Tanzanite's Castle Full of Books: Weekly Wishlist

Weekly Wishlist - September 29, 2010

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Every week Tanzanite features upcoming historical fiction and history related non-fiction books that have come to her attention and may be of interest to others. Since she has an out of control TBR pile, so should everyone else!

Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow. Non-fiction. US release October 5, 2010.

From National Book Award winner Ron Chernow, a landmark biography of George Washington. In Washington: A Life celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation. With a breadth and depth matched by no other one-volume life of Washington, this crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his troubled boyhood, his precocious feats in the French and Indian War, his creation of Mount Vernon, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president.

Despite the reverence his name inspires, Washington remains a lifeless waxwork for many Americans, worthy but dull. A laconic man of granite self-control, he often arouses more respect than affection. In this groundbreaking work, based on massive research, Chernow dashes forever the stereotype of a stolid, unemotional man. A strapping six feet, Washington was a celebrated horseman, elegant dancer, and tireless hunter, with a fiercely guarded emotional life. Chernow brings to vivid life a dashing, passionate man of fiery opinions and many moods. Probing his private life, he explores his fraught relationship with his crusty mother, his youthful infatuation with the married Sally Fairfax, and his often conflicted feelings toward his adopted children and grandchildren. He also provides a lavishly detailed portrait of his marriage to Martha and his complex behavior as a slave master.

At the same time, Washington is an astute and surprising portrait of a canny political genius who knew how to inspire people. Not only did Washington gather around himself the foremost figures of the age, including James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, but he also brilliantly orchestrated their actions to shape the new federal government, define the separation of powers, and establish the office of the presidency. In this unique biography, Ron Chernow takes us on a page-turning journey through all the formative events of America's founding. With a dramatic sweep worthy of its giant subject, Washington is a magisterial work from one of our most elegant storytellers.

Katherine the Queen by Linda Porter. Non-fiction. US release November 23, 2010; released previously this year in the UK.

The general perception of Katherine Parr is that she was a provincial nobody with intellectual pretensions who became queen of

England

because the king needed a nurse as his health declined. Yet the real Katherine Parr was attractive, passionate, ambitious, and highly intelligent. Thirty-years-old (younger than Anne Boleyn had been) when she married the king, she was twice widowed and held hostage by the northern rebels during the great uprising of 1536-37 known as the Pilgrimage of Grace. Her life had been dramatic even before she became queen and it would remain so after Henry’s death. She hastily and secretly married her old flame, the rakish Sir Thomas Seymour, and died shortly after giving birth to her only child in September 1548. Her brief happiness was undermined by the very public flirtation of her husband and step-daughter, Princess Elizabeth. She was one of the most influential and active queen consorts in English history, and this is her story.

Roman Britain by Richard Hobbs and Ralph Jackson. Non-fiction. US release December 1, 2010. For nearly four centuries Britain was a province on the outer edge of the Roman Empire and developed a distinctively Romano-British culture and way of life. Drawing on archaeological finds, ancient written sources and the latest research on surviving artefacts - from a child's shoe to a birthday invitation, from a lifelike portrait to a treasure trove - Roman Britain brings the ancient past to life. Spanning more than ten centuries and ranging the length and breadth of ancient Britain, this lively history evokes a vivid sense of life in Roman times - for both rich and poor, Romans and native Britons, city and country dwellers. A rich diversity of lifestyle and culture evolved, experienced across all strata of society. Native British traditions of trade and craftsmanship merged with the imported Roman styles and practices to create a unique cultural synthesis, the legacy of which is still visible today in British landscapes, architecture, art and society. Ralph Jackson and Richard Hobbs are curators of Romano-British antiquities in the British Museum.

True Soldier Gentlemen by Adrian Goldsworthy. UK release January 27, 2011. A brilliant Napoleonic military fiction series from one of the UK’s brightest young historians. 1808, and Hamish Williams is a ‘gentleman volunteer’, serving with the ranks but living with the officers, and uncomfortable in both worlds. Williams is determined to prove he is worthy of advancement, and when his regiment leaves to wage the Peninsula War against Napoleon, his chance of glory is at hand…True Soldier Gentlemen combines the vivid detail of a master historian with the pulsating action of a natural storyteller.

Blood of the Rose: The Tudor Vampire Chronicles by Kate Pearce. US and UK release February 2011.

Desperate to defeat King Richard III and gain the English crown, Henry Tudor made a pact with the Druids that bound him and his heirs to the Druids’ deadly struggle against the Vampires. Ever since, the Llewellyns, an ancient Vampire-slaying family, have been in the permanent employ of the monarchy. When Rosalind Llewellyn had to join forces with her enemy Christopher Ellis to defeat a rogue Vampire threatening Henry VIII, their alliance led to a surprising passion. Reunited after a year’s separation, they face a new threat that could destroy their last chance at happiness. Christopher is delighted by the spectacular rise of his friends George and Anne Boleyn at court. But Rosalind suspects Lady Anne is up to no good—that she may even be a Vampire who’s bewitched the king. Now Rosalind must fight to keep Christopher from falling under the woman’s mysterious spell. It isn’t until Anne reveals a dark secret that Christopher awakens to where the true danger lies—and begins to play a desperate game in order to save the woman he loves.

The Gallows Curse by Karen Maitland.

release March 3, 2011.

This from the author’s web site: It's set in the reign of King John, when the whole of England was under sentence of excommunication (among other issues, King John wouldn't accept the Pope's choice of Archbishop). Can you imagine the chaos - all the churches closed, King John in retaliation arresting every priest who hadn't fled and the people terrified of dying in sin without the last rites? No burials were permitted on consecrated land, no marriages were conducted, no babies baptized. But I don't want to reveal much more, except to say the plot involves people-trafficking, murder and, oh yes... a very feisty dwarf and a eunuch with a hunger for revenge.

Posted by Daphne at 10:58 AM

4 comments:

Elysium said...
Can't wait for Katherine the Queen. I liked her book on Mary I and have high hopes for this one.

Blood of the Rose: The Tudor Vampire Chronicles, are you kidding me?? Staying away from this one!

September 29, 2010 12:54 PM
Svea ~Muse in the Fog said...
Hmmm, a Tudor vampire book. Well I guess it was only a matter of time!

September 29, 2010 1:34 PM
Sarah Johnson said...
Looking forward mainly to the Karen Maitland - her books are so unique!

September 29, 2010 5:37 PM
Daphne said...
Elysium and Muse - actually this isn't the first Tudor Vampire book (I think Royal Blood by Rona Sharon was the first) and this one is actually the second in the series by Kate Pearce (the first one was Kiss of the Rose).

Sarah - I've not read any of Maitland's books yet - maybe one of these days...

September 29, 2010 6:13 PM