The period between the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th was a time of vast changes and great events. The stories we’ll look at this month celebrate this diversity of character and place.
We begin at the very beginning of the 1900s with ÉMILIENNE by Pamela Binnings Ewen, an historical novel featuring one of the brightest lights of the Belle Époque, Émilienne D’Alencon. Born in poverty in Montmartre, then a village outside Paris, Émilienne worked her way up to become one of the celebrated dancers at the Folies Bergère. Acclaimed as the most beautiful woman in Europe, acquainted with every gentleman in Society, she was mistress to kings, princes and millionaires, feted and admired at a time when elegant courtesans set the standard for beauty and fashion. We read about these luminaries in her story, including a young Coco Chanel, who chooses a different path out of poverty. But as Émilienne learns to her sorrow, youth and fame are fleeting. The expensive jewels and reckless gambling she becomes accustomed to during at the height of her popularity doom her to almost inescapable debt once lucrative roles and rich lovers move on. Ewen gives us a brilliant description of the Paris of dance halls and demimondaines, a time and a type of character now found only in history.
One of the most famous and tragic events of the early 20th century is featured in SHELTERING ANGEL by Louella Bryant. Working class Scotsman Andrew Cunningham serves as steward to wealthy travelers on the luxurious cruise ships of the early 20th century. He is surprised out of his unspoken disdain for some of these arrogant, entitled travelers when he encounters Florence and Bradley Cumings, first class passengers for whom he works during the crossing of the Titanic. Andrew discovers an ancestral connection with the approachable Cumings couple and a tentative friendship develops. Then, on the tragic night the Titanic goes down, while desperately scanning the icy water from her lifeboat, Florence cannot find her husband – but she spots Andrew. In the wake of the tragedy, a lifelong commitment binds the two families together. The author, whose husband is descended from a Titanic survivor, uses her meticulous research to give us a compelling picture of another vanished place and time.
We are transported to another place of trauma and tragedy in THE REVOLUTION OF MARINA M. by Jane Fitch. As a privileged daughter of wealthy bourgeoisie in St. Petersburg, sixteen-year-old Marina Makarova cannot imagine the drastic changes about to sweep away her world as 1917 Bolshevik Revolution erupts in Russia. A fervent advocate of the workers’ cause, she joins the movement, turning her back on the world in which she was raised and falling in love with a radical young poet. But betrayal waits on every side in this world where alliances shift almost daily. Marina will learn that not everyone is what they seem and trust can be betrayed as the bonds between family, friends and heritage are stretched to the breaking point. Fetch pens a vivid portrait of a young woman coming of age amid one of history’s most tumultuous periods.
We conclude in another time of revolution half a world away with A DANGEROUS WOMAN by Josie Wilson. When her family offers her no protection from her abusive fiancé, a wounded Katherine O’Brien flees across the Mexican border from El Paso to Juárez, where doctor’s widow Elena Gonzalez gives her shelter. Worried about keeping Katherine safe from the turmoil of the ongoing Mexican Revolution, Elena encourages Kate to marry Rodolfo Fierro, one of revolutionary leader Pancho Villa’s senior officers. Independent Kate struggles to adapt to a different culture and a husband who expects a traditional wife. When conflict between different revolutionary groups turns against Villa’s leadership, Kate must set out to find a new home for her extended family without help from her absent husband…and with her ex-fiancé trying to track her down. Wilson gives us a compelling picture of a courageous woman, life in early 20th century Mexico and a battle of enormous impact that was taking place at the same time as World War I, while most of America’s attention was fixed on the Western Front.
Prepare to meet a varied range of characters, from French courtesans to Scottish stewards to Russian and Mexican revolutionaries while immersing yourself in the details with which our talented authors bring these very different worlds to vivid life!
About Julia Justiss
Real, intense, passionate historical romance
Award-winning romance author Julia Justiss, who has written more than thirty historical novels and novellas set in the English Regency and the American West, just completed her first contemporary series set in the fictional Hill Country town of Whiskey River, Texas.
A voracious reader who began jotting down plot ideas for Nancy Drew novels in her third grade spiral, Julia has published poetry and worked as a business journalist.
She and her husband live in East Texas, where she continues to craft the stories she loves. Check her website for details about her books, chat with her on social media, and follow her on Bookbub and Amazon to receive notices about her latest releases.
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