Biographical

Reviewed by: 

“Alpsten does an excellent job providing vivid characterization and detail. As a result, Tsarina’s Daughter is an engaging novel that blends fact and fiction . . .”

Reviewed by: 

“does a good job of evoking the post-Civil War era . . .”

Reviewed by: 

“Based upon eyewitness accounts, journal entries, interviews, letters, and journals, this is an outstanding record of the activities and events in the life of Josef Mengele as a notorious f

Reviewed by: 

Kerri Maher’s The Paris Bookseller is a worthy homage to Sylvia Beach and a love letter to all bookstores, libr

Reviewed by: 

Through the centuries, Marie Antoinette has been an object of fascination, sometimes approached with pity, sometimes with derision, but never with disinterest.

Reviewed by: 

Hidden women abound in all sectors of society, nearly all cultures, and throughout history, threatening powerful, dominant men who fear losing their power and prestige.

Reviewed by: 

"chilling depictions of prewar naivete, the slowly tightening noose in the ghetto, and a murderous eruption of anti-Semitism in Ukraine”

Reviewed by: 

Universe of Two is a love story. . . . It is an honest, compelling tale of the human cost of war and the fight that occurs when war ends and redemption begins.”

Reviewed by: 

“Retelling wartime history as spy fiction is Downing’s deeply grounded path; pointing out the power of love and family within it, however, is his aria.”

Reviewed by: 

“In American Duchess the reader is afforded a remarkable and realistic portrait of a life well-lived in spite of and often in opposition to societal expectations.

Reviewed by: 

“William Boyd is a master of the character biography, of evoking place and time, of expressing the human condition with its longings, its fleeting moments of bliss, its crushing inequities,

Reviewed by: 

“this book is a welcome addition to Andrić’s works where the Balkans are revealed in measured prose and where Andri

Reviewed by: 

A valuable 14th century Haggadah inscribed by a Sephardic rabbi and beautifully illustrated by his talented wife takes center stage in Alyson Richman’s richly imagined sixth novel, The Velvet H

Reviewed by: 

“The novel is a quick, compulsive read but leaves much untold; however, this is fiction and not comprehensive biography.”

Reviewed by: 

Europe in the 19th century was the domain of the Habsburg family. With members seated on nearly every throne on the continent, their influence was immense.

Reviewed by: 

Little is known about Zenobia, a real historical figure born c.

Reviewed by: 

If timing were everything, this memoir would be No. 1 on all the bestseller lists, getting released the week of David Bowie’s unfortunate death and the release of his latest album.

Author(s):
Genre(s):
Reviewed by: 

“Heather Webb’s emotionally charged novel and rich language mirror Camille Claudet’s talent as a sculptor.”

Reviewed by: 

“. . . a sympathetic and ironic rendering of a portion of Poe’s life . . .”

Reviewed by: 

“Explore Mr. Gray's earlier works since this one is clearly not one of his strongest.”

Author(s):
Genre(s):
Reviewed by: 

“. . . the first of a series, each focusing on a different daughter . . .”

Reviewed by: 

“a masterwork by a skilled craftsman . . . make a vow to read this book.”

Who knew that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella shared such a passionate romance?