As a youngster, my single momâs bedtime stories did not come out of childrenâs books. They came out of real historyâHannibal and his elephants, the marauding Huns, or Captain Cook. It seemed preordained that Iâd have a life-long love of history, that Iâve written three published historical novels, and am on the review team of the Historical Novel Society. My immersion in history and historical novels provides constant learning and pleasure.
I wrote
Four Nails: History's Greatest Elephant and His Extraordinary Trainer
This fictionalized, but mostly true, account covers enigmatic author J. D. Salingerâs little-known WWII years (1942-47). Salinger is conscripted by the US Counter Intelligence Corps. These hard-edged soldiers interrogate captives, seek out hidden danger (poisoned pretzels, booby-trapped toilet seats), and uncover traitors. Salinger absorbs deeply the carnage close to him. At warâs end, he has become âa guy made of glassâ with a facial tic and trembling hand. In the novelâs last scenes, his older sister helps him set up in the suburban loft where he can live alone, write, and heal. J. D. Salingerâs time immersed in the horrors of War helps explain his reclusive life and out-of-the-mainstream but best-selling creations.
"Charyn skillfully breathes life into historical icons." -New Yorker
J.D. Salinger, mysterious author of The Catcher in the Rye, is remembered today as a reclusive misanthrope. Jerome Charyn's Salinger is a young American WWII draftee assigned to the Counter Intelligence Corps, a band of secret soldiers who trained with the British. A rifleman and an interrogator, he witnessed all the horrors of the war-from the landing on D-Day to the relentless hand-to-hand combat in the hedgerows of Normandy, to the Battle of the Bulge, and finally to the first Allied entry into a Bavarian death camp, where corpses were piledâŠ
By 1815, Napoleon has lost everything and surrenders to Britain in the hope the Brits will treat him well. They banish him and his remaining servants and last hangers-on to the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic. Bored and confined, members of Napoleonâs entourage engage in constant mischief. Poison, stilettos, and pistols find their uses. Through all the scheming, Napoleon comes across as a devoted father, a romantic charmer, and a clever judge of others. He treats commoners, children, and even slaves with respect. The whole work presents a new and interesting exploration into the last years of one of historyâs giants.
âRodenberg inventively uses Bonaparteâs own unfinished novel to tell the story of the despotâs rise to power, which she juxtaposes against the story of his last love affair. Told creatively and with excellent research!â âStephanie Dray, New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of America's First Daughter and The Women of Chateau Lafayette
âBeautiful and poignant.â âAllison Pataki, New York Times best-selling author of The Queenâs Fortune
With its delightful adaptation of Napoleon Bonaparteâs real attempt to write romantic fiction, Finding Napoleon: A Novel offers a fresh take on Europeâs most powerful man after heâs lost everythingâexcept his lastâŠ
Neuroscience PhD student Frankie Conner has finally gotten her life togetherâsheâs determined to discover the cause of her depression and find a cure for herself and everyone like her. But the first day of her program, she meets a group of talking animals who have an urgent message they refuseâŠ
At fifty-one years old, Manet died too young of the ravages of syphilis. This intimate first-person account details the last three years of Manetâs life (1880-83). Eleven real Manet sketches add visual context. The core of the journal covers Manetâs race to keep painting while the disease disables him more and more with no cure in sight. He writes of past loves, friends, clients, models, and earlier adventures. Manet comes across as deeply insightful with no regrets, no self-pity, and as always obsessed to sketch and paint any subject that interests him. He finishes some of his finest creations during this brutally hard time, including probably his most popular piece, A Bar at the Folies-BergĂšre.
Suffering from the complications of syphilis toward the end of his life, Edouard Manet begins to jot down his daily impressions, reflections, and memories in a notebook. He travels for healing respites in the French countryside and finds inspiration in nature-a cloud of dragonflies, peonies blanketed by the morning dew. Back in Paris, the artist holds court in his studio and meets a mysterious muse, Suzon. Entranced by Suzon's cool blue eyes, he decides to paint his final masterpiece, A Bar at the Folies-Bergere, life-sized-and wagers his health to complete it. In a sensual portrait of Manet's last years, illustratedâŠ
In 1909 Etorre Bugatti founded his auto brand. Through wars, different ownerships, and locations Bugatti has produced classic cars that today rival any in beauty, performance, and price. Look closely at recent models, and you will spot bas relief decorations of animals. These are inspired by Etorreâs brother, animal sculptor Rembrandt Bugatti. This novel presents the mostly true account of the sculptorâs last decade (1906-1916).
R. Bugatti is obsessed with wild beasts. He even keeps two antelopes in his apartment over a summer. The Great War is horrible for zoo animals and their admirers. The inhumanity of humans exacts the ultimate toll, and, at age 31, the sculptor takes his own life. Photographs of eight masterful Bugatti animal sculptures enhance the story. Though short, The Animal Gazer will appeal to any reader interested in the life and troubled times of a masterful, not widely-known, artist from a famous family.
Rembrandt Bugatti was the brother of the famous builder of luxury sports cars, Ettore. He made stunningly beautiful bronzes of wild animals that he spent days and weeks observing in the Paris and Antwerp Zoos. Sometimes he took the animals to live in his Paris apartment while he worked on his pieces.
Edgardo Franzosini's haunting short novel recreates the eccentric, orderly life of this strange genius, a gentle man who loved animals and created some of the most memorable sculptures of our time. His short life was ruined by the declaration of war in August 1914. As the Germans drewâŠ
Liveaboard sailor Cass Lynch thinks her big break has finally arrived when she blags her way into skippering a Viking longship for a Hollywood film. However, this means returning to the Shetland Islands, the place she fled as a teenager. When a corpse unexpectedly appears onboard the longship, she canâŠ
On March 24, 1946, then-current world chess champion, Alexandre Alekhine, is supposed to be getting ready to defend his title against a Russian challenger. But, at age 53, Alekhine lies dead in his seaside hotel room in Estoril, Portugal. Alekhine appears to have been eating dinner alone in his room. A local doctor soon certifies he choked on a piece of meat.
Born in Moscow, handsome, married four times, master of multiple languages, widely travelled, Alekhine was caught behind enemy lines during World War II. To stay alive, he played for both Stalin and high-level Nazis. He drank to excess, smoked heavily, suffered from angina. Did he die of a heart attack, a stroke, choking on food, murder by the KGB, or partisans for his apparent sidling up to Nazis? Sceptics and chess fans have wondered. Maurensig recounts the chess masterâs last days and summarizes the many aspects of a complicated genius.
On the morning of March 24,1946, the world chess champion Alexander Alekhine - "sadist of the chess world," renowned for his eccentric behaviour as well as the ruthlessness of his playing style was found dead in his hotel room in Estoril, Portugal. He was fully dressed and wearing an overcoat, slumped back in a chair, in front of a meal, a chessboard just out of reach. The doctor overseeing the autopsy certified that Alekhine died of asphyxiation due to a piece of meat stuck in his larynx and assured the world that there was absolutely no evidence of suicide orâŠ
In ancient India, tragedy strikes a young elephant trainer. Forced into a slave caravan that takes him through perilous lands and into a world at war, Ashoka befriends a special elephant. He and that elephant, Four Nails, together lead Hannibal's army over the Alps and down the back of Rome. Though a time of constant danger and uncertainty, Ashoka finds beauty and kindness while helping others enslaved for the pleasure of ruthless rulers. To survive this remarkable journey, the elephant trainer calls upon his unique ways with the great greys and a strength known only to those with nothing left to lose.
It began with a dying husband, and it ended in a dynasty.
It took away her husbandâs pain on his deathbed, kept her from losing the family farm, gave her the power to build a thriving business, but itâs illegal to grow in every state in the country in 1978.âŠ
Two sisters. One opulent hotel. A chance to change everything.
For 17-year-old Clara Wilson, the glamour of the Roaring Twenties feels worlds away. With her family on the brink of eviction, Clara pins her hopes on a position at the grand Hotel Hamilton. But when her adventurous sister impulsively followsâŠ