If you read by blog regularly, you know I LOVE historical fiction. I also live in Massachusetts, so when the two things combine I am always interested in the story. Daughters of Nantucket is a beautifully written, wonderful story centering on three women in Nantucket in the mid-1800’s: Eliza, the wife of a whaling ship captain; Meg, the wife of a Black shop owner; and Maria Mitchell, the real-life astronomer. This is a fantastic read and I was amply impressed by the fact that this Julie Gerstenblatt’s first novel! I look forward to her next one.
Highly recommended! Thank you for my digital preview copy and for having me as part of the tour!
Julie Gerstenblatt holds a doctorate in education in Curriculum and Instruction from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her essays have appeared in The Huffington Post, Grown & Flown, and Cognoscenti, among others. When not writing, Julie is a college essay coach, as well as a producer and on-air host for A Mighty Blaze. A native New Yorker, Julie now lives in coastal Rhode Island with her family and one very smart shichon poo. Daughters of Nantucket is her first novel.
Book Summary:
“Gerstenblatt’s distinctive tale, a triumph in storytelling, celebrates the courage and tenacity of women.” —Booklist, starred review
Set against Nantucket’s Great Fire of 1846, this sweeping, emotional novel brings together three courageous women battling to save everything they hold dear.
Nantucket in 1846 is an island set apart not just by its geography but by its unique circumstances. With their menfolk away at sea, often for years at a time, women here know a rare independence—and the challenges that go with it.
Eliza Macy is struggling to conceal her financial trouble as she waits for her whaling captain husband to return from a voyage. In desperation, she turns against her progressive ideals and targets Meg Wright, a pregnant free Black woman trying to relocate her store to Main Street. Meanwhile, astronomer Maria Mitchell loves running Nantucket’s Atheneum and spending her nights observing the stars, yet she fears revealing the secret wishes of her heart.
On a sweltering July night, a massive fire breaks out in town, quickly kindled by the densely packed wooden buildings. With everything they possess now threatened, these three very different women are forced to reevaluate their priorities and decide what to save, what to let go and what kind of life to rebuild from the ashes of the past.
Step back into the 20s with Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, and many more legendary figures of the time with prolific mystery writer and former bookseller Matt Cost. With over 10 mystery/historical fiction books under his belt, his fast-paced historical mystery, “Velma Gone Awry: A Brooklyn 8 Ballo Mystery” (April 13, 2023, Encircle Publications), is sure to please fans as it follows PI 8 Ballo on a peculiar case with fascinating people.
In the new book: As the 8th child in his family, Ballo’s mother simply named him 8. Now in his mid-thirties, the jilted, college-educated, Great War veteran has his own private investigator business and is on a jarring journey to discover why Velma, the flapper daughter of a wealthy businessman, has gone awry.
Reviewers have called his previous work “especially vivid” storytelling that “mystery and thriller genre readers alike will find involving on many different levels” (Midwest Book Review), “chillingly prescient, insightfully nuanced and disturbingly evocative” (booklymatters, 5-stars) and “powerful and gritty (The Reading Cafe).
Thank you for the opportunity to showcase this title!
Sylvia Wilson, a bar owner in St. Louis, Missouri, arrives at work to discover the body of an ex-police officer in her locked bar. The police focus on her as their primary suspect, so she decides to launch her own investigation into the dead man and his accomplices. But when the killer sends her clear messages that she and her loved ones are on his radar, she knows it’s just a matter of time before someone ends up dead.
Author Bio:
Wendy Koenig is a published author living in New Brunswick, Canada. Her first piece to be printed was a short children’s fiction, Jet’s Stormy Adventure, serialized in The Illinois Horse Network. She attended University of Iowa, honing her craft in their famed summer workshops and writing programs. Since that time, she has published and co-authored numerous books and has won several international awards.
You can win a free digital copy of this novel from the author!
To enter, leave a comment here or via Facebook (Beth’s book-nook blog) or twitter (@BethsBookBlog). I will add up the comments and then select a numbered winner via random.org. I will contact you for your email at that time. (Obviously, I will not save/share/sell your email afterwards!).
Consumer culture is so deeply ingrained into our society. DEATH WATCH (March 7, 2023; Arrow Editions; Trade Paperback; $18.95) by acclaimed author Stona Fitch is the perfect novel to get a glimpse into the world of the capitalist machine that runs our day-to-day lives.
Fitch’s writing is reminiscent of Mad Men and American Psycho. This dark comedy is centered around a luxurious watch, the Cassius Seven rebranded as “The Death Watch,” that is advertised to many unsuspecting customers. It seems too good to be true and it is; the catch is this very object may kill them.
The luxury accessory draws a wide variety of people, from those who think too highly of themselves to believe they are exempt from any harm to those who want to feel that harm. Coe Vessel, the son of a legendary adman, is convinced the watch is just a high-art hoax, however, he soon realizes his error once the watch starts murdering people. Now, Coe must find a way to stop the campaign before it’s too late, all while juggling the moral dilemma of how far people will go for luxury.
What are DEATH WATCH’s influences?
* Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, because it shows how war is absurd and dangerous—like a deadly watch
* American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, because it’s a dark satire of American consumerism run amok
* Mad Men, because it captures the dark art of advertising (DEATH WATCH = Mad Men for the End-time)
* Fight Club, because it explores nihilistic youth (the ultimate buyers of Death Watch)
Praise for Stona Fitch
“A terrific writer who knows how to spin a yarn with grit and confidence.” –Dennis Lehane
“A suspense writer to watch.” –Jess Walter
“As stylish as Parker, as tough as Lehane.” –Hank Phillippi Ryan
“Startling in conception and disturbing in what it says about our times.” –J. M. Coetzee (on Senseless)
About the Author
Stona Fitch is the founder of Concord Free Press, a non-profit publisher that has been called a grand experiment in subversive altruism. His seven novels, which include Give + Take and Senseless, have been praised by critics and readers, published widely throughout the world, and produced as feature films. He lives with his family in Concord, Massachusetts.
About Arrow Editions and Concord Free Press
Concord Free Press is a non-profit, all-volunteer press that publishes original fiction and distributes its books for free, asking only that readers give to a cause they believe in or a person in need—then pass their book on so that others can give. They have published more than a dozen books and inspired more than
$5 million in generosity around the world, establishing a new publishing model and proving that readers tend to be empathetic and kind.
Writers who have published their work with Concord Free Press include Russell Banks, Madison Smartt Bell, Melissa Broder, Wesley Brown, Charles Coe, Castle Freeman, Jr., Woody Haut, Gabino Iglesias, Yiyun Li, Alan Lightman, Gregory Maguire, Joyce Carol Oates, Ann Patchett, and Elizabeth Spires.
As the slightly more commercial sister-ship of the Concord Free Press, Arrow Editions will publish books in trade paperback and ebook editions, sold online and via a select network of independent bookstores. The Arrow Editions model is simple. Half the proceeds of each book go directly to the author, the other half supports the mission of the Concord Free Press. By expanding the publishing model, Concord Free Press can publish more books—and keep inspiring generosity.
I LOVE historical mysteries and this is such a fun series! Cressida Fawcett is a 1920’s high society young woman, living in England, and murder seems to find her. She solves mysteries with her trusty companion: her pug Ruby. You can read this as a stand alone (but do yourself a favor and read Death Among the Diamonds, too, just for fun!). I enjoyed the writing and the plot, and I truly enjoyed Cressida’s sharp and witty character.
Thanks for making me part of the tour and for my e-copy!
Book Description:
A seaside party at a Cornish mansion with plenty of fizz, what could be more perfect? But something fishy is afoot… a killer lurks among the guests, and only Cressida Fawcett can stop them.
When Cressida Fawcett is invited to stay at Penbeagle House on the Cornish coast for a fancy-dress ball, she is looking forward to sipping rum cocktails clad as a pirate, watching the red-sailed boats go by and relaxing in the sea air with her good friend Dotty. But before they can raise their glasses to toast Cressida’s former flame Lord Canterbury’s engagement, he drops dead in front of the horrified guests.
The local doctor determines that Lord Canterbury was poisoned, and soon Detective Chief Inspector Andrews is on his way from Scotland Yard. But Cressida is dismayed by the murder of the intrepid explorer who once asked for her hand in marriage, and she cannot simply leave the case to the police. Together with Dotty and her little pug Ruby, Cressida searches for clues only to discover that many of the guests have a motive for murder. Did an irate journalist or a bitter fellow explorer send Lord Canterbury on his untimely final journey?
And when a young maid is found dead, floating in the shimmering waters of the cove, Cressida knows time is running out to catch the killer. Could a clue hidden among some rather pungent crab sandwiches help her solve the case before there is another murder?
A witty and totally addictive cozy mystery packed with intrigue and glamour. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Lee Strauss.
Author Bio:
Fliss Chester lives in Surrey with her husband and writes historical cozy crime. When she is not killing people off in her 1940s whodunnits, she helps her husband, who is a wine merchant, run their business. Never far from a decent glass of something, Fliss also loves cooking (and writing up her favourite recipes on her blog), enjoying the beautiful Surrey and West Sussex countryside and having a good natter.
If you know me, you know I love WWII stories of Resistance. This was another great read from Pam Jenoff, with unforgettable characters and lots of historical details.
Thank you for my copy and for making me part of the tour!
Code Name Sapphire Pam Jenoff On Sale Date: February 7, 2023 9780778387091, 0778387097 Trade Paperback $17.99 USD Fiction / Historical / World War II 368 pages
About the Book: A woman must rescue her cousin’s family from a train bound for Auschwitz in this riveting tale of bravery and resistance during World War II
1942. Hannah Martel has narrowly escaped Nazi Germany after her fiancé was killed in a pogrom. When her ship bound for America is turned away at port, she has nowhere to go but to her cousin Lily, who lives with her family in Brussels. Fearful for her life, Hannah is desperate to get out of occupied Europe. But with no safe way to leave, she must return to the dangerous underground work she thought she had left behind. Seeking help, Hannah joins the Sapphire Line, a secret resistance network led by a mysterious woman named Micheline and her enigmatic brother Matteo. But when a grave mistake causes Lily’s family to be arrested and slated for deportation to Auschwitz, Hannah finds herself torn between her loyalties. How much is Hannah willing to sacrifice to save the people she loves? Inspired by incredible true stories of courage and sacrifice, Code Name Sapphire is a powerful novel about love, family and the unshakable resilience of women in even the hardest of times.
About the Author: Pam Jenoff is the author of several books of historical fiction, including the New York Times bestsellers The Lost Girls of Paris and The Orphan’s Tale. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international affairs from George Washington University and a master’s degree in history from Cambridge, and she received her Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania. Jenoff’s novels are inspired by her experiences working at the Pentagon and also as a diplomat for the State Department handling Holocaust issues in Poland. She lives with her husband and three children near Philadelphia, where, in addition to writing, she teaches law school.
MESA, AZ–Now a prolific writer with dozens of novels completed, J.B. Rivard wasn’t always an author. A veteran of the Korean War and a specialist in nuclear reactor technology, Rivard balanced his career in engineering with a love for the arts. A visual artist turned novelist, Rivard’s creative work has received widespread acclaim in recent years.
In Rivard’s latest–and most daring–novel to date, “Dead Heat to Destiny” (February 7, 2023), the lives and loves of three people are imperiled during the cataclysm of the First World War. An adventurous historical novel with both romance and espionage, “Dead Heat” weaves a stunning tapestry of events.
About the book: Destined for success in the booming world of high fashion, young Adrienne Boch deflects the romantic pursuit of Will Marra, an American student in Paris. Her cousin, Gregor Steiner, completes his training as an officer in the Imperial German Navy. They, like the entire world, are unprepared when World War I begins. As the invading German army threatens Paris, Gregor advances to captain a U-boat, Will becomes a pilot in the U.S. Army, and Adrienne’s family flees an overrun Belgium. In Central America, a spy is recruited to defeat the United States. At the climax—during which love hangs in the balance—they meet in a thrilling and emotionally riveting clash.
Spanning 1903-1917, this cinematic novel transports the reader to a variety of stunning locales. With his dedication to historical accuracy and his immersive writing style, Rivard offers readers a front row seat to the early twentieth century’s most compelling events.
J.B. RIVARD believes words can create pictures. His readers agree; one said, “I was right in the biplane cockpit with Nick,” referring to pilot Nick Mamer, the 1929 record-setting aviator in Rivard’s nonfiction book “Low on Gas – High on Sky.” A writer of historically accurate fiction and nonfiction, J.B. knows readers want the past to blaze up and enthrall them. His commitment to compelling and convincing writing derives from four years in the military as well as his technical career on the staff of a U.S. National Laboratory. A graduate of the University of Florida, he attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, and is an award-winning artist and author. His latest novel is “Dead Heat to Destiny,” in which the lives and loves of three people are imperiled during the cataclysm of World War One. To learn more about J.B.’s life and work, visit www.illusionsofmagic.com
I’m throwing the spotlight on a new novel which publishes 1/31:
Here’s the scoop:
Outside a rural Pennsylvania motel, nine-year-old Lulu smokes a cigarette while sitting on the lap of a trucker. Recent art grad Quinn is passing through town and captures it. The photograph, later titled “Lulu & the Trucker,” launches Quinn’s career, escalating her from a starving artist to a renowned photographer. In a parallel life, Lulu fights to survive a volatile home, growing up too quickly in an environment wrought with drug abuse and her mother’s prostitution. Decades later, when Quinn has a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of Art and “Lulu & the Trucker” has sold at auction for a record-breaking amount, Lulu is surprised to find the troubling image of her young self in the newspaper. She attends an artist talk for the exhibition with one question in mind for Quinn: Why didn’t you help me all those years ago? Tell Me One Thing is a portrait of two Americas, examining power, privilege, and the sacrifices one is willing to make to succeed. Traveling through the 1980s to present day, it delves into New York City’s free-for-all grittiness while exposing a neglected slice of the struggling rust belt.
Kerri’s background in the arts lends to the authenticity of the novel, and the book is inspired by the NPR story about Mary Ellen Mark’s famous 1990 photograph,“Amanda and Her Cousin Amy” which depicts nine-year-old Amanda smoking a cigarette in a kiddie pool in rural North Carolina. Set against the backdrop of a rural Pennsylvania trailer park, and the complicated world of Manhattan during the AIDS epidemic,TELL ME ONE THING spans place and time as it delves into New York City’s free-for-all grittiness while exposing a neglected slice of the struggling rust belt, traversing decades from the 1980s up to present day. At the center of it all is a photograph taken by an ambitious young artist of a 9-year-old girl sitting on the lap of a trucker outside a motel. The photograph becomes famous decades later, prompting the subject to seek out the photographer and find out why she never helped her all those years ago.
Weaving back and forth between Lulu’s and Quinn’s perspectives, TELL ME ONE THING explores life-shaping moments in each of their stories—doubt, love, pain, and ambition—and unknowingly links one to another through a fierce determination to better their circumstances.
Brimming with characters that won’t soon leave you, TELL ME ONE THING captures a portrait of two Americas by an exciting up-and-coming writer to watch.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kerri Schlottman’s novel Tell Me One Thing is forthcoming from Regal House Publishing on January 31, 2023. Her writing has recently been featured in The Dillydoun Review, Belle Ombre, and Women Writers. Her work has been honored with the Dillydoun International Fiction Prize (second place), Dzanc Books Prize for Fiction (longlisted), and the 2021 University of New Orleans Press Lab Prize (semifinalist).
Kerri is a native Detroiter who has worked in the arts in New York City in various capacities since 2005, most recently at Creative Capital where she helped to fund new projects by artists, performers, filmmakers, and writers, including Maggie Nelson, Paul Beatty, and Dana Spiotta.
ADDITIONAL PRAISE FOR TELL ME ONE THING:
“Kerri Schlottman has delivered us the richest of reading experiences. I read Tell Me One Thing voraciously with equal parts intrigue and admiration, thinking how did she pull this off? Slinking expertly between time and location and point of view—the contrasts here are bright and nuanced, honest and vulnerable, jagged yet tender. This is a novel of great heart, examining the lines we draw as we become who we are. A devastating and rich exploration of trauma, art-making, love and the unmistakable hauntedness of what we cannot control, yet long to. I want everyone to read this book.” –Chelsea Bieker, author of Godshot and Heartbroke
“With a clear, empathic gaze, and with a sharp, startling intelligence, Kerri Schlottman’s Tell Me One Thing traces two paths–that of artist, and that of subject–through the cruel disparities of the Reagan eighties and beyond. The result is a book that asks enduring questions about what art is for and what we, all of us, owe one another. Tell Me One Thing is phenomenal.” –Matthew Specktor, author of Always Crashing in the Same Car
“At once the expansive story of two women navigating two disparate, intersecting lives, and a thoughtful meditation on the transtemporal power of photography, Kerri Schlottman’s TELL ME ONE THING is that rare book: an art world novel with heart.” –Rachel Lyon, author of Self-Portrait with Boy
“In TELL ME ONE THING, two women’s stories begin in an instant—with a shutter click. Divergent yet inextricable, the paths and aspirations of a photographer and her young subject leap and shatter through the passage of four decades and at the mercy of American dearth, all of which Schlottman relays with understated grit and unflinching humanity. As we follow the photographer through seedy 1980s New York to today’s commercially sterilized iteration, Schlottman proceeds to vivify a Polaraid snapped in a Pennsylvania trailer park, infusing viscerality and tragedy into a portrait that would have otherwise hung static on a collector’s wall. By reframing an object to be admired as a child to be protected, TELL ME ONE THING will both compel and confront readers with questions that only the finest of novels can posit.” –Jakob Guanzon, author of ABUNDANCE, longlisted for the National Book Award
“Fans of The Vanishing Half will love this novel written in alternating points-of-view: each one a perspective rooted in a starkly contrasting experience and yet one that echoes the longings of the other. Reading this was a much-needed exercise in empathy, one tempered by clear, endearing prose. In the parallel universes of two unforgettable characters, Schlottman renders on the page a simple and beautiful expression of our shared humanity. In TELL ME ONE THING, we see the private struggles of a famed photographer making it in the wild days of New York City and how her seminal work exposes and yet neglects the harsh truth of one of her subjects. My heart broke and rooted for both characters, and long after I’ve turned the last page, I am still thinking of them.” –Cinelle Barnes, author of Monsoon Mansion: A Memoir and Malaya: Essays on Freedom
“I loved the way Tell Me One Thing follows two women trying to find their ways in the world — Quinn, the starving artist whose work rescues her from grinding poverty, and Lulu, a subject of Quinn’s photography, whose own ways of working only mire her further into destitution and desperation. Kerri Schlottman’s vivid writing skillfully recreates 1980s New York City and rural Pennsylvania; we’re invited to witness both the heady art-world scene of the era and the foundations being set for the opioid epidemic. It’s such a smart and well-crafted novel, bursting with life. I couldn’t put it down.” –Amy Shearn, award-winning author of Unseen City and other novels
“An intimate look at the way art transforms the lives of both artist and subject, and not always for the better. In crisp, descriptive prose, Kerri Schlottman draws a portrait of both rural Pennsylvania and a transforming New York City, as she—and her characters—probe the murky line between inspiration and exploitation.” –Wil Medearis, author of Restoration Heights
“Stunning and vivid… Two women cross paths almost by accident, and the story follows each of their efforts to overcome the hard lives they’re living. These characters are so realistic, we start rooting for them moments after meeting them….For all of their hard times, this book is full of unexpected moments of fulfillment, surprising flashes of grace.” –Stephen P. Kiernan, author of Universe of Two and The Baker’s Secret
My friends at Pegasus Publishing sent me an e-copy of this novel and I just loved it! It felt very gothic and was suspenseful. It was a quick read and especially liked the main character, Aulis. Thank you for my copy!
Here’s the overview:
In 1966 when Aulis Price leaves her Welsh home and her teaching job to marry Staffordshire farmer Martin Peverell, she looks forward eagerly to her new life at Abbotshall, the beautiful Georgian farmhouse which is the Peverell family home. Aulis takes as her role model Martin’s elegant and competent mother, Mollie. But the young bride soon finds that Abbotshall and Mollie are not all that they seem. Behind the dignified facade lurks conflict, between youth and age, the past and the future. This conflict is rooted in a sinister secret which overshadows Abbotshall and all who live there. As Aulis struggles to adjust to Abbotshall’s ways and the local culture she determines to remain true to herself. Meanwhile she sees her beloved Martin caught in a battle of loyalties. Can Aulis take him with her into the future or will she, too, be sacrificed to Abbotshall’s past?
I really enjoy Katie Gayle’s cozy mysteries and her protagonists. This is the third Julia Bird mystery – though it can be read as a stand alone – and I’ve read the earlier novels in this series. So much fun and well-plotted. Julia is a retired social worker who is smart and sensible and has a dog that is often getting into trouble. I love this type of small-town-in-England murder mystery!
Here’s the scoop:
Book Description:
Julia Bird can’t wait to attend the annual village party at the local stately home, with its tea tents, cake stalls, and… dead body in the maze?
The annual village celebration at Berrywick House is underway, complete with over-decorated cake stalls, fiercely contested flower competitions, and even a maze for the disappointed losers to hide in. Julia Bird, now a well-known – even notorious – member of the community, with her trusty Labrador Jake, has thrown herself headlong into the festivities. But her reputation for adding drama to any event stands up yet again when she discovers a dead body in the maze…
It seems Ursula Benjamin, village know-it-all and prickly baking competition participant, has been strangled – and the killer has to be someone at the fete. As Julia grapples with finding yet another murder in Berrywick, she starts to wonder, could one of the competitive cake-bakers have taken the contest to deadly new heights? Or is there something darker in Ursula’s life that led to her untimely demise?
Embroiled once again in a murder enquiry, Julia isn’t about to leave the investigation to the police. Like it or not, she’s involved, and she’s going to help them solve the mystery. But when there’s another death, and it’s clear the murders aren’t isolated incidents, the stakes become even higher. Can Julia figure out the identity of the killer, and prevent any further dastardly deeds, before the wholesome spirit of the village is ruined forever?
If you like utterly gripping English mysteries, then you’ll love A Village Fete Murder. Perfect for fans of M.C. Beaton, Faith Martin and Betty Rowlands.
Thank you for my copy and for making me part of the tour!
Author Bio:
Katie Gayle is the writing partnership of best-selling South African writers, Kate Sidley and Gail Schimmel. Kate and Gail have, between them, written over ten books of various genres, but with Katie Gayle, they both make their debut in the cozy mystery genre. Both Gail and Kate live in Johannesburg, with husbands, children, dogs and cats. Unlike their sleuth Epiphany Bloom, neither of them have ever stolen a cat from the vet.
Beth's Book-Nook Blog 