History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

  My Name Is Ona Judge Author: Suzette D. Harrison Genre: Historical Fiction, Contemporary Publisher: Bookouture Release Date: 2022 Pages: 310 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review Synopsis: New Hampshire, 1796 . “My name is Ona Judge, and I escaped from the household of the President of the United States. I was the favored maid of George and Martha Washington, but they deemed me a slave and thought me property, and I hear ten dollars is offered as reward for my capture. Now I must write the truth that I have lived, and tell my story…”      Chincoteague, Virginia, present day . Rain soaks Tessa Scott as she runs from her car to the old, vine-covered property she has been called to survey. She’s too busy to accept a new job, but doing this favor for the grandmother of her childhood sweetheart delays a painful decision she must make about a future with her controlling boyfriend.       But when Tessa finds a...

Tsarina Author: Ellen Alpsten Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Release Date: 2020 Pages: 480 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Before there was Catherine the Great, there was Catherine Alexeyevna: the first woman to rule Russia in her own right. Ellen Alpsten's rich, sweeping debut novel is the story of her rise to power.      St. Petersburg, 1725. Peter the Great lies dying in his magnificent Winter Palace. The weakness and treachery of his only son has driven his father to an appalling act of cruelty and left the empire without an heir. Russia risks falling into chaos. Into the void steps the woman who has been by his side for decades: his second wife, Catherine Alexeyevna, as ambitious, ruthless and passionate as Peter himself.      Born into devastating poverty, Catherine used her extraordinary beauty and shrewd intelligence to ingratiate herself with Peter’s powerful gener...

Tituba: The Intentional Witch of Salem Author: Dave Tamanini Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy Publisher: David F Tamanini Release Date: 2020 Pages: 317 Source: Publisher/Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: If you love historical fiction... come revisit Salem's terror in this provocative new telling of enslaved Tituba, no longer a caricature, but a fully human woman with magical powers.      Come! Let Tituba cast its spell with a unique and tantalizing tale that explores the wild emotions driving accusations of witchcraft in 1692.      A Promise and a Hope      Enslaved Tituba has been faithful to a promise to her dying mama in Africa. She has appeased the masters from Barbados to Boston to Salem and waited for her magic.      A Mother’s Agony      When Tituba’s only son dies trying to escape slavery, her life changes forever. After enduring th...

The Women Who Built The Ottoman World: Female Patronage and the Architectural Legacy of Gulnus Sultan Author: Muzaffer Ozgules Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography Publisher: I. B. Taurus Release Date: 2017 Pages: 441 Source: Personal Collection Synopsis: At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Ottoman Empire remained the grandest and most powerful of Middle Eastern empires. One hitherto overlooked aspect of the Empire's remarkable cultural legacy was the role of powerful women - often the head of the harem, or wives or mothers of sultans. These educated and discerning patrons left a great array of buildings across the Ottoman lands: opulent, lavish and powerful palaces and mausoleums, but also essential works for ordinary citizens, such as bridges and waterworks. Muzaffer Ozgules here uses new primary scholarship and archaeological evidence to reveal the stories of these Imperial builders. Gulnus Sultan for example, the favourite of the imperial harem under Mehmed IV and ...

Aphra Behn: A Secret Life Author: Janet Todd Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography Publisher: Bloomsbury Reader Release Date: 2017 Pages: 544 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: 'All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn; for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds,' said Virginia Woolf. Yet that tomb, in Westminster Abbey, records one of the few uncontested facts about this Restoration playwright, poet of the erotic and bisexual, political propagandist, novelist and spy: the date of her death, 16 April 1689. For the rest secrecy and duplicity are almost the key to her life. She loved codes, making and breaking them; writing her life becomes a decoding of a passionate but playful woman.      In this revised biography, Janet Todd draws on documents she has rediscovered in the Dutch archives, and on Behn's own writings, to tell a story of court, diplomatic and sexual intrigue, and ...

Queens of Georgian Britain Author: Catherine Curzon Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography Publisher: Pen and Sword History Release Date: 2017 Pages: 240 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Once upon a time there were four kings called George who, thanks to a quirk of fate, ruled Great Britain for over a century. Hailing from Germany, these occasionally mad, bad and infamous sovereigns presided over a land in turmoil. Yet what of the remarkable women who were crowned alongside them?      From the forgotten princess locked in a tower to an illustrious regent, a devoted consort and a notorious party girl, the queens of Georgian Britain lived lives of scandal, romance and turbulent drama. Whether dipping into politics or carousing on the shores of Italy, Caroline of Ansbach, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Caroline of Brunswick refused to fade into the background.       Queens of Georgian Britain offers a ch...

Pleasing Mr. Pepys Author: Deborah Swift Publication Date: September 28, 2017 Accent Press eBook & Paperback; 407 Pages Genre: Historical Fiction Source: This book was given to me by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: London 1667.      Set in a London rising from the ruins of the Great Fire, Pleasing Mr Pepys is a vivid re-imagining of the events in Samuel Pepys’s Diary.      Desperate to escape her domineering aunt, Deb Willet thinks the post of companion to well-respected Elisabeth Pepys is the answer to her prayers. But Samuel Pepys’s house is not as safe as it seems. An intelligent girl in Deb’s position has access to his government papers, and soon she becomes a target of flamboyant actress Abigail Williams, a spy for England’s enemies, the Dutch.     Abigail is getting old and needs a younger accomplice. She blackmails Deb into stealing Pepys’s documents. Soon, the respectable...

Catherine of Braganza: Charles II’s Restoration Queen Author: Sarah-Beth Watkins Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography Publisher: Chronos Books Release Date: 2017 Pages: 169 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis:  Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese princess, married Charles II in 1662 and became the merry monarch's Restoration queen. Yet life for her was not so merry - she put up with the king's many mistresses and continuous plots to remove her from the throne. She lived through times of war, plague and fire. Catherine's marriage saw many trials and tribulations including her inability to produce an heir. Yet Charles supported his queen throughout the Restoration, remaining devoted to her no matter what. Outliving her husband, she ended up back in her home country and spent her final days as queen-regent of Portugal.       My Review: Catherine of Braganza was the wife of Charles II. She is known for making tea popular in E...

Sacred Legacy by Kat Flannery Publication Date: July 31, 2016 Imajin Books eBook & Paperback; 234 Pages Series: The Branded Trilogy, Book 3 Genre: Historical/Romance/Western Source: This book was given to me by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Tsura is a Chuvani, and with that comes great power…      Desperate to escape the memories that haunt her, Tsura Harris returns to Jamestown, the very place her mother forbade her to go. A gifted Chuvani, Tsura has sworn off all magick, thus making her vulnerable to the Renoldi clan, who wish to kill her and take the pendant that is the key to her power.      Red Wolf is hell-bent on living his life on the sea, until he runs into Tsura on the docks. His pride wounded from her rejection years before, he hoped to never see her again. But when the evil Corsair, Romulus Black, demands to know where she is, Red Wolf must protect her, as is h...

A Death Along the River Fleet (Lucy Campion Mysteries #4) Author Susanna Calkins Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery and Suspense Publisher: Minotaur Books Release Date: April 12, 2016 Pages: 337 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Lucy Campion, a ladies’ maid turned printer’s apprentice in 17th-century London, is crossing Holborn Bridge over the murky waters of the River Fleet one morning when, out of the mist, she sees a specter moving toward her. Frightened at first, Lucy soon realizes the otherworldly figure is in fact a young woman, clearly distraught and clad only in a blood-spattered white nightdress. Barely able to speak, the woman has no memory of who she is or what’s happened to her. The townspeople believe she’s possessed. But Lucy is concerned for the woman’s well-being and takes her to see a physician. When, shockingly, the woman is identified as the daughter of a nobleman, Lucy is asked to temporarily give up her bookselling dutie...