Recensie: Als de duiven verdwijnen

Auteur: Sofi Oksanen
Titel: Als de duiven verdwijnen
Genre: Historische fictie
Taal: Nederlands
Jaar: 2012
ISBN: 9789041423108
Aantal pagina’s: 256
Gelezen: Februari 2022
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Omslagtekst:
Estland tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Het land is bezet door de Russen en Roland en zijn neef Edgar zitten als ‘woudbroeders’ in het verzet. Ze verschuilen zich in de bossen of zijn ondergedoken bij familie. Als de Russen door de Duitsers worden verdreven en Rolands vrouw wordt vermoord, drijft dat de twee neven uit elkaar. Edgar kiest voor de Duitse zaak, Roland blijft in het ondergrondse verzet.
In de jaren zestig maakt Edgar, alias kameraad Parts, inmiddels carrière door te schrijven over de Duitse bezetting en het ontmaskeren van fascistische Esten. Zijn onderzoek brengt hem op het spoor van zijn ex-vrouw Juudit en zijn neef, wier levens anders zijn verlopen dan hij vermoedde.

Als de duiven verdwijnen is een literaire, spannende roman over keuzes en over trouw en ontrouw, tegen de achtergrond van de gebeurtenissen in de jaren veertig en zestig van Estland. 

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Recensie: Pobeda 1946

Auteur: Ilmar Taska
Titel: Pobeda 1946
Genre: Historische fictie
Taal: Nederlands
Jaar: 2016
ISBN: 9789491737619
Aantal pagina’s: 298
Gelezen: Februari 2022
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Omslagtekst:

1946. Het ijzeren gordijn verdeelt Europa. Estland is een westelijke provincie van de Sovjet Unie geworden. De ogen en oren van de geheime dienst zijn overal aanwezig. Een zesjarige jongen is zich daar niet van bewust als hij in de fascinerende, nieuwe Pobeda stapt. Zo valt hij in de handen van de geheime dienst en wordt genadeloos gemanipuleerd. In zijn naïviteit verraadt hij zijn vader die in het verzet zit. Als zijn moeder dan ook nog verdwijnt is hij in het totalitaire systeem helemaal op zichzelf aangewezen.

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Recensie: The lace weaver

Auteur: Lauren Chater
Titel: The lace weaver
Genre: Historische fictie
Taal: Engels
Jaar: 2018
ISBN: 9781925596342
Aantal pagina’s: 400
Gelezen: Februari 2022
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Omslagtekst:

Each lace shawl begins and ends the same way – with a circle. Everything is connected with a thread as fine as gossamer, each life affected by what has come before it and what will come after.

1941, Estonia. As Stalin’s brutal Red Army crushes everything in its path, Katarina and her family survive only because their precious farm produce is needed to feed the occupying forces.

Fiercely partisan, Katarina battles to protect her grandmother’s precious legacy – the weaving of gossamer lace shawls stitched with intricate patterns that tell the stories passed down through generations.

While Katarina struggles to survive the daily oppression, another young woman is suffocating in her prison of privilege in Moscow. Yearning for freedom and to discover her beloved mother’s Baltic heritage, Lydia escapes to Estonia.

Facing the threat of invasion by Hitler’s encroaching Third Reich, Katarina and Lydia and two idealistic young soldiers, insurgents in the battle for their homeland, find themselves in a fight for life, liberty and love.

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Recensie: The lady’s guide to petticoats and piracy

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Auteur: Mackenzi Lee
Titel: The lady’s guide to petticoats and piracy
Serie: Montague Siblings #2
Genre: Young Adult Historische Fictie, LGBTQ+
Taal: Engels
Jaar: 2018
ISBN: 9780062795328
Aantal pagina’s: 450
Gelezen: Januari 2022
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Omslagtekst:
A year after an accidentally whirlwind grand tour with her brother Monty, Felicity Montague has returned to England with two goals in mind—avoid the marriage proposal of a lovestruck suitor from Edinburgh and enroll in medical school. However, her intellect and passion will never be enough in the eyes of the administrators, who see men as the sole guardians of science.

But then a window of opportunity opens—a doctor she idolizes is marrying an old friend of hers in Germany. Felicity believes if she could meet this man he could change her future, but she has no money of her own to make the trip. Luckily, a mysterious young woman is willing to pay Felicity’s way, so long as she’s allowed to travel with Felicity disguised as her maid.

In spite of her suspicions, Felicity agrees, but once the girl’s true motives are revealed, Felicity becomes part of a perilous quest that leads them from the German countryside to the promenades of Zurich to secrets lurking beneath the Atlantic.

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Recensie: The lost apothecary

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Auteur: Sarah Penner
Titel: The Lost Apothecary
Genre: Historische fictie
Taal: Engels
Jaar: 2021
ISBN: 9780778311010
Aantal pagina’s: 301
Gelezen: December 2021
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Omslagtekst:
A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them – setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course.

Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.
Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.

One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose – selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.

In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate – and not everyone will survive. 

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Recensie: Akin

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Auteur: Emma Donoghue
Titel: Akin
Genre: Historische fictie
Taal: Engels
Jaar: 2019
ISBN: 9781529019964
Aantal pagina’s: 352
Gelezen: Juli 2021
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Omslagtekst:
A retired New York professor’s life is thrown into chaos when he takes a young great-nephew to the French Riviera, in hopes of uncovering his own mother’s wartime secrets in the next masterpiece from New York Times bestselling author Emma Donoghue.

Noah Selvaggio is a retired chemistry professor and widower living on the Upper West Side, but born in the South of France. He is days away from his first visit back to Nice since he was a child, bringing with him a handful of puzzling photos he’s discovered from his mother’s wartime years. But he receives a call from social services: Noah is the closest available relative of an eleven-year-old great-nephew he’s never met, who urgently needs someone to look after him. Out of a feeling of obligation, Noah agrees to take Michael along on his trip.

Much has changed in this famously charming seaside mecca, still haunted by memories of the Nazi occupation. The unlikely duo, suffering from jet lag and culture shock, bicker about everything from steak frites to screen time. But Noah gradually comes to appreciate the boy’s truculent wit, and Michael’s ease with tech and sharp eye help Noah unearth troubling details about their family’s past. Both come to grasp the risks people in all eras have run for their loved ones, and find they are more akin than they knew.

Written with all the tenderness and psychological intensity that made Room an international bestseller, Akin is a funny, heart-wrenching tale of an old man and a boy, born two generations apart, who unpick their painful story and start to write a new one together.

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Recensie: The paris library

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Auteur: Janet Skeslien Charles
Titel: The paris library
Genre: Historische fictie
Taal: Engels
Jaar: 2021
ISBN: 9781982134198
Aantal pagina’s: 351
Gelezen: Maart 2021
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Omslagtekst:
Based on the true World War II story of the heroic librarians at the American Library in Paris, this is an unforgettable story of romance, friendship, family, and the power of literature to bring us together, perfect for fans of The Lilac Girls and The Paris Wife.

Paris, 1939: Young and ambitious Odile Souchet has it all: her handsome police officer beau and a dream job at the American Library in Paris. When the Nazis march into Paris, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear, including her beloved library. Together with her fellow librarians, Odile joins the Resistance with the best weapons she has: books. But when the war finally ends, instead of freedom, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal.

Montana, 1983: Lily is a lonely teenager looking for adventure in small-town Montana. Her interest is piqued by her solitary, elderly neighbor. As Lily uncovers more about her neighbor’s mysterious past, she finds that they share a love of language, the same longings, and the same intense jealousy, never suspecting that a dark secret from the past connects them.

A powerful novel that explores the consequences of our choices and the relationships that make us who we are—family, friends, and favorite authors—The Paris Library shows that extraordinary heroism can sometimes be found in the quietest of places.

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Recensie: The gentleman’s guide to vice and virtue

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Auteur: Mackenzi Lee
Titel: The gentleman’s guide to vice and virtue
Genre: Young Adult historische fictie
Taal: Engels
Jaar: 2017
ISBN: 9780062382801
Aantal pagina’s: 513
Gelezen: September 2021
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Omslagtekst:
Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.

But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.

Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.

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Recensie: Ten thousand doors of January

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Auteur: Alix E. Harrow
Titel: The ten thousand doors of January
Genre: Historische fictie, magisch realisme
Taal: Engels
Jaar: 2019
ISBN: 9780316421997
Aantal pagina’s: 374
Gelezen: Maart 2021
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Omslagtekst:
In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.

Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own. 

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Recensie: Onafhankelijke Mensen

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Auteur: Halldór Laxness
Titel: Onafhankelijke mensen
Genre: Literatuur, historische fictie
Taal: Nederlands
Jaar: 1934
ISBN: 9789044512779
Aantal pagina’s: 604
Gelezen: Juni 2020
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Omslagtekst:
Onafhankelijke mensen is een moderne IJslandse saga van ongewone kracht en schoonheid, waarin de bevolking van het noordelijke eiland wakker wordt geschud door de grootse beloftes van de twintigste eeuw.

Tegen de stroom in probeert de IJslandse schapenboer Bjart van het Zomerhuis zijn zelfstandigheid te handhaven. Na achttien jaar in dienst van een lokale rentmeester te hebben gewerkt, wil hij niets liever dan zijn eigen kudde schapen hoeden. Alles zet hij daarvoor op het spel, zelfs zijn eigen bestaan en dat van zijn naasten. Slechts één persoon ontziet hij: zijn stiefdochter Asta.

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