Library Staff Directory
Posted Jul 29, 2016
Looking to escape to a different time and place? Check out some of our new historical fiction titles featuring the Galapagos Islands, the deep South, and fifteenth century Dutch painting.
Enchanted Islands by Allison Amend
Born in Duluth, Minnesota in 1882, Fanny Frankowski spends her early years dreaming of escaping the monotony of small town life. At age fifteen, she and her best friend Rosalie runaway to Chicago, the economic hub of the Midwest brimming with life and action. Eventually the two have a falling out, and after going their separate ways, Fanny is left on her own. Later in life, the two reconnect in San Francisco where Rosalie is a housewife, and Fanny is about to set out on the adventure of a lifetime. Working as a secretary for the Office of Naval Intelligence, Fanny is about to marry Ainslie Conway, a young intelligence operator, and the couple will be transferred to the Galapagos Islands. Set on the brink of World War II, Enchanted Islands explores the true life of Frances Conway, her friendships, and the exploits of international espionage.
The Fallen Land by Taylor Brown
During the final year of the Civil War, seventeen year old Callum, an Irish orphan, steals a horse and makes his way through the devastation of the south. He is on the run with a $5,000 reward for his capture after being mistaken for the man who killed the Colonel. On his journey, he rescues Ava, who is pregnant, from soldiers pillaging the land. Having lost her brother and father in the war, Ava is also now an orphan, and together Callum and Ava set out with their horse Reiver in the hopes of building a new life. Traveling through Georgia with slave hunters, dogs, and rangers close on their trail, the couple heads towards Atlanta, a free city. En route, they encounter both beauty and destruction in the scorched land and ruins of the Confederate nation. Using a love story as a base, The Fallen Land explores the aftermath of America’s bloodiest war and those that survived despite all odds.
The Last Painting of Sara De Vos by Dominic Smith
In 1631, Sara de Vos became the first female painter to study in Amsterdam’s Guild of St. Luke. Women were strictly forbidden to paint landscapes, however de Vos was haunted by a winter scene of a young girl standing near a tree gazing down upon a group of ice skaters. De Vos carried on, and At the Edge of a Wood is her only attributed work. In 1957, At the Edge of the Wood hangs in Marty de Groot’s swanky Manhattan apartment, and he agrees to allow Ellie Shipley to forge the painting for an art dealer. Marty is in a comfortable but loveless marriage, and finds himself entangled with the young student. Now, moving forward to 2000, Ellie is curating an exhibit in Sydney, Australia featuring Dutch female painters, and both copies of At the Edge of the Wood are due to arrive, and all three story threads converge in a richly detailed exploration of women in the arts.
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