Category: New Book Arrivals

New Book Arrival: O, Juliet

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I won O, Juliet by Robin Maxwell in a giveaway at The Maiden’s Court last month and received it today. Thanks Heather! This was the Historical Fiction Bloggers Round Table’s featured book for January, so I’m looking forward to reading it.

[From Goodreads]
“Before Juliet Capelletti lie two futures: a traditionally loveless marriage to her father’s business partner, or the fulfillment of her poetic dreams, inspired by the great Dante. Unlike her beloved friend Lucrezia, who looks forward to her arranged marriage, Juliet has a wild, romantic imagination that knows not the bounds of her great family’s stalwart keep.

The latter path is hers for the taking when Juliet meets Romeo Monticecco, a soulful young man seeking peace between their warring families. A dreamer himself, Romeo is unstoppable, once he determines to capture the heart of the remarkable woman foretold in his stars. The breathless intrigue that ensues is the stuff of beloved legend. But those familiar with Shakespeare’s muse know only half the story…”

New Book Arrival: Alice I Have Been

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I won Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin in a giveaway at The Book Whisperer. Thanks Boof!

[From Goodreads]
“Alice Liddell Hargreaves’s life has been a richly woven tapestry: As a young woman, wife, mother, and widow, she’s experienced intense passion, great privilege, and greater tragedy. But as she nears her eighty-first birthday, she knows that, to the world around her, she is and will always be only “Alice.” Her life was permanently dog-eared at one fateful moment in her tenth year–the golden summer day she urged a grown-up friend to write down one of his fanciful stories.

That story, a wild tale of rabbits, queens, and a precocious young child, becomes a sensation the world over. Its author, a shy, stuttering Oxford professor, does more than immortalize Alice–he changes her life forever. But even he cannot stop time, as much as he might like to. And as Alice’s childhood slips away, a peacetime of glittering balls and royal romances gives way to the urgent tide of war.

For Alice, the stakes could not be higher, for she is the mother of three grown sons, soldiers all. Yet even as she stands to lose everything she treasures, one part of her will always be the determined, undaunted Alice of the story, who discovered that life beyond the rabbit hole was an astonishing journey.

A love story and a literary mystery, Alice I Have Been brilliantly blends fact and fiction to capture the passionate spirit of a woman who was truly worthy of her fictional alter ego, in a world as captivating as the Wonderland only she could inspire.”

New Book Arrivals – 23rd January 2010

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Here are two books that I received today. The first book is one that I won from Goodreads: Spring Bear, a novella by Betsy Connor Bowen.

Synopsis:

In Evvie Mallow, author Betsy Connor Bowen has created a contemporary classic. Born and raised in the Maine woods, her family disintegrating around her, Evvie is caught in a conflict between irreconcilable forces – the instinct to protect her unborn child and the freedom to choose a life for herself. With dignity and grace, she keeps a Yankee’s silence about her own acts of courage and self-sacrifice. This slender book will take its place among the timeless tales that enrich our imaginations.

I also bought The Sunne in Splendour from Amazon. I’ve never read any of Sharon Kay Penman’s books before but I thought I would try this one as I’ve seen so many good reviews.

Synopsis:

A glorious novel of the controversial Richard III – a monarch betrayed in life by his allies and betrayed in death by history

In this beautifully rendered modern classic, Sharon Kay Penman redeems Richard III – vilified as the bitter, twisted, scheming hunchback who murdered his nephews, the princes in the Tower – from his maligned place in history with a dazzling combination of research and storytelling.

This magnificent retelling of his life is filled with all of the sights and sounds of battle, the customs and lore of the fifteenth century, the rigors of court politics, and the passions and prejudices of royalty.

New Book Arrival – 9th January 2010

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The Divine Sacrifice by Tony Hays

I won this ARC in a giveaway and received it today. Thanks to Tony Hays and Amy at Passages to the Past!

Synopsis (from book cover)

The Divine Sacrifice continues the story of King Arthur’s conselor, Malgwyn ap Cuneglas, a soldier who lost his arm in battle but was saved by his king. Malgwyn hated Arthur for this gift, but he has come to grudgingly acknowledge that he yet may have some purpose in life.

Arthur and Malgwyn are called to the abbey of Glastonbury to settle a matter of great political importance – tin being mined for export to the Empire. While there, Malgwyn and Arthur meet St. Patrick, a legend in the Church who is there on a mission of his own, to root out the heresy of Pelagius.

When an aged monk is found cruelly murdered in his cell, Malgwyn is faced with a problem that will test his skills as an investigator. His search for the truth may uncover a conspiracy that could endanger the kingdom.

Gritty and powerful with a true ring of historical perspective and a character who sees more than those around him, The Divine Sacrifice is a historical mystery that will hook mystery readers and historical fans alike.

New Book Arrivals – 27th December 2009

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Some books that I received for Christmas. What did Santa bring you this year?

In 1865 Charles Dickens, the world’s most famous writer, narrowly escapes death in the Staplehurst Rail Disaster. He will never be the same again. A public hero for rescuing survivors, he slowly descends into madness as he hunts the individual he believes to be responsible for the carnage: a spectral figure known only as Drood.
His best friend, Wilkie Collins, is enlisted for the pursuit. Together they venture into Undertown, the shadowy, lawless web of crypts and catacombs beneath London. Here Drood is rumoured to hold sway over a legion of brainwashed followers. But as Wilkie spirals ever further into opium addiction and jealousy of the most successful novelist, he must face a terrifying possibility: is Charles Dickens really capable of murder?

Macabre and melodramtic, set in haunted castles or fantastic landscapes, Gothic tales became fashionable in the late eighteenth century with the publication of Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764). Crammed with catastrophe, terror, and ghostly interventions, the novel was an immediate success, and influenced numerous followers. These include William Beckford’s Vathek (1786), which alternates grotesque comedy with scenes of exotic magnificence in the story of the ruthless Caliph Vathek’s journey to damation. The Monk (1796), by Matthew Lewis, is a violent tale of ambition, murder, and incest, set in the sinister monastery of the Capuchins in Madrid. Frankenstein (1818, 1831) is Mary Shelley’s disturbing and perennially popular tale of young student who learns the secret of giving life to a creature made from human relics, with horrific consequences. This collection illustrates the range and the attraction of the Gothic novel.

The first in a stunning new series, The Cousins War, is set amid the tumult and intrigue of The War of the Roses. Internationally bestselling author Philippa Gregory brings this family drama to colourful life through its women, beginning with the story of Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen The White Queen tells the story of a common woman who ascends to royalty by virtue of her beauty, a woman who rises to the demands of her position and fights tenaciously for the success of her family, a woman whose two sons become the central figures in a mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the Princes in the Tower whose fate remains unknown to this day. From her uniquely qualified perspective, Philippa Gregory explores the most famous unsolved mystery, informed by impeccable research and framed by her inimitable storytelling skills.

[Synopsis for above books taken from Amazon.co.uk]

New Book Arrival – 23rd December 2009

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Today I received Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain which I won in a giveaway at A Bookshelf Monstrosity. Thanks Amanda!

Synopsis:

Gretchen Lowell is on the loose. A sensationalist media has turned her into a star. Her face graces magazine covers…women get “beauty killer” manicures…there are sightings of her worldwide…even kids wear t-shirts that read “Run, Gretchen.” Most shocking of all, a fan club has formed – counting the number of days Gretchen Lowell has been free.

Archie Sheridan has hunted her for a decade. He lived and breathed her crime scenes, only for her to be right there in front of him, all along. He’s suffered long and hard…and been left near death. After his last attempt to capture her went spectacularly wrong, he’s been hospitalized for months.

When a dead body is found with Gretchen’s signature heart, Archie is forced into action. Has the Beauty Killer returned to her ways – or has the cult surrounding her created a whole new evil?