sweeping tale about legacy, identity, and the beautiful ways the mind can make us free.

  • Author:
    West, Joseph A., Compton, Ralph
    Summary:

    Framed for murder and pursued by bloodthirsty killers, Luke Garrett's landed himself in a real fix this time.

  • Author:
    Harrow, Alix E.
    Summary:

    In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut. In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place. Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own. Lush and richly imagined, a tale of impossible journeys, unforgettable love, and the enduring power of stories awaits in Alix E. Harrow's spellbinding debut--step inside and discover its magic. Early praise for The Ten Thousand Doors of January:"Many worlds, vanishing doors, mind-cracking magic: I clung to each page, searching for answers. This is one of the most unique works of fiction I've ever read!"--Tamora Pierce, New York Times bestselling author"A gorgeous, aching love letter to stories, storytellers and the doors they lead us through ... absolutely enchanting."--Christina Henry, national bestselling author of Lost Boys and Alice"With lush writing and a sense of wonder, The Ten Thousand Doors of January examines power, progress, and identity. It is an adventure in the best and grandest sense."--Erika Swyler, national bestselling author of The Book of Speculation

  • Author:
    Adjapon, Bisi
    Summary:

    In this stunning debut novel--a tale of self-discovery and feminist awakening--a feisty Nigerian-Ghanaian girl growing up amid the political upheaval of late 1960s postcolonial Ghana begins to question the hypocrisy of her patriarchal society, and the restrictions and unrealistic expectations placed on women. Young Esi Agyekum is the unofficial "secret keeper" of her family, as tight-lipped about her father's adultery as she is about her half-sisters' sex lives. But after she is humiliated and punished for her own sexual exploration, Esi begins to question why women's secrets and men's secrets bear different consequences. It is the beginning of a journey of discovery that will lead her to unexpected places. As she navigates her burgeoning womanhood, Esi tries to reconcile her own ideals and dreams with her family's complicated past and troubled present, as well as society's many double standards that limit her and other women. Against a fraught political climate, Esi fights to carve out her own identity, and learns to manifest her power in surprising and inspiring ways. Funny, fresh, and fiercely original, The Teller of Secrets marks the American debut of one of West Africa's most exciting literary talents.

  • Author:
    Pearl, Matthew
    Summary:

    Boston, 1868. The Civil War may be over but a new war has begun, one between the past and the present, tradition and technology. On a former marshy wasteland, the daring Massachusetts Institute of Technology is rising, its mission to harness science for the benefit of all and to open the doors of opportunity to everyone of merit. But in Boston Harbor a fiery cataclysm throws commerce into chaos, as ships' instruments spin inexplicably out of control. Soon after, another mysterious catastrophe devastates the heart of the city. Is it sabotage by scientific means or Nature revolting against man's attempt to control it? The shocking disasters cast a pall over M.I.T. and provoke assaults from all sides--rival Harvard, labor unions, and a sensationalistic press. With their first graduation and the very survival of their groundbreaking college now in doubt, a band of the Institute's best and brightest students secretly come together to save innocent lives and track down the truth, armed with ingenuity and their unique scientific training. Led by "charity scholar" Marcus Mansfield, a quiet Civil War veteran and one-time machinist struggling to find his footing in rarefied Boston society, the group is rounded out by irrepressible Robert Richards, the bluest of Beacon Hill bluebloods; Edwin Hoyt, class genius; and brilliant freshman Ellen Swallow, the Institute's lone, ostracized female student. Working against their small secret society, from within and without, are the arrayed forces of a stratified culture determined to resist change at all costs and a dark mastermind bent on the utter destruction of the city.

  • Author:
    Glickman, Susan
    Summary:

    The year is 1738. Jacques Lafargue, a wide-eyed young Frenchman, arrives in New France aboard the Saint Michel. But before his Canadian adventure has a chance to begin, he is detained at Quebec harbour by suspicious port officials. Their distrust proves warranted: instead of a young man named Jacques Lafargue their captive turns out to be a young woman named Esther Brandeau, and instead of answers to their questions about who she is and where she came from, they are given tales of castaways raised by apes, of blind lovelorn sailors and merciless pirates, of runaway slaves and kindly desert nomads, and of other curiosities in a limitless world. Few suspect the truth: Esther is a Jew, which by law prohibits her from entering New France, and she is using her tale-telling to escape the restrictions placed upon her race and gender. And no one - not even Esther herself - realizes the power her stories have to open their hearts and minds to old dreams and new possibilities.

  • Author:
    Albert, Susan Wittig
    Summary:

    1912. The peace of the Lake District is interrupted by the noisy test flights of a new flying machine: the hydroplane--and Beatrix's friend Grace is receiving anonymous letters that threaten her good name and her plans to marry.

  • Author:
    Albert, Susan Wittig
    Summary:

    The serenity of Hill Top Farm is shattered when a local shephard is murdered. Beatrix Potter--when she's not busy making friends with her fellow villagers--lends her insights to the investigation.

  • Author:
    Albert, Susan Wittig
    Summary:

    It's 1905, and to recover from the loss of her fiancé, Beatrix Potter moves into a small farmhouse in Sawrey. Populated by colorful characters, both human and critter, her new life is full of promise. That is, until a villager dies, and murder is suspected. Now it's up to this amateur sleuth to find a killer roaming the English countryside.

  • Author:
    Albert, Susan Wittig
    Summary:

    It is now 1907, and in her Lake Country village, Beatrix Potter is about to encounter both woodland magic and an intriguing mystery. As she helps some village children look for fairy folk, she stumbles upon evidence that a flame-haired stranger may have dangerous plans.

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