History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

From Dust to Stardust  Author: Kathleen Rooney Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Lake Union Publishing Release Date: 2023 Pages: 279 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis:  From the bestselling author of Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk comes a novel about Hollywood, the cost of stardom, and selfless second acts, inspired by an extraordinary true story.       Chicago, 1916. Doreen O’Dare is fourteen years old when she hops a Hollywood-bound train with her beloved Irish grandmother. Within a decade, her trademark bob and insouciant charm make her the preeminent movie flapper of the Jazz Age. But her success story masks one of relentless ambition, tragedy, and the secrets of a dangerous marriage.       Her professional life in flux, Doreen trades one dream for another. She pours her wealth and creative energy into a singular achievement: the construction of a one-ton miniature Fairy Cast...

  Goodnight from Paris Author: Jane Healey Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Lake Union Publishing  Release Date: 2023 Pages: 404 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: In Nazi-occupied France, an American film star takes on the most dangerous role of her life in a gripping novel about loyalty and resistance, inspired by a true story, from the Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Secret Stealers .      Paris, 1939. Hollywood actress Drue Leyton, married to Frenchman Jacques Tartière, lives as an expatriate in love. But when her husband is dispatched to Brittany to work as a liaison for the British military, Drue finds herself alone with her housekeeper, adrift and heartsick in her adopted city. With her career and fame forty-five hundred miles away, Drue accepts an opportunity that will change her life forever.       Befriended by seasoned wartime journalist Doro...

  Book Details: Book Title :   The Pryce of Conceit - An Historical Ghost Cozy Mystery  by Kari Bove e Category : Adult Fiction (18 +), 270  Genre : Historical Ghost Cozy Mystery Publisher :  Bosque Publishing Release date:    May 23, 2023 Source:  This book was given to by iRead Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. Content Rating :  G -  Book has no bad language, sex, or violence on the page Book Description:      Someone’s trying to frame this ambitious theater performer for murder. Can she get back to her adoring public and escape the noose?      1885. Arabella Pryce is struggling with heartbreak. And with her recently deceased husband’s will demanding she leave her celebrity behind and refurbish her namesake hotel in Colorado, the distressed actress is forced to board a westbound train. But she’s barely arrived at the haunted, broken-down lodge when the town beauty shows up de...

  Miss Aldridge Regrets (Canary Club Mystery #1) Author: Louise Hare Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery & Suspense Publisher: Berkley Release Date: 2022 Pages: 368 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: The glittering RMS Queen Mary. A nightclub singer on the run. An aristocratic family with secrets worth killing for.      London, 1936. Lena Aldridge wonders if life has passed her by. The dazzling theatre career she hoped for hasn’t worked out. Instead, she’s stuck singing in a sticky-floored basement club in Soho, and her married lover has just left her. But Lena has always had a complicated life, one shrouded in mystery as a mixed-race girl passing for white in a city unforgiving of her true racial heritage.      She’s feeling utterly hopeless until a stranger offers her the chance of a lifetime: a starring role on Broadway and a first-class ticket on the Queen Mary bound for New York. After a...

The Blue Butterfly: A Novel of Marion Davies Author: Leslie Johansen Nack Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: She Writes Press Release Date: May 3rd, 2022 Pages: 352 Source: This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: New York 1915, Marion Davies is a shy eighteen-year-old beauty dancing on the Broadway stage when she meets William Randolph Hearst and finds herself captivated by his riches, passion and desire to make her a movie star. Following a whirlwind courtship, she learns through trial and error to live as Hearst’s mistress when a divorce from his wife proves impossible. A baby girl is born in secret in 1919 and they agree to never acknowledge her publicly as their own. In a burgeoning Hollywood scene, she works hard making movies while living a lavish partying life that includes a secret love affair with Charlie Chaplin. In late 1937, at the height of the depression, Hearst wrestles with his debtors and failing health, when Marion loan...

The Only Woman in the Room Author: Marie Benedict Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark Release Date: January 8, 2019 Pages: 272 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: She possessed a stunning beauty. She also possessed a stunning mind. Could the world handle both?     Her beauty almost certainly saved her from the rising Nazi party and led to marriage with an Austrian arms dealer. Underestimated in everything else, she overheard the Third Reich's plans while at her husband's side, understanding more than anyone would guess. She devised a plan to flee in disguise from their castle, and the whirlwind escape landed her in Hollywood. She became Hedy Lamarr, screen star.      But she kept a secret more shocking than her heritage or her marriage: she was a scientist. And she knew a few secrets about the enemy. She had an idea that might help the country fight the Nazis...if anyone would listen to her. ...

Josephine Baker’s Last Dance Author: Sherry Jones Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Gallery Books Release Date: December 4, 2018 Pages: 384 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Discover the fascinating and singular life story of Josephine Baker—actress, singer, dancer, Civil Rights activist, member of the French Resistance during WWII, and a woman dedicated to erasing prejudice and creating a more equitable world—in Josephine Baker’s Last Dance .     In this illuminating biographical novel, Sherry Jones brings to life Josephine's early years in servitude and poverty in America, her rise to fame as a showgirl in her famous banana skirt, her activism against discrimination, and her many loves and losses. From 1920s Paris to 1960s Washington, to her final, triumphant performance, one of the most extraordinary lives of the twentieth century comes to stunning life on the page.     With intimate prose and comprehensive res...

Evita...My Argentina by Helen R. Davis Publication Date: February 10, 2017 Custom Book Publications eBook & Paperback; 228 Pages Genre: Historical Fiction/Biographical Source: This novel was given to me by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis:  Evita Perón tells her own spectacular story.      Tracing her life back to her humble beginnings, when she is abandoned by her father, Evita takes the reader on her journey to become an actress and later, to the pivotal moment when she meets Colonel Juan Perón. Never content to stay in her husband’s shadow, Evita reveals how she shares his belief that Peronism will help the working class. Eventually she begins doing work on her own as the president of the Society of Benevolence, helping the poor and winning the peoples’ trust.      As the times change and women get the vote, Evita becomes even more powerful, running the M...