FICTION
Released: May 22, 2012
"The inventiveness of Mantel's language is the chief draw here; the plot, as such, will engage only the most determined of Tudor enthusiasts."
FICTION
Released: June 5, 2012
"An expertly woven, if occasionally talky, tale of gender rights and freedom."
Sexism, violence and skullduggery cast 16th-century Iran into turmoil in the second historical novel by Amirrezvani (
The Blood of Flowers, 2007).
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FICTION
Released: June 26, 2012
"Very low-key, but rewarding for patient readers."
On the lawless streets of the 19th-century Lower East Side, a 12-year-old girl's choices seem limited to servitude or prostitution.
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FICTION
Released: Aug. 7, 2012
"World War II Germany may be familiar ground, but Gillham's novel—vividly cinematic yet subtle and full of moral ambiguity, not to mention riveting characters—is as impossible to put down as it is to forget."
In his debut about 1943 Berlin, Gillham uses elements common to the many previous movies and books about World War II—from vicious Nazis to black marketeers to Jewish children hiding in attics to beautiful blond German women hiding their sexuality inside drab coats—yet manages to make the story fresh.
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FICTION
Released: Aug. 14, 2012
"Richly detailed but diffuse."
The last six years of Napoleon's empire, as witnessed by Bonaparte's sister, her Haitian retainer and the Hapsburg princess Empress Marie-Louise, Joséphine's successor.
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FICTION
Released: Aug. 14, 2012
"Although their fates are known, Gregory creates suspense by raising intriguing questions about whether her characters will transcend their historical reputations."
The latest of Gregory's Cousins' War series debunks--mostly--the disparaging myths surrounding Richard III and his marriage to Anne Neville.
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FICTION
Released: Aug. 21, 2012
"By weaving her own imaginative constructions in with actual journal entries of both Flaubert and Nightingale, Shomer skillfully combines historical plausibility and historical truth."
Alternative literary history--the conceit here is that Florence Nightingale and Gustave Flaubert, both of whom traveled to Egypt in 1850, met on the voyage and developed an ardent friendship.
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FICTION
Released: Aug. 28, 2012
"A sensitive portrayal and a well-crafted debut."
FICTION
Released: Sept. 11, 2012
"This is a dense narrative, permeated by the sights, sounds and smells of Renaissance Italy, and one that can stand shoulder to shoulder with Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose, with which it is sure to be compared."
In this epic novel, Ennis gives ample evidence that political and religious corruption in early-16th-century Italy makes anything vaguely analogous look like Sunnybrook Farm.
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FICTION
Released: Sept. 18, 2012
"A hauntingly affecting historical novel with a touch of magic."
Award-winning poet Nicholas (
Iron Rose, 2010, etc.) treks into the wilds of medieval England in his first novel, a saga vibrant with artful description.
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FICTION
Released: Oct. 2, 2012
"Power, lust and moral ambiguity combine for an all-American explosion of fictional fireworks."
The acclaimed mystery writer again tries his hand at historical fiction, combining period detail from the Prohibition era with the depth of character and twists of plot that have won him such a devoted readership.
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FICTION
Released: Oct. 2, 2012
"Did Richard III do in or merely discourage--" ‘suppressed,' mark you, not murdered"--his youngster kin? Read on."
FICTION
Released: Oct. 23, 2012
"Sexy and dashing."
Liberty and libertinage, reason and magic--the conflicting passions of the French Revolution swirl throughout the adventures of Elzelina van Aylde-Versfelt.
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FICTION
Released: Nov. 13, 2012
"A fast-moving, thoroughly enjoyable yarn."
The rip-roaring tale of a young follower of Robin Hood and their mission to rescue King Richard from captivity in A.D. 1192.
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FICTION
Released: Jan. 1, 2013
"Still, a spellbinding depiction of the hardships faced by a woman fighting her own war of independence."
As the Revolutionary War looms, a colonial wife struggles to survive after her husband wanders away.
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FICTION
Released: Jan. 15, 2013
"While the backdrop is strikingly vivid, Chiaverini's domestic tale dawdles too often in the details of dress fittings and quilt piecings, leaving Elizabeth's emotional terrain glimpsed but not traveled."
From the intimate domestic circles of the political elite, a dressmaker witnesses the upheavals of 19th-century America.
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FICTION
Released: Jan. 29, 2013
"Lush, inspired and provocative, this spellbinding dossier conjures up a bewitching Marlowe."
What if Kit Marlowe wasn't really killed in a tavern brawl? What if he escaped and became the secret scribe of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets?
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