19th century Archives - The Gilmore Guide to Books

Daughters of the Sun and Moon

Catherine — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 07:27:21 +0000

Three young Chinese women find themselves brought together in the earliest days of the city we know as Los Angeles. Petal, Moon, and Dove are the central characters in Lisa See’s Daughters of the Sun and Moon. In 1870, Dove arrives as the second wife of an older Chinese merchant, while Petal’s desperate family has sold […]

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The Last Days of Night

Catherine — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 08:42:04 +0000

It’s hard to imagine that an ordinary and ubiquitous household item could be the source of riveting fiction, but in The Last Days of Night it is. Author Graham Moore makes a new, young lawyer the central character in what is an astonishing battle over who invented the light bulb and who would profit from […]

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Belgravia by Julian Fellowes

Catherine — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 07:52:00 +0000

I decided to leave the gloom of October behind and start November with an uncomplicated, lovely novel that opens in a time that seems quiet to us, but was tumultuous for those living it. The novel is Belgravia and it begins with a very real event, the Duchess of Richmond’s ball in Brussels in 1815. […]

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Ordinary Monsters: A Novel

Catherine — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 07:53:34 +0000

In the world of hardcore readers (yes, that is a thing), there is something called a book hangover. It’s when you read a book so good that your mind can’t detach after you finish, leaving you with a period of time where everything you read is just wrong. Very wrong. I’m in that odd, frustrating […]

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The Last Castle by Denise Kiernan

Catherine — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 05:49:07 +0000

One of the main nonfiction backlist books I wanted to read this month is The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home by Denise Kiernan. I loved her book The Girls of Atomic City about the women in America who were part of the effort to win WWII. […]

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In Love with George Eliot: A Novel

Catherine — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 04:25:30 +0000

If you’ve ever read the classics (either for school or pleasure) you’ve heard of George Eliot. If you’re like me, you didn’t know, until later, that Eliot was a pen name and the great English novelist is actually Marian Evans. I learned this decades ago, but beyond that knew nothing about Evans herself. Now, thanks […]

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The First Actress: A novel

Catherine — Wed, 27 May 2020 04:05:12 +0000

Born the illegitimate daughter of a French courtesan, Sarah Bernhardt didn’t even live with her mother until she was eight years old. When she did move in with her, Sarah caught the eye of one of her mother’s patrons and was shipped off to convent boarding school. Not for her safety, but because her mother […]

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Miss Austen: A Novel

Catherine — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 04:02:02 +0000

On Monday I reviewed what was a stunning, but intense book, so it’s with a bit of relief that I’m back with a book I’ll call recovery reading. Cassandra Austen is the older sister of author, Jane Austen. Jane has been dead for many years and Cassandra has felt it was her duty to be […]

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A Well-Behaved Woman

Catherine — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 07:04:41 +0000

The Vanderbilt family is one of the great success stories in American history. Author Therese Fowler picks up the line with the third generation in her novel, A Well-Behaved Woman. The woman in question is Alva Smith—a 21-year-old with a perfect pedigree, but no money. Teetering, in fact, on the edge of outright poverty, until […]

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The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton

Catherine — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 07:11:35 +0000

Time passes differently when I’m alone in the house; I have no way of marking the years. I am aware that the sun continues to rise and set and the moon to take its place, bu I no longer feel its passage. Past, present, future are meaningless; I am outside time. Here and there, there […]

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