History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

A Rome of One’s Own: The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire  Author: Emma Southon Genre: History, Nonfiction, Biography  Publisher: Abrams Press Publication Date: 2023 Pages: 415 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review  Synopsis: This wildly entertaining new history of Rome uses the lives of 21 women to upend our understanding of the ancient world, from the acclaimed author of A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum .       This is a history of women who caused outrage, led armies in rebellion, wrote poetry; who lived independently or under the thumb of emperors. Told with humor and verve as well as a deep scholarly background, A Rome of One’s Own highlights women overlooked and misunderstood, and through them offers a fascinating and groundbreaking chronicle of the ancient world.        The history of Rome has long been narrow and one-sided, essentially a history of “the Doing ...

Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power Author: Leah Redmond Chang Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography  Publisher: Farrar, Strays, and Giroux Release Date: 2023 Pages: 490 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: The boldly original, dramatic intertwined story of Catherine de’ Medici, Elisabeth de Valois, and Mary, Queen of Scots—three queens exercising power in a world dominated by men.        Orphaned from infancy, Catherine de’ Medici endured a tumultuous childhood. Married to the French king, she was widowed by forty, only to become the power behind the French throne during a period of intense civil strife. In 1546, Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Elisabeth de Valois, who would become Queen of Spain. Two years later, Catherine welcomed to her nursery the beguiling young Mary Queen of Scots, who would later become her daughter-in-law.       Together, Cather...

Queen of Exiles Author: Vanessa Riley Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: William Morrow Release Date: 2023 Pages: 447 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Acclaimed historical novelist Vanessa Riley is back with another novel based on the life of an extraordinary Black woman from history: Haiti’s Queen Marie-Louise Christophe, who escaped a coup in Haiti to set up her own royal court in Italy during the Regency era, where she became a popular member of royal European society.       The Queen of Exiles is Marie-Louise Christophe, wife and then widow of Henry I, who ruled over the newly liberated Kingdom of Hayti in the wake of the brutal Haitian Revolution.      In 1810 Louise is crowned queen as her husband begins his reign over the first and only free Black nation in the Western Hemisphere. But despite their newfound freedom, Haitians still struggle under mountains of debt to France and indiffe...

Her Lost Words: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley Author: Stephanie Marie Thornton Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Berkley Release Date: 2023 Pages: 446 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: From A Vindication of the Rights of Woman to Frankenstein , a tale of two literary legends—a mother and daughter—discovering each other and finding themselves along the way, from USA Today bestselling author Stephanie Marie Thornton.         1792. As a child, Mary Wollstonecraft longed to disappear during her father’s violent rages. Instead, she transforms herself into the radical author of the landmark volume A Vindication of the Rights of Woman , in which she dares to propose that women are equal to men. From conservative England to the blood-drenched streets of revolutionary France, Mary refuses to bow to society’s conventions and instead supports herself with her pen until an illicit love affair challenges...

  Cleopatra’s Daughter: From Roman Prisoner to African Queen Author: Jane Draycott Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography Publisher: Liveright Release Date: 2023 Pages: 336 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: The first modern biography of one of the most influential yet long-neglected rulers of the ancient world: Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Antony and Cleopatra.      As the only daughter of Roman Triumvir Marc Antony and Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII, Cleopatra Selene was expected to uphold traditional feminine virtues; to marry well and bear sons; and to legitimize and strengthen her parents’ rule. Yet with their parents’ deaths by suicide, the princess and her brothers found themselves the inheritors of Egypt, a claim that placed them squarely in the warpath of the Roman emperor.      “Supported by a feast of visual and literary references” (Caroline Lawrence), Cleopatra’s Daughter reimagines t...

The Last Masterpiece: A Novel of World War II Italy Author: Laura Morelli Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: William Morrow Publishing  Release Date: 2023 Pages: 404 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: In a race across Nazi-occupied Italy, two women—a German photographer and an American stenographer—hunt for priceless masterpieces looted from the Florentine art collections.       In the summer of 1943, Eva Brunner is taking photographs of Nazi-looted art hidden in the salt mines of the Austrian hinterland. Across the ocean in Connecticut, Josephine Evans is working as a humble typist at the Yale Art Gallery. When both women are called to Italy to contribute to the war effort, neither imagines she will hold the fate of some of the world’s greatest masterpieces torn from the Uffizi Galleries and other Florentine art collections in her hands. But as Italy turns from ally to enemy and Hitler’s plan to destroy irreplace...

  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 ...