I have always loved history, which is why I love to read historical fiction. I’m fascinated by it. Historical fiction has a ability to make connections between the past and the present. It’s almost like bringing people out of history and setting them at a table beside you. Even after we know some facts of history, we feel moved by what happened if we read another account of it.
This book has amazing characterization. Also, the voice of the narration is spectacular. And the chemistry between the love interests is palpable. They are tough characters. Loving and smart and honest. You want to keep them around. Please read it. I can’t say enough good things about it.
Sarah Agnes Prine begins her diary in 1881 when her father decides to move the whole family - and their horse ranch - from Arizona Territory to Texas, where life will be easier. Sarah, at seventeen, is a tomboy: though she longs to be educated, gracious and beautiful like other women. But when the family sets out on the wagon trail and disasters strike in rapid succession, Sarah turns out to be the only thing that keeps them from certain death.
Sarah stays brave, strong and determined through everything that befalls her. But she longs to be loved, like any…
The narrative of this book is compelling. It starts with a bang and is haunting at the same time. Based on true events from 1945, the story centers on four refugees fleeing Russian invaders, only to find themselves aboard a sinking ship that is only meant to hold 1200, but instead has 10,000 onboard. Each character is given his/her own chapter, with each acting as a window to each of their souls. It’s riveting historical fiction, based on actual events.
It's early 1945 and a group of people trek across Germany, bound together by their desperation to reach the ship that can take them away from the war-ravaged land. Four young people, each haunted by their own dark secret, narrate their unforgettable stories. Fans of The Book Thief or Helen Dunmore's The Siege will be totally absorbed.
This inspirational novel is based on a true story from the Second World War. When the German ship the Wilhelm Gustloff was sunk in port in early 1945 it had over 9000 civilian refugees, including children,…
Feral Maril & Her Little Brother Carol
by
Leslie Tall Manning,
Winner of the Literary Titan Book Award
Bright but unassuming Marilyn Jones has some grown-up decisions to make, especially after Mama goes to prison for drugs and larceny. With no one to take care of them, Marilyn and her younger, mentally challenged brother, Carol, get tossed into the foster care…
I read this when I was in elementary school and the novel is timeless. The characters and enduring morals of the book have touched millions of readers. The story is about the four March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy and it is pure joy. The simplicity of this book is what I think makes it a masterpiece. I cannot recommend it enough.
Louisa May Alcott shares the innocence of girlhood in this classic coming of age story about four sisters-Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy.
In picturesque nineteenth-century New England, tomboyish Jo, beautiful Meg, fragile Beth, and romantic Amy are responsible for keeping a home while their father is off to war. At the same time, they must come to terms with their individual personalities-and make the transition from girlhood to womanhood. It can all be quite a challenge. But the March sisters, however different, are nurtured by their wise and beloved Marmee, bound by their love for each other and the feminine…
This one is a tear-jerker. I don't want to give any spoilers, but the narration of the book is so different, it's what makes it outstanding. A novel set during WWII, it will break your heart and then heal it within the span of 88 chapters. I was lucky enough to see Markus Zusak speak at an event in Atlanta, GA and I took my then teen-aged daughter to see it. She still remembers the event as well as the book. It was written as a young adult novel, but anyone and everyone should read it.
'Life affirming, triumphant and tragic . . . masterfully told. . . but also a wonderful page-turner' Guardian 'Brilliant and hugely ambitious' New York Times 'Extraordinary' Telegraph ___
HERE IS A SMALL FACT - YOU ARE GOING TO DIE
1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier. Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.
Jera Fowler is hardly excited about having to keep a journal for ninth-grade English class. “What can happen in a day?” she grumps as she chronicles the 1984-85 school year. She doesn’t realize that a single day can be the dividing line between life and death. Forty years later, while…
This was my favorite novel as a teenager. I could read this book over and over and never get tired of it. Mr. Darcy was the ultimate leading man in my eyes, and I judged every date I ever went on against him. Not very fair, I know. I wanted to be Elizabeth Bennett. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth are one of my favorite couples and they always will be.
Jane Austen's best-loved novel is an unforgettable story about the inaccuracy of first impressions, the power of reason, and above all the strange dynamics of human relationships and emotions.
Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is illustrated by Hugh Thomson and features an afterword by author and critic, Henry Hitchings.
A tour de force of wit and sparkling dialogue, Pride and…
When Edward “Teach” Drummond returns home from a year at sea, he finds his life in shambles. Betrothed to a girl he doesn’t love and sick of the high society he was born into, all Teach wants is to return to the ocean he calls home. He must convince his father to let him leave and never come back. Following the death of her parents, Anne Barrett is left penniless. Though she’s barely worked a day in her life, Anne takes a job as a maid in the home of Master Drummond. Anne longs to escape the confines of her mundane life.
From the moment the two meet, they set the world ablaze. Drawn together but kept apart by Teach’s father, their love is as passionate as it is forbidden.
What if Elizabeth Bennet’s seemingly perfect elder sister, Jane, hid a heart of selfishness and narcissism beneath her angelic exterior?
Elizabeth Bennet has spent her life in the shadow of her elder sister, Jane. Praised across Hertfordshire for her beauty and kindness, Jane has always seemed the embodiment of perfection.…
A gripping, unflinching biography of SS Overseer Maria Mandl, one of the most notorious and contradictory figures at the heart of the Nazi regime, and her transformation from harmless small-town girl to hardened killer. By the time of her execution at 36, Maria Mandl had achieved the highest rank possible…
