Search Results

camper daughter of the owners has disappeared, God of the Woods ; and I'm listening to Joy Callaway's historical 03 What the Mountains Remember by Joy Callaway I love a North-Carolina-set story, and Joy Callaway's historical

This book is part of my Greedy Reading List Six Riveting Time-Travel Escapes.

Isola , based upon the story of a real-life sixteenth-century woman, shifts between details of a life of moneyed ease and an abandonment on an unforgiving, uninhabited island after our main protagonist falls in love with the wrong person. Marguerite is heir to a fortune, but after she is orphaned, she grows into a young lady while her guardian Roberval squanders her inheritance. The unfolding of this continued theft and this absurd man's greedy, gratuitous mishandling of funds--which he legally pursues as a male distantly related to her, ugh--was enough to make my blood boil, but things deteriorate much further from there. As Marguerite enters into her early teens, she begins to fear that her cousin views her as a creepy match for himself. At the very least it becomes clear that he will pay no dowry in order to make another match for her. Instead, in a somewhat shocking turn of events, he forces her to sail with him to New France. But on the way, Marguerite falls for her guardian's servant. When their relationship is discovered, Roberval cruelly punishes them by abandoning them on an uninhabited island to perish. Marguerite, once a privileged, protected child of wealth and opportunity, must learn to survive in the wild. Chapters are preceded by tips from Anne of France to her daughter (from Lessons for My Daughter ) urging constant preservation of reputation, exuding modesty, maintaining a paralyzing fear of making errors, and striving for perfection in the form of delicacy and beauty. These prescribed behaviors suggest a goal of women's disappearing into the background, serving as beautiful, silent, ghostlike creatures. The highly controlled, minutiae-filled advice contrasts more and more starkly with Marguerite's desperate situation on the island and her necessary rejection of even the most basic societal expectations for her status (wearing shoes, using utensils, living a life without work, not developing freckles in the sun, and not dirtying her hands, much less killing, skinning, and processing animals) in order to cling to life. Her slowly deteriorating social and financial standing early in the book gives way to a fascinating, unforgiving stretch of life lived on the rocky island in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, bounded in part by Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the Labrador Peninsula. As Marguerite taps into her inner strength, she builds a resolve to get home again. But if she is saved and delivered safely back, where will she make her home? How will she secure a future for herself? If her guardian is living, how will she remain safe from him? After a harsh winter, her guardian's ships sail by again, but veer away after spying her. But Marguerite won't give up hope. Now she knows she can see her way through any adversity. I was fascinated by each aspect of this tale, and Goodman transported me into the details and (often infuriating) dynamics of life at the time. Isola  is inspired by the story of the real-life sixteenth-century heroine, Marguerite de la Rocque de Roberval. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! I first read Allegra Goodman's work 25 years ago, when I enjoyed her novel Kaaterskill Falls . Since then she has published many more novels, including Sam . I received a prepublication edition of Isola courtesy of Random House and NetGalley.

There Are Rivers in the Sky weaves together three stories set in three timelines, featuring disparate characters, to explore interconnectedness, the power of water, echoing tragedies, and the timelessness of the written word. Water remembers. It is humans who forget. In 1840 in London, young Arthur lives near the sewage-filled River Thames, desperate to escape poverty and his abusive household. In 2014 Turkey, ten-year-old Narin is living near the Tigris and is affected by a disorder that will cause her to go permanently deaf. And in 2018 London, Zaleekah, a hydrologist, moves into a houseboat on the Thames when she and her husband break up, but she can't shake her thoughts of suicide. There Are Rivers   in the Sky traces the stories of these three disparate characters living alongside rivers in three different times, interconnected by a single drop of water and "the Epic of Gilgamesh," an ancient poem that may have the power to change each of their lives. Later, when the storm has passed, everyone will talk about the destruction it left behind, though no one, not even the king himself, will remember that it all began with a single raindrop. Shafak uses the life-giving--and at times, through flood or pollution, life-taking--waters of the Tigris and the Thames to help shape this story in three timelines. Through Zaleekah's 2018-set story we explore climate change, pollution, and the consequences of abusing natural resources, as well as the questionable morality of private or museum ownership of other cultures' precious artifacts. Yet the river is a backdrop to her reimagined future, her newfound inner strength and search for love, and her renewed hope in life. Narin's story, aside from modern modes of travel and communication, feels like a tragedy pulled from deep in the past--and, in fact, it is said that the Yazidi people have been endlessly beaten down and massacred over and over again since ancient times. In a shockingly speedy escalation of force, Isis brings centuries-old hatred to trap and murder innocent Yazidis, eradicating communities in relentless genocide. And clever Arthur slowly pulls himself out of a London slum by lucking into an apprenticeship at a printing shop with nurturing mentors. His curiosity about antiquities leads him to the British Museum and, eventually, a key role in deciphering tablets, then a formative trip to the Middle East and Nineveh, which will be the source of his one true love and also his undoing. Shafak makes what could have been an unwieldy or disjointed-feeling set of complex situations into a tragically beautiful intertwined novel that shines a light on weighty issues at three points in space and time. I was haunted by this and fascinated as well. I received a prepublication edition of There Are Rivers in the Sky  courtesy of Knopf and NetGalley. I'd love to hear your bossy thoughts about this book. Elif Shafak also wrote the lovely The Island of Missing Trees . Shafak is a British-Turkish author of seventeen books, including eleven novels.

Wilkerson is exceptional at laying out absurdities, horrors, disturbing historical events, shocking trends Because of the music involved in the story, Mary Jane reminded me of the books on the Greedy Reading List Six

Makepeace spy mystery, The Trap ; I'm listening to Miss Morgan's Book Brigade , Janet Skeslien Charles's historical Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles I love a book about scrappy librarians , and Janet Skeslien Charles's historical

Henry's Beach Read was one of my favorite books last year, and it made it onto the Greedy Reading List Six

of Killer Fashion: Poisonous Petticoats, Strangulating Scarves, and Other Deadly Garments Throughout History , She Kills Me: The True Stories of History's Deadliest Women, It Ended Badly: Thirteen of the Worst Breakups in History, and other books.

book felt clunky to me, bogged down by explanations of how Aaron's imagined world works and the basic history Eventually the story seemed to hit its stride, and the various demons, magical powers, dark histories

Are you interested in a historical fiction retelling of the story of King Edward, Lady Jane Grey, and #historicalfiction, #fantasyscifi, #series, #fourstarbookreview

Dunlap's debut novel explores early Edinburgh surgical schools, questionable methods of obtaining study subjects, a main protagonist's surprisingly believable entrée into body snatching, a forbidden love, and serial killers, and I was in for it all. I've heard comparisons drawn between A. Rae Dunlap's The Resurrectionist  and Caleb Carr's The Alienist , a suspenseful novel about the evolution of forensic science that I adored reading years ago, and while the books are quite different, I can appreciate the favorable association. Dunlap's debut novel is dark, twisty, gothic, and it's set in 19th-century Scotland as fictionalized versions of real-life serial killers Burke and Hare are terrorizing Edinburgh. James Willoughby is a na ï ve young medical student whose family fortunes have taken a negative turn, leaving him with a passion for studying medicine but no resources to pursue schooling. He becomes drawn into the underworld of body snatching when he seeks paid work to fund his studies--and begins to understand (and assist with) the process of obtaining cadavers for his surgery study. Ultimately, terrifyingly, his activities lead him to run into the cadaver-producing killers Burke and Hare. Dunlap does a wonderful job of bringing a spooky, fascinating underworld of Edinburgh to life, while also exploring the burgeoning surgery and medical school experience, and, against all odds, building the somewhat-reasonable-feeling case for James's horror-turned-acceptance on the subject of mining graveyards for bodies to study. At the center of the story there's a hesitant friendship, then a meaningful, playful, and poignant relationship between James and his "handler" (which is affected by the complication of societal intolerance for gay relationships in this period), plus the mystery of the disappearances of community characters, and an elaborate, amateur, exciting group attempt to catch Burke and Hare. I love Dunlap's writing and the way the author crafted this story. I'm definitely in for reading this author's future books! I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! I read this title, published in December, courtesy of NetGalley and Kensington Books. For Bossy reviews of more books set in Scotland, please check out the titles at this link .

you're interested in memoirs that explore similar themes, check out the books on the Greedy Reading List Six

Mason's novel isn't simply a historical fiction story linked through timelines. But North Woods isn't a charming historical fiction novel.

the final book in Black's Folk of the Air trilogy (I mentioned the series in the Greedy Reading List Six

I mentioned Life After Life in the Greedy Reading List Six Fascinating Second-Chance, Do-Over, Reliving-Life

This was also listed in my Greedy Reading List Six Riveting Time-Travel Escapes.

This book is part of my Greedy Reading List Six Fantastic Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels.

This book made my Greedy Reading List of My Six Favorite Summer 2020 Reads.

This book is on my Greedy Reading List Six Riveting Time-Travel Escapes.

Both of these books are listed in my Greedy Reading List of Six Fantastic Dystopian and Postapocalyptic

Shirley Jackson wrote six novels, including We Have Always Lived in the Castle, two memoirs, and the

01 A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham The summer Chloe Davis was twelve, six girls went missing

If you're into nonfiction, you might like the titles on the Greedy Reading List Six Compelling Nonfiction

If you like fiction about bands and music, you might like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Rocking

in recent years has been primarily focused on shutting off the outside world, but the demands of a six

reclaim versions of their lives using competitive magical tasks, The Book of Love; and I'm listening to a historical Walsh Unsinkable is historical fiction set in two timelines by Jenni L. Walsh.

friend @angelsmomreads recommended this book to me when I was talking about my Greedy Reading List Six

Safekeep feels claustrophobic, quiet, and hopeless, but unexpected shifts late in the story turn accepted histories relationships and made me question the basis for the story's loyalties and for the accepted family histories

If you like books that play with time, you may like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Second-Chance

In this historical fiction-fantasy, characters from Dickens's tale are plunged into a dark, powerful

February is the shortest month, but I squeezed in some great reading: compelling historical fiction based memoir; a fast-paced WWII-set mystery for young readers that came out of a writing collaboration; and historical War II-focused books here , and you can also check out my review of Kate Quinn's great codebreaking historical for adults, The Rose Code . 06 Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine Erin Crosby Eckstine's richly detailed historical

Six More Book Gift Ideas for the Holidays Shhh!

If you like compelling nonfiction, you might also want to check out the post Six of the Best Nonfiction

in recent years has been primarily focused on shutting off the outside world, but the demands of a six

ICYMI: Towles's closed-door tale of a Russian aristocrat under house arrest in a grand Moscow hotel manages to be at times playful, poignant, and wonderfully subversive. Let us concede that the early thirties in Russia were unkind. It's 1922, and Count Alexander Rostov has been placed under house arrest by the Bolsheviks. He is to remain in a grand hotel across from the Kremlin called the Metropol, where he will live out the rest of his days. An aristocrat used to spending his life at leisure or bustling about for his own pleasure, he now lives in an attic room, able only to peer out at the upheaval taking place throughout Moscow and witness events from a distance. Thus, it is the opinion of this committee that you should be returned to that hotel of which you are so fond. But make no mistake: should you ever set foot outside of the Metropol again, you will be shot. Next matter. The time structure of the story is interesting; Towles moves the reader in time from the starting day of Rostov's confinement to one day later, then two days later, and four days later in a doubling pattern that ends sixteen years later, then presents events in halved time periods (eight years, four years, two years, and so on) until the end of the book. The gifted storyteller Towles manages to craft a tale of  a political prisoner's decades spent under house arrest in a bustling Moscow hotel without its' feeling claustrophobic, but instead, delightfully playful, richly wrought, and wonderfully subversive. Do you have any Bossy thoughts abou tthis book? Towles is also the author of Rules of Civility and The Lincoln Highway.

ICYMI: The post-Depression-era city of New York is such a powerful presence in this story, it feels like a main character. I was taken by this Amor Towles story and blatantly neglected my responsibilities in order to read it. Which is just to say, be careful when choosing what you’re proud of—because the world has every intention of using it against you. I recently began reading Table for Two by Amor Towles, and I was reminded that I haven't posted Bossy reviews of my first two Towles reads, A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility. In Rules of Civility, 25-year-old Katey is in a Greenwich Village jazz bar in post-Depression New York when she meets a successful banker. The chance encounter leads to a surprising turn of fortune in which Katey finds herself immersed in the highest social circles of New York. I couldn't stop reading this--and admit to neglecting various duties in order to get back to it. I loved the old-New York setting, which was so vivid, the city felt like a main character. The various "let me teach you about" types of asides regarding art and social constructs of the time, etc., were interesting but also extremely jarring; they didn't make sense to me when coming from the main protagonist. And sometimes the "main protagonist is inexplicably well read and savvy" types of moments made me pause. I was completely hooked and kept thinking about this story after I'd finished it. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Amor Towles is also the author of A Gentleman in Moscow and The Lincoln Highway.

through the presence of this accompanying female spirit, which ties Annis to her ancestry and family history presented as powerful, and it is able to control storms, but its advice, based upon accounts of the histories

I mentioned my love for Hart's book The Last Child in the Greedy Reading List The Six Best Mysteries

tensions and factors that led the town of Tombstone to live on in infamy in this very thorough look at the history At times the retracing of the town's history and the backgrounds of those involved in the climactic ride Reading this book reinforced the fact that my personal taste leans more toward character-driven historical

Quinn and Chang share an adventure- and danger-laden story of women artists, women of color, and women of various social classes in San Francisco just before the Great 1906 Earthquake--as well as their determination to find justice. In 1906 San Francisco, two very different women seek new beginnings: Gemma is a gifted soprano whose career is in need of an overhaul, while Suling is an embroideress in Chinatown who is set against entering into the marriage that's been arranged for her. Henry Thornton is a wealthy railroad magnate and owner of the mysterious Phoenix Crown, an artifact legendary because of its origins in Beijing's Summer Palace. Thornton draws both Suling and Gemma into his world by offering to be their patron. But Thornton isn't a selfless, kind benefactor--he's a cruel, cutthroat, flighty villain holding deadly secrets. When San Francisco is devastated by an earthquake and the widespread destruction of its aftermath, Thornton disappears--and the Phoenix Crown with him. Those he's left behind are traumatized, reeling from cruelties, close calls, and haunted by the deaths Thornton exacted on others. Five years later, the crown reappears--spurring more mystery and questions than answers. When the authorities require too much time and evidence to take control, the varied women he's left in his wake, far from cowed, become determined to take down Thornton themselves. At times the story felt as though it was shifting into overly dramatic soap-opera territory for me, and while I understood the buildup to the earthquake, I didn't enjoy the interjections of multiple omniscient countdowns to the event. Yet I loved the rich early-1900s San Francisco setting, the focus on the arts, the strong women characters, and the varied representation of classes and circumstances, so I was willing to go wherever Quinn and Chang were taking me. It's evident that the authors exhaustively researched the era, prominent figures, and circumstances within San Francisco for women, artists, people of color, and others. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Kate Quinn is the author of the fantastic titles The Diamond Eye, The Huntress, The Rose Code, and The Alice Network.

In The Trackers, Cold Mountain author Charles Frazier offers historical fiction featuring a Great Depression-era If you're interested in Great Depression-era historical fiction like I am, you might also like the books

This book is part of my Greedy Reading List Six Riveting Time-Travel Escapes.

book has a major twist, made even more interesting by listening to the audio version. 03 Office of Historical She uses everyday moments to illustrate how the truth of history can be skewed and determined by who title novella, a black student from Washington, DC, finds herself involved in unraveling a complicated historical bravery; a mystery with a twist; and a collection of stories about race, relationships, and the power of history

was listed in the Greedy Reading List Three Books I'm Reading Now, 10/13/20 Edition, as well as in Six

Are you interested in a historical fiction retelling of the story of King Edward, Lady Jane Grey, and #historicalfiction, #fantasyscifi, #series, #fourstarbookreview 03 Soulless: The Parasol Protectorate #historicalfiction, #fantasyscifi, #series, #fourstarbookreview Any new-to-you or longtime favorite oddball

I love a historical-fiction-feeling fantasy story like this one, and Blood of the Old Kings sets up

If you like books about music, you might also like the titles on the Greedy Reading List Six Rockin'

Edan Lepucki's science-fiction time-travel novel, Time's Mouth; I'm reading Paulette Jiles's newest historical Loss, and Vengeance by Paulette Jiles I got full-body chills when I saw that Paulette Jiles had a new historical

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Iida Turpeinin's upcoming historical fiction novel Beasts of the

the Sheriff of Nottingham, things get complicated for both Mariel and Clem in this sassy, fun, queer historical