"Anywhere but Schuylkill" by Michael Dunn - coming soon from Historium Press! Check it out!! http://wix.to/M9gMx11
“The Banshees of Inisherin and 1917 are two of the best historical films I’ve seen in recent years, particularly the cinematography. Yet the visuals Michael Dunn creates in Anywhere But Schuylkill, are richer, more vivid, more imaginative, and more haunting and indelible than what I recall in those brilliant films. It’s like the author transports himself to each scene and brings to life each physical detail, each expression, each emotion, and each word of dialogue with the care of a Renaissance painter.”
—David Aretha, award-winning author of Malala Yousafzai and the Girls of Pakistan and Martin Luther King Jr. and the 1963 March on Washington.
LOVELY, UNIQUELY VOICED novel tells the story of Victor, a teenage emigré from China whose diagnosis of Hansen’s Disease (then known as leprosy) sends him to a government sanitarium in Louisiana. Beautiful writing, unforgettable characters. A MINUS
Today in History August 30, 1797: Mary Shelley, English novelist and playwright was born. She is most famous for her novel, “Frankenstein.” However, she wrote several other novels, including the historical novels Valperga (1823) and Perkin Warbeck (1830), the apocalyptic novel The Last Man (1826). She married the romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelly. Her father was the early anarchist philosopher, William Godwin. And her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was a writer and a feminist activist. Mary Shelley was a political radical throughout her life, influenced by the anarchism of her father.
LUSH, ATMOSPHERIC, CLEVER novel captures the mystique of Golden Age Hollywood—as well as the sleaze and scandal behind the scenes—through the eyes of an actress turned gossip columnist. B PLUS
Today in Labor History August 25, 1819: Allan Pinkerton was born. He founded the Pinkerton private police force, whose strike breaking detectives (Pinkertons, or 'Pinks') gave us the word 'fink' as they slaughtered dozens of workers in various labor struggles. Ironically, Pinkerton was a violent, radical leftist as a youth. He fought cops in the streets as a member of the Chartist Movement. He had to flee the UK in order to not be imprisoned and executed. Yet in America, he became the nation’s first super cop. He created the secret service. He foiled an assassination attempt against Lincoln. He fine-tuned the art of spying on activists and planting agents provocateur in their ranks. His agents played a major role in destroying the miners’ union in the 1870s, as portrayed in my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill.” Later, they assassinated numerous organizers with the IWW and came within inches of successfully getting Big Bill Hayward convicted on trumped up murder charges.
Dorothy Dunnett (1923–2001) was born 100 years ago #OTD, 25 Aug, in Dunfermline. She is best known as a writer of #HistoricalFiction – in particular the six-part LYMOND CHRONICLES that begin with those three fateful words:
UNLIKELY ALLIANCES, FRIENDSHIPS, and even love link the Black and Jewish residents of a hardscrabble neighborhood in 1930s Pennsylvania. Luminous, magical novel is infused with hope and generosity of spirit. A MINUS
"Get to know the physical detail of the period that you would like to write about." Wise advice for young writers of historical fiction from Elizabeth Lowry, whose novel THE CHOSEN was shortlisted for this year's #WalterScottPrize for #HistoricalFiction
Today in Labor History August 19, 1916: Strikebreakers attacked and beat picketing IWW strikers in Everett, Washington. The police refused to intervene, claiming it was federal jurisdiction. However, when the strikers retaliated, they arrested the strikers. Vigilante attacks on IWW picketers and speakers escalated and continued for months. In October, vigilantes forced many of the strikers to run a gauntlet, violently beating them in the process. The brutality culminated in the Everett massacre on November 5, when Wobblies (IWW members) sailed over from Seattle to support the strikers. The sheriff called out to them as they docked, “Who is your leader?” And the Wobblies yelled back, “We all are!” The sheriff told them they couldn’t dock. One of the Wobblies said, “Like hell we can’t!” And then a mob of over 200 vigilantes opened fire on them. As a result, seven died and 50 were wounded. John Dos Passos portrays these events in his USA Trilogy.
My thoughts on California Golden by Melanie Bejamin --
Set in the early days of California surfing culture, the story explores a number of themes, including mother-daughter issues, sisters, & women athletes. Recommended.
Have you read THE NARROW LAND (Atlantic Books) by Christine Dwyer Hickey? The novel, which won the eleventh #WalterScottPrize, explores the marriage of the artists Edward and Jo Hopper.
A 15yo coal miner needs a new home before his alcoholic uncle kills one of his siblings. So, he takes a job with a union leader, who’s also a gangster, while secretly courting his daughter. Now the gang leader, cops and rival gang all want him dead.
I am finishing reading this delicious historical novel that will go directly in the #littlefreelibrary afterwards. If you love stories with strong women, generational drama, the fresh smell of bread and the Parisian atmosphere, you will surely love it as much as me !
This is a piece of historical fiction that takes us to Sudan, during the 1880s, the end of the Ottoman empire. There are several main characters, but the one whose arc unites them all is a spirited young woman who loves the river as if it is her own mother. Her journey from the lush highlands, through the desert, to the cities of Sudan (mainly Al-Ubeid and Khartoum) introduces us to a young merchant turned Islamic scholar, a lout turned soldier, a mother-in-law who keeps her penchant for trading a secret, a widowed Scottish painter who wishes only to return to his daughter, and historical figures such as British Generals and Muhammad Ahmed ibn Abdullah, a self-styled messianic prophet and leader of the uprising against Egyptian rule.
5 stars, highly recommend. Follow me on #Bookwyrm for more!