Tanzanite's Castle Full of Books

Here are a few covers for previous Weekly Wishlist postings:


The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin.
US Release date:  July 26, 2011

From the nationally bestselling author of Alice I Have Been—the story of an extraordinary woman who overcame overwhelming odds, who dined with presidents and kings, who traveled the world, whose toughest limitations became her greatest strengths.


She was born in 1841 and named Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump, but she became known the world over as Mrs. Tom Thumb. Thirty-two inches tall, "Vinnie" refused to let her stature cost her opportunity. When she was invited into the circus of P. T. Barnum, however, she used her limited height to her limitless advantage. Melanie Benjamin pens an autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb, a barnstorming tale of the antebellum south, of a bygone era, of a woman's public triumphs and personal tragedies. Here are some of the most memorable figures from the era, and a portrait in an unforgettable, singular voice—that of Vinnie—a woman who knocked the Civil War from the headlines.



Delilah by Eleanor de Jong.
UK release date:  April 7, 2011

Maligned as the courtesan who revealed the mighty Samson's secret for money, Delilah has become synonymous with treachery. But behind the myth is a tale far more tragic…


From the moment they met, there was a fire in their relationship, with Samson pitted against Delilah's family. But Samson soon develops an overwhelming passion for Delilah; entranced by her beauty and passionate nature.  Meanwhile the Israelites and the Philistines are in a state of constant conflict, with Samson a seemingly unbeatable warrior. The Philistines are desperate to learn the secret behind Samson's power and enrol Delilah as a pawn to bring him down. Driven by misplaced anger, Delilah agrees to use her wiles to discover the secret of his strength.

But Delilah finds that Samson is far from the ogre that she had assumed. But a sequence of events have been set in motion which both of them are powerless to stop.  The consequences of her mistake have gone down in history and this wonderful novel is as alluring and beguiling as Delilah herself. The perfect treat for fans of Anita Diamant and Helen Dunmore.



UK release date:  August 18, 2011

England stands divided: king against Parliament, town against country, brother against brother.


For Captain Stryker, scarred hero of a dozen wars, the rights and wrongs of the cause mean little. His loyalties are to his own small band of comrades - and to Queen Henrietta Maria's beautiful and most deadly agent, Lisette Gaillard. So when Prince Rupert entrusts him with a secret mission to discover what has happened to Lisette and the man she was protecting - a man who could hold the key to Royalist victory - nothing, not false imprisonment for murder, ambush, a doomed siege or a lethal religious fanatic will stand in his way.

From the bloody rout of Cirencester, to the siege of Lichfield and finally to the killing fields of Hopton Heath, Michael Arnold brings vividly to life all the drama and the passion that lay behind the English Civil War.


Last year I read His Last Duchess by Gabrielle Kimm which was released only in the UK.  Well, apparently the good folks at Sourcebooks will be bringing the book to the US, hopefully in the fall!  This is the US cover.


Summary:  When sixteen-year-old Lucrezia de' Medici marries the fifth Duke of Ferrara, Alfonso d'Este, she imagines life with her handsome husband will be idyllic. But little does she know that he is a very complicated man. The marriage is fraught with difficulties from the start, and, as time passes, Lucrezia becomes increasingly alienated. For Alfonso, the pressure mounts as the Vatican threatens to reclaim his title should the couple remain unable to produce an heir. Only his lover Francesca seems able to tame his increasing fury. But Alfonso's growing resentment towards his duchess soon becomes unbearable, and he begins to plot an unthinkable way to escape his problems. Originally inspired by a Robert Browning poem, His Last Duchess gorgeously brings to life the passions and people of sixteenth-century Tuscany and Ferrara. It is a story you are unlikely to forget for a long time.