No talkie :rolleyes:

Luckaye's reveal



Dances With Wolves by Michael Blake

The world renowned, American epic Dances With Wolves is the eternal story of one man's search for his place in the world.
Set in 1863, the novel follows Lieutenant John Dunbar on a magical and unpredictable journey from the ravages of the Civil War to the far reaches of the imperiled American frontier, a frontier he naively wants to see "before it's gone".

His posting to a desolate and deserted outpost is the springboard for contact with the lords of the southern plains...the Comanches.

Though he does not speak their language, has no knowledge of their customs and is considered a trespasser, Lieutenant Dunbar finds himself intrigued by the exotic and alien culture of the buffalo-hunting people of the plains.

A simple desire to know more about his wild neighbors ignites a great adventure of transformation that culminates with the emergence of a different kind of man...a man called Dances With Wolves.

Zosime's reveal:

The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant

Set on the high ground at the heart of Cape Ann, the village of Dogtown is peopled by widows, orphans, spinsters, scoundrels, whores, free Africans, and "witches." Among the inhabitants of this hamlet are Black Ruth, who dresses as a man and works as a stonemason; Mrs. Stanley, an imperious madam whose grandson, Sammy, comes of age in her brothel; Oliver Younger, who survives a miserable childhood at the hands of his aunt; and Cornelius Finson, a freed slave. At the center of it all is Judy Rhines, a fiercely independent soul, deeply lonely, who nonetheless builds a life for herself against all imaginable odds.

Rendered in stunning, haunting detail, with Diamant's keen ear for language and profound compassion for her characters, The Last Days of Dogtown is an extraordinary retelling of a long-forgotten chapter of early American life.

Morsecode's reveal:

First, there is a River by Kathy Steffen

Set in 1900, Steffen's debut presents a captivating view of life aboard a riverboat a century ago.



Emma Perkins' life appears idyllic. Her husband, Jared, is a hardworking farmer and a dependable neighbor. But Emma knows intimately the brutality prowling beneath her husband's façade. When he sends their children away, Emma's life unravels.

A woman seeks her spirit.
Deep in despair, Emma seeks refuge aboard her uncle's riverboat, the Spirit of the River. She travels through a new world filled with colorful characters: captains, mates, the rich, the working class, moonshiners, prostitutes, and Gage, the Spirit's reclusive engineer. Scarred for life from a riverboat explosion, Gage's insight into heartache draws him to Emma, and as they heal together, they form a deep and unbreakable bond. Emma learns to trust that anything is possible, including reclaiming her children and facing her husband.

A man seeks revenge.
Jared Perkins makes a journey of his own. Determined to bring his wife home and teach her the lesson of her life, Jared secretly follows the Spirit. His rage burns cold as he plans his revenge for everyone on board.
Against the immense power of the river, the journey of the Spirit will change the course of their lives forever.

Yol's Reveal



Angelica (ARC)
By Arthur Phillips

From the bestselling author of The Egyptologist and Prague comes an even more accomplished and entirely surprising new novel. Angelica is a spellbinding Victorian ghost story, an intriguing literary and psychological puzzle, and a meditation on marriage, childhood, memory, and fear.

The novel opens in London, in the 1880s, with the Barton household on the brink of collapse. Mother, father, and daughter provoke one another, consciously and unconsciously, and a horrifying crisis is triggered. As the family’s tragedy is told several times from different perspectives, events are recast and sympathies shift. In the dark of night, a chilling sexual spectre is making its way through the house, hovering over the sleeping girl and terrorizing her fragile mother. Are these visions real, or is there something more sinister, and more human, to fear? A spiritualist is summoned to cleanse the place of its terrors, but with her arrival the complexities of motive and desire only multiply. The mother’s failing health and the father’s many secrets fuel the growing conflicts, while the daughter flirts dangerously with truth and fantasy.

While Angelica is reminiscent of such classic horror tales as The Turn of the Screw and The Haunting of Hill House, it is also a thoroughly modern exploration of identity, reality, and love. Set at the dawn of psychoanalysis and the peak of spiritualism’s acceptance, Angelica is also an evocative historical novel that explores the timeless human hunger for certainty.[/QUOTE]

zzz reveals
Montenegro by Starling Lawrence



- "Artful … Epic … A rich and rewarding work" – San Francisco Chronicle
- "Could easily become the next English Patient" – Kirkus Reviews
- "A rare literate adult adventure novel:
a combination of Kipling, Haggard and Childers-all with an overlay of Conradian characterization." – Wall St Journal

From Library Journal:
As the publicity stresses, Norton editor-in-chief Lawrence edits Patrick O'Brien, so it's not surprising that he has written a first novel of historical adventure. But this excellent work is much, much more than that. Set on the eve of World War I, it features Englishman Auberon Harwell, who consents to travel to Montenegro for the supercilious Lord Polgrove to assess Britain's opportunities in the Balkans as the Ottoman Empire disintegrates. On his first day there, he encounters the gruesome handiwork of a partisan and loses his packhorse on the rocks, but he pushes on to the interior and takes up residence with the family of Danilo Pekoèeviæ, freedom-fighting hero of the Montenegrin Serbs and now an old man. Inevitably, Harwell is drawn into conflicts both political and personal; conflicts that he soon realizes will explode, regardless of his (or Britain's) interest in trying to set things right.
Lawrence writes assuredly, with great attention to both character and historical detail, helping us feel the underlying conflict that, of course, is still present in the Balkans today [so true :(]. At first, we are seduced by the wonderful storytelling, but eventually we are humbled by the story's moral dimensions. Highly recommended.

rootmartin reveals:
The Collection by Gioia Diliberto



Isabelle Varlet, charming and naïve, comes from a long line of seamstresses in a small town in France. A series of unfortunate events and her prodigious sartorial talent carry her to Paris, which in the wake of World War I is electric with new life. When Isabelle takes a job in the atelier of Coco Chanel, the rising star of haute couture, she finds herself in the heart of a glamorous and ruthless world filled with arrogant designers, handsome men, beautiful women, and fashion thieves who prowl Paris hoping to steal designs before they hit the runway.

In Chanel's workshop, Isabelle thrives on the time-honored techniques of couture -- the pains-taking hand stitches, the perfect fall of fabric -- and the sleek, pared-down lines of "Mademoiselle's" revolutionary style. As Isabelle brings an exquisite dress to life for the fall collection -- from its embryonic origins in humble muslin to its finished form in the finest silk -- she navigates the tempestuous moods of Chanel, the cutthroat antics of her fellow workers, and her own search for love.

Just as she did in her critically acclaimed novel I Am Madame X, Gioia Diliberto brings a rich historical moment to life through her vivid and compelling storytelling. Her penetrating research and imagination are gracefully woven together in this poignant story filled with larger-than-life characters embroiled in scandalous tales, passionate love affairs, and extraordinary careers. The Collection is an exuberantly entertaining read.

Lizabeth's reveal:

My Book is Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach







Amazon.com
Deborah Moggach's Tulip Fever takes place in 17th-century Amsterdam, where roguish Rembrandt wannabes like Jan van Loos are just waiting to fall into ticklish situations. In this case, a paunchy merchant named Cornelis Sandvoort wanders into the artist's studio, hoping to impress posterity with a portrait of himself and his young wife. Apart from the fat commission, which van Loos can use, there is the bride to consider. Beautiful and bored, Sophia is easily swayed by his youthful passion--but this time, the raffish van Loos actually falls in love with one of his sexual conquests. The two carry out their affair with increasing doses of rashness and deception, meanwhile becoming dependent on the complicity of a servant, the astonishing gullibility of the old man, and the fast cash to be made on the tulip-bulb exchange.

The plot of Moggach's 13th novel neatly matches the speculative frenzy of the period, careening from one improbable thrill to the next. It was, to be sure, a time of stunning economic lunacy, when a single Semper Augustus bulb could be sold for "six fine horses, three oxheads of wine, a dozen sheep, two dozen silver goblets and a seascape by Esaias van de Velde." The author expertly dabs in this sort of period detail, and her chapter epigraphs quote some charming 17th-century Dutch sources on morals and conventional wisdom. Indeed, it's these quasi-surreal touches--whales washing up on the coast, chimney pots toppling into the street, women rubbing goose fat into their hands--that make the lovers' overheated sentiments so plausible. "For centuries to come," the narrator says, "people will gaze at these paintings and wonder what is about to happen." Tulip Fever gives us the chance to do exactly that.

Azuki's reveal:



Geraldine Brooks's Year of Wonders describes the 17th-century plague that is carried from London to a small Derbyshire village by an itinerant tailor. As villagers begin, one by one, to die, the rest face a choice: do they flee the village in hope of outrunning the plague or do they stay?

Naturally, the book contains gruesome scenes of plague infection, render more gory by the author’s skill to create vivid imagery. Some of the best descriptions, however, are in the emotional landscapes of the various characters.

After the deaths of several families, I began to wonder where would the tale lead us, to carry the story on for many pages to come. Several events transpire, showing us the best and worst of human nature. The bacteria is not the only killer, as hatred, fear, greed and superstition kicks in. After the death of Elinor, I thought I knew what's coming, but Brooks didn’t stop where most conventional novels would have stopped but went on for a creative ending.

My reveal:

Avalon by Anya Seton



Description from the publisher:

This saga of yearning and mystery travels across oceans and continents to Iceland, Greenland, and North America during the time in history when Anglo-Saxons battled Vikings and the Norsemen discovered America. The marked contrasts between powerful royalty, landless peasants, Viking warriors and noble knights are expertly brought to life in this gripping tale of the French prince named Rumon. Shipwrecked off the Cornish coast on his quest to find King Arthur's legendary Avalon, Rumon meets a lonely girl named Merewyn and their lives soon become intertwined. Rumon brings Merewyn to England, but once there he is so dazzled by Queen Alrida's beauty that it makes him a virtual prisoner to her will. In this riveting romance, Anya Seton once again proves her mastery of historical detail and ability to craft a compelling tale that includes real and colorful personalities such as St. Dunstan and Eric the Red.

msjoanna's reveal:

The Gilded Chamber: A Novel of Queen Esther by Rebecca Kohn



From Publishers Weekly
In this measured, eloquent retelling of Jewish heroine Esther's rise from orphanhood to queen of the Persian empire, Kohn brings psychological nuance and stately elegance to the ancient biblical tale that is the basis for the Jewish holiday of Purim. Narrating in the first person, Esther (born Hadassah) tells how she is forcibly taken from her home to the royal harem of King Xerxes in Babylon. Her uncle Mordechai, a high-ranking treasury official in the king's service, warns her, "Do not reveal your people or your kindred.... Let yourself be known only as Esther, foster daughter of Marduka the Babylonian." The novel is by and large faithful to the biblical account and often quotes from it verbatim. Yet Kohn deftly fills the gaps and resolves the ambiguities in the Book of Esther with creative storytelling and historical research. As Esther recognizes her strengths and responsibilities and learns the ways of the palace, so do we; the oppressive closeness of the harem ("the lingering odors of perfume, food, and lamp oil"), the pervasive abuse, the fragile alliances and deadly schemes all come to life. Kohn's Esther has a will of steel and knows how to manipulate lusty, impetuous Xerxes, but she longs for a simpler life. Her sacrifices are finally rewarded when the king's trusted courtier Haman issues a decree ordering the slaughter of the Jews, and Esther is in a position to be able to save her people. Though the novel's pace slows at times, Kohn paints a convincing, complex picture of Esther, and her descriptions of the palace and its secrets will hold readers spellbound.
----------------------------------
This is still TBR...

VeganMedusa's Reveal



The Denniston Rose by Jenny Pattrick


Book Description
The bleak coal-mining settlement of Denniston, isolated high on a plateau above New Zealand's West Coast, is a place that makes or breaks those who live there. At the time of this novel - the 1880s - the only way to reach the makeshift collection of huts, tents and saloons is to climb aboard an empty coal-wagon to be hauled 2000 feet up the terrifyingly steep Incline - the cable-haulage system that brings the coal down to the railway line. All sorts arrive here to work the mines and bring down the coal: ex-goldminers down on their luck, others running from the law or from a woman or worse. They work alongside recruited English miners, solid and skilled, who scorn these disorganised misfits and want them off the Hill.

Into this chaotic community come five-year-old Rose and her mother, riding up the Incline, at night, during a storm. No one knows what has driven them there, but most agree the mother must be desperate to choose Denniston; worse, to choose that drunkard, Jimmy Cork, as bedfellow. The mother has her reasons and her plans, which she tells no one. The indomitable Rose is left to fend for herself, finding allies and enemies in her struggle to secure a place in this tough and often aggressive community.

The Denniston Rose is about isolation and survival. It is the story of a spirited child, who, in appalling conditions, remains a survivor.

Geishabird's Reveal:



Icefields by Thomas Wharton

In 1898, Doctor Edward Byrne leaves England for an expedition to the Arcturus glacier. A fall into a crevasse hints at the magic of the glacier, and his subsequent convalescence in the "town" of Jasper clinches it. Byrne becomes increasingly tied to the glacier, obsessively describing it and studying it. Along the way, he encounters a series of eccentrics, each involved in their own quest: the explorer Freya; the industrialist Trask; the poet Hal; and the slightly mad Elspeth, Byrne's lover. Told through scientific notes, journal entries, letters, and dialogue, this historical tale of the incalculable encountered in the mountains marks a promising debut. Wharton has a fine sense of description, dialogue that is as spare as the landscape and a subtle hand with narrative. But underlying it all is an old-world sense of awe (think Burke, Byron, Shelley) that allows this spare novel to transcend its limitations.

Winner of:

The Banff Grand National Prize for Literature
The Writers Guild of Alberta Best First Book Award
The Commonwealth Best First Novel Prize (Caribbean and Canada Region)

Bree's reveal is:

The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn by Robin Maxwell



From Amazon.ca:
This first novel supposes that Anne Boleyn, second wife to King Henry VIII of England, kept a secret diary that was delivered to her daughter, Elizabeth, upon her succession to the throne. Elizabeth was only three when Anne was renounced by Henry, tried for treason, and sentenced to death. Now, despite her queenly schedule, juggling affairs of state and heart, Elizabeth finds time to read her mother's story avidly and learns lessons that will secure her reign. It is an intriguing premise that knowledge of Anne's sad fate leads Elizabeth resolutely to defy the customs of her time and ignore her advisers' counsel and her suitors' pleas to marry. Remaining single and healthy, Elizabeth rules long and well. Filled with fascinating descriptions of court life and references to historical figures and events, this novel is highly recommended for fiction collections.

**TBR**

My reveal is:

The Virgin Lover By Philippa Gregory (TBR)



From Publishers Weekly
Bestseller Gregory captivates again with this expertly crafted historical about the beautiful young Virgin Queen, portrayed as a narcissistic, neurotic home-wrecker. As in her previous novels about Tudor England (The Queen's Fool, etc.), Gregory amasses a wealth of colorful period detail to depict the shaky first days of Elizabeth I's reign. The year is 1558, an especially dangerous time for the nation: no bishop will coronate Henry VIII's Protestant daughter, the treasury is bankrupt, the army is unpaid and demoralized. Meanwhile, the French are occupying Scotland and threatening to install "that woman"—Mary, Queen of Scots—on the throne. Ignoring the matrimonial advice of pragmatic Secretary of State William Cecil, the 25-year-old Elizabeth persists in stringing along Europe's most eligible bachelors, including King Philip of Spain and the Hapsburg archduke Ferdinand. It's no secret why: she's fallen for her "dark, saturnine" master of horse, Sir Robert Dudley, whose traitorous family history and marriage to the privately Catholic Amy make him an unsuitable consort. Gregory deftly depicts this love triangle as both larger than life and all too familiar; all three characters are sympathetic without being likable, particularly the arch-mistress Elizabeth, who pouts, throws tantrums, connives and betrays with queenly impunity. After a while the plot stagnates, as the lovers flaunt their emotions in the face of repetitious arguments from Amy, Cecil and various other scandalized members of the court. But readers addicted to Gregory's intelligent, well-researched tales of intrigue and romance will be enthralled, right down to the teasingly tragic ending.

Candi is so Dandi's reveal


]

The first volume of a sequence of novels about Julius Caesar,
The Gates of Rome is at its best in its scenes of gruelling training in swordplay
and dirty fighting. Iggulden's Caesar is more or less fated from the start by his circumstances to be a gifted and cynical player in the great game of Roman senatorial politics. His father is an old-fashioned servant of the public good who dies in a slave revolt. Young Caesar finds himself having to hit the ground running, family alliances throw him onto the losing side in a battle for power between generals Marius and Sulla

Blue's reveal
(I am not sure if the cover is right)



The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Synopsis
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. Some important information - This novel is narrated by death. It's a small story about: a girl, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. Another thing you should know - death will visit the book thief three times.

Shaunesay's Reveal:



Lymond Chronicles #1: The Game of Kings - Dorothy Dunnett

Praised for her historical fiction by critics and devoted fans alike, author Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles took the romance world by storm some 30 years ago, firmly fixing Dunnett's reputation as a master of the historical romance. The Game of Kings, the first story in The Lymond Chronicles, sets the stage for what will be a sweeping saga filled with passion, courage, and the endless fight for freedom. The setting is 1547, in Edinborough, Scotland. Francis Crawford of Lymond returns to the country despite the charge of treason hanging over his head. Set on redeeming his reputation, He leads a company of outlaws against England as he fights for the country he loves so dearly. Dangerous, quick-witted, and utterly irresistible, Lymond is pure pleasure to watch as he traverses 16th-century Scotland in search of freedom. The Game of Kings is a must-have for the historical romance connoisseur.

NOTE: They call it historical romance, but it's usually found in the regular fiction area, and is a trade size paperback, so it's not your normal bodice ripping romance :lol:

The Notorious Mrs. Winston by Mary Mackey

With the nation on the verge of civil war, Claire Winston becomes a crusading abolitionist. But she takes an even greater risk when she finds herself in love with John Taylor, her husband's nephew. As much as John loves her, his devotion is to the Confederacy-and to the rebellious fighters known as Morgan's Raiders.

Separated from him by the war, Claire boldly travels across the war-torn country in search of her lover. Disguised as a male soldier, she suddenly finds herself drafted by none other than General Morgan himself, swept up in the greatest guerilla raid in American history-and caught between her loyalty to the Union and her love for John.


TBR

Marlene's Reveal

Marlene's Book: The Kitchen Boy By Robert Alexander




From Booklist
The final days of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, and his family are still a fascinating mystery. There is no one left to bear witness to what happened at the execution. Or is there? Alexander takes a very real, but forgotten and overlooked, potential witness, a young kitchen boy, and creates an amazing fictional account of what may have transpired. Leonka was working as a kitchen boy to the Romanov family when the Bolsheviks captured them, exiled them to Siberia, and imprisoned them in their house. Because of his lowly position in the household, Leonka was able to see and hear secret things. And he does keep them secret until decades later, knowing he is ready to die, he reveals all he knows about the imperial family and their horrific death. Alexander includes as much historically accurate information into his fiction as possible, and he includes actual letters and notes attributed to the Romanovs, which add a touch of authenticity. He also renders the plot beautifully with one final jaw-dropping and satisfying twist.

out of 55 reviews on amazon.

AceofHearts Reveal:

The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman



From the Publisher
In Sunderland, England, a city quarantined by the cholera epidemic of 1831, a defiant, fifteen-teen-year old beauty in an elegant blue dress makes her way between shadow and lamp light. A potter''s assistant by day and dress lodger by night, Gustine sells herself for necessity in a rented gown, scrimping to feed and protect her only love: her fragile baby boy. She holds a glimmer of hope after meeting Dr. Henry Chiver, a prisoner of his own dark past. But in a world where suspicion of medicine runs rampant like a fever, these two lost souls will become irrevocably linked, as each crosses lines between rich and destitute, decorum and abandon, damnation and salvation. By turns tender and horrifying, The Dress Lodger is a captivating historical thriller charged with a distinctly modern voice. . . .

irenic's reveal

Sarah by Marek Halter




From Publishers Weekly
Yet another entry in the burgeoning subgenre of fictional portraits of biblical women (see, for example, Rebecca Kohn's retelling of the story of Queen Esther in The Gilded Chamber), Halter's novel (the first in a trilogy) adheres to a by now familiar formula: frank sexual and emotional revelations presented against a backdrop of burnished interiors. Halter's Sarah is born Sarai, the daughter of one of the most powerful lords of Ur. At the age of 12, she is pledged in marriage to a man she has never met, and despite the finery of her bridal chamber ("Everything was new.... Linen rakutus as smooth as a baby's skin"), she flees in distress. Dragged back to her father's house, she doses herself with an herbal concoction that leaves her barren and is made a priestess of Ishtar, Ur's goddess of war. Six years later, an encounter with her childhood love, the handsome Abram, furnishes her with the chance she's been waiting for: she escapes with him and joins his nomadic tribe. Her contentment is short-lived, because Abram is called by God to leave his tribe and set out for a new land, whereupon the familiar (but freely adapted) Bible story unfolds. The misery Sarah feels at being barren, the indecent love her nephew Lot expresses for her, her encounter with Pharaoh and her quarrel with Hagar, the slave woman who gives Abram a child, shape the novel's second half. Halter isn't afraid to present headstrong Sarah as bitter in her old age, and his complex portrait of the biblical matriarch gives this solid if predictable novel a dash of freshness.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Gringuitica's reveal

or (unsure if correct cover)

The Winter Queen by Jane Stevenson

The chilly scenery of 17th-century Holland is on display in this curious novel by Stevenson (Several Deceptions; London Bridges), as viewed from the unusual perspective of a former African prince and freed slave. Pelagius van Overmeer begins his life in the Low Countries as a theology student, freed by his master, Comrij, after 20 years of servitude in the East Indies. His studies are interrupted when Comrij calls him to The Hague, where they labor on a catalogue of the plants of the East. Just as Pelagius is about to despair of ever being truly free, he finds himself alone once more, with money in his pocket and a promising career as a seer. An introduction to the exiled Elizabeth of Bohemia, or the Winter Queen, as she is called, truly transforms Pelagius's life. Elizabeth, a widow and mother of 10 children, is well into her 40s but still shrewd and hearty; Pelagius, in his 40s, too, is more reserved and mindful of his ambiguous position. Their shared sense of royal duty and easy companionship lead them to secretly marry, but Elizabeth's pregnancy threatens to expose their union as war menaces Europe. Domestic life in a frigid Holland serves as compelling backdrop to this restrained, leisurely novel, in which theological and political questions are as thoroughly dealt with as romantic matters (Pelagius attempts to reconcile Protestantism and the religious practices of Africa, and Elizabeth monitors her sons' fortunes in England under her brother, King Charles I). Stevenson's pacing can be slow and uneven, but the cool glow the story sheds-like a Jan van Eyck painting-exerts a powerful attraction.