August 2023 MBR The Historical Fiction Shelf

The Historical Fiction Shelf

Half-Life of a Stolen Sister
Rachel Cantor
Soho Press
853 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
www.sohopress.com
9781641294645, $27.00, HC, 384pp

https://www.amazon.com/Half-Life-Stolen-Sister-Rachel-Cantor/dp/1641294647

Synopsis: How did the Bronte sisters (Emily, Charlotte, and Anne) write literary the landmarks Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Agnes Grey? What in their lives and circumstances, in the choices they made, and in their close but complex relationships with one another made such greatness possible?

In her new novel, "Half-Life of a Stolen Sister", author Rachel Cantor melds biographical fact with unruly invention to illuminate the siblings' genius, their bonds of love and duty, periods of furious creativity, and the ongoing tolls of illness, isolation, and loss.

As this biographical novel tells the story of the Brontes, "Half-Life of a Stolen Sister" perpetually transforms and renews its own style and methods, sometimes hewing close to the facts of the Bronte lives as we know them (or think we know them), and at others radically reimagining the siblings, moving them into new time periods and possibilities.

Chapter by chapter, "Half-Life of a Stolen Sister" brings together diaries, letters, home movies, television and radio interviews, deathbed monologues, and fragments from the sprawling invented worlds of the siblings' childhood. As it does so, a kaleidoscopic portrait emerges, giving us with startling intensity and invention new ways of seeing (and reading!) the sisters who would create some of the supreme works of literature of all time.

Critique: Original and deftly crafted, "Half-Life of a Stolen Sister" by Rachel Cantor is a fun and entertaining work of fiction that is true to historical facts. The result is an unreserved recommendation as a high value pick for personal, community, and academic library Biographical Fiction collections. It should be noted fans of the Brontes and their classic novels that "Half-Life of a Stolen Sister" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99).

Editorial Note: Rachel Cantor (https://www.rachelcantor.com) is also the author of the novels "Good on Paper" and "A Highly Unlikely Scenario". Her stories have been published in The Paris Review, One Story, Ninth Letter, Kenyon Review, New England Review, and elsewhere, and she has written about fiction for National Public Radio, The Guardian, Publishers Weekly, and other publications.

Queen of Exiles
Vanessa Riley
William Morrow & Company
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
www.harpercollins.com
Blackstone Audiobooks
https://www.blackstonelibrary.com
9780063270992, $32.00, HC, 448pp

https://www.amazon.com/Queen-Exiles-Novel-Vanessa-Riley/dp/0063270994

Synopsis: Marie-Louise Christophe was the wife and then widow of Henry I, who ruled over the newly liberated Kingdom of Hayti in the wake of the brutal Haitian Revolution.

In 1810 Louise is crowned queen as her husband begins his reign over the first and only free Black nation in the Western Hemisphere. But despite their newfound freedom, Haitians still struggle under mountains of debt to France and indifference from former allies in Britain and the new United States. Louise desperately tries to steer the country's political course as King Henry descends into a mire of mental illness.

In 1820, King Henry is overthrown and dies by his own hand. Louise and her daughters manage to flee to Europe with their smuggled jewels. In exile, the resilient Louise redefines her role, recovering the fortune that Henry had lost and establishing herself as an equal to the kings of European nations.

With newspapers and gossip tracking their every movement, Louise and her daughters tour Europe like other royals, complete with glittering balls and princes with marriage proposals. As they find their footing (and acceptance) they discover more about themselves, their Blackness, and the opportunities they can grasp in a European and male-dominated world.

Critique: Queen Marie Louise Coidavid (1778 - 11 March 1851) was the Queen of the Kingdom of Haiti 1811-20 as the spouse of Henri Christophe. A work of deftly crafted fiction, but based on historical realities and personalities, "Queen of Exiles" by Vanessa Riley showcases a remarkable Black woman -- a canny and bold survivor who chooses the fire and ideals of political struggle, and then is forced to rebuild her life on her own terms, but is forever a queen! Fascinating, engaging, entertaining, memorable, "Queen of Exiles" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community library biographical fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Queen of Exiles" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, 9798212692274, $57.99, CD).

Editorial Note: Novelist Vanessa Riley (https://vanessariley.com) also holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering and a master's in industrial engineering and engineering management from Stanford University. She also earned BS and MS in mechanical engineering from Penn State University.

The Paris Deception
Bryn Turnbull
Mira Books
www.mirabooks.com
c/o HarperCollins
https://www.harpercollins.com
Blackstone Audiobooks
https://www.blackstonelibrary.com
9780778307662, $28.99, HC, 448pp

https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Deception-Novel-Bryn-Turnbull/dp/0778307662

Synopsis: Sophie Dix fled Stuttgart with her brother as the Nazi regime gained power in Germany. Now, with her brother gone and her adopted home city of Paris conquered by the Reich, Sophie reluctantly accepts a position restoring damaged art at the Jeu de Paume museum under the supervision of the ERR -- a Nazi art commission using the museum as a repository for art they've looted from Jewish families.

Fabienne Brandt was a rising star in the Parisian bohemian arts movement until the Nazis put a stop to so-called "degenerate" modern art. Still mourning the loss of her firebrand husband, she's resolved to muddle her way through the occupation in whatever way she can -- until Sophie, her estranged sister-in-law, arrives at her door with a stolen painting in hand.

Soon the two women embark upon a plan to save Paris's "degenerates", working beneath the noses of Germany's top art connoisseurs to replace the paintings in the Jeu de Paume with skillful forgeries -- but how long can Sophie and Fabienne sustain their masterful illusion?

Critique: Fascinating, entertaining, original, deftly crafted with meticulous attention to historical detail, "The Paris Deception" by Bryn Turnbull will have immense appeal to readers with an interest in World War II themed suspense/thriller fiction and Women's Friendship novels. While unreservedly recommended for community library Historical Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Paris Deception" is also available in a paperback edition (9780778333418, $18.99), in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99), and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, 9780778333418, $41.99, CD).

Editorial Note: Bryn Turnbull (https://www.brynturnbull.com) is also the author of The Woman Before Wallis. With a master of letters in creative writing from the University of St. Andrews, a master of professional communication from Toronto Metropolitan University and a bachelor's degree in English literature from McGill University, Bryn focuses on finding stories of women lost within the cracks of the historical record.

Returning the Bones
Gin Hammond
https://www.returningthebones.com
Wheatmark
www.wheatmark.com
9798887470580, $34.95, HC, 320pp

https://www.amazon.com/Returning-Bones-Gin-Hammond/dp/B0C6RKHQWJ

Synopsis: Bebe, a bookworm with an outlandish imagination, lives a peculiarly privileged life for a Black girl during the Great Depression. Her fearless father owns a hospital and an array of businesses, making him a keen target of the KKK. Her home life is filled with a panoply of distinctive family members, including a psychic mother, a terrifying "spinster" aunt who's having a secret affair with the local white sheriff, a renegade librarian aunt, a grandmother who might be the great-great-granddaughter of Alexander Hamilton, and Grandmother Betty, a Cherokee medicine woman who suffers no fools.

Guilt over the death of a beloved family member quenches Bebe's ability to rebel against her father's suffocating expectations. A tempestuous relationship with her enigmatic boyfriend, and further challenges-both hilarious and heartbreaking-compound Bebe's inability to live a life of her own choosing, until an unlikely opportunity in post-war Europe arises. Will Bebe relinquish dreams of being the architect of her own destiny, or abandon everything she's ever known to reinvent herself in an unfamiliar world?

Critique: With the publication of "Returning the Bones", author Gin Hammon has written a complex, deftly crafted, entertaining, and thought-provoking novel that asks her readers 'how do you choose between your country, your people, and yourself?. Authentic, original, memorable, inherently fascinating, "Returning the Bones" will have a special and particular appeal for readers with an interest in African-American biographical fiction. While especially and unreservedly recommended for community library Historical Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Returning te Bones" is also available in a paperback edition (9798887470573, $15.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Editorial Note: Gin Hammond (https://www.ginhammond.com) is a graduate of Harvard University and Moscow Art Theatre. She has performed nationally and internationally at theatres such as the Guthrie, the Long Wharf Theatre, and the Studio Theatre in Washington, DC, where she won a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress. A certified associate teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework(TM), Hammond teaches voice, voiceover, public speaking, and dialect coaching.

German Days
Steven Clark
Independently Published
9798840621165, $16.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook

https://www.amazon.com/German-Days-Steven-Clark/dp/B0B71CCPP7

German Days is a novel of a 1970s tour of duty in Germany that changes GI Patrick Walden's life and perceptions. But, more than a story of romance or cross-cultural encounter, it offers a deeper probe into the German Psyche which revolves around an obsession over a missing work of art and an effort to regain both it and a sense of country and purpose.

Over six hundred pages of detail might initially portend a challenging reading effort, but German Days is in fact a gripping story that carries readers through history, politics, intrigue, and romance with a heady grip of fascinating changes and facts that keeps the story not just well grounded, but hard to put down.

The story opens in 1937 with an encounter with Hitler that sets the stage for its focus on the Tannhauser sculpture and its allure. Clark employs a deft hand to capturing Hitler's psyche as he establishes his power and control in many disparate worlds. The Tannhauser's representation of "A man caught between spiritual fulfillment and worldly temptation" is also representative of the German psyche and entanglements that move from its past to present-day events. The notion that war is eternal and that German strength must be represented above any indicators of weakness permeates the story as events consider transformation, duty, business, and spies who are everywhere through the ages. The rescue and restoration of this work of art is key to healing on many different levels.

As Steven Clark surveys the changing milieu of German's past and present worlds, he brings readers into a thoroughly engrossing story that is more than a treasure hunt, but incorporates the excitement of discovery.

German Days will serve well as a leisure read, but also is highly recommended for book clubs considering contemporary works about the German psyche and its history. Ultimately, libraries will also want to recommend this book for its wide-ranging examination of the Tannhauser legend's rebirth and resurrection under many different hands and special interests.

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