History
David Ebershoff, The 19th Wife
Jordan Scott is a twenty-year-old gay man who has been kicked out from Mesadale, where the Firsts, a dissident branch of the Mormon community, which still condones polygamy, lives unconcerned with federal laws. When his mother is accused of murdering her husband, whose 19th wife she was, Jordan visits her in prison and is soon [...]
Nicci Gerrard, The Moment You Were Gone
I had read many books by the couple Nicci Gerrard/ Sean French before, but Gerrard’s novels are of a completely different kind. While the Nicci French novels are thrillers, The Moment you Were Gone is the story of Gaby, a woman at a turning point in her life: her only son has left home for [...]
Anchee Min, Empress Orchid
Empress Orchid is based on the true story of China’s last empress. Orchid, a young girl from an aristocratic family, lives in poverty since the death of her father, a governor devoted to the emperor. To avoid an unattractive fate marked by a wedding with the simple-minded son of her benefactor and uncle, Orchid signs [...]