The Voyage of Freydis by Tamara Goranson is a retelling of the Viking age Icelandic Saga about Freydis Eiriksdottir, daughter of Eirik and sister of Leif. Goranson positions Freydis in a loveless, physically and emotionally abusive marriage with the powerful landowner Thorvald in Gardar, Greenland. The depictions of abuse, both mental and physical, are explicit.… Continue reading Review: The voyage of Freydis by Tamara Goranson
Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch is loosely based on the true story of Katherina Kepler, an elderly woman in accused of witchcraft in early 17th century Württemberg. The book shifts perspectives and styles in conveying the "investigation" and trial of Katherina. We get much of the story from Simon, Katherina's neighbor who is… Continue reading Review: Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen
Anangokaa by Cameron Alam follows a 14-year-old Scottish girl, Flora MacCallum, newly arrived with her family in the Canadian wilderness in 1804. The novel opens with Flora emerging from a grave illness (I suspect malaria or smallpox) of which her parents and one of her sisters did not survive. Flora, her older brother Hugh, and… Continue reading Review: Anangokaa by Cameron Alam
The War Girls by V. S. Alexander opens at the start of WWII and follows Stefa, a Polish Jew in Warsaw, Janka a Catholic in Warsaw, and Hanna, Stefa's sister who fled her home before the war to live with her aunt in London. There is quite an over saturation of WWII stories, so I… Continue reading Review: The War Girls by V.S. Alexander
The Witches of Vardo by Anya Bergman is based on the true story of the witch trials of Vardo in northern Norway, in the 17th century. I did not know about these particular witch trials, and the fact that this book took place in Norway drew me in further. Within the Arctic circle, Vardo is… Continue reading Review: The Witches of Vardo by Anya Bergman
Daughters of Nantucket by Julie Gerstenblatt follows three women during Nantucket's Great Fire of 1846: Eliza Macy, the once-wealthy but now financially ruined wife of an absent whaling captain. Maria Mitchell, librarian and archivist at Nantucket's Atheneum. Meg Wright, a free black woman who fights for her family's right to own a business on main… Continue reading Review: Daughters of Nantucket by Julie Gerstenblatt
The Shadow of Perseus follows the women of myth: Danae, Perseus's mother, Medusa the Gorgon, and Andromeda, wife of Perseus. Claire Heywood reframes this myth into a historical, realistic context in which a simple baker is the father of Perseus, not Zeus, Medusa is a real woman of a female-led tribe, and Andromeda was not… Continue reading Review: The Shadow of Perseus by Claire Heywood
Pandora by Susan Stokes-Chapman takes place at the close of 18th century in London and follows Pandora Blake, fledgling jewelry designer and daughter of late, renowned antiquities collectors. Twelve years after their death on an archeological site, Dora lives with her uncle, the greedy Hezekiah, who has made her parents' antiquities shop into a farce.… Continue reading Review: Pandora by Susan Stokes-Chapman
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell is a novel about William Shakespeare and his family without ever saying the name William Shakespeare. Instead, Maggie O' Farrell weaves a world of natural wonder and splendor, as well as an acknowledgment of the unseen, through the eyes of Agnes (history knows her as Anne Hathaway) and their children Susanna,… Continue reading Review: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
The House With The Golden Door by Elodie Harper, the sequel to The Wolf Den, follows Amara after she has gained her freedom yet is still held under the control of her wealthy patron. Elodie Harper knocked it out of the park again with the sequel, and I am so invested and ready to read… Continue reading Review: The House With The Golden Door by Elodie Harper
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