Early in my life, women were portrayed as damsels in distress or arm candy. Seeing Princess Leia on the screen was an epiphany. I was in the fifth grade, and suddenly the leading lady was a princess who was smart, capable, and brave. Then came Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley. I admire strong, complex women who can fail yet rise again to meet the challenge at hand, whether they live in the past, present, or future. World building in fantasy is similar to historical fiction, where minute details make it real and invite the reader inside. Add a little romance, wrap it in warmth and humor, finish with a sprinkle of magic, and I’m in.
In 1531, British pirates captured a Spanish galleon in the New World. Caught in a violent storm, the ship drifted south to Antarctica, where the survivors built a civilization on a verdant patch of earth concealed beneath the ice. They called their new home Shalemar.
In modern day, Shara Kennington, a college student on a research mission to Antarctica, falls through a crevasse and into the hidden world, where her arrival has been foretold for 500 years. Her resolve is tested by the clash of her modern values with Shalemar’s medieval culture. Set in a land where the sun rises and sets only once each year, Shara transforms from reluctant heroine to warrior queen, battling dark forces that will stop at nothing to claim the throne.
Diana Bishop is a professor of history at Yale University pursuing her doctorate at Oxford. She’s also a witch who has never cared to develop her powers. Enter the world of vampires, daemons, English manor homes, French castles, the Bodleian Library, old farmhouses in Massachusetts, alchemy, the history of science—even an enchanted manuscript.
I love this story because it’s an example of how smart, hard-working women can find love in the most unexpected of places. Harkness has created a fantastical world complete with engaging characters you’d like to befriend, characters I was sorry to leave after turning the last page. Diana is fabulous because she is brave and defiant in the face of her enemies and determined to see her quest for the manuscript to its end.
In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782, deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont.
Safa Patel is a police officer who anchors an elite team assembled to save the world. She is fabulous because she can strategize a scenario, field strip and reassemble a gun in no time, and take on a group of commandoes. I would want her in a foxhole with me! Fantastical elements include time travel, prehistoric beasts, international intrigue, and the merits of leather boots.
I love this book because it values heroes who come in different shapes and sizes with different skills. Haywood has crafted a wildly creative adventure rich with friendship and humor. One character taught me how to do a quick head-to-toe body check to be sure all the parts are there and working after being unconscious.
In 2061, a young scientist invents a time machine to fix a tragedy in his past. But his good intentions turn catastrophic when an early test reveals something unexpected: the end of the world.
A desperate plan is formed. Recruit three heroes, ordinary humans capable of extraordinary things, and change the future.
Safa Patel is an elite police officer, on duty when Downing Street comes under terrorist attack. As armed men storm through the breach, she dispatches them all.
'Mad' Harry Madden is a legend of the Second World War. Not only did he complete an impossible mission-to plant charges…
Celia Bowen is an artist whose medium is magic. She is an unwitting competitor in a contest where only one will survive. Her canvas is a circus that appears without fanfare. Its black and white tents conceal a fantastical world filled with sugar flowers, cuckoo clocks, chocolate mice, cloud mazes, and wishing trees. Its spectacles delight crowds and are performed only at night. Regular attendees are identifiable by their black attire punctuated with a single red accessory.
I love this book because it transports you to a place of wonder amidst the strain of an impossible situation. Morgenstern has created a whimsical experience tinged with darkness. Celia is fabulous because of her capacity to imagine and love. I’ll never look at someone wearing a black coat and red scarf the same way again.
Rediscover the million-copy bestselling fantasy read with a different kind of magic, now in a stunning anniversary edition to mark 10 years since it's paperback debut.
The circus arrives without warning. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Against the grey sky the towering tents are striped black and white. A sign hanging upon an iron gates reads:
Opens at Nightfall Closes at Dawn
Full of breath-taking amazements and open only at night, Le Cirque des Reves seems to cast a spell over all who wander its circular paths. But behind the glittering acrobats, fortune-tellers…
Claire Randall is a WWII British field nurse, which served her well in 1945 but leaves her open to charges of spying and witchcraft when she falls through a standing stone circle in the Scottish Highlands and lands at the same location in 1743. The fantastical aspects of time travel open the world of 18th-century Scotland, with its clans, tartans, and longstanding political tensions with England.
I love this book because it crosses genres and contains an indefatigable heroine to root for, a love story with a dreamy Scotsman, action, and high-stakes adventure. Gabaldon’s writing is a sensory experience that continues to draw you into the story. Claire is fabulous because she’s smart and resourceful, although at times her modern sensibilities land her in hot water.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The first book in Diana Gabaldon’s acclaimed Outlander saga, the basis for the Starz original series.
One of the top ten best-loved novels in America, as seen on PBS’s The Great American Read!
Unrivaled storytelling. Unforgettable characters. Rich historical detail. These are the hallmarks of Diana Gabaldon’s work. Her New York Times bestselling Outlander novels have earned the praise of critics and captured the hearts of millions of fans. Here is the story that started it all, introducing two remarkable characters, Claire Beauchamp Randall and Jamie Fraser, in a spellbinding novel of passion and…
Ester Velasquez and Helen Watt are two women separated by 300 years and connected by a cache of hidden documents. Seventeenth-century Ester, scribe to a blind rabbi, embraces new ideas she encounters in the rabbi’s correspondence. She yearns for the freedom to debate philosophy with other learned minds rather than lose herself to husband and home. Helen is a contemporary British professor eager to unlock the mysterious scribe. Enter the fantastical world of quill and ink, Portuguese-Jewish refugees from the Inquisition, Restoration London, Black Death, intellectual controversies, and forbidden thought.
I love this book because of Kadish’s atmospheric writing that steeps you in a faraway time where you can appreciate the luster of hand-carved cherubs and determination of two fabulous women who navigate life’s journeys with grace, determination, and regret.
WINNER OF A NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD A USA TODAY BESTSELLER "A gifted writer, astonishingly adept at nuance, narration, and the politics of passion."-Toni Morrison Set in London of the 1660s and of the early twenty-first century, The Weight of Ink is the interwoven tale of two women of remarkable intellect: Ester Velasquez, an emigrant from Amsterdam who is permitted to scribe for a blind rabbi, just before the plague hits the city; and Helen Watt, an ailing historian with a love of Jewish history. As the novel opens, Helen has been summoned by a former student to view a…
Wendy Lee Hermance was heard on National Public Radio (NPR) stations with her Missouri Folklore series in the 1980s. She earned a journalism degree from Stephens College, served as Editor and Features Writer for Midwestern and Southern university and regional publications, then settled into writing real estate contracts. In 2012 she attended University of Sydney, earning a master’s degree by research thesis. Her books include Where I’m Going with this Poem, a memoir in poetry and prose. Weird Foods of Portugal: Adventures of an Expatmarks her return to feature writing as collections of narrative non-fiction stories.
Weird Foods of Portugal describes the author's first years trying to make sense of a strange new place and a home there for herself.
Witty, dreamlike, and at times jarring, the book sizzles with social commentary looking back at America and beautiful, finely drawn descriptions of Portugal and its people. Part dark-humor cautionary tale, part travel adventure, ultimately, Hermance's book of narrative non-fiction serves as affirmation for any who wish to make a similar move themselves.
"Wendy Lee Hermance describes Portugal´s colorful people and places - including taxi drivers and animals - with a poet´s empathy and dark humor. Part travel adventure, part cautionary tale, Weird Foods of Portugal is at it´s heart, affirmation for all who consider making such a move themselves."
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