This
novel by the author of two remarkable Jane Austen spinoffs tackles the
real-life couple whose story became the basis of Beauty and the Beast.
Petrus Gonsalvus was born with a rare condition that caused hair to grow all
over his body. Brought to the Renaissance court of Henry II of France in 1547,
he became the king’s ward and eventually married Catherine, the beautiful
sixteen-year-old daughter of a merchant who had fallen on hard times. Whatever
Catherine expected from the marriage, it wasn’t a guy who looked like
Chewbacca, yet somehow they made it work.
Greeley’s writing is beautiful, her
characters complex and believable, and the combination swept me into this part-real,
part-fictional tale of an unlikely couple slowly achieving acceptance, even
love.
"Enchanting. Molly Greeley has pulled off a piece of magic to tell a dazzling love story about the outcast's ache to be cared for and belong. This book broke my heart and put it back together again."--Allison Epstein, author of A Tip for the Hangman
A mesmerizing novel set in the French royal court of Catherine de’ Medici during the Renaissance, which recreates the touching and surprising true story behind the Beauty and the Beast legend, from the acclaimed author of The Clergyman’s Wife and The Heiress.
1547: Pedro Gonzales, a young boy living on the island of Tenerife, understands…
Like most people raised in the
US, I thought I learned the history of westward expansion in school. I even knew
that Manifest Destiny destroyed Native American populations and cultures. But
this novel by Alix Christie brings the tragedy home in ways the flat text
of history books cannot.
Through the story of two generations of one family, The Shining Mountains explores how a relatively
respectful discourse between fur traders and indigenous peoples in the Pacific
Northwest deteriorated into hostility, suspicion, racial discrimination,
warfare, trickery, and murder after the Gold Rush of 1849, with long-term
consequences to both those displaced and the natural environment.
Beautifully
written and timely, The Shining Mountains will get you thinking and warm your heart.
The year is 1838. A young Scotsman forced from his homeland arrives at Hudson's Bay. Angus McDonald is contracted to British masters to trade for fur. But the world he discovers is beyond even a Highlander's wildest imaginings: raging rivers, buffalo hunts, and the powerful daughter of an ancient and magnificent people. In Catherine Baptiste, kin to Nez Perce chiefs, Angus recognizes a kindred spirit. The Rocky Mountain West in which they meet will soon be torn apart by competing claims: between British fur traders, American settlers, and the Native peoples who have lived for millennia in the valleys and…
Any
novel set in Russia during the reign of Ivan the Terrible (1533–1584) is an
instant draw for me since that is the setting for most of my own fiction.
Throw in Baba Yaga, the wicked witch of Russian folklore, and give her a
makeover, and I am hooked.
Here the wicked old crone has become Yaga, daughter
of the earth goddess Mokosh. Summoned to court by Ivan the Terrible’s beloved
first wife, Anastasia—convinced someone is trying to poison her—Yaga soon
identifies the main suspect as her long-time frenemy, Koshei the Deathless. The
battle between the former lovers is on, and the result is both engrossing and
tremendous fun.
If you like fantastical takes on history or reexaminations of
literary villainesses, this book is for you.
'A delicate weaving of myth and history, The Witch and the Tsar breathes new life into stories you think you know' Hannah Whitten, New York Times bestselling author of For the Wolf
Yaga lives deep in the Russian forest, tending to any that call upon her for her healing potions and vast wisdom.
She has been alone for centuries, with only her beloved animals for company. But, when Tsaritsa Anastasia, wife of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, shows up at Yaga's cottage on the brink of death, Yaga is compelled to travel with her to Moscow to keep her safe.
Since childhood, Lady Juliana has depended on her allure for survival. So when a debilitating illness robs her of her looks, her sense of her place in the world is shattered.
Enter Felix Ossolinski—scholar, diplomat, and Renaissance man. Alone among the sixteenth-century Polish courtiers, he sees in Juliana a kindred spirit, a woman whose inner beauty outweighs any marring of her face. At his suggestion, the Polish queen offers Juliana a way out of her difficulties: spy for the royal family in return for a promise of financial independence.
Facing poverty, Juliana cannot refuse, although the undercover mission to Russia threatens her freedom, even her life. Felix swears he will protect her. But no one can protect Juliana from the demons of her past.
