Cover Crush: The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson

Hello, my name is Colleen and I am a cover slut. I know, I know....you aren't supposed to judge a book by it's cover. I just can't help myself! A beautiful cover draws my eye every single time and I can't help but pick up the book it's dressing and see if the inside seems as intriguing as the outside. Sometimes it does, and sometimes a pretty cover is just a pretty cover. Either way, I love getting an eyeful!

One of my favorite bloggers, Erin at Flashlight Commentary, created a weekly blog post called Cover Crush and she and some other blogger friends are sharing their favorite covers each Thursday. You'll find my Cover Crush selection below and I'll link to everyone else's at the end of the post.

So, without further ado, my Cover Crush this week is.....

 

 

 

 

I absolutely love the texture of these feathers! They look so soft yet ribbed...I just want to reach out and rub them. The iridescent coloring is beautiful as well and I can hardly even imagine a bird with such beautiful plumage (other than maybe a peacock). Having the title sort of tucked amongst the feathers is also a great touch. Just a really cool cover.

 

Read the synopsis to find out what "heist" this book is going to teach us about....

 

 

A rollicking true-crime adventure and a thought-provoking exploration of the human drive to possess natural beauty for readers of The Stranger in the Woods, The Lost City of Z, and The Orchid Thief.

On a cool June evening in 2009, after performing a concert at London’s Royal Academy of Music, twenty-year-old American flautist Edwin Rist boarded a train for a suburban outpost of the British Museum of Natural History. Home to one of the largest ornithological collections in the world, the Tring museum was full of rare bird specimens whose gorgeous feathers were worth staggering amounts of money to the men who shared Edwin’s obsession: the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying. Once inside the museum, the champion fly-tier grabbed hundreds of bird skins–some collected 150 years earlier by a contemporary of Darwin’s, Alfred Russel Wallace, who’d risked everything to gather them–and escaped into the darkness.

Two years later, Kirk Wallace Johnson was waist high in a river in northern New Mexico when his fly-fishing guide told him about the heist. He was soon consumed by the strange case of the feather thief. What would possess a person to steal dead birds? Had Edwin paid the price for his crime? What became of the missing skins? In his search for answers, Johnson was catapulted into a years-long, worldwide investigation. The gripping story of a bizarre and shocking crime, and one man’s relentless pursuit of justice, The Feather Thief is also a fascinating exploration of obsession, and man’s destructive instinct to harvest the beauty of nature.

 

 

Don't forget to check out what covers my blogger buddies are drooling over this week (updated as they become available):


Magdalena at A Bookaholic Swede
Erin at Flashlight Commentary
Heather at The Maiden's Court
Stephanie at Layered Pages
Holly at 2 Kids and Tired



Created by Magdalena of A Bookaholic Swede

 

 

 

Cover Crush: The Once and Future Queen by Nicole Evelina

Hello, my name is Colleen and I am a cover slut. I know, I know....you aren't supposed to judge a book by it's cover. I just can't help myself! A beautiful cover draws my eye every single time and I can't help but pick up the book it's dressing and see if the inside seems as intriguing as the outside. Sometimes it does, and sometimes a pretty cover is just a pretty cover. Either way, I love getting an eyeful!

One of my favorite bloggers, Erin at Flashlight Commentary, created a weekly blog post called Cover Crush and she and some other blogger friends are sharing their favorite covers each Thursday. You'll find my Cover Crush selection below and I'll link to everyone else's at the end of the post.

So, without further ado, my Cover Crush this week is.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

This cover is BEAUTIFUL!! There is so much detail and it fits the title of the book perfectly. I love when covers include classical art and this one is the perfect example. I just want to frame it!

 

Discover more about the book by reading the synopsis....

 

 

 

Guinevere’s journey from literary sinner to feminist icon took over one thousand years…and it’s not over yet.

Literature tells us painfully little about Guinevere, mostly focusing on her sin and betrayal of Arthur and Camelot. As a result, she is often seen as a one-dimensional character. But there is more to her story. By examining popular works of more than 20 authors over the last one thousand years, The Once and Future Queen shows how Guinevere reflects attitudes toward women during the time in which her story was written, changing to suit the expectations of her audience. Beginning in Celtic times and continuing through the present day, this book synthesizes academic criticism and popular opinion into a highly readable, approachable work that fills a gap in Arthurian material available to the general public.

Nicole Evelina has spent more than 15 years studying Arthurian legend. She is also a feminist known for her fictional portrayals of strong historical and legendary women, including Guinevere. Now, she combines these two passions to examine the effect of changing times and attitudes on the character of Guinevere in a must-read book for Arthurian enthusiasts of every knowledge level.

 

 

Don't forget to check out what covers my blogger buddies are drooling over this week (updated as they become available):


Magdalena at A Bookaholic Swede
Meghan at Of Quills & Vellum
Erin at Flashlight Commentary
Heather at The Maiden's Court
Stephanie at Layered Pages
Holly at 2 Kids and Tired



Created by Magdalena of A Bookaholic Swede

 

 



The Tip of My Wish List - Women Who Ruled

To change things up this year, I've decided to do a monthly post on 5 books from my insane wish list that I am most excited about getting to. Some might be new, some old and some out of print...my wish list has it all! I'll pick a theme each month and share my wish list post on the last Friday of the month. I know a number of excellent reviewers who will be doing similar posts and I'll be sure to link to their posts as well so you can see all the goodies we're excited about and, hopefully, add a few new book to your own wish list. 

For May I've decided to highlight books about bad ass women from history. These are women warriors and rulers during times that did not typically see women in those roles.  I'll link the titles to Goodreads where you can read reviews and find the various ways to purchase a copy if it sounds like your style. I really hope you enjoy and let me know if you've read any of these or have others you would add to the list.

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Warrior Women: An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines

WARRIOR WOMEN weaves science, mythology and mystical cultures into a bold new historical tapestry of female warriors, heroines and leaders who have been left out of the history books...until now. From China to Celtic lands, warriors, priestesses and matriarchs come to life in this accessible and dramatic account of one archaeologist's search for the truth. Jeannine Davis-Kimball, a real-life Indiana Jones, recounts her exciting and dangerous career uncovering the real story behind Amazons, banshees and mummies. Within all these groups, Davis-Kimball has uncovered an entire ancient class of courageous women who played vital and respected roles. WARRIOR WOMEN is the first mainstream book to explore the lost world of women warriors that stretches from Europe to Asia. What emerges is not only a thrilling and exotic ride, but a provocative re-examination of gender roles for the 21st century.

The Warrior Queens: The Legends and the Lives of the Women Who Have Led Their Nations in War

In this panoramic work of history, Lady Antonia Fraser looks at women who led armies and empires: Cleopatra, Isabella of Spain, Jinga Mbandi, Margaret Thatcher, Zenobia, and Indira Gandhi, among others.

The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt

An engrossing biography of the longest-reigning female pharaoh in Ancient Egypt and the story of her audacious rise to power in a man’s world.


Hatshepsut, the daughter of a general who took Egypt's throne without status as a king’s son and a mother with ties to the previous dynasty, was born into a privileged position of the royal household. Married to her brother, she was expected to bear the sons who would legitimize the reign of her father’s family. Her failure to produce a male heir was ultimately the twist of fate that paved the way for her inconceivable rule as a cross-dressing king. At just twenty, Hatshepsut ascended to the rank of king in an elaborate coronation ceremony that set the tone for her spectacular twenty-two year reign as co-regent with Thutmose III, the infant king whose mother Hatshepsut out-maneuvered for a seat on the throne. Hatshepsut was a master strategist, cloaking her political power plays with the veil of piety and sexual expression. Just as women today face obstacles from a society that equates authority with masculinity, Hatshepsut had to shrewdly operate the levers of a patriarchal system to emerge as Egypt's second female pharaoh.

Hatshepsut had successfully negotiated a path from the royal nursery to the very pinnacle of authority, and her reign saw one of Ancient Egypt’s most prolific building periods. Scholars have long speculated as to why her images were destroyed within a few decades of her death, all but erasing evidence of her rule. Constructing a rich narrative history using the artifacts that remain, noted Egyptologist Kara Cooney offers a remarkable interpretation of how Hatshepsut rapidly but methodically consolidated power—and why she fell from public favor just as quickly. The Woman Who Would Be King traces the unconventional life of an almost-forgotten pharaoh and explores our complicated reactions to women in power.

Cartimandua: Queen of the Brigantes

This is the first major study of Cartimandua, Queen of the Brigantes, whose story is one of rebellion, intrigue, betrayal, and scandal. A contemporary of the much more famous Boudica, Cartimandua chose to support Roman rule rather than to rebel—indeed she betrayed the rebel Caractacus to the Romans. As a result she was awarded great wealth and held her position as queen until AD 69 when the husband she had divorced forced her into exile on his second attempt to take back control of the tribe. This is a unique look at a fascinating yet often overlooked historical figure, the world in which she lived, and the influences that shaped the turbulent events in her life.

Boudica's Last Stand: Britain's Revolt Against Rome AD 60–61

The history of one woman's battle against an empire, and the story of how Boudica became one of the most legendary figures in history


It is Britain, AD 60. Three Roman towns are in ashes and thousands lie dead. With her new allies, the Trinovantes and the Catuvellauni, Boudica and the Iceni march defiantly towards their enemy seeking one last pivotal victory to drive the Romans from their land forever. Not far away the Roman governor, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, awaits them with his ground chosen, his strategy decided, and his small force ready to face the great native army. If his strategy is sound they will prevail, if not they will be massacred, losing the province forever. Is it really revenge Boudica wants for the vile humiliations the Romans heaped on her, or is she playing for much higher stakes? Can Paulinus defeat the odds to win the day? To answer these questions, this book reexamines events from a fresh, tactical perspective and produce a clearer picture of a revolt crushed on a newly suggested battle site, offering a new interpretation of a battle that decided 2,000 years of Britain's cultural heritage.   

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Check out these lovely blogs for more books to add to your wish list:

Heather at The Maiden's Court shares five WWII novels on her wish list HERE.

Erin at Flashlight Commentary shares her top alternative history novels HERE.

Stephanie at Layered Pages gives us five Christian Fiction titles she's looking forward to reading HERE.

Magdalena from A Bookaholic Swede shares five novels with love stories set during WW2 HERE.

Holly at 2 Kids and Tired Books tells us five of the banned books she'd like to read HERE.





Review: Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/ Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Pub. Date: 10/6/2015
Pages/Length: 302 pages/7 hours, 44 minutes

Genre: Biography/Historical Nonfiction/American History


They were the most prominent American family of the twentieth century. The daughter they secreted away made all the difference.


Joe and Rose Kennedy’s strikingly beautiful daughter Rosemary attended exclusive schools, was presented as a debutante to the Queen of England, and traveled the world with her high-spirited sisters. And yet, Rosemary was intellectually disabled — a secret fiercely guarded by her powerful and glamorous family.

 

Major new sources — Rose Kennedy’s diaries and correspondence, school and doctors' letters, and exclusive family interviews — bring Rosemary alive as a girl adored but left far behind by her competitive siblings. Kate Larson reveals both the sensitive care Rose and Joe gave to Rosemary and then — as the family’s standing reached an apex — the often desperate and duplicitous arrangements the Kennedys made to keep her away from home as she became increasingly intractable in her early twenties. Finally, Larson illuminates Joe’s decision to have Rosemary lobotomized at age twenty-three, and the family's complicity in keeping the secret. 

 

Rosemary delivers a profoundly moving coda: JFK visited Rosemary for the first time while campaigning in the Midwest; she had been living isolated in a Wisconsin institution for nearly twenty years. Only then did the siblings understand what had happened to Rosemary and bring her home for loving family visits. It was a reckoning that inspired them to direct attention to the plight of the disabled, transforming the lives of millions.

 

 

What Did I Think About the Story?

I've always found the Kennedys to be a fascinating family, especially JFK and his wife, Jackie. I've seen a few movies about them, know the basics about Joe and Rose Kennedy and their famous political sons, but I had never heard of Rosemary Kennedy before (or, at least, I don't remember ever hearing of her). When I saw Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter come up for sale as a Kindle/Audible audiobook combo I knew I wanted to learn more. I'm so glad I purchased it because this story completely expanded my view of the Kennedys as a whole (not always in a good way) and introduced me to this remarkable member, one that's life was infinitely tragic.

This really is more than just the story of Rosemary. While she stays center to the story the author does a really good job of giving a solid background on her parents - Joe and Rose Kennedy - as well as each sibling. If for no other reason I think including this information was an excellent choice as detailing the various Kennedys' ambitions, skills, competitiveness, and drives went a huge way towards highlighting Rosemary's limits and the frustrations and disappointments she would have naturally felt growing up under the Kennedy regime. While I know this was a different time and place, it was upsetting to hear how Rosemary was pushed to achieve more than she was mentally capable of and how she was shuttled around and kept hidden often when she didn't live up to her parents' expectations. As a mother I cannot imagine sending my child off over and over again to let other people take care of her while I go on a myriad of vacations and concentrate on my more capable children. It's just appalling to me!

I honestly had to stop listening for a while when I got to the part about the lobotomy. I could  not believe that her father agreed to such a drastic, invasive measure to "fix" his (in his eyes) imperfect daughter instead of just accepting her with her limitations and letting her know that she was just fine the way she was (which, in my opinion, might have helped with the increased tantrums she had as she tried to keep up with the demands of her family). Top that off with the fact that she was then placed in an institution far from her family for decades so that no one knew how catastrophic a mistake they had made is just unimaginable to me. This biography left me with a bitter dislike for Joe and Rose Kennedy and for the lengths they went to for their own ambitions for their family.

What I enjoyed most about this book is the detail given to discussing how mental deficiencies and delays were viewed and dealt with in general during the early to mid 1900s and how those views shifted and changed with further study, exposure, and treatment, much of which was advanced by the Kennedy's philanthropic foundations and Eunice Kennedy's work and efforts in particular. So, in the end, whether from love, guilt, or whatever other motives might have fueled them, their experiences with Rosemary and her many trials ended up doing so much for other people like her. I also became a huge fan of Eunice Kennedy (someone else I wasn't overly familiar with) due to the fact that she was really the only one who took the time to spend quality time with Rosemary and wasn't as afraid as the others to speak about her disabled sister.

Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy is a wonderful look into the Kennedy family as a whole and this intriguing and tragic member in particular.  I'm not sure if what is discussed within its pages are already well known facts to those that have studied the Kennedys but I learned quite a bit and now want to read even further about the family. I can't help thinking  how much happier Rosemary's life might have been if she was born into a less ambitious family or a different time. The author (and narrator!) did an excellent job of making me feel for Rosemary and, for me, that is the mark of a great nonfiction book.

What Did I Think About the Cover?   

I think it's perfect for a biography. It has a nice, large picture of Rosemary, looking quite pretty, confident, and happy, highlighting the main focus of the story.


My Rating: 4.0/5.0

I purchased the Kindle and Audible audiobook versions of Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter for my own library. To read more reviews and find links to purchase your own copy, visit Goodreads HERE.

 

 



The Tip of My Wish List - The Below Stairs Life

To change things up this year, I've decided to do a monthly post on 5 books from my insane wish list that I am most excited about getting to. Some might be new, some old and some out of print...my wish list has it all! I'll pick a theme each month and share my wish list post on the last Friday of the month. I know a number of excellent reviewers who will be doing similar posts and I'll be sure to link to their posts as well so you can see all the goodies we're excited about and, hopefully, add a few new book to your own wish list. 

For April I've decided to highlight books - fiction and nonfiction - that show what it's like to work "below stairs" as a servant. Now that Downton Abbey is over I'm really craving this sort of story.  I'll link the titles to Goodreads where you can read reviews and find the various ways to purchase a copy if it sounds like your style. I really hope you enjoy and let me know if you've read any of these or have others you would add to the list.

 

 

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Servants' Hall: A Real Life Upstairs, Downstairs Romance

 

 

Margaret Powell's Below Stairs, a servant's firsthand account of life in the great houses of England, became a sensation among readers reveling in the luxury and subtle class warfare of Masterpiece Theatre's hit television series Downton Abbey. In Servants' Hall, another true slice of life from a time when armies of servants lived below stairs simply to support the lives of those above, Powell tells the true story of Rose, the under-parlourmaid to the Wardham Family at Redlands, who took a shocking step: She eloped with the family's only son, Mr. Gerald.

Going from rags to riches, Rose finds herself caught up in a maelstrom of gossip, incredulity and envy among her fellow servants. The reaction from upstairs was no better: Mr. Wardham, the master of the house, disdained the match so completely that he refused ever to have contact with the young couple again. Gerald and Rose marry, leave Redlands and Powell looks on with envy, even as the marriage hits on bumpy times: "To us in the servants' hall, it was just like a fairy tale . . . How I wished I was in her shoes."

Once again bringing that lost world to life, Margaret Powell trains her pen and her gimlet eye on her "betters" in this next chapter from a life spent in service. Servants' Hall is Margaret Powell at her best—a warm, funny and sometimes hilarious memoir of life at a time when wealthy families like ruled England.

 

 

 

 

 

Maid to Match

 

 

From the day she arrives at the Biltmore, Tillie Reese is dazzled—by the riches of the Vanderbilts and by Mack Danvers, a mountain man turned footman. When Tillie is enlisted to help tame Mack's rugged behavior by tutoring him in the ways of refined society, the resulting sparks threaten Tillie's efforts to be chosen as Edith Vanderbilt's lady's maid.

But the stakes rise even higher when Mack and Tillie become entangled in a cover-up at the town orphanage. They could both lose their jobs...and their hearts.

 

 

 

 

 

Life Below Stairs: True Lives of Edwardian Servants

 

 

Last year, the telly-watching public was gripped by Downton Abbey -- the most successful British period drama in years and the number -- one most-watched new drama programme of 2010. Captivated by the secrets, the scandal and the servant-master divide of an Edwardian household, viewers religiously watched in their millions.

In Life Below Stairs, bestselling author Alison Maloney responds to the public's desire to know more, going behind the scenes to reveal a detailed picture of what really went on 'downstairs', describing the true-life trials and tribulations of the servants in a gripping non-fiction account.

Thoroughly researched and reliably informed, it also contains first-hand stories from the staff of the time. This charming and

beautifully presented volume is a must-read for anyone interested in the lifestyle and conduct of a bygone era.

 

 

 

 

Rose: My Life in Service to Lady Astor

 

 

In 1928, Rosina Harrison arrived at the illustrious household of the Astor family to take up her new position as personal maid to the infamously temperamental Lady Nancy Astor, who sat in Parliament, entertained royalty, and traveled the world. "She's not a lady as you would understand a lady" was the butler's ominous warning. But what no one expected was that the iron-willed Lady Astor was about to meet her match in the no-nonsense, whip-smart girl from the country.

For 35 years, from the parties thrown for royalty and trips across the globe, to the air raids during WWII, Rose was by Lady Astor's side and behind the scenes, keeping everything running smoothly. In charge of everything from the clothes and furs to the baggage to the priceless diamond "sparklers," Rose was closer to Lady Astor than anyone else. In her decades of service she received one 5 raise, but she traveled the world in style and retired with a lifetime's worth of stories. Like Gosford Park and Downton Abbey, Rose is a captivating insight into the great wealth 'upstairs' and the endless work 'downstairs', but it is also the story of an unlikely decades-long friendship that grew between Her Ladyship and her spirited Yorkshire maid.

 

 

 

 

The Maid's Tale: A Revealing Memoir of Life Below Stairs

Born in 1910, Rose Plummer grew up in an East End slum; she knew at first hand a soot-blackened world, lit by candles and oil lamps, where you slept in your clothes - if you hadn't already been sewn into them for the winter - and fought an unending battle with hunger and bed bugs.
At its best, life was lived on the bustling, noisy streets where fish sellers jostled with hurdy-gurdy men, organ grinders and street fighters, where children dodged between the wheels of horse-drawn carts and where money could still be made by mudlarks and the rag and bone man.

At the age of fifteen, Rose left the noise and squalor of Hoxton and started work as a live-in maid at a house in the West End. Despite the poverty of her childhood, nothing could have prepared her for the long hours, the backbreaking work and the harshness of this new world; a world in which servants were treated as if they were less than human.

It was a world in which Rose found herself working from six in the morning till nine at night in a house where the only unheated bedroom was the one she slept in. Here and in later, grander, houses Rose had to endure the strict hierarchy of the servants' world where the maid was expected to put up with sex pests, deranged employers, verbal and even physical abuse. But however difficult life became, Rose found something to laugh about, and her remarkable spirit and gift for friendship shines through in her memories of a now-vanished world.

This is upstairs downstairs as it really was.

Part of the Lives of Servants series. Other titles in the series are: The Cook's Tale, They Also Serve and Cocoa at Midnight.

 

 

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Check out these lovely blogs for more books to add to your wish list:


 

Stephanie at Layered Pages shares five Sherlock Holmes themed books on her wish list HERE.

Magdalena at A Bookaholic Swede also has a Sherlock Holmes theme this month (great minds think alike!). Find her picks HERE.

Erin at Flashlight Commentary shares five books featuring covers with non-romaticized men HERE.

Heather at The Maiden's Court shares five novels with female spies from WWII HERE.

Holly at 2 Kids and Tired has five books about celebrities HERE.



 

The Tip of My Wish List - Women of the Civil War

To change things up this year, I've decided to do a monthly post on 5 books from my insane wish list that I am most excited about getting to. Some might be new, some old and some out of print...my wish list has it all! I'll pick a theme each month and share my wish list post on the last Friday of the month. I know a number of excellent reviewers who will be doing similar posts and I'll be sure to link to their posts as well so you can see all the goodies we're excited about and, hopefully, add a few new book to your own wish list. 

For March I've decided to highlight books - both nonfiction and fiction - that take place during the Civil War and highlight the experiences and various roles that women played.  I'll link the titles to Goodreads where you can read reviews and find the various ways to purchase a copy if it sounds like your style. I really hope you enjoy and let me know if you've read any of these or have others you would add to the list. 

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Neverhome by Laird Hunt

She calls herself Ash, but that's not her real name. She is a farmer's faithful wife, but she has left her husband to don the uniform of a Union soldier in the Civil War. NEVERHOME tells the harrowing story of Ash Thompson during the battle for the South. Through bloodshed and hysteria and heartbreak, she becomes a hero, a folk legend, a madwoman and a traitor to the American cause.

Laird Hunt's dazzling new novel throws a light on the adventurous women who chose to fight instead of stay behind. It is also a mystery story: why did Ash leave and her husband stay? Why can she not return? What will she have to go through to make it back home?

In gorgeous prose, Hunt's rebellious young heroine fights her way through history, and back home to her husband, and finally into our hearts.

The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks

Tennessee, 1864. On a late autumn day, near a little town called Franklin, 10,000 men will soon lie dead or dying in a battle that will change many lives for ever. None will be more changed than Carrie McGavock, who finds her home taken over by the Confederate army and turned into a field hospital. Taking charge, she finds the courage to face up to the horrors around her and, in doing so, finds a cause.

Out on the battlefield, a tired young Southern soldier drops his guns and charges forward into Yankee territory, holding only the flag of his company's colours. He survives and is brought to the hospital. Carrie recognizes something in him - a willingness to die - and decides on that day, in her house, she will not let him.

In the pain-filled days and weeks that follow, both find a form of mutual healing that neither thinks possible.

In this extraordinary debut novel based on a true story, Robert Hicks has written an epic novel of love and heroism set against the madness of the American Civil War.

She Went to the Field: Women Soldiers of the Civil War by Bonnie Tsui

Women Soldiers of the Civil War profiles several substantiated cases of female soldiers during the American Civil War, including Sarah Rosetta Wakeman (aka Private Lyons Wakeman, Union); Sarah Emma Edmonds (aka Private Frank Thompson, Union); Loreta Janeta Velazquez (aka Lieutenant Harry T. Buford, Confederate); and Jennie Hodgers (aka Private Albert D. J. Cashier, Union). Also featured are those women who may not have posed as male soldiers but who nonetheless pushed gender boundaries to act boldly in related military capacities, as spies, nurses, and vivandieres ("daughters of the regiment") who bore the flag in battle, rallied troops, and cared for the wounded.

Heroines of Mercy Street: The Real Nurses of the Civil War by Pamela D. Toler

A look at the lives of the real nurses depicted in the PBS show Mercy Street

HEROINES OF MERCY STREET tells the true stories of the nurses at Mansion House, the Alexandria, Virginia, mansion turned war-time hospital and setting for the new PBS drama Mercy Street. Among the Union soldiers, doctors, wounded men from both sides, freed slaves, politicians, speculators, and spies who passed through the hospital in the crossroads of the Civil War, were nurses who gave their time freely and willingly to save lives and aid the wounded.
These women saw casualties on a scale Americans had never seen before, and medicine was at a turning point. HEROINES OF MERCY STREET follows the lives of women like Dorothea Dix, Mary Phinney, Anne Reading, and more before, during, and after their epic struggle in Alexandria and reveals their personal contributions to this astounding period in the advancement of medicine.

The Spy Lover by Kiana Davenport

Thrust into the savagery of the U.S. Civil War, a Chinese immigrant fighting for the Union Army, a nurse turned spy, and a one-armed Confederate cavalryman find their lives inextricably entwined.

Johnny Tom, a Chinese immigrant, is promised American citizenship if he serves with the Union Army.

But first he must survive the carnage of battles and rampant racism among the ranks. Desperate to find him, his daughter, Era, becomes a Union spy while nursing soldiers in Confederate camps. She falls in love with Warren, a one-armed cavalryman, and her loyalties become divided between her beloved father in the North and the man who sustains her in the South.

An extraordinary novel that will stand as a defining work on the Chinese immigrant experience, The Spy Lover is a paean to the transcendence of love and the resilience of the human spirit.

  

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Check out these lovely blogs for more books to add to your wish list:

Heather at The Maiden's Court shared five nonfiction books about the Gilded-age HERE.

Erin at Flashlight Commentary shared her wish list of fiction set during the Crusades HERE.

Stephanie at Layered Pages shared her five top Mysteries and Thrillers wish list HERE.

Magdalena at A Bookaholic Swede shared her favorite wish list books with ominous forest covers HERE.

Holly at 2 Kids and Tired shared her wish list books about sisters HERE.

Q & A with Alex Palmer, Author of The Santa Claus Man

 

 

Alex Palmer is the author of the new history book The Santa Claus Man: The Rise and Fall of a Jazz Age Con Man and the Invention of Christmas in New York, which tells the story of a dapper con artist who used a Santa letter–answering scheme to make himself rich and famous. It’s a rollicking holiday caper that includes a kidnapping, stolen art, pursuit by the FBI, and the celebrities and famous NYC landmarks of the era. It is hard to believe the story hasn’t been told until now. I spoke with Alex about how he stumbled onto this forgotten chapter of Gotham’s Christmas past, and what inspired him to tell it. Enjoy and be sure to read on after the Q & A for more information on the book, the author, the blog tour and a special blog tour Christmas gift!

 

 

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New York City and Christmas go so well together, it’s hard to believe the story of how its Santa letters came to be answered has never been told before. How did you uncover this story?

 

 

 

I know! I couldn’t believe it had not been told either. I first learned about the story because John Duval Gluck—the title character—is my great granduncle. On Christmas Eve in 2010, a family member mentioned the story but had only the sketchiest details. I started digging into it and found there was much more than any of us realized.

 

 

 

The Santa Claus Man tells how Gluck started the Santa Claus Association in 1913, gathering together volunteers to answer letters to Santa that would otherwise go to the Dead Letter Office, and this really turned into a pretty big deal.

 

 

 

Yeah, the group became this phenomenon—tons of articles were written about them, celebrities like John Barrymore and Mary Pickford held benefits and did publicity stunts for them, politicians like Jimmy Walker and Al Smith supported them, and the group even made plans to build a huge Santa Claus Building in the center of Manhattan. Every year, the group answered tens of thousands of letters, matching kids who wrote to Santa with generous New Yorkers who would donate gifts to answer their Christmas wishes.

 

 

 

And weaved through all of this is the much larger tale of how Christmas came to be the holiday we celebrate today. A few major moments in Christmas history happen during the 15 years the Santa Claus Association was operating—the first citywide Christmas tree, the World War I Christmas truce, and the inaugural Macy’s Christmas Parade. But you go further into how the holiday was really created in New York. Were you surprised about some of what you learned about the holiday’s origins?

 

 

 

I always thought Christmas was this European tradition that we imported directly to the U.S., but what I learned while researching was that Christmas as we celebrate it today is really a New York invention. Santa Claus (the one with a big belly, red fur coat, and jolly laugh) was devised by Clement Clarke Moore at his Chelsea estate; Santa’s workshop was created by Harper’s illustrator Thomas Nast, drawing on his own cluttered Manhattan home; even the country’s first Christmas tree farm was in Manhattan.

 

 

 

All that, and the many touching Santa letters you quote from, make this a fun holiday read. But you also delve into some darker territory, particularly around the main character. As the title says, he’s a con artist.

 

 

 

That’s right. While the Santa Claus Association began innocent enough, once Gluck found himself at the center of the city’s attention and donations began to roll in, some darker aspects of his character surfaced. I won’t spoil exactly where things go, but will just say that once Gluck dedicates himself to keeping belief in the myth of Santa alive, he is soon spinning even more elaborate fictions of his own invention—and for his own enrichment. But Gluck is wily. While his schemes catch the attention of everyone from the district attorney to the FBI, he manages to stay a step ahead of the authorities—for awhile at least.

 

 

 

Was that hard to investigate, the darker aspects of your own relative?

 

 

 

Yeah, I felt a bit guilty about taking this idealized figure that embodied “Christmas spirit,” then pulling him apart and exposing all these darker schemes and lies he told. But in the process, he became a more sympathetic and interesting character to me—not a simple hero or villain, but a real person; an ambitious guy who used the tools available to him to improve his station in life. I found I could relate to that person much more than I could the simpler, purely good figure he began as. And the more complicated character is also a lot more fun.

 

 

 

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Publisher: Lyons Press

Publication Date: October 1st, 2015

Pages: 320

 

 

Miracle on 34th Street meets The Wolf of Wall Street in this true crime adventure, set in New York City in the Roaring Twenties.


Before the charismatic John Duval Gluck, Jr. came along, letters from New York City children to Santa Claus were destroyed, unopened, by the U.S. Post Office Department. Gluck saw an opportunity, and created the Santa Claus Association. The effort delighted the public, and for 15 years money and gifts flowed to the only group authorized to answer Santa’s mail. Gluck became a Jazz Age celebrity, rubbing shoulders with the era’s movie stars and politicians, and even planned to erect a vast Santa Claus monument in the center of Manhattan — until Gotham’s crusading charity commissioner discovered some dark secrets in Santa’s workshop.


The rise and fall of the Santa Claus Association is a caper both heartwarming and hardboiled, involving stolen art, phony Boy Scouts, a kidnapping, pursuit by the FBI, a Coney Island bullfight, and above all, the thrills and dangers of a wild imagination. It’s also the larger story of how Christmas became the extravagant holiday we celebrate today, from Santa’s early beginnings in New York to the country’s first citywide tree lighting to Macy’s first grand holiday parade. The Santa Claus Man is a holiday tale with a dark underbelly, and an essential read for lovers of Christmas stories, true crime, and New York City history.


Other holiday highlights found in The Santa Clause Man:

•        The secret history of Santa letters, including a trove of original Santa letters and previously unpublished correspondences between the post office and charity groups arguing whether Santa’s mail should be answered.

•        The surprising origins of Christmas as we celebrate it today. From “Twas the Night Before Christmas” to the image of Santa Claus popularized by Coca-Cola, this book outlines how modern Christmas came to be, and includes a standalone timeline of holiday milestones.

•        The rise of modern-day charity— and charity fraud. Unchecked giving exploded after the First World War and this book follows this growth, as well as some of the most egregious exploiters of the country’s goodwill (including the Santa Claus Man himself), and how they were finally exposed.

•        Dozens of original vintage holiday photos, including a sculpture of Santa Claus made of 5,000 pulped letters to Santa, and a detailed sketch of a proposed Santa Claus Building, planned but never built in midtown Manhattan.

Praise for The Santa Claus Man

“Highly readable” — Publishers Weekly

“Required reading” — New York Post

“A rich, sensational story of holiday spirit corrupted by audacity and greed, fueled by the media at the dawning of the Jazz Age.”— Greg Young, cohost of Bowery Boys NYC history podcast

“A Christmas pudding of a book, studded with historical nuggets and spiced with larceny.”— Gerard Helferich, author of Theodore Roosevelt and the Assassin

 

 

The Santa Claus Man was featured in this New York Times post entitled “Mama Says That Santa Claus Does Not Come to Poor People“.

 

 

 

Buy the Book

 

 

 Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

 

 

 

Special Blog Tour Christmas Gift!

 

 

 

 

 

Get a FREE Santa bookplate signed by the author, plus two vintage Santa Claus Association holiday seals. Just email proof once you buy The Santa Claus Man (online receipt, photo of bookstore receipt, etc.) along with the mailing address where you'd like the gift sent to santaclausmanbook[at]gmail[dot]com.

 

Email before 12/21 to guarantee delivery by Christmas. 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

 

 

Author Alex Palmer has written for Slate, Vulture, Smithsonian Magazine, New York Daily News

and many other outlets. The author of previous nonfiction books Weird-o-Pedia and Literary Miscellany, he is also the great-grandnephew of John Duval Gluck, Jr.

 

 

You can learn more about Alex Palmer on his website and connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.

 

 

 

TLC Book Tour for The Santa Claus Man

 

 

 

Monday, November 30th: A Chick Who Reads – Excerpt 1
Tuesday, December 1st: Time 2 Read – Excerpt 2
Wednesday, December 2nd: Life by Kristen – review
Thursday, December 3rd: Bibliotica – spotlight
Friday, December 4th: All Roads Lead to the Kitchen – Excerpt 3
Monday, December 7th: No More Grumpy Bookseller – author guest post
Tuesday, December 8th: BookBub – “7 True Holiday Tales to Put You in the Christmas Spirit”
Wednesday, December 9th: From the TBR Pile – Excerpt 4
Wednesday, December 9th: Buried Under Books – author guest post
Thursday, December 10th: Books on the Table – review and guest post
Thursday, December 10th: Broken Teepee – spotlight
Friday, December 11th: A Literary Vacation – author Q&A
Monday, December 14th: Musings of a Bookish Kitty – review
Tuesday, December 15th: Mom in Love with Fiction – Excerpt 5
Thursday, December 17th: Open Book Society – review
Thursday, December 17th: BookNAround – review
Friday, December 18th: Dreams, Etc. – review
Thursday, December 24th: FictionZeal – spotlight

 



Q & A with Gillian Polack & Katrin Kania, Authors of The Middle Ages Unlocked

I am so excited to welcome historian and novelist Gillian Polack and archaeologist Katrin Kania to A Literary Vacation today to discuss their collaboration, "The Middle Ages Unlocked:  A Guide to Life in Medieval England, 1050–1300"! Being less familiar with this period in history than others I look forward to learning more by their expert hands. Please enjoy their Q & A below and continue on for more information about "The Middle Ages Unlocked" and its authors.

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First off, thank you both so much for taking the time to stop by and answer some questions! I always find it fascinating when experts in different areas of study come together to present not just a detailed look at a specific time in history but one that is also accessible to those who aren’t already experts in the fields discussed. How did you all come together to tackle The Middle Ages: Unlocked?

We met at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds in 2011, and spent an evening together in the conference bar. At the end of the evening, we had decided to try and work together to finish the huge draft that Gillian already had in her drawer... and that was how it all began.

With collaborations such as this I am always curious how the authors balance their separate parts and weave them together into one unified book. How did you all do this?

We began with Gillian's draft. We went through it piece by piece, examining the structure and refining the language. Katrin redid the sections based on archaeology, for that is her area of specialisation. Gillian’s areas of specialisation were already covered, of course!

The final work has a style that is different from our individual voices. Gillian's mother said of it suspiciously "It doesn't read like your novels." Our styles meshed together well, though, and we both discovered a lot about our own writing through such close teamwork.

I have to admit, as much as I love history I haven’t read that much about the Middle Ages. What made you all concentrate on this time in history? Is there anything is particular that draws you to this time period?

Katrin: I first came into contact with Living History in my late teens, and there were so many fascinating aspects to this time that I wanted to know more and more about it. The Middle Ages are, for me, an intriguing mix of things that are very familiar and things that seem very weird and foreign to a modern person. I love researching things and finding that mix of the familiar and the alien in so many aspects, both big and small. I also love the importance that textiles had in medieval times – as an economic factor, as something to express personality or show where someone belonged, and as a means to show wealth and status.

Gillian: I had a question I wanted to answer about cultural change in my fourth year at university. Until then I studied Old French (the language and the literature) and medieval literature, but my history courses were of other periods and my English Literature was Renaissance and Modern. Once I started studying the period, though, I was hooked. So many aspects of modern culture have medieval origins. Understanding the Middle Ages turned out to be essential to understanding ourselves.

Are there any other periods in history you would consider “unlocking” for readers?

Katrin: No! While I like looking at many aspects of medieval life, I’m very specialised on the Middle Ages in my research. I would not have taken on something in the scope of our book on my own, either!

Gillian: I work with other periods and I teach writers various types of history for their work, but I'd be very reluctant to take on another work of this size. It was an immense project. We used thousands of books and articles in researching it and my end of it took fifteen years!

What does a typical day (if there is one) look like for both of you? How do you balance writing with the rest of your life?

When working together, a typical day for us starts in Gillian's late afternoon and Katrin's early morning. We work together online for a few hours, aided by liberal application of tea and coffee. We do our own work the rest of the day. Gillian has novel-writing and history research to do, as well as preparation for the classes she teaches, and of course teaching work itself. Katrin has an online shop that needs tending, regular blog posts to write, as well as courses and workshops to teach and textile work for museum reconstructions. Gillian keeps forgetting to take weekends, so a feature of our work together is Katrin reminding her.

The time difference between Germany and Australia forced us into a rhythm and made sure we did not (could not!) spend all of our working time on a given day together. It could still be spent completely on the book, though, and that often happened during the final weeks of writing. Usually, however, we managed to fall sick at similar times, and had busy and less busy times with other work at corresponding times too, so it worked out very well.

By the way, we are answering these interview questions together, fuelled with tea and coffee, and working on them over a chat programme. It’s 11 pm in Gillian’s corner of Australia and 2 pm in Germany, and we instantly fell back into our teamwork patterns.

Are you working on any other books that we can look forward to reading in the future?

We both returned to our individual voices and individual projects. Gillian has several more books in the works, and recently released her newest novel, “The Time of the Ghosts” (available as an ebook or print book from all good online bookshops and some brick and mortar ones). Gillian’s next novel will be out next year and is called “Secret Jewish Women’s Business.” Katrin has written and released a book about how to do gold embroidery in the medieval style, available via her shop at shop.pallia.net, and is currently co-editing a book with conference papers for the European Textile Forum (www.textileforum.org).

Do you have any recommendations for those looking to read even further into the Middle Ages?

There are enormous amounts of literature for those wishing to research the Middle Ages, some very accessible and some very specialised and requiring a good background knowledge. We included recommendations for further reading at the back of The Middle Ages Unlocked, and it should be easy to go further from these, looking for information on specific subjects.

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Amberley Publishing
June 15th, 2015 (UK)/October 9th, 2015 (US)

ISBN: 9781445645834

400 pages 

To our modern minds, the Middle Ages seem to mix the well-known and familiar with wildly alien concepts and circumstances. The Middle Ages Unlocked provides an introduction to this complex and dynamic period in England. Exploring a wide range of topics from law, religion and education to landscape, art and magic, between the eleventh and early fourteenth century, the structures, institutions and circumstances that form the basis for daily life and society are made accessible. Drawing on their expertise in history and archaeology, Dr Gillian Polack and Dr Katrin Kania look at the tangible aspects of daily life, ranging from the raw materials used for crafts, clothing and jewelry to housing and food, in order to bring the Middle Ages to life.

The Middle Ages Unlocked dispels modern assumptions about this period, revealing the complex tapestry of medieval England, its institutions and the people who lived there.

Buy the Book 

Amberley Publishing
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
The Book Depository
AbeBooks

About the Authors

Dr Gillian Polack is a novelist, editor and medieval historian as well as a lecturer. She has been published in both the academic world and the world of historical fiction. Her most recent novels include Langue[dot]doc 1305 and The Time of the Ghosts (both Satalyte publishing). Find her webpage at www.gillianpolack.com. You can also find her on Twitter.





Dr Katrin Kania is a freelance textile archaeologist and teacher as well as a published academic who writes in both German and English. She specialises in reconstructing historical garments and offering tools, materials and instructions for historical textile techniques. Find her website at www.pallia.net  and her blog at togs-from-bogs.blogspot.com.  You can also find her on Twitter.