History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

  Priestess of Avalon (Avalon #4) Author: Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana L. Paxson  Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy Publisher: Ace Release Date: 2008 Pages: 418 Source: Personal Collection Synopsis: In the long-awaited return to Avalon by the beloved author of The Mists of Avalon and her collaborator, bestselling author Diana L. Paxson, Marion Zimmer Bradley fuses myth, magic and romance in a spectacular unfolding of one woman's role in the making of history and spirit...        My Review: Priestess of Avalon is the prequel to The Mists of Avalon . It follows the life of Helena Augusta, the mother of Emperor Constantine. In Priestess of Avalon , Helena is a British princess called Eilan. She trains to be a priestess of Avalon. Eilan eventually learns that she is destined to give birth to a child who will change the world. Therefore, Eilan walks a journey that no priestess of Avalon has ever walked before.      Eilan ...

She Who Rides Horses: A Saga of the Ancient Steppe (Book One) by Sarah V. Barnes Category :  Adult Fiction (18+),  267 pages Genre : Historical Fiction  Publisher :   Lilith House Press   Release date:    March 2022 Content Rating :  PG.  It   contains two kissing scenes and the death of an animal. Book Description:      Set more than 6,000 years ago,  She Who Rides Horses: A Saga of the Ancient Steppe (Book One)  begins the story of Naya, the first person to ride a horse.      Daughter of a clan chief, bolder than other girls but shunned by the boys because of her unusual appearance, Naya wanders alone through the vast grasslands where her people herd cattle and hunt wild horses for their meat. But Naya dreams of creating a different kind of relationship with the magnificent creatures.     One day, she discovers a filly with a chestnut coat as uncommon as her own head of r...

Bronze Drum Author: Phong Nguyen Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Grand Central Publishing Release Date: 2022 Pages: 402 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: In 40 CE, in the Au Lac region of ancient Vietnam, two daughters of a Vietnamese Lord fill their days training, studying, and trying to stay true to Vietnamese traditions. While Trung Trac is disciplined and wise, always excelling in her duty, Trung Nhi is fierce and free spirited, more concerned with spending time in the gardens and with lovers.      But these sister's lives—and the lives of their people—are shadowed by the oppressive rule of the Han Chinese. They are forced to adopt Confucian teachings, secure marriages, and pay ever‑increasing taxes. As the peoples' frustration boils over, the country comes ever closer to the edge of war.      When Trung Trac and Trung Nhi's father is executed, their world comes crashing down around them. Wi...

Bride of the Buddha Author: Barbara McHugh, Ph.D. Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Monkfish Book Publishing Release Date: 2021 Pages: 294 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: This is the story of Yasodhara, the abandoned wife of the Buddha. Facing society’s challenges, she transforms her rage into devotion to the path of liberation. The page-turner about a woman’s struggle in an unapologetic religious patriarchy, Bride of the Buddha offers a penetrating perspective on the milieu of the Buddha.       My Review: Bride of the Budddha tells the story of Buddha’s abandoned wife. Yashodhara marries Prince Siddhartha. He abandons her and their son to search for enlightenment. Wanting to find her own quest for enlightenment, Yashodhara disguises herself as a man and joins her husband’s monastery. She becomes his disciple known as Ananda and is his closest confidant. Ananda persuaded him to allow women into the order to help spread...

The Time Collector by Gwendolyn Womack Publication Date: April 16, 2019 Picador USA eBook & Paperback; 368 Pages Genre: Historical/Romantic Suspense Synopsis: Travel through time with the touch of a hand.    Roan West was born with an extraordinary gift: he can perceive the past of any object he touches. A highly skilled pyschometrist, he uses his talents to find and sell valuable antiques, but his quiet life in New Orleans is about to change. Stuart, a fellow pyschometrist and Roan’s close friend, has used his own abilities to unearth several out-of-place-artifacts or “ooparts”—like a ring that once belonged to the seventeenth-century mathematician and philosopher René Descartes, but was found buried in prehistoric bedrock.    The relics challenge recorded history, but soon after the discovery, Stuart disappears, making him one of several psychometrists who have recently died or vanished without a trace. When Roan comes acro...

Empress Wu: Rise Author: Jeff Hortman, Andrew Knighton Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Peachill Release Date: February 11, 2018 Pages: 206 Source: Publicist in exchange for an honest review Synopsis: In a world of choreographed behavior. A trap of etiquette and standardized rules. In the palace of the most powerful kingdom on Earth. In the midst of this web of constraint and rigid authority, one woman triumphed over centuries of ritual. One Machiavellian courtesan rose above the rules and became the most powerful ruler in the world.       My Review: This novel chronicles Empress Wu’s rise to becoming the queen consort to Emperor Gaozong. As a young girl, Wu meets a fortune teller that says her destiny is to be a king. Even though this seems like an impossible future, Wu still dreams one day of ruling China. Years later, she is given an opportunity to become the concubine to Emperor Taizong. The position of concubine seems to Wu a life of luxury at the pa...

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns (Rise of the Empress #1) Author: Julie C. Dao Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, Fantasy Publisher: Philomel Books Release Date: October 10, 2017 Pages: 377 Source: Personal Collection Synopsis: The Wrath and the Dawn meets Snow White and the Huntsman in this dark and mystical East Asian fantasy reimagining of The Evil Queen legend about one peasant girl's quest to become Empress.       Eighteen-year-old Xifeng is beautiful. The stars say she is destined for greatness, that she is meant to be Empress of Feng Lu. But only if she embraces the darkness within her.      Growing up as a peasant in a forgotten village on the edge of the map, Xifeng longs to fulfill the destiny promised to her by her cruel aunt, the witch Guma, who has read the cards and seen glimmers of Xifeng's majestic future. But is the price of the throne too high? Because in order to achieve greatness, she must spurn the young man who loves her and...

The Dragon Empress: Life and Times of Tz'u-Hsi, 1835-1908, Empress Dowager of China Author: Marina Warner Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography Publisher: George Weidenfeld & Nicholso Release Date: 1972 Pages: 271 Source: My State Public Library Synopsis: From 1861 to 1908 a woman - the Empress Dowager Tz'u-hsi, born the daughter of a minor mandarin - held the supreme power in China. Opportunist, ruthless, malicious, she ruled over 400 million people. This biography explores her complex personality - her extreme conventionalism, her hatred of foreigners, her passion for power and intrigue, her vanity and her delight in ritual, her extravagance and corruption, and her love of gardens, painting and the theatre. The book also portrays a China in rapid decline, as poverty, civil war and foreign exploitation and invasion brought about the fall of the Ch'ing dynasty.        My Review: Empress Dowager Cixi is one of history’s most controversial empresses. It w...

Dragon Lady: The Evil History of China's Last Empress Author: Sterling Seagrave and Peggy Seagrave Genre: Nonfiction. History, Biography Publisher: Bowstring Books Release Date: 2010 Pages: 624 Source: Kindle Unlimited Synopsis: The author of The Soong Dynasty gives us our most vivid and reliable biography yet of the Dowager Empress Tzu Hsi, remembered through the exaggeration and falsehood of legend as the ruthless Manchu concubine who seduced and murdered her way to the Chinese throne in 1861.       My Review: Empress Dowager Cixi was one of the last empresses of the imperial dynasty. She is attributed to the fall of the dynasty. She is often portrayed as a cunning, manipulative, and power-hungry figure. However, in this biography of the Empress Dowager, the authors claim that the rumors surrounding Cixi are false. The people who started the rumors were foreigners who blackened her name for personal reasons. Thus, the authors conclude that Empress Dowager ...

When the Future Comes Too Soon (Malayan #2) Author: Selina Siak Chin Yoke Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: AmazonCrossing Release Date: July 18, 2017 Pages: 322 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: In Japanese-occupied Malaya, lives are shattered and a woman discovers her inner strength in a world ravaged by war.      Following the death of their matriarch, the lives of Chye Hoon’s family are turned upside down. Now that the British have fled and the Japanese have conquered, their once-benign world changes overnight.      Amid the turmoil, Chye Hoon’s daughter-in-law, Mei Foong, must fend for her family as her husband, Weng Yu, becomes increasingly embittered. Challenged in ways she never could have imagined and forced into hiding, Mei Foong finds a deep reservoir of resilience she did not know she had and soon draws the attentions of another man.      Is Mei Foong’s resolve enough to save ...