Welcome to this week’s edition of Friday Book Round-Up. March is Women’s History Month and I thought it was time to revisit some of my favorite female authors, both past and present. These women have influenced me not only to write but to write about what’s in my heart. Without these women, I wouldn’t be an award-winning author.
Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie
In 1832, Susanna Moodie immigrated to Canada from Britain with her husband and daughter in search of comfort and independence in the unsettled Canadian backwoods.
She went on to chronicle her experiences in this personal, accurate, and often humorous account. This Norton Critical Edition of Roughing It in the Bush provides everything that a student needs to analyze and enjoy Moodie’s tale.
A thorough “Backgrounds” section includes images, a map, contemporary reviews of Roughing It, and letters written by Moodie to her husband during the winter of 1839, at which time he was serving a military appointment in the Victoria District and she and her children were facing life-threatening illnesses.
An Autobiography by Agatha Christie
Millions of fans the world over got to know her beloved characters, Hercule Poirot, Miss Jane Marple, and the rest, yet for decades little was known about their creator. Dame Agatha Christie was a woman who scrupulously kept her private life hidden from view, dodging the press, granting no interviews, and even, for a brief time, famously disappearing. But shortly after the great lady's death, the silence was broken when An Autobiography was finally published.
The witty, insightful, and immensely entertaining reflections of a marvelous talent, An Autobiography is as compulsively readable as Christie's novels. In her own inimitable style, a brilliant eccentric whose life encapsulated her times sheds light on her past, including her childhood in Victorian England, her volunteer work during World War II, and, of course, her phenomenal career. Agatha Christie's An Autobiography brings into sharp focus a beloved and enduring literary icon whose imagination continues to mesmerize readers to this very day.
A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux
New York Times bestselling author Jude Deveraux will capture your heart with signature classic novel, a time-travel romance featuring a present-day heroine and a dashing hero from the sixteenth century! Abandoned by a cruel fate, lovely Dougless Montgomery lies weeping upon a cold tombstone in an English church. Suddenly, the most extraordinary man appears. It is Nicholas Stafford, Earl of Thornwyck…and according to his tombstone he died in 1564. Drawn to his side by a bond so sudden and compelling it overshadows reason, Dougless knows that Nicholas is nothing less than a miracle: a man who does not seek to change her, who finds her perfect, fascinating, just as she is. What Dougless never imagined was how strong the chains are that tie them to the past…or the grand adventure that lay before them. Hailed worldwide as one of the most romantic novels of all time, A Knight in Shining Armor is “a glorious love story that spans centuries, worlds, and souls. It is the epitome of every woman’s fantasy” (Chicago Daily Herald).
Order of the Dragon Knights: The Complete Series by Mary Morgan
Welcome to a world of medieval romances, which will sweep you across time to the Highlands of Scotland and the shores of Ireland. Where warriors will fight for redemption and for the women they love. This is the world of the Dragon Knights of Scotland!
Dragon Knight's Sword
Duncan MacKay encounters the woman from his dreams, literally. She is from the future, somehow has his lost sword, and can talk to the Dragon who is able to lift his family's curse.
When an ancient sword lands at Brigid O'Neill's doorstep, she starts dreaming of a rugged Highlander. Her quest to return the sword will alter everything she believes. Dragon Knight's Medallion
Stephen MacKay is plagued with visions that threaten to destroy his soul. When Aileen Kerrigan falls through a time tunnel, he vows to keep the beautiful, half-blooded fae safe.
Aileen, armed with the medallion her mother gave her, and a matching one belonging to a long dead knight, is thrown into the past. When she encounters a handsome but surly warrior who is on a quest, she fears her future could be entwined with his. Dragon Knight's Axe
When Alastair MacKay rescues a woman from a slave trader, he steps back into a world filled with magic--taking on the role of protector and leading him on a journey to confront his greatest regret and fears.
Research assistant, Fiona O'Quinlan loves translating ancient artifacts at Trinity College. When she falls asleep on an archeological dig, she awakens in another time. Yet, she is unprepared for the danger ahead--losing her heart and soul to Alastair "Beast" MacKay. Dragon Knight's Shield
Angus MacKay is back on Scottish soil and encounters a woman who can wield a sword as mightily as his warriors, and takes her captive. With each passing day, the fire dragon inside him roars to claim the one woman fate has destined for him.
Famed mystery writer, Deirdre Flanagan, is on a vacation to Scotland, when she steps through the mists and enters into a skirmish alongside a Highlander. However, the fight has only begun, and now she must battle Angus as well as evil in order to claim the love of this Dragon Knight. Dragon Knight's Ring
Crusader, Adam MacFhearguis is on one last quest to the standing stones in Scotland where he seeks to bury the past. However, a silent prayer sends him to an unknown future and to his beloved Meggie. Margaret MacKay lives a life in the future without the memories of her past. With each passing day, she yearns to learn more from the stranger in her time.
Will love free the bonds to unite the two lovers who were doomed centuries ago? Or will evil finally claim victory over the Dragon Knights?
America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines by Gail Collins
America's Women tells the story of more than four centuries of history. It features a stunning array of personalities, from the women peering worriedly over the side of the Mayflower to feminists having a grand old time protesting beauty pageants and bridal fairs. Courageous, silly, funny, and heartbreaking, these women shaped the nation and our vision of what it means to be female in America.
By culling the most fascinating characters -- the average as well as the celebrated -- Gail Collins, the editorial page editor at the New York Times, charts a journey that shows how women lived, what they cared about, and how they felt about marriage, sex, and work. She begins with the lost colony of Roanoke and the early southern "tobacco brides" who came looking for a husband and sometimes -- thanks to the stupendously high mortality rate -- wound up marrying their way through three or four. Spanning wars, the pioneering days, the fight for suffrage, the Depression, the era of Rosie the Riveter, the civil rights movement, and the feminist rebellion of the 1970s, America's Women describes the way women's lives were altered by dress fashions, medical advances, rules of hygiene, social theories about sex and courtship, and the ever-changing attitudes toward education, work, and politics. While keeping her eye on the big picture, Collins still notes that corsets and uncomfortable shoes mattered a lot, too.
"The history of American women is about the fight for freedom," Collins writes in her introduction, "but it's less a war against oppressive men than a struggle to straighten out the perpetually mixed message about women's roles that was accepted by almost everybody of both genders."
Told chronologically through the compelling stories of individual lives that, linked together, provide a complete picture of the American woman's experience, America's Women is both a great read and a landmark work of history.
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MRS N, Book Addict