This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

December 22, 2019December 22, 2019 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

Description

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

“If you liked Where the Crawdads Sing, you’ll love This Tender Land…This story is as big-hearted as they come.” —Parade

A magnificent novel about four orphans on a life-changing odyssey during the Great Depression, from the bestselling author of Ordinary Grace.

1932, Minnesota—the Lincoln School is a pitiless place where hundreds of Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to an orphan named Odie O’Banion, a lively boy whose exploits earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee, he and his brother Albert, their best friend Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own.

Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphans will journey into the unknown and cross paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an enthralling, big-hearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.

I absolutely loved this tale of Odie and his friends as they tried to make a new life away from the orphanage that had mistreated them. It reminded me so much of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn! However, there is a lot of mistreatment in this story, and part of Odie’s journey is coming to terms with the cruelty and unfairness that they have been dealt in life. The ending came with a sense of redemption, and I once again was enthralled with William Kent Krueger’s beautiful writing. Highly recommended!

I would also recommend this novel for high school English classes – so much to talk about and think about in it!

Thank you for my ARC via Net Galley!

HFVBTour for BLOOD MOON by Ruth Hull Chatlien with Giveaway!

August 17, 2017August 10, 2017 / drbethnolan / 2 Comments

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I haven’t done many book tours this summer as my tbr pile was huge and I was catching up, but I couldn’t say no to this novel – based on a true story of a woman held by Native Americans in Minnesota during the 1860’s. I enjoyed this story and found it so interesting. I particularly liked how Chatlien portrays the mixed feelings Sarah has and is faced with when she returns to her community. Her relationship with her husband is complex as is her relationship with her “captors” – whom she never feels are captors, but are her protectors. This was one of those books that I could not put down!

Here’s the scoop on it:

Blood Moon: A Captive’s Tale by Ruth Hull Chatlien

Publication Date: June 14, 2017
Amika Press
Paperback & eBook; 424 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

READ AN EXCERPT.

Southern Minnesota, August 1862. Smoke fills the horizon and blood soaks the prairie as the Sioux fight to drive white settlers from their ancestral homeland. Sarah Wakefield and her young son and baby daughter are fleeing for their lives when two warriors capture them. One is Hapa, who intends to murder them. The other is Chaska, an old acquaintance who promises to protect the family. Chaska shelters them in his mother’s tepee, but with emotions running so high among both Indians and whites, the danger only intensifies. As she struggles to protect herself and those she loves, Sarah is forced to choose between doing what others expect of her and following her own deep beliefs.

“Chatlien’s mastery of the historical period—especially the life and culture of the Sioux—is notable and creates a fictional atmosphere of authenticity. A subtle dramatization of the conflict between white settlers and Native Americans in the 19th century.” – Kirkus Reviews

“Richly detailed, Blood Moon is an intrepid tale of bravery and adventure in America’s western frontiers. Perfect for fans of immersive historical fiction.” – Stephanie Thornton, author of The Tiger Queens and The Conqueror’s Wife

“An engrossing tale of struggle and justice-of friendship, mercy, and a rare, moving love. Ruth Hull Chatlien writes with great sensitivity and vivid yet subtle prose. Blood Moon is a must-read for fans of western novels, as well as women’s historical fiction.” -Libbie Hawker, author of Tidewater

Amazon | Amika Press | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

About the Author

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Ruth Hull Chatlien has been a writer and editor of educational materials for nearly thirty years, specializing in U.S. and world history. She is the author of Modern American Indian Leaders for middle-grade readers. Her award-winning first novel, The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte, portrays the tumultuous life of Elizabeth “Betsy” Patterson Bonaparte. Her latest novel, Blood Moon: A Captive’s Tale, is now available for pre-order.

She lives in northeastern Illinois with her husband, Michael, and a very pampered dog named Smokey. When she’s not writing, she can usually be found gardening, knitting, drawing, painting, or watching football.

For more information please visit Ruth’s website. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads. Sign up for Ruth’s newsletter here.

Blog Tour Schedule

02_Blood Moon

Monday, August 7
Review at A Bookish Affair

Tuesday, August 8
Excerpt at Let Them Read Books

Wednesday, August 9
Interview at The Book Junkie Reads

Monday, August 14
Review at Oh, for the Hook of a Book!

Tuesday, August 15
Spotlight at A Literary Vacation

Wednesday, August 16
Spotlight at Cafinated Reads

Thursday, August 17
Review at Beth’s Book Nook Blog

Monday, August 21
Review at Must Read Faster

Friday, August 25
Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Monday, August 28
Review at Book Nerd

Tuesday, August 29
Spotlight at CelticLady’s Reviews

Thursday, August 31
Review at Jorie Loves a Story

Friday, September 1
Review at Broken Teepee
Interview & Excerpt at Jorie Loves a Story

Thursday, September 7
Review at Locks, Hooks, and Books

Friday, September 8
Spotlight at Passages to the Past

Giveaway

During the Blog Tour we will be giving away 5 copies of Blood Moon: A Captive’s Tale and two $25 Amazon Gift Cards! To enter, please enter via the Gleam form below.

Giveaway Rules

– Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on September 8th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
– Giveaway is open to residents in the US & Canada only.
– Only one entry per household.
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
– Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

DIRECT LINK: https://gleam.io/y5vPi/blood–moon

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON by David Grann

May 14, 2017May 14, 2017 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

Description

From New Yorker staff writer David Grann, #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Lost City of Z, a twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history

In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.
Then, one by one, they began to be killed off. One Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, watched as her family was murdered. Her older sister was shot. Her mother was then slowly poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more Osage began to die under mysterious circumstances.
In this last remnant of the Wild West—where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes such as Al Spencer, “the Phantom Terror,” roamed – virtually anyone who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll surpassed more than twenty-four Osage, the newly created F.B.I. took up the case, in what became one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations. But the bureau was then notoriously corrupt and initially bungled the case. Eventually the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only Native American agents in the bureau. They infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest modern techniques of detection. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.
In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. The book is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, as each step in the investigation reveals a series of sinister secrets and reversals. But more than that, it is a searing indictment of the callousness and prejudice toward Native Americans that allowed the murderers to operate with impunity for so long. Killers of the Flower Moon is utterly riveting, but also emotionally devastating.

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I received this book from Net Galley several months ago and read it quickly. I was stunned and upset with this story, and found it really disturbing. The narrative nonfiction format makes it very readable, but the story is so sad and upsetting when you realize how terribly the Native Americans were treated who were involved in these events in the 1920’s. Once again I have to wonder why I’ve never heard of these events?

Recommended for those who want narrative non-fiction; I would use it in high school history as well.

Thank you for my review e-copy!