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  Luxury - A tale of prositution...

  Vicente Blasco Ibáñez

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  Vicente Blasco Ibáñez was born in Valencia, Spain on 29th January 1867.  
   
  At university, he studied law and graduated in 1888 but never felt the urgency to practice - he was more interested in politics, journalism, literature and women.   
   
  Politically he was a militant Republican partisan and, in his youth, founded a newspaper, El Pueblo (The People). The newspaper was taken to court many times and he made many enemies. In one incident he was shot and almost killed. In 1896, Ibáñez was arrested and sentenced to a few months in prison. 
   
  Despite this colourful background he found time to write novels. His first published work was ‘La Araña Negra’ (The Black Spider) in 1892, a work that he later repudiated although at the time it was a useful vehicle for him to express his anti-clerical views. 
   
  In 1894, he published ‘Arroz y Tartana’ (Airs and Graces), about a late 19th Century widow in Valencia trying to keep up appearances in order to marry her daughters well.   
   
  Ibáñez’s next sequence of books studied rural life in the farmlands of Valencia and failed to gain much of an audience.   
   
  His writing now took on a new direction with its now familiar sensational and melodramatic themes in 1908 with ‘Sangre y Arena’ (Blood and Sand), which follows the career of Juan Gallardo from his poor beginnings as a child in Seville, to his rise to becoming a famous matador in Madrid 
   
  However, his greatest success was ‘Los Cuatro Jinetes del Apocalipsis (The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse) in 1916, which tells a tangled tale of the French and German sons-in-law of an Argentinian land-owner who find themselves fighting on opposite sides in the First World War.  It was a literary and commercial sensation and became the best-selling book of 1919.  It also propelled Rudolph Valentino to stardom in the 1921 film. 
   
  Ironically his fame in the English-speaking world has come not as a novelist but as the stories behind some of Hollywood’s greatest silent movies. 
   
  Vicente Blasco Ibáñez died in Menton, France on January 28th, 1928, the day before his 61st birthday.

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  A Woman of Noble Wit

  Rosemary Griggs

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  THE COFFEE POT BOOK CLUB, BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2022 - SILVER MEDALS in each of the following categories - Women's Historical Fiction, Historical Romance and for books set in The Tudors, The Stuarts, and The Commonwealth of England
  Few women of her time lived to see their name in print. But Katherine was no ordinary woman. She was Sir Walter Raleigh's mother. This is her story.
  Set against the turbulent background of a Devon rocked by the religious and social changes that shaped Tudor England; a Devon of privateers and pirates; a Devon riven by rebellions and plots, A Woman of Noble Wit tells how Katherine became the woman who would inspire her famous sons to follow their dreams. It is Tudor history seen though a woman's eyes.
  As the daughter of a gentry family with close connections to the glittering court of King Henry VIII, Katherine's duty is clear. She must put aside her dreams and accept the husband chosen for her. Still a girl, she starts a new life at Greenway Court, overlooking the River Dart, relieved that her husband is not the ageing monster of her nightmares. She settles into the life of a dutiful wife and mother until a chance shipboard encounter with a handsome privateer, turns her world upside down.…..
  Years later a courageous act will set Katherine's name in print and her youngest son will fly high.

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  Colorblind - A Novel

  Leah Harper Bowron

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  The time is 1968. The place is Montgomery, Alabama. The story is one of resilience in the face of discrimination and bullying. Using the racially repugnant word “nigger,” two Caucasian boys repeatedly bully Miss Annie Loomis--the first African-American teacher at the all-white Wyatt Elementary School. At the same time, using the hateful word “harelip,” the boys repeatedly bully Miss Loomis’s eleven-year-old Caucasian student, Lisa Parker, who was born with cleft palate and cleft lip. Who will best the bullies? Only Lisa’s mood ring knows for sure.

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  The Promise Box

  Evelyn Hood

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  Not Yet Available

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  Queen's Veil The: Book summary &...

  Margot Langley

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  This content is an independent and unofficial summary created for informational and educational purposes only. It is not affiliated with, authorized, approved, licensed, or endorsed by the original author or publisher. All rights to the original work belong to its respective copyright holders. This summary is not intended to substitute the original book, but to offer a concise overview and interpretation of its main ideas.
   
  
  The Queen's Veil is a mesmerizing tale of ambition, love, and the secrets hidden behind the throne. In a kingdom teetering on the edge of revolution, a young queen must navigate the treacherous currents of courtly intrigue and personal betrayal. Beneath her delicate veil lies a will of iron and a heart burdened with impossible choices. As allies turn into enemies and forbidden passions ignite, she must decide what she is willing to sacrifice to protect her legacy—and herself. Richly woven with emotion, suspense, and timeless themes of power and vulnerability, The Queen's Veil invites listeners into a world where loyalty is a fragile thing and every choice comes with a price. Perfect for fans of romantic drama and historical intrigue, this story will linger long after the final word is spoken.

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  The Sandstone City

  Elaine Canning

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  Eighty-eight-year-old Michael Doherty lies in an open coffin, listening to those who have come to pay their respects. Despite his dead son Cormac's protests, he's not yet ready to pass over. His granddaughter is the reason. Twenty-something Sarah has inexplicably abandoned her plans to settle in Spain and returned home deeply scarred by the Sandstone City, and he needs to know why.
  He is granted a special grace period of forty days. Forty days to discover and heal his granddaughter's trauma. Forty days to face his own past. Forty days to find peace before he must make his final departure.
  But Michael and Sarah are not alone. Ghosts populate the streets of Salamanca and they have a message for Sarah.
  Set between modern-day Belfast and the Spanish Civil War, The Sandstone City is a story about the decisions we make, the choices denied us, and how we navigate what's left.

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