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Forthcoming Books: 2012 edition

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Tanzanite
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Post by Tanzanite » Thu July 21st, 2011, 5:32 pm

Sacrilege by S.J. Parris. UK release February 21, 2012.

London, summer of 1584: Radical philosopher, ex-monk, and spy Giordano Bruno suspects he is being followed by an old enemy. He is shocked to discover that his pursuer is in fact Sophia Underhill, a young woman with whom he was once in love. When Bruno learns that Sophia has been accused of murdering her husband, a prominent magistrate in Canterbury, he agrees to do anything he can to help clear her name.


In the city that was once England's greatest center of pilgrimage, Bruno begins to uncover unsuspected secrets that point to the dead man being part of a larger and more dangerous plot in the making. He must turn his detective's eye on history—on Saint Thomas Becket, the twelfth-century archbishop murdered in Canterbury Cathedral, and on the legend surrounding the disappearance of his body—in order to solve the crime.

As Bruno's feelings for Sophia grow more intense, so does his fear that another murder is about to take place—perhaps his own. But more than Bruno's life is at stake in this vividly rendered, impeccably researched, and addictively page-turning whodunit—the stability of the kingdom hangs in the balance as Bruno hunts down a brutal murderer in the shadows of England's most ancient cathedral.
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Post by Tanzanite » Thu July 21st, 2011, 5:34 pm

The Plantagenets by Dan Jones. Non-fiction. UK release March 1, 2012.

A rich, sprawling cast of characters, the Plantagenets were both gifted and cursed by an inherited trait that made some brilliant rulers and statesmen, and others cowards, bullies and tyrants. They fought holy Crusades and bitter feuds with Rome. At times their subjects enjoyed national glory and vast wealth; at others they suffered plagues, famines and ignominious defeat at the hands of their enemies. The Plantagenets were by turns beautiful and cruel, judicious and insanely paranoid, brilliant and a tragically flawed family.


This brilliant new book explores the lives of eight generations of England’s kings and queens in a historical epic of the sort that has not been written of British history for nearly a century. Here are such fascinating characters as

Count Goeffrey V of Anjou, the first Plantagenet; Richard the Lionheart and his less famous older brother Henry; Edward the Black Prince; and the stunning and influential princess Joan of Kent. In a book of dazzling scope and ambition, Dan Jones paints a psychological family portrait of the royal house of Plantagenet, creating a mesmerising new history of Britain before the Tudors.
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Post by Tanzanite » Thu July 21st, 2011, 5:36 pm

The Girl in the Mask by Marie-Louise Jensen. Young Adult. UK release March 1, 2012.

Set in Georgian England, fifteen-year-old Sophia is trapped by the limitations of living in a man's world. Forced by her father to give up everything she loves, Sophia is ordered to make a new life in Bath. By day, she is trapped in the social whirl of balls and masquerades. By night, she secretly swaps her ball gowns for breeches, and turns to highway robbery to get her revenge . . . When one man begins to take a keen interest in her, Sophia must keep her distance, or risk unmasking her secret life.
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Post by Tanzanite » Thu July 21st, 2011, 5:38 pm

That Woman: The Duchess of Windsor and the Scandal that Brought Down a King by Anna Sebba. Non-fiction. US release March 13, 2012.

The first full scale biography of Wallis Simpson to be written by a woman, exploring the mind of one of the most glamorous and reviled figures of the Twentieth Century, a character who played prominently in the blockbuster film The King’s Speech


This is the story of the American divorceé notorious for allegedly seducing a British king off his throne. “That woman,” so called by Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, was born Bessie Wallis Warfield in 1896 in Baltimore. Neither beautiful nor brilliant, she endured an impoverished childhood, which fostered in her a burning desire to rise above her circumstances.

Acclaimed biographer Anne Sebba offers an eye-opening account of one of the most talked about women of her generation. It explores the obsessive nature of Simpson’s relationship with Prince Edward, the suggestion that she may have had a Disorder of Sexual Development, and new evidence showing she may never have wanted to marry Edward at all.


Since her death, Simpson has become a symbol of female empowerment as well as a style icon. But her psychology remains an enigma. Drawing from interviews and newly discovered letters, That Woman shines a light on this captivating and complex woman, an object of fascination that has only grown with the years.
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Post by Tanzanite » Thu July 21st, 2011, 5:39 pm

Kingdom by Jack Hight. UK release March 29, 2012.


1164. The young warrior Saladin joins a Saracen army headed for Egypt. He finds there a land of wonders - from the ancient pyramids and the towering lighthouse of Alexandria, to the caliph's luxurious palace - but also a land of unparalleled danger. In Egypt, no one can be trusted, not even his family. Saladin is surrounded by enemies and haunted by a secret that threatens to destroy him.


Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, Saladin's closest friend, the former crusader John of Tatewic, has been branded traitor. Spared execution on condition that he serves King Amalric, he soon finds himself embroiled in court intrigue. Dark forces within Jerusalem conspire to seize the throne. As John confronts them, his loyalty to Amalric, and to his old friend Saladin, is put to the test.

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Post by Tanzanite » Thu July 21st, 2011, 5:41 pm

Katherine by Alison Weir. UK release March 29, 2012.

From Weir’s website: The Tower of London, 1562. Queen Elizabeth I sits insecurely on the English throne. The Queen's cousin, a young woman of twenty-two has just been arrested. Will Elizabeth demand the full penalty for treason?


This young woman is Lady Katherine Grey, and in her short life she has already suffered more than her fair share of tragedy. Eight years before, her older sister, Lady Jane Grey, was beheaded for treasonously, if unwillingly, accepting the English crown and reigning unlawfully for nine days. Katherine was a victim of Jane`s fall, for her happy first marriage, to Harry Herbert, son of the Earl of Pembroke, was one of its first casualties.

Katherine felt the loss of her husband keenly, and for a long time she hoped that they might be reunited, but it was not to be. Now she has met Edward Seymour, nephew of Queen Jane Seymour, and fallen in love headily - and disastrously. For many regard Katherine as the rightful heir to Elizabeth`s throne, and the Queen is jealous: she will not tolerate a rival, or allow Katherine to marry. But Katherine has defied her, and now she is a prisoner in the Tower.

Alone in her chamber at night, she begins to hear the voices of children in distress. Her days are a torment too, with her future in such jeopardy; but distraction is at hand. Katherine has brought with her a few treasured belongings: love letters, jewels and a bundle of old papers tied up with frayed ribbon. Desperate for something to take her mind off her frightening situation, she starts to decipher these old papers, and soon comes to realise that they have been written by a king's daughter, and that they concern the mysterious fate of the Princes in the Tower, who disappeared eighty years before. There are frightening parallels between their story and Katherine's, for those innocents too suffered because of their royal blood, and all the world now believes that they were secretly murdered by their wicked uncle, Richard III. Katherine is chilled to think that she too poses a threat to a crown, that of Queen Elizabeth, whom she has mightily offended…

Trying to solve the mystery of the Princes is what enables Katherine to live through her anxious days. And then her sympathetic gaoler, who has himself always been intrigued by the fate of the Princes, begins to do a little delving of his own, and on her behalf, aided by the clues in the papers.

Intertwined with Katherine's story is that of another Herbert bride, Kate Plantagenet, the bastard daughter of King Richard III. In 1483, Kate is brought to London for the coronation of King Edward V, the elder of the two lost princes, and her world changes dramatically.

Kate loves her father, and she has been well-treated by his wife, Anne Neville, in whose household she has been reared with her two half-brothers. But all is not well at court, and soon after her arrival, Kate senses sinister undercurrents. Her father gains a crown by deposing the young King Edward V, and before long, Kate hears terrible rumours that he has had the two Princes in the Tower murdered. This throws her into turmoil, since she cannot believe that her father would do such a thing. But power is changing him. He has become distant from her, more ruthless and increasingly suspicious. There are risings and rebellions against him, secret intrigues and plots. Soon, Kate is told that she is to be married to the influential William Herbert, Earl of Huntingdon. The King believes that this alliance will cement William`s loyalty.

But this is no marriage made in heaven, for Kate is in love with another. Increasingly distressed by the growing swell of rumours about the fate of the Princes, she tries to find out the truth, one way or another – hoping that she will be able to reassure herself by proving that her father has not shed the blood of innocents. And so she embarks on what will ultimately prove to be a dangerous quest, covertly seeking for information that can throw light on this disturbing mystery. But time is not on Kate`s side.

Katherine, meanwhile, is missing her husband grievously, and to her joy their sympathetic gaoler permits her beloved Edward to visit her secretly - with disastrous results. Time is not on Katherine's side either.
Like Katherine Grey, Kate Plantagenet finds out that incurring the wrath of princes is a dangerous game, and that being near in blood to the throne is a curse rather than a blessing. Both young women will risk much to uncover the truth about the Princes in the Tower - and both will endure a tragic fate.

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Post by Brenna » Thu July 21st, 2011, 5:41 pm

ahhh everything is right in the world. Tanzanite is back and my TBR list has grown. :D
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Post by Tanzanite » Thu July 21st, 2011, 5:42 pm

The Lion at Bay by Robert Low. UK release April 2012.


Scotland’s rebels have emerged victorious after the Battle of Falkirk. But their opponents, the English, will not be held at bay for long. In 1303 Edward’s hammer falls on Scotland; he will have his bloody revenge at the Battle of Stirling. William Wallace, seen by many as the man who holds the freedom of the people in his hands, is captured by the English outside Glasgow. His death will be slow and bloody. This is the second book in Robert Low’s stunning new trilogy about the making of Scotland.

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Post by Tanzanite » Thu July 21st, 2011, 5:43 pm

The Price by Peter Ransley. UK release April 2012 (second in trilogy, the first book is Plague Child).


It is 1647. The King has surrendered to Parliament. Lord Stonehouse, to show his loyalty to Parliament, has named Tom as his successor. But Lord Stonehouse’s son, Richard, is also Tom’s estranged father and a fervent Royalist. If the King reaches a settlement with Parliament Richard will inherit…


Parliament itself is deeply divided with those demanding a strict Puritan regime pitted against more liberal Independents like Cromwell. King Charles, under house arrest, tries to exploit the divisions between them. When Richard arrives from France with a commission from the Queen to snatch the King from Parliamentary hands, he and Tom are set on a collision course. Caught between his love for his wife Anne and their young son, and his loyalty to the new regime, Tom must struggle to save both his family and the estate.

The Price is the dramatic story of Tom Neave’s fight for the principles which he holds so dear – democracy, freedom and honour – and his young family, set against the backdrop of the violent conflict of the English Civil War.

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Post by Tanzanite » Thu July 21st, 2011, 5:44 pm

The Academie by Susanne Dunlap. Young Adult. US and UK release April 10, 2012.

Eliza Monroe-daughter of the future president of the United States-is devastated when her mother decides to send her to boarding school outside of Paris. But the young American teen is quickly reconciled to the idea when-ooh, la-la!-she discovers who her fellow pupils will be: Hortense de Beauharnais, daughter of Josephine Bonaparte; and Caroline Bonaparte, youngest sister of the famous French general. It doesn't take long for Eliza to figure out that the two French girls are mortal enemies-and that she's about to get caught in the middle of their schemes.


Loosely drawn from history, Eliza Monroe's imagined coming of age provides a scintillating glimpse into the lives, loves, and hopes of three young women during one of the most volatile periods in French history.
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