Nominations: February 2011 BOTM

cw gortner · Post by **cw gortner** » Tue January 4th, 2011, 3:23 am

I nominate Daughters of The Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt, out in paperback on January 5.

Libby · Post by **Libby** » Tue January 4th, 2011, 7:36 pm

Mary's book is brilliant - but the characters were real people not fictional ones.

cw gortner · Post by **cw gortner** » Wed January 5th, 2011, 6:50 pm

[quote=""Libby""]Mary's book is brilliant - but the characters were real people not fictional ones.[/quote]

That's right. Oops. My mistake. Sorry!

Brenna · Post by **Brenna** » Wed January 5th, 2011, 6:55 pm

What about Nan Hawthorne's An Involuntary King?

Matt Phillips · Post by **Matt Phillips** » Thu January 6th, 2011, 12:14 am

I know the recent selection of My Name is Mary Sutter covered the Civil War, but I'll throw out two other Civil War options for February nonetheless:

The Disagreement, by Nick Taylor

Publishers Weekly review: "The Civil War is but the noisiest of the struggles that the ambivalent hero of this historical novel wants to distance himself from. In 1862, at age 17, John Muro is packed off from Lynchburg to the University of Virginia Medical School, a berth that exempts him from the Confederate draft. Thanks to a flood of casualties, he's soon promoted to full-fledged doctor at the local military hospital, where his sense of detachment helps him deal with the carnage of warand spills over into the rest of his life. He coldly repudiates his family after their textile mill fails; he's so inattentive to his beautiful girlfriend, Lorrie, that she has to browbeat him into courtship; and his best friend is a wounded Union POW who awakens John's longing to head North. John appraises the world with a clinical mindset (Her affect, surprisingly, was like that of a patient suffering from one of the tropical fevers he observes during his first kiss with Lorrie) that excuses his passivity and irresponsibility. Debut novelist Taylor recreates the detailif not always the spiritof the Confederacy's Victorian language and culture. But as John struggles to avoid entanglement with the (often underdeveloped) characters around him, his coming-of-age saga remains uninvolving. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."

Another option, Jarrettsville, by Cornelia Nixon

Publishers Weekly review: "PostCivil War tensions complicate the romance between an abolitionist's son and the spirited sister of a rebel sympathizer in Nixon's uneven latest (after Angels Go Naked). Four years after the war, in Jarrettsville, Md., Martha Cairnes kills her fiancé, Nicholas McComas, and demands to be arrested and hanged. The narrative then moves backward to explain how the lovers came together: Martha falls for Nick even though he has a reputation as a scoundrel. Nick, meanwhile, thinks marriage is out of the question, especially after it's revealed that his father, killed under mysterious circumstances, has left behind a mountain of debt. Yet the two are soon engaged, and Martha's brother, who may have been involved in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, resents Nick's efforts to support three former Cairnes slaves, and a tangle of crossed loyalties wreak havoc on the engagement. Nixon tells the tale à la Shadow Country, with a chorus of narrators, but here the variety of voices and the disparate narrative elementshistorical account, tragic romance, courtroom dramarenders unclear what kind of story the author is trying to tell, and the riveting beginning is sabotaged by the restrained conclusion. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."

As far as I know, both focus on ordinary people, although the main characters in Jarrettsville are based on real people and a real crime. Neither book involves famous people, with the exception, I think, of a cameo by General Custer in The Disagreement.

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Thu January 6th, 2011, 12:53 am

[quote=""Matt Phillips""]I know the recent selection of My Name is Mary Sutter covered the Civil War, but I'll throw out two other Civil War options for February nonetheless:
.[/quote]

Either is OK, but please nominate just 1. Thanks!

Matt Phillips · Post by **Matt Phillips** » Thu January 6th, 2011, 9:49 pm

[quote=""boswellbaxter""]Either is OK, but please nominate just 1. Thanks![/quote]

OK, I'll go with The Disagreement.

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Fri January 7th, 2011, 1:21 pm

Nominations are closed! Will put up a poll this weekend.

medievalnovels · Post by **medievalnovels** » Fri January 14th, 2011, 9:47 pm

[quote=""Brenna""]What about Nan Hawthorne's An Involuntary King?[/quote]

What a lovely thing to read.. the only "real people" in AIK are a couple clerics. The rest a mostly real to me.

I will nominate Suzy Witten's The Afflicted Girls.

And bravo for this theme. Waitl'll you read Alehouse Tales.. doesn't get more ordinary than that bunch.

Nan Hawthorne

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Fri January 14th, 2011, 10:15 pm

[quote=""medievalnovels""]What a lovely thing to read.. the only "real people" in AIK are a couple clerics. The rest a mostly real to me.

I will nominate Suzy Witten's The Afflicted Girls.

And bravo for this theme. Waitl'll you read Alehouse Tales.. doesn't get more ordinary than that bunch.

Nan Hawthorne[/quote]

Sorry, but nominations closed a few days back! You can nominate it for a future BOTM.