Nonfiction
Woman, Captain, Rebel: The Extraordinary True Story of a Daring Icelandic Sea Captain
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Thurídur Einarsdóttir (1777-1863) was born in a hamlet on the harsh coast of Iceland, the child of a poor seasonal fishing ...Read Review
The Memory Keeper: A Journey Into the Holocaust to Find My Family
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I am reviewing these two books together, as they are very similar both in content and structure. Both authors are British-born children of ...Read Review
My Disappearing Uncle: Europe, War and the Stories of a Scattered Family
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I am reviewing these two books together, as they are very similar both in content and structure. Both authors are British-born children of ...Read Review
The Mad Emperor: Heliogabalus and the Decadence of Rome
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I adore well-researched reference books that read like novels. In this fast-paced and wide-ranging life of Heliogabalus, who ruled for only four years, ...Read Review
Samuel Pepys and the Strange Wrecking of the Gloucester: The Shipwreck that Shocked Restoration Britain
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James, Duke of York (later, briefly, James II of England before he was exiled to France in 1688) traveled aboard the Gloucester in 1682 to ...Read Review
Bar Kokhba: The Jew Who Defied Hadrian and Challenged the Might of Rome
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Part travelogue yet still solid non-fiction history, this is a story about two fascinating personalities and the doomed attempt of one, Bar Kokhba, ...Read Review
The Red Widow
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Professor Sarah Horowitz’s fluid, story-like biography of colorful femme fatal Marguerite “Meg” Steinheil makes this Belle Époque hostess accessible through her thorough ...Read Review
Toffee Apples and Quail Feathers: New Stories From Call the Midwife
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The death of the original author of the book, Jennifer Worth, provided a literary legacy for her husband and family. We can understand ...Read Review
The Perdiccas Years, 323-320 BC: Alexander’s Successors at War
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Alexander the Great, a name with universal recognition; an awesome story of rapid conquest and a short life lived to the full. Every ...Read Review
Ian Fleming’s Inspiration: The Truth Behind the Books
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As it says on the cover, this book covers the real-life stories from Ian Fleming’s life, from WW2 to living in Jamaica, ...Read Review