The Acquisitions Department

Date:  September 27, 2010
Prepared by:  The Acquisitions Dept for A Reader's Respite
Subject:  September Acquisitions

Our blog secretary is on vacation, so we haven't gotten an Acquisitions Report out to you in quite some time.  But never fear, A Reader's Respite sent over to the temp agency for a short term replacement secretary.  We had high hopes when he showed up for work.....

Despite a British accent that at first seems endearing but later starts to grate a bit on the ol' eardrums, we thought he'd work out just fine.  But then he saw the pile of books waiting to be catalogued and shelved and we began to doubt his work ethic.....

He did perk up a tad, though, when he realized the vast majority of our incoming books were at least historical fiction set on his side of the pond.

Gallows Wedding, by Rhona Martin.  Published in 1978, this novel was the very first winner of the Historical Novel Prize in Memory of Georgette Heyer (thanks to Reading the Past for compiling a list of these winners).  Set in 1500's England, Gallows Wedding is a dark tale that explores the hysteria of witchcraft and a peasant girl's struggle with poverty, plague and ill-fated love.

Trust and Treason, by Margaret Birkhead. The 1988 winner of the Historical Novel Prize went to this novel set in 1558 England.  A family finds themselves enmeshed in intrigue that changes their fortunes forever.

A Fallen Land, by Janet Broomfield.  This novel won the Historical Novel Prize in 1989 and is set in Victorian Edinburgh.  The storyline follows the paths of two girls, one from high society and the other set in poverty and the unusual way in which their lives cross paths.

The Terioki Crossing, by Alan Fisher.  Winning the prize in 1984, this novel is set in 1916 Russia as an unlikely group sets out over the ice of the Terioki Crossing.




Is anyone sensing a pattern here?