Showing intelligence beyond society's expectations, fourteen-year-old Ana Ferreira lands a job in the Lincoln household assisting Mary Lincoln with their boys and with the hostess duties borne by the wife of a rising political star. Ana bears witness to the evolution of Lincoln's views on equality and the Union and observes in full complexity the psyche and pain of his bold, polarizing wife, Mary. Along with her African American friend Cal, Ana encounters the presence of the underground railroad in town and experiences personally how slavery is tearing apart her adopted country. Culminating in an eyewitness account of the little-known Springfield race riot of 1908, The House of Lincoln takes readers on a journey through the historic changes that reshaped America and that continue to reverberate today.
Nancy Horan is one of those authors that I will pick up to read at the mere mention of her name. Her books are amazing! She creates stories that are so interesting and inviting that you find yourself lost in the pages with no sense of time or place other than where you are in the book. This is partly due to her thorough research of the historical facts, but the way she puts it all together is what makes such a beautiful story. Of course I'm referring to her 2 previous books, Loving Frank, about the love story of Mamah Borthwick Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright, and Under The Wide and Starry Sky, about the love story of Fanny Can de Grift Osbourne and Robert Louise Stevenson. I've never thought of Lincoln as being in any way a romantic tale, but I'm willing to let go of any of my preconceived ideas about a story of Abraham Lincoln and dive head first into Ms. Horan's novel. The House of Lincoln has a release day of June 6, 2023 by Sourcebooks Landmark . On by TBR list....
The Ferryman by Justin Cronin...Founded by the mysterious genius known as the Designer, the archipelago of Prospera lies hidden fromthe horrors of a deteriorating outside world. In this island paradise, Prospera’s lucky citizens enjoy long, fulfilling lives until the monitors embedded in their forearms, meant to measure their physical health and psychological well-being, fall below 10 percent. Then they retire themselves, embarking on a ferry ride to the island known as the Nursery, where their failing bodies are renewed, their memories are wiped clean, and they are readied to restart life afresh. Proctor Bennett, of the Department of Social Contracts, has a satisfying career as a ferryman, gently shepherding people through the retirement process—and, when necessary, enforcing it. But all is not well with Proctor. For one thing, he’s been dreaming—which is supposed to be impossible in Prospera. For another, his monitor percentage has begun to drop alarmingly fast. And then comes the day he is summoned to retire his own father, who gives him a disturbing and cryptic message before being wrestled onto the ferry.
Meanwhile, something is stirring. The Support Staff, ordinary men and women who provide the labor to keep Prospera running, have begun to question their place in the social order. Unrest is building, and there are rumors spreading of a resistance group—known as “Arrivalists”—who may be fomenting revolution. Soon Proctor finds himself questioning everything he once believed, entangled with a much bigger cause than he realized—and on a desperate mission to uncover the truth.
Justin Cronin is best known for his Vampire trilogy starting with The Passage and ending with City of Mirrors. It hit the publishing world by storm and we've been waiting ever since for more... and now we have it! A paradise until it isn't. I've seen this type of story before in The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist, a dystopian novel where men and women hit a certain age go to live in a man-made shangri-la, that isn't quite all that it seems (and if you haven't read it, you should. Warning though, if you are over the age of 50 it might give you nightmares) But Justin Cronin writes such big beautiful books that I know this story will be something we just aren't expecting and nothing like anything we've read before. His writing just sucks you in too. Courtesy of Random House Publishing Group Ballantine, I am reading an e-galley of The Ferryman right now and I am hooked! The release date for The Ferryman is May 2, 2023!