The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable gives life to real historical figure Anna Maria della Pietà, a musical prodigy brought up in the Pietà convent orphanage learning music and eventually earning a spot within the ranks of the prestigious figlie di coro. While Anna Maria was a real person and a talented student of Vivaldi, I… Continue reading Review: The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable
The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore is the sequel to The Siege and follows the lives of Anna, Andrei, and Kolya in 1952 Leningrad. While the traumas of the Leningrad siege still live within each of them, they have carved out normalcy in their lives years after the war. Andrei is a successful doctor, Anna is… Continue reading Review: The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore
The Temple of Fortuna by Elodie Harper is the intense third installment of The Wolf Den trilogy. My reviews for books 1 and 2 can be found here and here. To be honest, I kind of put off reading this final installment because I knew it was going to be rough with the culmination of… Continue reading Review: The Temple of Fortuna by Elodie Harper
Oliver Fischer, a self-styled bohemian, boardwalk caricaturist, and student at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, enrages his banker father and earns the contempt of Philadelphia’s foremost realist painter Thomas Eakins when he attempts to stage Manet’s scandalous painting The Luncheon on the Grass. Soon after, he is ensnarled, along with Mark Twain and Andrew… Continue reading Review: The Caricaturist by Norman Lock
Freeman's Challenge is an informative and educational piece of historical work that explains the one of the first for-profit prisons and a brutal murder of a family that shook the town of Auburn in New York. I greatly appreciated Robin Bernstein's opening chapter regarding the contextual history of the land that would become Auburn. Bernstein… Continue reading Review: Freeman’s Challenge by Robin Bernstein
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What They Said ABout Luisa by Erika Rummel imagines a backstory for a real 16th century woman named Luisa Abrego, an enslaved woman of "Moorish" heritage in Seville who had been set free upon her master's death. Upon manumission, he also allegedly gave her a sum on which to live. Luisa then journeyed to Zacatecas,… Continue reading Review: What They Said About Luisa by Erika Rummel
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo is an enchanting tale set in 16th century Spain. Luzia Cotado is a scullion of secret Jewish heritage. Protecting her true lineage in a country ruled by the Inquisition requires Luzia to keep a low profile. Although well-read, intelligent, and witty, Luzia must play the part of the illiterate, dull… Continue reading Review: The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
Blood Runs Coal: The Yablonski Murders and The Battle for the United Mine Workers of America by Mark A. Bradley is a non-fiction account of the 1969 murder of Mine union leader in running Jock Yablonski and his family in Clarksville, PA. Bradley's account of the inner political machinations of the Miner Unions in coal… Continue reading Review: Blood Runs Coal by Mark A. Bradley
The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn follows the rise of Lyudmila Pavlichenko ,"Lady Death", famed Soviet Sniper of WWII with an official kill tally of 309. I first heard about Lyudmila ("Mila") during my early - mid '00s Russian history obsession phase of my life (everyone has one of those, right...?) A woman fighting on… Continue reading Review: The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
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