Monday, August 29, 2011

Bits and pieces

Thanks to whoever chose to nominate this site for "best historical fiction blog" in the Book Blogger Appreciation Week annual awards.  It's much appreciated, and congrats to my fellow nominees.  If anyone's curious, here are the posts I selected for the judging.  At least I think they're what I put down.  The fall semester started a week ago and I'm lucky I know which way is up.

In other news, I established a new Facebook page for the blog, so please join me there if you're able:  http://www.facebook.com/readingthepastblog

And for some historical novel deals, from Publishers Marketplace's Lunch Deluxe reports:

Linda Holeman's untitled book, pitched as 'Anna Karenina meets Downton Abbey', and set in 1861 Imperialist Russia in the aftermath of the Emancipation of the Serfs, a sweeping tale of how the political turmoil of the country affects one landowner's family, to Anne Collins at Random House Canada, in a very nice deal, in a two-book deal, for publication in spring 2012, by Sarah Heller at the Helen Heller Agency.  [and I'd actually gone looking to her website when putting together my Canadian preview to see if she had a new book coming out - ask and ye shall receive]

Stephanie Dray's DAUGHTER OF THE NILE, the final book in the author's trilogy tracing the ambitious and passionate life of Selene -- daughter of Cleopatra, princess of Egypt, Queen of Mauretania, and disciple of Isis, to Cindy Hwang at Berkley, by Jennifer Schober at Spencerhill Associates (NA).  [I'll be reading this; here's my review of book one.]

Carlene Bauer's FRANCES & BERNARD, an epistolary novel imagining the friendship, discussions of faith and art, and bittersweet romance between two writers in late 1950s New York, inspired by Flannery O'Connor and Robert Lowell, to Jenna Johnson at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, in a pre-empt, for publication in Fall 2012, by PJ Mark at Janklow & Nesbit (World English).

Author of WILDFLOWER HILL Kimberley Freeman's ISABELLA'S GIFT, spanning centuries about two women connected by a secret hidden in the walls of a family lighthouse, to Sally Kim for Touchstone, for publication in summer 2012, by Airlie Lawson at Hachette Australia.

Christine Wade's THE BOWER WIFE, a retelling of the first American folk tale in which a woman's husband mysteriously vanishes, abandoning her and her children on their farm at the foot of the Catskills, and a dark story begins to circulate in the small frontier community near which the family lives, as the Revolutionary War fast approaches, to Sarah Durand at Atria, by Eleanor Jackson at Markson Thoma (World). [folk tale about the early Revolutionary period? I'm there]

The Darling Strumpet and The September Queen author Gillian Bagwell's MY LADY BESS, based on the life of Bess of Hardwick, 1527-1608, the formidable four-times widowed Tudor dynasty who began life in genteel poverty and ended as the richest and most powerful woman in England after Queen Elizabeth; built Chatsworth House and Hardwick Hall; and is the forebear of numerous noble lines including the current royal family of Britain, to Kate Seaver at Berkley, by Kevan Lyon at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency (NA). [about time for a new fictional retelling of Bess of Hardwick's life!]

8 comments:

  1. Congrats on the nomination, Sarah!

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  2. Good luck, Reading the Past is one of my favorite blogs. Unfortunately, I am judging audiobooks.

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  3. Congratulations on your nomination! I vote for you!

    Maybe it's because I write, but..."Anna Karenina meets Downton Abbey" is a bit cheeky, I think?

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  4. Thanks everyone. And yes - interesting description. Of course Downton Abbey is hugely popular so it's bound to attract attention.

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  5. Congrats on the nomination.

    Can't wait for India Black's next adventure. I do love Carol Carr's character, India.

    I am already looking forward to Gillian Bagwell's next novel after loving The Darling Strumpet.

    carol

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  6. Hi Carol, I'm looking forward to India's new adventure too.

    Besides her Bess of Hardwick book, Gillian Bagwell will have another novel out in a few months, The September Queen, about Jane Lane and her relationship with Charles II.

    And thanks!

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  7. "The Bower Wife" and "My Lady Bess" sound wonderful; do keep us posted. And congrats on the nomination!

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  8. Ohhh the novel about Russia sounds VERY interesting. Not the typical stuff you get..ya know..death of the Nick and his family.

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