In the summer of 1855 and the notion of making a living as a writer is still a far-off dream for Louisa. The Alcott family, destitute as usual, moves to a generous uncle's empty house in Walpole, New Hampshire, for the summer. Here, a striking but pensive Louisa meets Joseph Singer. But just as she begins to open her heart, she discovers that Joseph may not be free to give his away. Their newfound love carries a steep price, and Louisa fears she may...
"History, mystery, and murder are the traveling companions of Nellie Bly, the world's first female investigative reporter. In No Job for a Lady, Nellie defies the wrath of her editor and vengeful ancient gods while setting out to prove a woman has what it takes to be a foreign correspondent in dangerous Victorian times. Pyramids, dark magic, and dead bodies are what the intrepid Nellie encounters when she takes off for Mexico after her editor refuses...
"This richly imagined novel tells the story behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the book that inspired the iconic film, through the eyes of author L. Frank Baum's intrepid wife, Maud. Hollywood, 1938: As soon as she learns that M-G-M is adapting her late husband's masterpiece for the screen, seventy-seven-year-old Maud Gage Baum sets about trying to finagle her way onto the set. Nineteen years after Frank's passing, Maud is the only person who can...
New York Times Book Review Editors' ChoiceBookpage Best Books of 2014Woman's Day "Most Inspirational Book of 2014"Women's National Book Association Great Group Reads Pick for 2014 A vividly original literary novel based on the astounding true-life story of Laura Bridgman, the first deaf and blind person who learned language and blazed a trail for Helen Keller. At age two, Laura Bridgman lost four of her five senses to scarlet fever. At age seven,...
Accompanying a future famous actress from her Wichita home to New York, chaperone Cora Carlisle shares a life-changing five-week period with her ambitious teenage charge during which she discovers the promise of the 20th century and her own purpose in life.
Inspired by the extraordinary events of Dr. May Chinn's life, Angel of Harlem is a deeply affecting story of love and transcendence. Weaving seamlessly scenes from the battlefields of the Civil War, during which her father escaped from slavery, to the Harlem living rooms and kitchen tables where May is sometimes forced to operate on her patients, this fascinating novel lays bare the heart of a woman who changed the face of medicine. A gifted, beautiful...
"Reimagines the private life of Emily Dickinson, one of America's most beloved poets, through her own voice and through the eyes of her family's Irish maid"--
Louis Comfort Tiffany staffs his studio with female artisans--a decision that protects him from strikes by the all-male union--but refuses to employ women who are married. Lucky for him, Clara Driscoll's romantic misfortunes insure that she can continue to craft the jewel-toned glass windows and lamps that catch both her eye and her imagination.
In 1970s Chicago, PI Nathan Heller is hired to solve the case of Amelia Earhart, the aviatrix who went missing on her round-the-world flight. A tall order, given the flight took place in 1937, but he succeeds nevertheless.
"Inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine, this powerful debut novel reveals an incredible story of love, redemption, and terrible secrets that were hidden for decades. New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon. But Caroline's world is forever changed when Hitler's army invades Poland in September 1939--and then sets its sights on France. An ocean away from...
A tale inspired by the marriage of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald follows their union in defiance of her father's opposition and her abandonment of the provincial finery of her upbringing in favor of a scandalous flapper identity that gains her entry into the literary party scenes of New York, Paris and the French Riviera.
"The New York Times bestselling author of Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker and Mrs. Lincoln's Rival imagines the inner life of Julia Grant, beloved as a Civil War general's wife and the First Lady, yet who grappled with a profound and complex relationship with the slave who was her namesake-until she forged a proud identity of her own. In 1844, Missouri belle Julia Dent met dazzling horseman Lieutenant Ulysses S Grant. Four years passed before their parents...
"In this beautifully written novel of historical fiction, bestselling author Susan Holloway Scott tells the story of Alexander Hamilton's wife, Eliza--a fascinating strong-willed heroine in her own right and a key figure in one of the most gripping periods in American history."--
A non-traditional 19th century artist, Sophia, falls in love with a talented writer, Nathaniel, and the pair begin a life together that spans continents, child-rearing and competing creative impulses.
Illuminating an enigma of the past, this is the provocative continuation of the irrefutable chronicle of Sally Hemings—Thomas Jefferson’s mistress, the mother of his children, and the slave he would never set free, even when the scandal nearly cost him the presidency. Epic in proportion yet rendered in exquisite detail, this controversial storybegins in 1822, recounting the tale of Harriet Hemings, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings’...
The love story between Andrew Jackson, military hero and American president, and Rachel Donelson, a girl of the Tennessee frontier, and the uphill battle they fought to clear her name, after they and the American public discovered that her abusive first husband had not officially gone through with their divorce.
From her earliest days, Patsy Jefferson knows that though her father loves his family dearly, his devotion to his country runs deeper still. As Thomas Jefferson oldest daughter, she becomes his helpmate, protector, and constant companion in the wake of her mother death, traveling with him when he becomes American minister to France. It is in Paris, at the glittering court and among the first tumultuous days of revolution, that fifteen-year-old Patsy...
Hedy Kiesler is lucky. Her beauty leads to a starring role in a controversial film and marriage to a powerful Austrian arms dealer, allowing her to evade Nazi persecution despite her Jewish heritage. But Hedy is also intelligent. At lavish Vienna dinner parties, she overhears the Third Reich's plans. One night in 1937, desperate to escape her controlling husband and the rise of the Nazis, she disguises herself and flees her husband's castle. She lands...
If you liked Sold on a Monday and Beautiful Exiles, you'll love this novel about strong-willed trailblazing photographer, Dorothea Lange, whose fame grew during World War II and the Great Depression.
“Hooper excels at humanizing giants....seamlessly weaving together the time, places and people in Lange’s life...For photo buffs and others familiar with her vast body of work, reading the book will be like
