History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

Clytemnestra’s Bind (The House of Atreus #1) Author: Susan C. Wilson  Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy  Publisher: Neem Tree Books Publication Date: 2024 Pages: 288 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review  Synopsis: Clytemnestra’s Bind is a bold and brutal first-person retelling that redefines her story, unveiling the untold depths of her soul and the legacy she forged as a mother, wife, and queen.      Queen Clytemnestra's world shatters when Agamemnon, a rival to the throne of Mycenae, storms her palace, destroys her family and claims not only the throne but Clytemnestra herself. Tormented by her loss, she vows to do all she can to protect the children born from her unhappy marriage to him. But when her husband casts his ruthless gaze towards the wealthy citadel of Troy, his ambitions threaten to once more destroy the family Clytemnestra loves.      From one of Greek mythology's most reviled chara...

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 ...

Bloody Mary Author: Carolly Erickson Genre: History, Nonfiction, Biography  Publisher: St. Martin’s Press-3PL Publication Date: 2024 Pages: 828 Source: Personal Collection  Synopsis: Here is the tragic, stormy life of Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. Her story is a chronicle of courage and faith, betrayal and treachery—all set amidst the splendor, pageantry, squalor, and intrigue of sixteenth-century Europe.        The history of Mary Tudor is an improbable blend of triumph, humiliation, heartbreak, and devotion. In Bloody Mary , historian Carolly Erickson recounts it all against the turbulent background of European politics, war, and religious strife of the mid-1500s. The result is a rare portrait of the times and of a woman elevated to unprecedented power in a world ruled and defined by men.        My Review: Mary Tudor is known as the first reigning queen of England. However, she left be...

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...

Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer Author: Samuel Noah Kramer and Diane Wolkstein Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Religion, Mythology Publisher: Harper Perennial Release Date: 1983 Pages: 256 Source: Personal Collection Synopsis: With the long-awaited publication of this book, we have for the first time in any modern literary form one of the most vital and important of ancient myths—that of Inanna, the world’s first goddess of recorded history and the beloved deity of the ancient Sumerians.      The stories and hymns of Inanna (known to the Semites as Ishtar) are inscribed on clay tablets which date back to 2,000 B.C. Over the past forty years, these cuneiform tablets have gradually been restored and deciphered by a small group of international scholars. In this groundbreaking book, Samuel Noah Kramer, the preeminent living expert on Sumer, and Diane Wolkstein, a gifted storyteller and folklorist, have retranslated, order...

King Alfred’s Daughter: The Remarkable Story of Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, the Heroine who was Written out of History Author: David Stokes Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: The Book Guild Publication Date: 2023 Pages: 348 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: King Alfred is dead and the achievements that made him great are in jeopardy. Rebels challenge the succession of his son Edward to the Wessex throne, and his old ally in Mercia is sick. The Vikings in the Danelaw sense the time has come to complete their conquest of England.       It falls on Alfred’s firstborn, his daughter, Æthelflæd, to unite the Anglo-Saxons. Reluctantly, she takes up the challenge. But can a woman rebuild ruined towns and lead men into battle against hardened Viking warriors? And can Æthelflæd fulfil her father’s dream of uniting England?       Based on contemporary sources and archaeological evidence, King...

  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...