Historical Fiction

Overdrive has a new Big Library Read title, The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason, and you can find a copy to borrow August 3-17th. The Darwin Affair is an historical mystery set in 1860 London with a mystery that has assassination attempts, murder, and a conspiracy centered on the publication of Charles Darwin's controversial On the Origin of the Species. Sounds like the perfect escape for these the doldrums of our summer.

Evie Dunmore's debut novel Bringing Down the Duke made a splash last year both because of it's feminist love story and it's general sparkliness (is that a word?) both inside and outside. Inside was a sharp, funny, lovely story of opposites attracting and on the outside was a colorful, illustrated design that was part of a major trend in the publishing world.

In 1917 fourteen-year-old Jessie Carr disappeared from her Pacific Northwest home near Portland. She's the heir to the vast Carr fortune and if she is not found before her twenty-first birthday, now only months away, the fortune will be dispersed to other relatives. Now her uncle, Oliver Beckett, thinks he's found Jessie when he sees her performing on a vaudeville stage. The problem is the young woman insists her name is Leah and though she is the spitting image of Jessie, Oliver soon realizes his error. Though she is not Jessie, Oliver has a back-up plan.

Bridie Devine - don't call her Bridget - is quite possibly my new favorite detective. A woman who wears a distinctly unfashionable bonnet and can often be found smoking a colleague's experimental tobacco blends, she is not a typical Victorian lady, nor is she a typical detective. As the ward of a respected doctor, she grew up learning to assist in a laboratory, and has the nerves of steel one might expect from someone who has watched many gruesome surgeries on patients not under anesthesia. She also travels with some unusual companions.

Don’t let the mounds of crusty snow or the frigid blasts of winter’s winds fool you: spring is nigh. Much like a cranky groundhog roused from his winter den, the publishing industry is waking up to some of the more anticipated titles of 2020, and a fine crop of them can be found landing on shelves in March. On to the notable offerings:

Veronica Speedwell and Stoker are back and faced with an unwanted assignment, one that will help to shield the monarchy from a massive scandal. And struggle as they may to avoid the task, events (including being kidnapped with a prince) force them to resolve the issue and save the world, again.

Have we recovered from September yet?  It seemed like last month had a very full slate of new offerings to check out, along with the announcements of a couple of notable award lists and Big Important Books.