History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

The Silent Songbird (Hagenheim Series #7) Author: Melanie Dickerson Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, Christian Publisher: Thomas Nelson Release Date: 2016 Pages: 302 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Evangeline is gifted with a heavenly voice, but she is trapped in a sinister betrothal until she embarks on a daring escape and meets brave Westley le Wyse. Can he help her discover the freedom to sing again?      Desperate to flee a political marriage to her cousin King Richard II’s closest advisor, Lord Shiveley—a man twice her age with shadowy motives—Evangeline runs away and joins a small band of servants journeying back to Glynval, their home village.      Pretending to be mute, she gets to know Westley le Wyse, their handsome young leader, who is intrigued by the beautiful servant girl. But when the truth comes out, it may shatter any hope that love could grow between them.      More than Eva...

     Today's guest writer is Marie Benedict. She is the author of The Other Einstein , a novel about Albert Einstein's wife. In this guest post, she writes how she was intrigued to write about women who have been overshadowed by their illustrious husbands and also introduces us to Mrs. Einstein's story. Thus, I hope this guest post will not only give you some insight into the novel, but will leave you fascinated fascinated with Mrs. Einstein. Thank you, Ms. Benedict! Mileva Maric I feel like I have been on the lookout for the story of Mileva Maric since I was a girl. Growing up, I was fortunate to have a wonderful aunt — who was an English professor and a forward-thinking nun — who fed me a steady diet of thought-provoking literature. One birthday, she gifted me with a book that rocked my perspective on the world. That book was Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon , a ground-breaking re-telling of the Arthurian legend from the perspective of th...

     Today's guest writer is Germaine Shames. She is the author of Between Two Deserts . Her most recent novel You, Fascinating You , is about an Italian Maestro, who wrote a love song about his lost wife. In this guest post, she writes about the life of Margit Wolf, the novel's main protagonist. She was a ballerina, who was forced to separate from her husband, Pasquale Frustaci. It was not until twenty-two years later that the couple would meet again. I hope this guest post will give you some insight into this novel. Thank you, Ms. Shames! Giving an Indomitable Ballerina Her Moment in the Spotlight      When, back in 2007, I began to research the life of ballerina Margit Wolf, not a single archive or database mentioned her. Today, she is the protagonist of a novel, e-book, audiobook and Broadway-scale musical, all titled You, Fascinating You .      Next year will mark fully a decade devoted to this epic, real-life story in w...

     Eva Maze’s memoir With Ballet in My Soul: Adventures of a Globetrotting Impresario i s set to be released in April 2017, published by Moonstone Press LLC. Synopsis:      A life spanning close to 100 years is noteworthy, if only because of its longevity. The rich life of a woman committed to a professional vision ahead of its time, filled with glamour, excitement, and adventure, is truly remarkable. Narrated in her own words, this is the story of such a woman, Eva Maze, who, from the time she left Romania as a teenager in 1939, dreamed of being a ballet dancer, and through a series a circumstances, became instead one of the most successful theatrical impresarios in Europe – with a career spanning more than 40 years.      Now in her nineties, Maze looks back at the path and passion that led her from Bucharest to the United States as an immigrant, and then, as a married woman, back again to Europe and Asia, where she found her ...

The Rivals of Versailles (The Mistresses of Versailles Trilogy #2) Author: Sally Christie Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Atria Books Release Date: 2016 Pages: 449 Source: Edelweiss/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: And you thought sisters were a thing to fear. In this captivating follow-up to Sally Christie’s clever and absorbing debut, we meet none other than the Marquise de Pompadour, one of the greatest beauties of her generation and the first bourgeois mistress ever to grace the hallowed halls of Versailles.      The year is 1745 and King Louis XV’s bed is once again empty. Enter Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, a beautiful girl from the middle classes. As a child, a fortune teller had told young Jeanne’s destiny: she would become the lover of a king and the most powerful woman in the land. Eventually connections, luck, and a little scheming pave her way to Versailles and into the King’s arms.      All too soon, conniving...

Daughter of a Thousand Years Author: Amalia Carosella Genre: Historical Fiction, Contemporary Publisher: Lake Union Publishing Release Date: February 21, 2017 Pages: 444 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Greenland, AD 1000      More than her fiery hair marks Freydís as the daughter of Erik the Red; her hot temper and fierce pride are as formidable as her Viking father’s. And so, too, is her devotion to the great god Thor, which puts her at odds with those in power—including her own brother, the zealous Leif Eriksson. Determined to forge her own path, she defies her family’s fury and clings to her dream of sailing away to live on her own terms, with or without the support of her husband.      New Hampshire, 2016      Like her Icelandic ancestors, history professor Emma Moretti is a passionate defender of Norse mythology. But in a small town steeped in traditional values, her cultural beliefs ...

The Enemies of Versailles by Sally Christie Publication Date: March 21, 2017 Atria Books eBook & Paperback; 416 Pages Genre: Historical Fiction Series: The Mistresses of Versailles, Book Three       Synopsis: In the final installment of Sally Christie’s “tantalizing” (New York Daily News) Mistresses of Versailles trilogy, Jeanne Becu, a woman of astounding beauty but humble birth, works her way from the grimy back streets of Paris to the palace of Versailles, where the aging King Louis XV has become a jaded and bitter old philanderer. Jeanne bursts into his life and, as the Comtesse du Barry, quickly becomes his official mistress.      “That beastly bourgeois Pompadour was one thing; a common prostitute is quite another kettle of fish.”      After decades of suffering the King’s endless stream of Royal Favorites, the princesses of the Court have reached a breaking point. Horrified that he would bring the lowborn Comtesse d...