On the suggestion of one of our board participants, I'm adding another classic to our March features, too.
We'll be looking at ALL the books by these authors, but B&N needs one title by each author to put on the announcement board.
THE IVY TREE is my favorite Mary Stewart, but I love them all. I decided to go with a different title to promote next month's feature. This is what we've got:
DuMaurier's
Rebecca is one of my all-time favorites! Looking forward to March already, and February has just begun!
Wonderful blasts from the past... I went on an antropological dig in my attic, and dug out Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt from my high school years...
As i paged through these old, yellowing editions... I came across penciled teenage notes in the margins...
"What an idiot, how can she believe him?"
And best of all... "I must NEVER forget this..". (Whatever THAT was!)
becke_davis wrote:
Oh, I love that you found those notes! I have a clear memory of writing a note to myself at age 9 and putting it somewhere I would never lose it because it was important that I remember it when I grew up. Of course, I never saw it again. I would LOVE to know what that note said.
The last week of March, we will have another featured book AND an author visit:
Ellen Horan’s debut historical novel 31 BOND STREET about the biggest crime story of the mid-19th century, the brutal murder of Harvey Burdell, a dentist on Bond St. in NYC, takes readers on a fascinating archeological dig, wading trough the minutiae of a buried past, only to uncover circumstances that are shockingly contemporary: a sensationalist press, burgeoning new wealth, a booming real estate market, and race and gender conflicts, and the crime that overshadowed everything.
Synopsis
The sensational murder of Dr. Harvey Burdell in his lower Manhattan townhouse was the biggest news story in the United States before the Civil War; “Who killed Dr. Burdell?” was the question that gripped the nation. Deftly interweaving fiction and fact, 31 Bond Street is a clever historical narrative that blends romance, politics, greed and sexual intrigue in a suspenseful drama.
When an errand boy discovers Burdell’s nearly decapitated body in the bedroom of his posh Bond Street home, there are no witnesses and virtually no clues. With the city up in arms over the vicious killing, District Attorney Abraham Oakey Hall immediately suspects Emma Cunningham, the striking young widow who has been living at 31 Bond Street with her two teenaged daughters, caring for Burdell’s home in exchange for a marriage proposal. But Burdell’s past is murky and his true intentions towards Emma Cunningham were questionable, leaving Emma with a plausible motive for murder. With the help of her defence attorney, Henry Clinton, Emma embarks on a legal drama to prove her innocence and spare herself from the gallows.
Set against the background of a bustling and corrupt New York City in 1857, 31 Bond Street is a fascinating archeological dig, taking the reader through the minutiae of a buried past, only to uncover circumstances that are shockingly contemporary: a sensationalist press, burgeoning new wealth, a booming real estate market, and race and gender conflicts. Ellen Horan’s gripping novel vividly exposes a small slice of lost history as it explores New York City on the eve of the Civil War.
