Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang

25 Monday Jul 2022

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction, Historical Fiction, United States, western

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19th century, Asian-Americans, Chinese Exclusion Act, human trafficking, interpersonal relations, racism, United States history

Selection for August 2022 Novels at Night book club in Weston

“Brilliant and devastating, Four Treasures of the Sky tells the story of Daiyu, who is brought to America against her will and forced to hide who she is even as she grows into her true self. Weaving together myth and history, Zhang’s work is both timeless and utterly necessary right now.”
―Anna North, author of Outlawed

“Jenny Tinghui Zhang uses her considerable talents to illuminate the shocking injustices the Chinese in this country suffered in the 1800s, and in doing so, makes us stop and consider how much of that cruelty and injustice survive to this day. Four Treasures of the Sky is an engulfing, bighearted, and heartbreaking novel.”―Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House

“Zhang’s debut novel imaginatively illuminates an often overlooked aspect of American history that resonates powerfully today, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and concurrent anti-Asian violence… Zhang’s blend of history and magical realism will appeal to fans of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Water Dancer as well as Amy Tan’s The Valley of Amazement.”―Booklist (starred review)

“Fierce and moving…Zhang delves into the history of violence and prejudice against Chinese people in the U.S. with her debut, a lyrical and sweeping Bildungsroman…The author skillfully delineates the many characters and offers fascinating details on Chinese calligraphy and literature, along with an unsparing view of white supremacy.”―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“The prides and prejudices of the Old West blaze to life in Zhang’s propulsive, fable-like novel…Zhang skillfully embellishes her novel with Chinese characters, suggesting that language is our most potent weapon against oppression.”―Oprah Daily

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Leaving Coy’s Hill by Katherine A. Sherbrooke

07 Monday Feb 2022

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Biographical fiction, Fiction, Historical Fiction, United States

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19th century, history, Lucy Stone 1818-1893, women abolitionists, women's rights

“What could be more timely than Sherbrooke’s gorgeously fictionalized and page-turning account of Lucy Stone, the first woman in Massachusetts to earn a college degree, to keep her maiden name, and to fight for women’s rights? A stunning look at timeless issues—how we navigate motherhood and career, marriage or staying single, and how we create change in a world that seems to have gone crazy, all told through the lens of one extraordinary heroine.” — Caroline Leavitt, New York Times Bestselling author of Pictures of You

“A staunch activist in the fight for women’s rights who got her start among New England’s abolitionists, [Lucy Stone] has been overshadowed in the historical record by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony…Katherine A. Sherbrooke’s Leaving Coy’s Hill aims to revive interest in Stone by dramatizing her dogged attempts to support herself and her causes on the lecture circuit — and her equally dogged attempts to reconcile her professional career with motherhood and a “marriage of equals”. ― New York Times Book Review

“Leaving Coy’s Hill is an important book about an important woman, abolitionist and suffragist, Lucy Stone. Sherbrooke paints a vivid portrait of this often forgotten American figure who inspired a nation to think differently about women’s rights. Unforgettable and unputdownable, this novel will remain in memory long after the last page has been turned.” — Crystal King, author of FEAST OF SORROW

“A powerful and stirring portrait of one of the most influential women in the equal rights movement. Thanks to Sherbrooke’s skillful storytelling, Lucy Stone is no less inspiring today than she was 170 years ago. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself ready to march!” — Isla Morley, author of THE LAST BLUE

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The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear by Kate Moore

20 Monday Dec 2021

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Biography, History, Non-fiction, United States

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19th century, biography, commitment and detention, Elizabeth parsons Ware Packard 1866-1897, Illinois, insanity, laws, legal status, mentally ill, social reformers, United States, women

“”I have waited fifty years for this full-length biography of Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard, and Kate Moore’s The Woman They Could Not Silence is simply magnificent. It reads like a suspense novel: one is on the edge of her seat at all times; one cannot believe what happens next―and then after that. History comes alive as does the tragedy of women who were falsely judged “mad” and then incarcerated and tortured in 19th century American Insane Asylums. Moore’s research is impeccable. She tells us the whole terrifying and thrilling story: the cost of battle, the triumph of cruel and corrupt misogynists, the nature of feminist victory. It is a complicated story and one brilliantly told. This book reads like a movie and it should be made into one.”- Phyllis Chesler, bestselling author and feminist leader

“Like Radium Girls, this volume is a page-turner.”―Library Journal, STARRED review“

A veritable tour de force about how far women’s rights have come and how far we still have to go…Put this book in the hands of every young feminist.”―Booklist, STARRED review“

In Moore’s expert hands, this beautifully-written tale unspools with drama and power, and puts Elizabeth Packard on the map at the most relevant moment imaginable. You will be riveted―and inspired. Bravo!”―Liza Mundy, New York Times bestselling author of Code Girls

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The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

07 Friday May 2021

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction, Historical Fiction

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19th century, Australia, exile, female friendship, governesses, life changing events, midwives, penal colonies, punishment, women

Best-selling historical fiction author of The Orphan Train and A Piece of the World transports the reader to 1840’s Australia where England sent away her prisoners – for some punishment, for others opportunity and redemption.

“Celebrating the bonds between women, the novel explores how lives that seem destined for pain might persevere.” — Real Simple

“Both uplifting and heartbreaking, this beautifully written novel doesn’t flinch from the ugliness of the penal system but celebrates the courage and resilience of both the first peoples and the settlers who came after, voluntarily or not, to create a new home for themselves and their children.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“Monumental…This episode in history gets a top-notch treatment by Kline, one of our foremost historical novelists. This fascinating 19th-century take on Orange Is the New Black is subtle, intelligent, and thrillingly melodramatic.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

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Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles

07 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction, Historical Fiction

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19th century, Civil War 1861-1865, fiddlers, indentured servants, soldiers, Texas history

Historical writing is Jiles’ specialty (News of the World). Now through the eyes of a rag tag assortment of musicians, we experience the dicey times just days after the end of the Civil War where law enforcement is vague, disease runs rampant, and trying to survive is undermined at every juncture.

“Incandescent in its beauty, told in Paulette Jiles’s trademark spare yet lilting style, Simon the Fiddler is a captivating, bittersweet tale of the chances a devoted man will take, and the lengths he will go to fulfill his heart’s yearning.” – Amazon

“Imbued with the dust, grit, and grime of Galveston at the close of the Civil War, Simon the Fiddler immerses readers in the challenges of Reconstruction. Jiles brings her singular voice to the young couple’s travails, her written word as lyrical and musical as Simon’s bow raking over his strings. Loyal Jiles readers and fans of Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See and Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge will adore the author’s latest masterpiece.” (Booklist (starred review))

“Vividly evocative and steeped in American folkways: more great work from a master storyteller.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred review))

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Ritz & Escoffier: the Hotelier, the Chef, and the Rise of the Leisure Class by Luke Barr

22 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in History, London, Non-fiction

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19th century, 20th century, A. Escoffier 1846-1935, Cesar Ritz 1850-1918, hospitality industry, leisure class, Savoy Hotel (London England), social aspects

November’s Non-Fiction Book Club Selection at the Weston Public Library

Two men, the hotel and restaurant they created like no one else had ever experienced, run in often mysterious and always extravagant ways ….. which created quite a scandal once exposed.

“Ritz and Escoffier, Luke Barr’s entertaining narrative history, reads like a novel…Mr. Barr has done a fine job evoking fin-de-siecle London and the characters of the two odd men who played such a pivotal role in that exhilarating time.” –Wall Street Journal

“In this winningly-told story, Luke Barr explores the advent of the luxe life through the saga of hotelier Cesar Ritz and chef Auguste Escoffier, whose partnership brought us not only the adjective ‘ritzy,’ itself no small testament, but also such once-novel phenomena as hotel rooms with their own bathrooms, and innovative dishes like peach Melba. It’s a charming tale of success, scandal, and redemption—complete with an unexpected villain. Warning: It will make you hungry, and a little nostalgic for bygone times.”—Erik Larson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dead Wake and Devil in the White City

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Trial of Lizzie Borden by Cara Robertson

18 Monday Nov 2019

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in murder and investigation, Non-fiction, United States

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19th century, Fall River (Mass.), litigation, Lizzie Borden 1860-1927, murder trials

Weston Public Library Non-Fiction Book Club Selection for October 2019

The remarkable new account of an essential piece of American mythology—the trial of Lizzie Borden—based on twenty years of research and recently unearthed evidence.
The Trial of Lizzie Borden tells the true story of one of the most sensational murder trials in American history that took place in Fall River, Massachusetts.

“The definitive account to date of one of America’s most notorious and enduring murder mysteries…a superior, page-turning true crime narrative.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Robertson presents the story with the thoroughness one expects from an attorney…Fans of crime novels will love it.” —Kirkus Review

“A fast-paced, page-turning read.” —Booklist, starred review

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News of the World by Paulette Jiles

10 Monday Apr 2017

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction, western

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19th century, Kiowa Indians, orphans, travels, voyages, Western frontier, widowers, wilderness

In News of the World, a National Book Award finalist, elderly, genteel Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a former soldier and onetime printer, makes his living traveling through post–Civil War Texas with a sheaf of newspapers, reading for dimes to audiences hungry for outside news. The former Johanna Leonberger, a ten-year-old German girl taken captive by the Kiowa in a brutal raid, is now by all measures Kiowa herself. When an aunt and uncle offer a $50 gold piece for Johanna’s safe return, Captain Kidd reluctantly takes the job. 400 miles in 213 pages – action, memorable characters, and gorgeous prose.

“Lyrical and affecting, the novel succeeds in skirting cliches through its empathy and through the depth of its major characters.” – Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“My respect for Paulette Jiles grows with every novel she writes, the News of the World is her best yet…She writes with great clarity, understanding, and a forgiving heart.” – Nancy Pearl, librarian, bestselling author, and literary critic

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Tag Archives: 19th century

Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang

Leaving Coy’s Hill by Katherine A. Sherbrooke

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

Best-selling historical fiction author of The Orphan Train and A Piece of the World transports the reader to 1840’s Australia where England sent away her prisoners – for some punishment, for others opportunity and redemption.

“Celebrating the bonds between women, the novel explores how lives that seem destined for pain might persevere.” — Real Simple

Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles

Trial of Lizzie Borden by Cara Robertson

News of the World by Paulette Jiles