The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis is a historical fiction novel written about Beth Harmon, a young orphan with prodigious chess skills. Throughout the course of the story, she grows from that orphan to a young woman with barely any purpose in her life but chess and a crippling aptitude for self-destruction. The audience follows Beth as she matures, both as a person and at chess.
Glitch is an enemies to friends and a kind of boring historical fiction novel by Laura Martin. This book is about two enemies, Elliot and Regan. They both live at a glitching academy on a remote island in the USA. The glitch academy produces glitchers who go back into time to keep history on its right tracks. Elliot and Regan are put into a different part of the academy and are taught how to glitch in unexpected times and how to capture the butterfly or the person trying to change history.
Edith Warton's narration of high society life during the Golden Age of Old New York is filled with drama, forbidden romance, and betrayal. Newland Archer is wealthy, popular, and he's about to marry New York's finest young woman, May Welland; everything changes when May's cousin, Ellen Olenska, returns to New York. Archer is pulled between his duty to May and his desire for Ellen. Warton's plotlines were exciting, and her writing was palpable. I despised Archer after the first couple of chapters, but Warton's story kept me intrigued and even made me root for Archer at times.
Amir and Hassan have spent their entire lives together. They grew up together and have always seemed to have a special connection. One thing separates them though. Their race and social classes have always created some issues between them. After a traumatizing event in Hassan’s life, Amir is left with immense guilt. Throughout Amir’s life he must come to terms with his guilt and do what he can to repay Hassan for his loyalty.
Peter Van Pels is a boy who goes into hiding as the Nazis take over Germany. With the help of three people, Peter and his family, along with another family, hide in what is called “The Secret Annex.” The Van Pels family hid with the Frank family. While they are in hiding, Peter tries to be happy. He tries to forget what is happening, but things become worse after they are found.
One year has passed since the destruction of These Violent Delights, and Shanghai is on the brink of upheaval. Whispers of civil war hang in a mist over the streets, and the Scarlet Gang is stretched thin between the leadership of Juliette and her ruthless cousin Tyler, who threatens to usurp her.
1920s Shanghai is not a place for the fainthearted. The city is split down the middle between two gangs, the Scarlet Gang and the White Flowers, and the streets are perpetually stained crimson with blood. 18-year-old Juliette Cai, the heir of the Scarlet Gang and a former American flapper, holds a personal grudge against the White Flowers — after all, its heir gifted her with a love laced with betrayal. But there’s much more to worry about besides the blood feud — foreigners overstepping their bounds, an impending civil war, and something more sinister in the shadows.
Set in the 1950’s, Josie lives in New Orleans above a bookshop. What sets her apart from regular girls is that her mother works as a prostitute, and Josie cleans the house her mother works from. However, this is not the life that Josie wants for herself. She wishes to go to college and have a happier future than she would if she stayed in New Orleans. Unfortunately, this all changes when a wealthy man is murdered and Josie’s mother is involved with the case.
Told through the point of view of Death, we follow a young German girl named Liesel. She is living in the midst of World War II in Germany, the heart of the Nazi regime. After stealing her very first book, she finds comfort in the words and develops a passion for reading and learning. However, soon her life is put into danger when her parents decide to hide a Jew, the once thought of enemy.
The story of the men of the Alpha Company during the Vietnam War. During this story, we learn the stories of these men, and their lives before, during, and after the war. It is not told through one specific person, but instead takes turns in telling the stories of each member through their perspectives, or their fellow soldiers’.
