History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

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...

The Secret Detective Agency (Secret Detective Agency Mystery #1) Author: Helena Dixon Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery & Suspense Publisher: Bookouture Release Date: March 27, 2025 Pages: 264 Source: This book was given to me by the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis:  Meet Miss Jane Treen – the coffee-drinking cat lover dressed head to toe in tweed, who just happens to be a secret super sleuth!       London, 1941: Miss Jane Treen is at her desk, strong black coffee in hand and fluffy ginger cat by her side, when her top-secret government work is interrupted by an urgent call to  Devon . A woman has been found dead in a lake in a place where she shouldn’t have been. Jane needs to gather the clues and find the killer before someone else from the agency gets hurt…       Shy and handsome code-breaker  Arthur Cilento  is bewildered by the arrival of the efficient  Miss Treen and h...

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...

Ladies of the Lake Author: Cathy Gohlke Genre: Historical Fiction, Christian, Romance Publisher: Tyndale Fiction Release Date: 2023 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: After the deep bond of friendship between two young women is torn apart, what will it take to bring them together again? In Ladies of the Lake , the beloved author of Saving Amelie and Night Bird Calling returns with a transformative new historical novel about the wonder and complexities of friendship, love, and belonging.      When she is forced to leave her beloved Prince Edward Island to attend Lakeside Ladies Academy after the death of her parents, the last thing Adelaide Rose MacNeill expects to find is three kindred spirits. The “Ladies of the Lake,” as the four girls call themselves, quickly bond like sisters, vowing that wherever life takes them, they will always be there for each other. But that is before: Before love and jealousy come between Adelaid...

The Orchid Hour Author: Nancy Bilyeau Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery & Suspense  Publisher: Lume Books Historical Fiction Release Date: 2023 Pages: 320 Source: Netgalley/ Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Nancy Bilyeau, author of The Blue , returns with a tantalizing novel about one woman caught up in a secret nightclub that one can only reach through a certain florist on a cobblestone street.       New York City, 1923. Zia De Luca’s life is about to be shattered.      Having lost her husband to The Great War, she lives with her in-laws in Little Italy and works at the public library.       But when a quiet poetry-lover is murdered outside the library, the police investigation focuses on Zia.       After a second tragedy strikes even closer to home, Zia learns that both crimes are connected to a new speakeasy in Greenwich Village called The ...

Anne Boleyn, An Illustrated Life of Henry VIII’s Queen  Author: Roland Hui Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography  Publisher: Pen & Sword History  Release Date: 2023 Pages: 212 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: If you remember my love in your prayers as strongly as I adore you, I shall hardly be forgotten, for I am yours,' - Henry Rex, forever Written by King Henry VIII to his sweetheart, the seductive and vivacious Anne Boleyn, his passion for her would be so great that Henry would make Anne his queen, and change the course of English history. But the woman whom Henry had promised to love for all time would go from palace to prison, charged with heinous crimes. Her life ended on a bloody scaffold in the Tower of London. Explore the incredible story of Anne Boleyn, the most famous and controversial of Henry VIII's six wives, in this exciting new account of her life told in words and pictures.      My Review: An...

A Traitor in Whitehall (Evelyn Redfern #1) Author: Julia Kelly Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery & Suspense Publisher: Minotaur Books Publication Date: 2023 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: From Julia Kelly, internationally bestselling author of The Last Dance of the Debutante , comes the first in the mysterious and immersive Evelyne Redfern series, A Traitor in Whitehall.       1940, England: Evelyne Redfern, known as “The Parisian Orphan” as a child, is working on the line at a munitions factory in wartime London. When Mr. Fletcher, one of her father’s old friends, spots Evelyne on a night out, Evelyne finds herself plunged into the world of Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s cabinet war rooms.        However, shortly after she settles into her new role as a secretary, one of the girls at work is murdered, and Evelyne must use all of her amateur sleuthing expertise to find th...

  I, Julian: The Fictional Autobiography of Julian of Norwich Author: Claire Gilbert Genre: Historical Fiction, Christian Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Release Date: 2023 Pages: 280 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: In 1347, the first pestilence rages across the land. The young Julian of Norwich encounters the strangeness of death: first her father, then later her husband and her child. When she falls ill herself, she encounters mystical visions that bring comfort and concern. But in the midst of suspicion and menace, when the Church is actively condemning heretics, Julian is not safe.         I, Julian is the account of a medieval woman who dares to tell her own story.       Battling grief, plague, the church and societal expectations, and compelled by her powerful visions, Julian finds a way to live a life of freedom - as an anchoress, bricked up in a small room on the sid...