History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

Kateryn Parr: Henry VIII’s Sixth Queen Author: Laura Adkins Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography  Publisher: Pen and Sword History  Book Release Date: 2024 Pages: 185 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Kateryn Parr is mainly remembered today as being the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, the one who 'survived'. Kateryn was not only a wife but a queen, mother, reformer, and author. Kateryn would face a number of events in her lifetime including being held to ransom during the Pilgrimage of Grace, being placed as regent while Henry was in France, a role which only one of his five previous wives held, her namesake Katherine of Aragon, and overcame a plot which would have led to her arrest and execution. While Queen she was able to unite the Tudor family and establish some form of happiness for Henry VIII's three children. Raised by her mother Maud Parr, under a humanist education, Kateryn was intelligent enough to understand her role in life...

The Price of a Throne (The Hiberno-Norman Chronicles #1) Author: Sean J. Fitzgerald  Genre: Historical Fiction  Publisher: Coldwater Publishing House Publication Date: 2024 Pages: 286 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Dive into the heart of medieval Ireland with this historical tale of courage, deception, and the relentless pursuit of power.      Aoife, the defiant daughter of the dethroned King of Leinster, is thrust from a life of privilege into the heart of political and familial turmoil. Promised in marriage to the formidable Norman warrior, Strongbow, her life becomes a canvas of conflict, painted with the broad strokes of national upheaval and the intricate lines of personal betrayal.      As she navigates the treacherous landscape of medieval Ireland, Aoife faces the harrowing realities of power, loyalty, and betrayal. Her story is a testament to the strength of the human spirit in ...

The Rose Arbor Author: Rhys Bowen Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery & Suspense  Publisher: Lake Union Publishing  Book Release Date: 2024 Pages: 349 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: An investigation into a girl’s disappearance uncovers a mystery dating back to World War II in a haunting novel of suspense by the bestselling author of The Venice Sketchbook and The Paris Assignment .        London: 1968. Liz Houghton is languishing as an obituary writer at a London newspaper when a young girl’s disappearance captivates the city. If Liz can break the story, it’s her way into the newsroom. She already has a scoop: her best friend, Marisa, is a police officer assigned to the case.       Liz follows Marisa to Dorset, where they make another disturbing discovery. Over two decades earlier, three girls disappeared while evacuating from London. One was found murdered in the woods...

The Girl from Botany Bay Author: Carolly Erickson  Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography  Publisher: Trade Paper Books Book Release Date: 2008 Pages: 252 Source: Personal Collection  Synopsis: On a moonless night in the early 1790s, prisoner Mary Bryant, her husband William, her two small children, and seven other convicts stole a twenty-foot longboat and slipped noiselessly out of Sydney Cove, Australia, eluding their captors. They sailed north, all the way to Indonesia, traveling some thirty-six hundred treacherous miles in ten weeks—an incredible feat of seamanship. For a time, Mary and her companions were able to convince the local Dutch colonial authorities that they were survivors of a shipwreck, but eventually the truth emerged and they found themselves back in captivity, in irons, on their way to England for execution.       In time, Mary's fateful journey would win her tremendous admiration. A woman once reviled as a criminal w...

The Body on the Beach (Jane Austen Investigations #4)  Author: Laura Martin Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery and Suspense Publisher: Sapere Books Book Release Date: 2023 Pages: 239 Source: Borrowed Synopsis: The Austen sisters find themselves embroiled in another murder case! For fans of Georgette Heyer, Mary Balogh, Elizabeth Bailey and Ashley Gardner.      Have a series of murders been covered up…?       1798, Dorset, England        Jane Austen is on holiday with her parents and her sister, enjoying time at the seaside in Lyme Regis.         But one morning, while out on an early stroll, her peace is shattered.       There is someone lying at the bottom of the cliffs.       After rousing her father and sister, she hurries along the beach to find a young woman, dead.     ...

Sisters of Fortune: A Novel of the Titanic Author: Anna Lee Huber Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Kensington Books Book Release Date: 2024 Pages: 418 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: April,1912: It’s the perfect finale to a Grand Tour of Europe—sailing home on the largest, most luxurious ocean liner ever built. For the Fortune sisters, the voyage offers a chance to reflect on the treasures of the past they’ve seen—magnificent castles and museums in Italy and France, the ruins of Greece and the Middle East—and contemplate the futures that await them.       For Alice, there’s foreboding mixed with her excitement. A fortune teller in Egypt gave her a dire warning about traveling at sea. And the freedom she has enjoyed on her travels contrasts with her fiancé’s plans for her return—a cossetted existence she’s no longer sure she wants.       Flora is also returning to a fiancé, a well-to-...