Historical Fiction

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The Apollo murders : a novel

The Apollo murders : a novel

Hadfield, Chris, 1959- author
2021

1973. A final, top-secret mission to the Moon. Three astronauts in a tiny module, a quarter of a million miles from home. A quarter of a million miles from help. As Russian and American crews sprint for a secret bounty hidden away on the lunar surface, old rivalries blossom and the political stakes are stretched to breaking point back on Earth. Houston flight controller Kazimieras "Kaz" Zemeckis must do all he can to keep the NASA crew together, while staying one step ahead of his Soviet rivals. But not everyone on board Apollo 18 is quite who they appear to be.

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Becoming Leidah : a novel

Becoming Leidah : a novel

Grierson, Michelle, author
2021

In the hinterlands of old Norway, Leidah Pietersdatter is born blue-skinned, with webbed hands and feet. Upon every turn of season, her mother, Maeva, worries as her daughter's peculiarities blossom--inside the root of the tiny child, a strange power is taking hold. Maeva tries to hide the girl from the suspicious townsfolk of the austere village of Orken, just as she conceals her own magical ancestry from her daughter. And Maeva's adoring husband, Pieter, wants nothing more than for his new family to be accepted by all. But unlike Pieter, who is blinded by love, Maeva is aware that the villagers, who profess a rigid faith to the new God and claim to have abandoned the old ways, are watching for any sign of transgression--and are eager to pounce and punish. Following both mother and daughter from the shadows and through time, an inquisitive shapeshifter waits for the Fates to spin their web, and for Maeva to finally reclaim who she once was. And as Maeva's elusive past begins to beckon, she realizes that she must help her daughter navigate and control her own singular birthright if the child is to survive the human world. But the protective love Pieter has for his family is threatening the secure life they have slowly built and increasingly becoming a tragic obstacle. Witnessing this, Maeva comes to a drastic conclusion: she must make Leidah promise to keep a secret from Pieter--a perilous one that may eventually free them all.

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City of incurable women

City of incurable women

Casey, Maud, author
2022

Long history's ghosts, marginalized and dispossessed due to their gender and class, they are reimagined by Maud Casey as complex, flesh-and-blood people with stories to tell. These linked, evocative prose portraits, accompanied by period photographs and medical documents both authentic and invented, poignantly restore the humanity to the nineteenth-century female psychiatric patients confined in Paris's Salpêtrière hospital and reduced to specimens for study by the celebrated neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot and his male colleagues.

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A divided loyalty

A divided loyalty

Todd, Charles, author
2020

A young woman has been murdered next to a mysterious, hooded, figure-like stone, but no one recognizes her - or admits to it. Scotland Yard detective Ian Rutledge is asked to take a second look at Chief Inspector Brian Leslie's inquiry, to see if he can identify this victim. He too finds very little to go on in Avebury, slowly widening his search beyond the village - only to discover that unlikely - possibly even unreliable - clues are pointing him toward an impossible solution, one that will draw the wrath of the Yard down on him, and very likely see him dismissed if he pursues it.

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Em

Em

Thúy, Kim, author
2021

In the midst of war, an ordinary miracle: an abandoned baby tenderly cared for by a young boy living on the streets of Saigon. The boy is Louis, the child of a long-gone American soldier. Louis calls the baby em Hong, em meaning "little sister," or "beloved." Even though her cradle is nothing more than a cardboard box, em Hong's life holds every possibility. Through the linked destinies of a family of characters, the novel takes its inspiration from historical events, including Operation Babylift, which evacuated thousands of biracial orphans from Saigon in April 1975, and the remarkable growth of the nail salon industry, dominated by Vietnamese expatriates all over the world.

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The flight of Anja

The flight of Anja

Goranson, Tamara, author
2022

All Anja Freydisdöttir longs for is to spread her wings and head for the horizon. But she doesn't know how. Until her mother, Freydis, comes sailing back into her life. Together, they escape on a Viking longboat to find their future.

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Her hidden genius : a novel

Her hidden genius : a novel

Benedict, Marie, author
2022

Rosalind Franklin has always been an outsider - brilliant, but different. When she is assigned to work on DNA, she believes she can unearth its secrets. Rosalind knows if she just takes one more X-ray picture, she can unlock the building blocks of life. Then it finally happens - the double helix structure of DNA reveals itself to her with perfect clarity. But what unfolds next, Rosalind could have never predicted.

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Last impressions

Last impressions

Kertes, Joseph, 1951- author
2020

Zoltan Beck is dying. His devoted but long-suffering sons, Ben and Frank, are trying to prepare themselves and their families for Zoltan's eventual departure ... but they can't quite bring themselves to believe that the end is really at hand, and neither can Zoltan himself. The head of a family marked by war and tragedy for decades, he "can't stand to be in a room with a miserable person" and has done his best to keep the pain of his refugee past from his beloved children. But as he faces the end of his life, he discovers a heartbreaking secret from the War that will ultimately bring the family together--or irrevocably disrupt it.

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The lioness

The lioness

Bohjalian, Chris, 1962- author
2022

Tanzania, 1964. Katie Barstow, an A-list actress, decides to bring her Hollywood friends to the Serengeti. The wealthy Americans expect civilized adventure. What Katie and her glittering entourage do not expect is a kidnapping gone wrong as their guides bleed out in the dirt and a team of Russian mercenaries herding their hostages into Land Rovers, guns to their heads. As the powerful sun gives way to night, the gunmen shove them into abandoned huts and Katie prays for a simple thing: to see the sun rise one more time.

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Ridgerunner

Ridgerunner

Adamson, Gil, author
2020

November 1917. After nearly twenty years, William Moreland, the notorious thief known as the Ridgerunner, has returned. And he is determined to steal enough money to secure his son's future. Twelve-year-old Jack Boulton, born in the woods to two outlaws, now finds himself semi-orphaned and left in the care of Sister Beatrice. The boy longs to return to his family's cabin, deep in the Sawback Range. His father is coming for him. The nun won't let him go.

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Switchboard soldiers : a novel

Switchboard soldiers : a novel

Chiaverini, Jennifer, author.
2022

In June 1917, General John Pershing found himself in need of operators who could swiftly and accurately connect multiple calls, remain steady under fire, and be utterly discreet. At the time, nearly all well-trained telephone operators were women - but women were not permitted to enlist. Nevertheless, the U.S. Army Signal Corps promptly began recruiting them. More than 7,600 women responded. Sometimes mocked as the "hello girls", the women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps served with honour and played an essential role in achieving the Allied victory. Their story has never been the focus of a novel - until now.

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A traveler at the gates of wisdom

A traveler at the gates of wisdom

Boyne, John, 1971- author
2020

This story starts with a family. For now, it is a father and a mother with two sons. One with his father's violence in his blood. One with his mother's artistry. They will be joined by others whose deeds will determine their fate. Their stories will intertwine and evolve over the course of two thousand years. They will meet again and again at different times and in different places. From Palestine at the dawn of the first millennium and journeying across fifty countries to a life amongst the stars in the third, the world will change around them, but their destinies remain the same.

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