The Reading Radar 9/20/2014

Spotted on Amazon..Moon Queen by Katharine Branning. It's on my wishlist though I would like to find more information about it and the woman it's about. Never heard of her before, but then I know nothing really about Turkish history. Looks promising.

Mahperi the Moon Queen survived in a competitive court ruled by both love and hate in an era of builders and destroyers. Armed with intelligence and determination, she courageously weathered power struggles with male and female rivals, wars with the Mongols, intrigue at the court, and ultimate betrayal to become one of the most influential figures in the empire.

Inspired by true events and people, Moon Queen weaves a bright carpet of inspiration, by turns inspiring and heartbreaking, providing a new perspective on one of the most glorious periods of Turkish history.

***

Spotted on Historical Editorial and I'm so in love with that cover, of course I have to read it... It's on my wishlist. The War Nurse by R.V. Doon.

A historical family saga and epic romance set during World War II.

The War Nurse is a heart-rending story of two Americans, Katarina Stahl, a civilian nurse, and Jack Gallagher, a surgeon, caught in the Philippines on a goodwill medical mission, when war interrupts their newfound love. As the situation becomes dire, Katarina in an impulsive move frees a German doctor accused of spying; a haunting mistake, that sets off a chain of tragic events for her German-born parents in New York.

Now, pregnant with Jack’s child, Katarina begins a journey into depraved darkness as Manila descends into occupation and chaos. The horrific choices she has to make to avoid internment and starvation distances her from Jack. Three years of hell pass, and she has earned her nickname, war nurse, but can she regain the love of her life?

***

Found whilst browsing Amazon's upcoming historical fiction releases...it's a woman pilot! So of course it makes the wishlist: Return to Apathy by Eric Scott Johnston.

Africa, WWII...
Annette cannot be tied-down. A free-spirited air courier for the Red Cross, Annette enjoys a carefree life until she begins a brief love affair with an army surgeon, Don Barnes. Their time together is cut short when Don receives orders to accompany seven soldiers on a mission to root out insurgents in the former Italian-occupied city of Asmara. He is never seen again.

Devastated, Annette spends the rest of the war looking for information on his whereabouts. Then, when she finds a small clue, she takes her aircraft into the Eritrean desert in hopes of finding him.

Amare is like any other 12-year-old boy living in Eritrea. Every week he makes the trek from his village to the capital, Asmara, to sweep the floors and oil the wood-working machines for Colonel Panelli, the commander of Italian forces in Asmara. Amare's modest salary affords him the latest issue of his favorite comic every month. But change is coming. As the Italian forces are threatened in Eritrea by the British advance, everyone is a potential soldier, even children. And, on the lonely road to his village, Amare is taken and forced to fight against the British as an insurgent for the infamous, Ascari. After living as a child-soldier for two years, Amare's life changes yet again when he encounters an American woman searching for her lover.

70-Years later…
After losing his daughter in a custody battle with his ex-wife, Michael concedes that abandoning his life to look for his father was meaningless. His new job as an investigator for JPAC quickly takes his mind off his current troubles as he is assigned to a case with a man who served under his Father in Vietnam, Frank Hayes. The job is to find seven missing WWII-era soldiers in Eritrea, Africa. Frank introduces him to an elderly woman living in Georgia named, Annette. Michael learns the key to finding the missing soldiers is Annette, but she will only help, if Michael agrees to learn about what she did after she left to search the desert 70-years ago, a place called, Apathy.

Told in Eric Scott Johnston's signature non-linear style, Return to Apathy spans decades and brings the reader across continents, love, loss and the inevitable path life take us on when a simple act of compassion changes the meaning of life. Return to Apathy is the follow-up to The Glass Girls and brings back Michael Huntington and other characters from the book that started it all.

***

Spotted on NG and on my wishlist: Vigilante by Shelley Harris.

Jenny Pepper never expected to end up like this. Tired of her job and her lacklustre marriage, increasingly marginal in her teenage daughter's life, Jenny stumbles into a vigilante rescue one night; suddenly her world is exciting again - and she's a hero. In secret - in costume - she walks the streets of her small town, seeking to right wrongs. But secret identities are tricky to maintain, and Jenny's need for adventure is beginning to cost her dearly.

Then, amidst the petty crime, a terrifying villain appears. He's attacking young girls - and Jenny's daughter is at risk. As she starts to see less and less clearly through the mask, Jenny finds her fantasy life becoming frighteningly real.

We all want to be extraordinary, and we all have a moment in our lives when we realise that we're not. VIGILANTE is about a woman who didn't accept it gracefully.

***

A GR find: Her Own Vietnam by Lynn Kanter.

For thirty years, Della Brown has tried to forget her service as a U.S. Army nurse treating horrific battlefield injuries in Vietnam. But now an unexpected message arrives that propels her into harrowing memories of the past. She must also confront the fissures in her family life, the mystery of her father’s disappearance, the things mothers and daughters cannot—maybe should not—know about one another, and the lifelong repercussions of a single mistake. An unflinching depiction of war and its personal costs, Her Own Vietnam is also a portrait of a woman in midlife—a mother, a nurse, and long ago a soldier.