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A young girl flees seventeenth-century Madrid, in fear for her life. Three centuries later and a continent away, a woman comes across old papers long hidden away, and in them discovers the reason for the flight so long ago, and for her own mother's enigmatic dying words.
In 1660, Amsterdam is the trading and map-printing capital of the world. Anneke van Brug is one of the colorists paid to enhance black-and-white maps for a growing number of collectors. Her artistic talent brings her to the attention of the Blaeu printing house, and she begins to color for a rich merchant, Willem de Groot. But Anneke is not content to simply embellish the work of others; she longs to create maps of her own. Cartography, however, is the domain of men—so it is in secret that she borrows the notes her father made on a trip to Africa in 1642 and sets about designing a new map. Anneke hopes to convince the charismatic de Groot to use his influence to persuade Blaeu to include her map in the Atlas Maior, which will be the largest and most expensive publication of the century. But family secrets, infidelity, and murder endanger her dream. Will her map withstand these threats, or will it be forever lost?
In 1661 Madrid, Ana is still grieving the loss of her husband when her niece, sixteen-year-old Juliana, suddenly vanishes. Ana frantically searches the girl’s room and comes across a diary. Journeying to southern Spain in the hope of finding her, Ana immerses herself in her niece’s private thoughts. After a futile search in Seville, she comes to Juliana’s final entries, and, discovering the horrifying reason for the girl’s flight, abandons her search. In 1992 Missouri, in her deceased mother’s home, Rachel finds a packet of letters, and a diary written by a woman named Juliana. Rachel’s reserved mother has never mentioned these items, but Rachel recognizes the names Ana and Juliana: her mother uttered them on her deathbed. She soon becomes immersed in Juliana’s diary, which recounts the young woman’s journey to Mexico City and her life in a convent. As she learns the truth about Juliana’s tragic family history, Rachel seeks to understand her connection to the writings—hoping that in finding those answers, she will somehow heal the wounds caused by her mother’s lifelong reticence.
2017-2018 Sarton Women's Book Awards Winner in Historical Fiction 2018 International Book Awards Finalist in Fiction: Historical Emilia Bassano has four strikes against her: she is poor, beautiful, female, and intelligent in Elizabethan England. To make matters worse, she comes from a family of secret Jews. When she is raped as a teenager, she knows she probably will not be able to make a good marriage, so she becomes the mistress of a much older nobleman. During this time she falls in love with poet/player William Shakespeare, and they have a brief, passionate relationship—but when the plague comes to England, the nobleman abandons her, leaving her pregnant and without financial security. In the years that follow, Emilia is forced to make a number of difficult decisions in her efforts to survive, and not all of them turn out well for her. But ultimately, despite the disadvantaged position she was born to, she succeeds in pursuing her dreams of becoming a writer—and even publishes a book of poetry in 1611 that makes a surprisingly modern argument for women’s equality.
London, 1888. Upon the death of her husband, self-involved social climber Cora Pringle assumes her recent dalliance with a wealthy gentleman will be her second chance at a happily ever after. That is until her paramour turns out to be a penniless imposter. Despite his betrayal, Cora can’t quite let go of the tug the handsome playwright has on her heart. Desperate for an income, Cora becomes a séance-performing spiritualist and gets a taste for celebrity—and it’s so delicious. So what if she can’t actually communicate with the dead? Her eager patrons don’t need to know that. Amelia Baxter, an ambitious journalist and suffragist, is discouraged when her editor refuses to let her cover the horrific Jack the Ripper murders. Instead, Amelia pours her frustrations into bringing Cora’s deceptive and manipulative act to an end, even if it means risking her family’s reputation.
This exhilarating story is the transporting tale of how the sensual, romantic elements of haute Chinese cuisine become the perfect ingredients to lift the troubled soul of a grieving American woman.
From the Gold Rush to the Baby Boom, women struggled against social custom, restrictive laws, and limited career opportunities. Under the Almond Trees is the novelized account of three ordinary women who lived extraordinary lives in early California. One learns independence when she is widowed and must lead men. Another desires a career in a man's field. The third wants only a traditional family--until her husband refuses to pay for their daughter's college education. Their legacy resounds beyond the family. I am proud to be their relative and honored to share their story.
The official NaNoWriMo handbook that inspires young people to tackle audacious goals and complete their creative projects. Includes pep talks from today's biggest authors! John Green, Marissa Meyer, Jennifer Niven, Daniel José Older, Danielle Paige, Celia C. Pérez, and Scott Westerfeld with an introduction by Jason Reynolds! Partly a how-to guide on the nitty-gritty of writing, partly a collection of inspiration to set (and meet) ambitious goals, Brave the Page is the go-to resource for middle-grade writers. Narrated in a fun, refreshingly kid-friendly voice, it champions NaNoWriMo's central mission that everyone's stories deserve to be told. The volume includes chapters on character, plot...
When Edgar Degas visits his French Creole relatives in New Orleans from 1872 to ’73, Estelle, his cousin and sister-in-law, encourages the artist—who has not yet achieved recognition and struggles to find inspiration—to paint portraits of their family members. In 1970, Anne Gautier, a young artist, finds connections between her ancestors and Degas while renovating the New Orleans house she has inherited. When Anne finds two identical portraits of Estelle, she discovers disturbing truths that change her life as she searches for meaningful artistic expression—just as Degas did one hundred years earlier. A gripping historical novel told by two women living a century apart, Estelle combines mystery, family saga, art, and romance in its exploration of the man Degas was before he became the artist famous around the world today.
2023 National Indie Excellence Awards Winner in Literary Fiction 2023 National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist in Contemporary Novel 2023 IPPY Awards Gold Medalist Winner 2023 NIEA Winner in Literary Fiction 2023 Eric Hoffer Book Awards Winner 2022 CIBA Somerset Book Awards First Place Winner “...superb descriptions of Spain, its cities and museums, and seventeenth century art—as well as the often cut-throat world of graduate school. The ensuing intrigue is fast-paced, fun to read, hard to put down.” —Midwest Book Review “Gorgeously written. . . . Moore’s book is a winner.” —Caroline Leavitt, New York Times best-selling author of Pictures of You, With or Without You Art hist...