The King's Daughter by Christie Dickason

The King's Daughter by Christie Dickason
Publication Date: November 2010
Publisher: Harper

Donated By:  Molly E.

The daughter of James I, the Princess Elizabeth would not be merely her father's pawn in the royal marriage market.

The court of James I is a dangerous place, with factions led by warring cousins Robert Cecil and Francis Bacon. While Europe seethes with conflict between Protestants and Catholics, James sees himself as a grand peacemaker—and wants to make his mark by trading his children for political treaties.

Henry, Prince of Wales, and his sister, Elizabeth, find themselves far more popular than their distrusted father, a perilous position for a child of a jealous king. When Elizabeth is introduced to one suitor, Frederick, the Elector Palatine, she feels the unexpected possibility of happiness. But her fate is not her own to choose—and when her parents brutally withdraw their support for the union, Elizabeth must take command of her own future, with the help of an unexpected ally, the slave girl Tallie, who seeks her own, very different freedom.


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Participants:
Tiffany ~ Received 3/21; mail by 4/4  DC: 0310 2010 0000 8805 3061
Andrea ~ Received 4/1; mail by 4/15
Michelle ~ Received 4/18; mail by 5/2; mailed 5/20 DC# 0310 2010 0002 0325 5394
Heather

Reviews:

Under The Mercy Trees by Heather Newton

Under The Mercy Trees by Heather Newton
Publication Date: January 2011
Publisher: Harper

Donated By:  Molly E.

Thirty years ago, Martin Owenby came to New York City with dreams of becoming a writer. Now his existence revolves around cheap Scotch and weekend flings with equally damaged men. When he learns that his older brother, Leon, has gone missing, he must return to the Owenby farm in Solace Fork, North Carolina, to assist in the search. But that means facing a past filled with regrets, the family that never understood him, the girl whose heart he broke, and the best friend who has faithfully kept the home fires burning. As the mystery surrounding Leon's disappearance deepens, so too does the weight of decades-long unresolved differences and unspoken feelings—forcing Martin to deal with the hardest lessons about home, duty, and love.


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Participants:
Kathy
Amy
Jen
Pavarti (MD)

Reviews:

The Heroine's Bookshelf: Life Lessons, from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder (ARC)

The Heroine's Bookshelf: Life Lessons, from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder

Author:  Erin Blakemore

Publication Date:  October 19, 2010

Publisher:  Harper

Donated By:  Leah @ Amused By Books

An exploration of classic heroines and their equally admirable authors, The Heroine's Bookshelf shows today's women how to tap into their inner strengths and live life with intelligence and grace.

Jo March, Scarlett O'Hara, Scout Finch—the literary canon is brimming with intelligent, feisty, never-say-die heroines and celebrated female authors. Like today's women, they placed a premium on personality, spirituality, career, sisterhood, and family. When they were up against the wall, authors like Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott fought back—sometimes with words, sometimes with gritty actions. In this witty, informative, and inspiring read, their stories offer much-needed literary intervention to modern women. 

Full of beloved heroines and the remarkable writers who created them, The Heroine's Bookshelf explores how the pluck and dignity of literary characters such as Jane Eyre and Lizzy Bennet can encourage women today. 

Each legendary character is paired with her central quality—Anne Shirley is associated with irrepressible "Happiness," while Scarlett O'Hara personifies "Fight"—along with insights into her author's extraordinary life. From Zora Neale Hurston to Colette, Laura Ingalls Wilder to Charlotte BrontË, Harper Lee to Alice Walker, here are authors and characters whose spirited stories are more inspiring today than ever. 

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Leah mailed 12/1 - DC # 03062400000170060286 

Participants:

Katy -done
Tiffany -done
Heather -Did Not Read

Reviews

Katy - A Few More Pages
Tiffany - Tiffany's Bookshelf

Up From the Blue

Up From the Blue

Author:  Susan Henderson

Publication Date:  September 21, 2010

Publisher:  Harper

ARC Donated By:  Jen (Crazy-for-Books)

When Tillie Harris goes into labor with her first child, nothing is right. Her husband is away on business, the boxes in her new home aren’t unpacked, and the telephone isn’t even connected yet. Forced to reach out to her estranged father for help, their first contact in years, Tillie must face the painful memories she’s been running from since she was a little girl—the memories of her own mother and the year that changed everything.

As a child, Tillie’s home was a manic and messy world with her mother, Mara, at its center. While some days brought dancing, dress-up, and laughter, others became long hours of listening to Mara cry, depressed and unable get out of bed. When Tillie’s father takes a top job at the Pentagon and forces the family to move, and as Mara’s worsening condition can no longer be ignored, Tillie’s life spirals out of control.

When the family arrives at their new home in Washington, Tillie’s mother has vanished—a stunning development made even more disorienting by her father’s refusal to discuss what happened. As he tries to impose a new, orderly pattern to family life, Tillie’s fertile imagination attempts to fill in the missing gaps, inventing elaborate narratives about what might have happened, and about her father’s culpability. But when the veil is lifted and the mystery revealed, Tillie discovers that the truth behind her mother’s disappearance is far more complicated than she could have imagined.

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• 
  
• Participants
• Betty - DONE
• Tiffany - DONE
• Stephanie - DONE
• Heather - DONE

Reviews

Betty -   Reflections With Coffee  

Tiffany - Tiffany's Bookshelf
Stephanie - Steph the Bookworm
Heather - Proud Book Nerd

The Eyes of Willie McGee: A Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in the Jim Crow South

The Eyes of Willie McGee:  A Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in the Jim Crow South

Author:  Alex Heard

Publication Date:  May 2010

Publisher:  Harper

416 pages

Donated By:  Regal-Literary, Inc. 

A gripping saga of race and retribution in the Deep South and a story whose haunting details echo the themes of To Kill a Mockingbird. 

In 1945, Willie McGee, a young African-American man from Laurel, Mississippi, was sentenced to death for allegedly raping Willette Hawkins, a white housewife. At first, McGee's case was barely noticed, covered only in hostile Mississippi newspapers and far-left publications such as the Daily Worker. Then Bella Abzug, a young New York labor lawyer, was hired by the Civil Rights Congress—an aggressive civil rights organization with ties to the Communist Party of the United States—to oversee McGee's defense. Together with William Patterson, the son of a slave and a devout believer in the need for revolutionary change, Abzug and a group of white Mississippi lawyers risked their lives to plead McGee's case. After years of court battles, McGee's supporters flooded President Harry S. Truman and the U.S. Supreme Court with clemency pleas, and famous Americans—including William Faulkner, Albert Einstein, Jessica Mitford, Paul Robeson, Norman Mailer, and Josephine Baker—spoke out on McGee's behalf. 

By the time the case ended in 1951 with McGee's public execution in Mississippi's infamous traveling electric chair, "Free Willie McGee" had become a rallying cry among civil rights activists, progressives, leftists, and Communist Party members. Their movement had succeeded in convincing millions of people worldwide that McGee had been framed and that the real story involved a consensual love affair between him and Mrs. Hawkins—one that she had instigated and controlled. As Heard discovered, this controversial theory is a doorway to a tangle of secrets that spawned a legacy of confusion, misinformation, and pain that still resonates today. The mysteries surrounding McGee's case live on in this provocative tale of justice in the Deep South. 

Based on exhaustive documentary research—court transcripts, newspaper reports, archived papers, letters, FBI documents, and the recollections of family members on both sides—Mississippi native Alex Heard tells a moving and unforgettable story that evokes the bitter conflicts between black and white, North and South, in America. 

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Tour Participants

1. Carin - done

2. Katy -done 

3. JHS - done (did not finish, no review)

4. Donna - done 

5. Julie- received 9/24

6. Jennifer

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