A Wilder Shore: The Romantic Odyssey of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson by Camille Peri

 

A Wilder Shore: The Romantic Odyssey of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson by Camille Peri. Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House, 2024. Biography. Nonfiction.

   Think you know Robert Louis Stevenson? Think again! Camille Peri's chunky book on him and his wife, Fanny, will almost certainly provide new insights for most readers. Although they met when she was married and had children, the two spent the rest of their lives moving about and writing. Best known for Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and his curious tale about The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson was ill and near death many times during his lifetime. Fanny is given credit for being a muse, a nurse, a co-writer, as well as his wife. While she outlived him by some twenty years, her influence and works were never given much credit during his lifetime. Peri's deep dive into their lives corrects that omission.

   Among my favorite new pieces of information in this well researched book is that Stevenson is actually responsible for the slightly altered song lyrics in Outlander, the television series! (See page 305 for more information.)   

Annie's Secrets of the Quilt series

 

Annie's Secrets of the Quilt series. Fiction. Historical fiction. Various authors and dates.

When Sophie Porter of Cabot Falls, VT inherits a chest, a quilt, and a diary from her grandmother, she vows to learn more of her family history. About half of each of the twelve books in the series feature Sophie's modern family and friends. The other half spotlight one of the blocks in her grandmother's quilt and take readers back to different women in different time periods. It's up to Sofia to show how these women may be connected to her family and the quilt. 

Castle of Whispers by Elizabeth Penney. 2015,2017. Book 1 involves Caterina Vasari in 1503 Italy. Could the seamstress's mistress, Lisabetta Donati, actually be the woman in the Mona Lisa painting? In present day, someone is trying to break into Sofia's house. Sofia's daughter, Wynter, needs a cochlear implant.

Decadent Deceit by Deanna Julie Dodson. 2015, 2017. Cerise Belanger in 1789 is witness to happenings in the Palace of Versailles in France. In present day, the school play involves Sofia, Husband Jim, and son in drama

A Dangerous Tide by Kristi Holl. 2015, 2018. Can Sofia link  a whitework quilt square and Jane Austen to her antique quilt? Daughter Vanessa is falsely accused of causing a car accident.

Highland Treachery by Elizabeth Penney. 2015, 2018. Is the tartan square in Sofia's quilt indicative of her Scottish heritage? Set in the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie, can Isabel Ripa solve a murder? In modern day, the Highland Games in Vermont wrap Sofia in a baking competition and controversy. Can Sofia solve a murder or maybe prevent one?

Arsenic and Old Silk by Mary Blount Christian. Can Sofia link a quilt square to her ancestor to the court of King Henry VIII? In modern day, someone seems to be stalking Sofia's family.

Target for Revenge by Margaret Chase. 2016,2017. Most of the action takes place in 1885 Omaha, Nebraska where Libby and Meg's aunt has invited them to visit. The girls meet Annie Oakley and learn she is a seamstress. Will one of Sofia's quilt squares be tied to the famous sharp shooter? Sofia has her hands full when a Native American artist's show and visit to present day Cabot Falls goes awry.

Deadly Angel by Kristi Holl. 2016. When a Civil War era re-enactment group event takes place in nearby St. Albans, Vermont, Sofia's son Luke participates and Sofia caters the tea. But, it appears that ten year old Matthew has disappeared there. In 1862, Phoebe Ashford's husband, a Union soldier, is hurt and she goes to Washington, D.C. to be with him. Did he desert as accused? How can Phoebe find the truth? How will nurse Louisa May Alcott figure into Sofia's story? Does the famous Vermont quilter Jane Stickle become part of Sofia's quilt's history?

Mist on the Moors by Elizabeth Penney. 2016. Sofia is catering a charity auction of wealthy Catherine Stanley's jewelry collection, but both a blizzard ad thieves complicate things. Orphaned Beatrice Kimble in 1850 Yorkshire, England is an art appraiser for the National Gallery. When Beatrice gets a dream job appraising the collection of handsome Lord Blackwell, it leads to danger, adventure, and perhaps a promising new life.

The Thief of Hearts by Mary Blount Christian.  Sofia opens a temporary bakery shop for the Cabot falls founders' Day celebration. Her neighbor Jessop Norton provides trouble at home and in town. Can Sofia find out about the next quilt suare from 1871 and with only the word Pinkerton? When Hannah Reed is eighteen and leaves the orphanage in 17 Chicago, she finds the world is complicated. A silk baby quilt and a gold locket are in a reed basket she was given. With the initials A.J. and a photo that looks just like Hannah, she searches for her past.

All That Glimmers by Marlene Chase. 2016. When their father dies in 1849 Kanesville, Iowa, Quinton and his sister Adelia Long head to California's gold fields. Sofia gives art lessons at home to Ernest Hayes, Jr. and Marjorie Bennett. While preparing for a garage sale, Sofia and her children find a pouch of gold flakes and nuggets. The pouch vanishes and the mystery begins.  (Interesting that Kanesville becomes Council Bluffs) "Real treasure lies within the heart." p. 204 (Not as much about the quilt, more about Sofia's inherited diary in this book.)

Where Summer Never Comes by Kristi Holl. 2016, 2019. In 1848 Yorkshire, England, the Bronte sisters, Charlotte and Anne, are on a train where a young woman is murdered. They are accused of murder! In present day Cabot Falls, VT, Sofia's husband, Jim, is attacked and accused of "fixing" grades in his math classes. Sofia has volunteered to demonstrate cake decorating and candy making for two weeks to classes at the high school so she is on the scene to investigate what's going on there. And, where has the lavender paisley quilt square come from?  

A Lethal Journey by Elizabeth Penney. 2016. Young film star Daisy Grifin and her friend and writer, Aria Greco, get tickets on The HMS Titanic in 1912. The two hobknob with millionaires, but don't predict a they will be involved in a murder nor a love story.  In modern times, just before the three Pinot Painters and their families take a vacation at Lake Champlain, Julie's brother, Ian, shows up and then disappears. Can they find him? And how will Sofia ever connect her water stained quilt square to her family history?

Bright I Burn: A Novel by Molly Aitken

 

Bright I Burn: A Novel by Molly Aitken. Knopf, 2024. Historical fiction.

Alice Kyteler grows up the daughter of a wealthy innkeeper in Kilkenny, Ireland. Life is hard for a woman in 1279. Alice swears to never have no power as her mother did. Alice marries four times. By then, people have gossiped for years about her dead husbands and her family.

"Inspired by the true story of the first woman in Ireland to be condemned as a witch"

Guts for Glory: The Story of Civil War Soldier Rosetta Wakeman by Joanna Lapati

  Guts for Glory: The Story of Civil War Soldier Rosetta Wakeman. Written and Illustrated by Joanna Lapati. Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2024.

When Rosetta Wakeman left New York to fight in the Civil War, she never thought she would end up in Louisiana, dead of dysentery. Joining the fight as Lyons Wakeman, she was never discovered to be a woman. The money she earned was sent back home to support her family. Actual letters she wrote were used in this book.

I wish I could express better just how much I love this book! It begins with end papers in the front that show what a Civil War soldier would carry with them. That peaks a reader's interest, but on the back end papers, the tools are numbered and inside an explanation is given of each one! A selected bibliography is included as are permissions from Rosetta Wakeman's family, the previous works on her, and even thanks to the cemetery where she is buried. Such attention to detail is highly unusual in a children's picture book. A glossary and timeline are included. An author's note explains more details. Perhaps most interesting of all, an illustrator's note tells about the careful research and ways the drawings were begun and done on scratchboard. And, the illustrations are expressive and delicate in the midst of the subject matter. 

And, to top everything, the author/illustrator not only carefully researched the places mentioned in the book, she spent six years as a Civil War reinactor, dressed as Rosetta Wakeman would have been. The authentic details came not only through careful research, but through actually coming as close to  living a soldier's life as possible in modern times. 

While I researched Civil War women for Beyond the Battlefied and A Country's Call, both quilt books by Mary Etherington and Connie Tesene with small vignettes about Civil War women, I read many books. None of the children's picture books show such passion and dedication to detail as this one. Hopefully, nonfiction committees will not overlook it!

Tree Table Book by Lois Lowry

 

 Tree Table Book by Lois Lowry. Clarion Books, 2024. Children's chapter book. Fiction.

Sophia Winslow is eleven. Her best friend, Sophie Gershowitz is eighty-eight. They have always told each other everything. Now Sophie is having trouble remembering a lot. Sophia and her not quite best friends, Raphie Mariani, and Oliver Voorhees, who also live on the same street, come together to find some answers. Sophie's grown son, Max, is coming soon and the children realize things can't always stay the same.

Two time winner of the Newbery Medal, Lois Lowry knows kids. This tale also shows she knows old people. The combination is dynamite. The stories in Sophie's memory are tragic, but young Sophia is finding ways to deal with the hard things in Life. This would make an excellent addition to middle school and high school units on WWII for less able readers. It is upbeat at times, sad at times, and always full of love and hope.

Eleanore of Avignon: A Novel by Elizabeth DeLozier

 

Eleanore of Avignon: A Novel by Elizabeth DeLozier. Dutton, 2024. Historical fiction.

In 1347, Eleanore Blanchet has learned midwifery and about herbs from her recently deceased mother. She lives with her father and twin sister and is busy with her work. When she meets Guigo de Chauliac, doctor to Pope Clement, he realizes the importance of her work and takes her on as his assistant. Life in hard in Provence and, because she is a woman, Elea has her hands full voiding being called a witch. As the plague comes to their area, Queen Joanna is pregnant and comes to the city. The doctor and his young assistant are called to tend her. 

This is a debut novel and bodes well for the author's future. While the details of suffering from the plague are realistic and sometimes rather gruesome, the story of the courage and determination of early medical practiioners ring true. Notes at the end tell which characters were historically real and which are made up. Can Elea escape the dreaded disease herself and find love amidst all the strife? Keep reading!

The Light of Luna Park by Addison Armstrong

 

The Light of Luna Park by Addison Armstrong. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2021. Adult historical fiction.

In 1926, Althea Anderson has almost completed her nursing degree and loves working in obstetrics. When she learns of Dr. Martin Couney's work with premature infants at Coney Island, she is intrigued. It breaks Althea's heart to think that babies in her care could be saved if only they had incubators and care like those in the experimental lab. It is controversial as some people liken the whole thing to a side show. But, when Althea has the chance to perhaps save a baby girl, she takes the chance.

In late 1950, Stella Wright's mother has recently died and her job as a teacher of children with disabilities gets little support. Her husband is home from WWII with some PTSD and things in her life just are not going well. When Stella goes to clean out her mother's belongings, she finds some unusual information and begins a quest to learn more.

A debut novel, this tale takes history and pairs it with fiction to complete a fascinating story. Readers who want to know more about the Coney Island work will soon be searching for the titles provided in end notes to learn the real story.