Allende’s fluidly written saga conveys her deep familiarity with the events she depicts, and her intent to illustrate their human impact in a moving way. The scope spans most of the lives of Victor Dalmau, a Republican army medic in 1936 Spain, and Roser Bruguera, a music student taken in by Victor’s family and, later, his brother Guillem’s lover and the mother of Guillem’s child. The story follows them over nearly sixty years, beginning with the tumult of the Spanish Civil War. Guillem is killed fighting against the Fascists, news that Victor can’t bear to tell Roser initially. After surviving separate and terrible circumstances that leave them refugees in France, where authorities treat them with contempt and worse, the two marry for practical reasons in order to join Pablo Neruda’s mission transporting over 2000 Spanish exiles to Chile aboard the S.S. Winnipeg . In Santiago, the Dalmaus find many Chileans sympathetic to the Spaniards, while others make them unwelcome. With a poetic ...
The winter season is nearly upon us! What historical novels are you looking forward to over the next few months? Here are a dozen that caught my attention. What they offer: less familiar settings, new perspectives, and/or intriguing characters. I haven't read any of these yet but am looking forward to them all.
The story of two women, a child, a difficult journey, and the aftermath of war, set in Spain and southern France at the end of WWII. Now this is an eye-catching cover. Lake Union, February 2019. [see on Goodreads]
Secrets surround the marshy English landscape where a 10-year old girl arrives in 1939 to meet the couple who will adopt her. Her father's rescue of a downed German airman spurs a chain of events that haunt her, decades later, as an old woman. Readers in the UK can find it under the title Call of the Curlew. Tin House, January 2019. [see on Goodreads]
A new novel set to reveal a little-known story about America's first president: his relationship with his first love, Mary Philipse, and how it affected his views going forward. St. Martin's, February 2019. [see on Goodreads]
The author's second novel takes place in colonial Malaysia in the 1930s, focusing on an apprentice dressmaker working in a dance hall, a houseboy with an unusual task, and what happens when their paths collide. Flatiron, February 2019. [see on Goodreads]
The 17th century continues to be fertile ground for new fiction. The witch trials of early 17th-century England sit at the backdrop of this debut, in which two young women - a wife desperate for a child, and a midwife accused of witchcraft - join together amid desperate circumstances. MIRA (US/Canada), Zaffre (UK), February 2019. [see on Goodreads]
Bartolomeo Scappi was a historical figure, a famed chef in Renaissance Italy. In King's second novel (after Feast of Sorrow, also on a culinary subject), Scappi's nephew, Giovanni, searches for secrets in his late uncle's past. Atria, February 2019. [see on Goodreads]
Knowing his days are numbered, a consumptive attorney teams up with an ex-soldier to track a killer in late 18th-century Stockholm. The author's surname, Swedish for "night and day," indicates he's a descendant of one of Sweden's oldest noble families. [see on Goodreads]
There's been considerable buzz about this literary debut, which isn't the first to reveal the story of model/photographer Lee Miller in the 20th century, but the author's style and language are receiving accolades. Little, Brown, February 2019. [see on Goodreads]
A historical mystery set in Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy's Egypt, as she asks her friend to investigate her spy's recent murder; first in a new series. Head of Zeus, December 2018. [see on Goodreads]
The story of Cherokee America Singer (called "Check"), a farmer and mother of five in the Cherokee Nation West of 1875, and the family dramas and culture clashes that involve her and her community. Western fiction from a perspective not seen enough in the genre. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, February 2019. [see on Goodreads]
A Mormon woman, living in a remote town along a canyon floor in Utah, finds her life turned upside down when a stranger requests her help. Weisgarber's novels always show mastery of setting and character development. Skyhorse, February 2019. [see on Goodreads]
The story of two women, a child, a difficult journey, and the aftermath of war, set in Spain and southern France at the end of WWII. Now this is an eye-catching cover. Lake Union, February 2019. [see on Goodreads]
Secrets surround the marshy English landscape where a 10-year old girl arrives in 1939 to meet the couple who will adopt her. Her father's rescue of a downed German airman spurs a chain of events that haunt her, decades later, as an old woman. Readers in the UK can find it under the title Call of the Curlew. Tin House, January 2019. [see on Goodreads]
A new novel set to reveal a little-known story about America's first president: his relationship with his first love, Mary Philipse, and how it affected his views going forward. St. Martin's, February 2019. [see on Goodreads]
The author's second novel takes place in colonial Malaysia in the 1930s, focusing on an apprentice dressmaker working in a dance hall, a houseboy with an unusual task, and what happens when their paths collide. Flatiron, February 2019. [see on Goodreads]
This literary saga promises intrigue surrounding glass designer Tiffany and his opulent mansions, his gardener's family, and repercussions of past choices spiraling down from 1916 over the next century. Sarah Crichton Books/FSG, February 2019. [see on Goodreads]
The 17th century continues to be fertile ground for new fiction. The witch trials of early 17th-century England sit at the backdrop of this debut, in which two young women - a wife desperate for a child, and a midwife accused of witchcraft - join together amid desperate circumstances. MIRA (US/Canada), Zaffre (UK), February 2019. [see on Goodreads]
Bartolomeo Scappi was a historical figure, a famed chef in Renaissance Italy. In King's second novel (after Feast of Sorrow, also on a culinary subject), Scappi's nephew, Giovanni, searches for secrets in his late uncle's past. Atria, February 2019. [see on Goodreads]
Knowing his days are numbered, a consumptive attorney teams up with an ex-soldier to track a killer in late 18th-century Stockholm. The author's surname, Swedish for "night and day," indicates he's a descendant of one of Sweden's oldest noble families. [see on Goodreads]
There's been considerable buzz about this literary debut, which isn't the first to reveal the story of model/photographer Lee Miller in the 20th century, but the author's style and language are receiving accolades. Little, Brown, February 2019. [see on Goodreads]
A historical mystery set in Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy's Egypt, as she asks her friend to investigate her spy's recent murder; first in a new series. Head of Zeus, December 2018. [see on Goodreads]
The story of Cherokee America Singer (called "Check"), a farmer and mother of five in the Cherokee Nation West of 1875, and the family dramas and culture clashes that involve her and her community. Western fiction from a perspective not seen enough in the genre. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, February 2019. [see on Goodreads]
A Mormon woman, living in a remote town along a canyon floor in Utah, finds her life turned upside down when a stranger requests her help. Weisgarber's novels always show mastery of setting and character development. Skyhorse, February 2019. [see on Goodreads]
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