Accidents of Providence by Stacia Brown.  UK release February 14, 2012. 

A new voice in historical fiction rescues a woman wronged by her time and forgotten by history, whose love affair leads to her trial for murder.

It is 1649. King Charles has been beheaded for treason. Amid civil war, Cromwell’s army is running the country. The Levellers, a small faction of agitators, are calling for rights to the people. And a new law targeting unwed mothers and lewd women presumes anyone who conceals the death of her illegitimate child is guilty of murder.

Rachel Lockyer, unmarried glove maker, and Leveller William Walwyn are locked in a child is found buried in the woods, Rachel is arrested. So comes an investigation, public trial, and unforgettable characters: gouty investigator Thomas Bartwain, fiery Elizabeth Lillburne and her revolution-chasing husband, Huguenot glover Mary Du Gard, and others. Spinning within are Rachel and William, their remarkable love story, and the miracles that come to even the commonest lives.

 

Daphne, have mercy!!!!

Is my evil plan to win The Biggest Loser Challenge working??

I think we doth protest to much!

At least this book doesn't come out until after the Biggest Loser contest is over for 2011.

 This one had an original release date later this year but it's been bumped back to March 2012:

The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak.  UK release March 27, 2012.

Behind every great ruler lies a betrayal. Eva Stachniak's novel sweeps readers into the passionate, intimate, and treacherous world of Catherine the Great, revealing Russia's greatest monarch from her earliest days in court, where the most valuable currency was the secrets of nobility and the most dangerous weapon to wield was ambition.

Two young women, caught in the landscape of shifting allegiances, navigate the treacherous waters of palace intrigue. Barbara, the narrator, is a servant who will become one of Russia's most cunning royal spies. Sophie is a naive German duchess who will become Catherine the Great. For readers of superb historical fiction, Eva Stachniak captures in glorious detail the opulence of royalty and the perilous loyalties of the Russian court.

 

I have a quick question for you guys:

I post about a lot of books before the cover is available.  Once I get the cover, would you rather I reposted the whole thing or just edited the original with the cover?

New post I think Daphne. 

Prophecy:  Death of an Empire by M.K. Hume.  UK release January 5, 2012. 
 
Merlin's epic quest continues as he journeys to Constantinople in search of his father.

Myrddion Emrys of Segontium is the product of a brutal rape, but when King Vortigern hints at his father's identity, Myrddion embarks on a journey across France and Italy to Constantinople. It is a voyage that is to turn the young healer into a man of great renown. Serving under General Flavius Aetius at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, Myrddion saves the lives of thousands of warriors and, on his arrival in Rome, he heals many more, including Cleoxenes, Envoy to Emperor Theodosius of the East, on his way to a delegation with Attila the Hun. But a deadlier conflict between Emperor Valentinian of the West and Senator Petronius Maximus is still to come and Myrddion must use all his strength to carry out his work in a world that is evil.

 

Perkin Warbeck is an ordinary young man in fifteenth-century Tournai. The son of a port official, he loves nothing more than swimming, singing and fishing with his father. But Perkin has a secret. His real name is Richard, and he is the rightful Prince of England.

Thought to have been murdered with his brother, Edward, in the Tower of London, he was covertly taken to the continent and placed with an adoptive family under an assumed identity. But when his enemies seek him out he must flee, and embarks on a new life of derring-do, sailing the high seas with the era’s greatest adventurers. But Richard cannot avoid his fate forever. He knows he must return to England, to assume the throne that is his birthright. But what for Richard is a homecoming, for the new king, Henry Tudor, is nothing less than an invasion, and ‘Perkin’ slowly comes to learn that the price of his goal is the blood of innocent men.

Based on painstaking research, and peopled by some of the most extraordinary characters of an extraordinary period, Perkin’s tale is a vivid, authentic, and hugely entertaining historical adventure.

Anne of Hollywood by Carol Wolper.  US release January 24, 2012.


The Other Boleyn Girl meets Candace Bushnell’s Trading Up as Carol Wolper, author of the bestselling novel The Cigarette Girl, re-tells the story of Anne Boleyn set in contemporary Los Angeles

Spartacus: the Gladiator by Ben Kane.  UK release February 9, 2012.


The first of two epic novels which tell the story of one of the most charismatic heroes history has ever known - Spartacus, the gladiator slave who took on and nearly defeated the might of Rome, during the years 73-71 BC.

In historical terms we know very little about Spartacus the man - partly because most contemporary Roman historians were keen to obliterate his memory and prevent him from attaining mythic status. This of course is grist to the novelist's mill. Ben Kane's brilliant novel begins in the Thracian village to which Spartacus has returned, after escaping from life as an auxiliary in the Roman army. But here he quickly falls foul of his overlord, the Thracian king, who has set his heart on Dionysian priestess, Ariadne - later to become wife of Spartacus. 

Betrayed again to the Romans by his jealous king, Spartacus - and with him Ariadne - are taken in captivity to the school of gladiators at Capua. it is here - against the unbelievable brutality of gladiatorial life - that Spartacus and Crixus the Gaul plan the audacious overthrow of their Roman masters, escaping to Vesuvius, where they recruit and train a huge slave army - an army which will keep the might of Rome at bay for two years and create one of the most extraordinary legends in history. SPARTACUS; THE GLADIATOR takes the story up to the moment when the slave army has inflicted its first great defeat on Rome.

The Flower Reader by Elizabeth Loupas.  US and UK release April 3, 2012.


In the sweeping new novel from the author of The Second Duchess, dangerous secrets lead a passionate young woman into a maze of murder and conspiracy as Mary, Queen of Scots, comes home to reign in a treacherously divided Scotland…. 

With her dying breath, Mary of Guise entrusts a silver casket to Rinette Leslie of Granmuir, who possesses the ancient gift of floromancy. Inside the casket, and meant only for the young Mary, Queen of Scots, are papers the old queen has painstakingly collected—the darkest secrets of every Scottish lord and explosive private prophecies prepared by Nostradamus. Rinette risks her life to keep the casket safe, but she makes a fatal mistake: she shows it to her beloved young husband. On the very day the young queen comes home, Rinette’s husband is brutally assassinated. 

Devastated, Rinette demands justice from the queen before she will surrender the casket. Amid glittering masques and opulent weddings, courtly intrigues and Highland rebellions, the queen’s agents and Rinette herself search for the shadowy assassin. They are surrounded by ruthless men from all over Europe who will do anything to force Rinette to give up the casket—threatening her life, stripping her of her beloved castle by the sea, forcing her to marry a man she hates, and driving her from the man she has reluctantly grown to love. In the end, the flowers are all she can trust—and only the flowers will lead her safely home to Granmuir.

The King's Agent by Donna Russo Morin.  US and UK release February 28, 2012.


The King’s Agent is based loosely on the life of Battista della Palla-a patriotic plunderer, a religious rogue, of the early 16th century. The Lady Aurelia is the cloistered ward of the Marquess of Mantua, a woman with a profound duty, and a longing for adventure. In search of a relic intended for the King of France, Battista and Aurelia cross the breathtaking landscape of Renaissance Italy. Clues hide in great works of art, political forces collide, secret societies and enemies abound, and danger waits in every challenge. It is an adventurous romp with undercurrents of the supernatural, powers that could change the balance of supremacy throughout Europe.

The Sister Queens by Sophe Perinot.  US and UK release March 6, 2012.

Raised together at the 13th Century court of their father, Raymond Berenger, Count of Provence, Marguerite and Eleanor are separated by royal marriages—but never truly parted.


Patient, perfect, reticent, and used to being first, Marguerite becomes Queen of France. Her husband, Louis IX, is considered the greatest monarch of his age. But he is also a religious zealot who denies himself all pleasure—including the love and companionship his wife so desperately craves. Can Marguerite find enough of her sister’s boldness to grasp her chance for happiness in the guise of forbidden love?

Passionate, strong-willed, and stubborn, Eleanor becomes Queen of England. Her husband, Henry III, is neither as young nor as dashing as Marguerite’s. But she quickly discovers he is a very good man…and a very bad king. His failures are bitter disappointments for Eleanor, who has worked to best her elder sister since childhood. Can Eleanor stop competing with her sister and value what she has, or will she let it slip away?

 The Garden Intrigue by Lauren Willig.  US and UK release February 16, 2012.

As Napoleon pursues his plans for the invasion of England, English operative Augustus Whittlesby gets wind of a top secret device, to be demonstrated over the course of a house party at Malmaison. The catch? The only way in is to join forces with that annoying American socialite, Emma Morris Delagardie, who has been commissioned to write a masque for the weekend’s entertainment. Even so, it should leave plenty of alone time with Augustus’ colleague (and goddess), Jane Wooliston, who has been tapped to play the heroine. Or so Augustus tells himself. In this complicated masque within a masque, nothing seems to go quite as scripted… especially Emma.


 

 The Tudors:  History of a Dynasty by David Loades.  Non-fiction.  UK release March 8, 2012.

This title offers a new and comprehensive overview of the complete Tudor dynasty taking in the most recent scholarship. David Loades provides a masterful overview of this formative period of British history. Exploring the reign of each monarch within the framework of the dynasty, he unpacks the key questions surrounding the monarchy; the relationship between church and the state, development of government, war and foreign policy, the question of Ireland and the issue of succession in Tudor politics. Loades considers the recent scholarship on the dynasty as a whole, and Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and Mary Tudor in particular and considers how recent revisionist history asks new questions of their political and personal lives. This places our understanding of the dynasty as a whole in a new light. 

So...I'm back from Paris/London and am partially through the first phase of "the move" - in Charlotte, NC where hubby's new job is sitting in hotel room and so have had lots of time to look for upcoming books.

Get ready to hate me - seriously.

On the continent bloody religious wars rage, but England stands apart, her surrounding seas keeping her safe from the land armies of her would-be enemies. Only at sea do the English show their teeth. Sea captains and adventurers, hungry for the spoils of trade from the Spanish Main, regularly attack the gold-laden galleons of Catholic Spain.  They are terriers nipping at the feet of war-horses but their victories disrupt the treasury of Spain, England’s greatest threat, and Elizabeth’s refusal to rein in her sea-captains further antagonises Philip II.

Thomas Varian is a captain in Drake’s formidable navy, rising quickly through the ranks. But he guards a secret – one for which he would pay with his life if discovered: he is a Catholic. He is about to find his conflicting loyalty to his religion, to his Queen, and to his country tested under the most formidable of circumstances: facing the mighty Armada. Unknown to Varian, he will also be facing his long-estranged father, who is fighting on the side of the Spanish enemy…

 

 A Man in Uniform by Kate Taylor.  US and UK release January 17, 2012. (This was released early this year in hardback, but I hadn't heard of it before so thought I would include it.)

At the height of the Belle Epoque, François Dubon leads a well-ordered life in the bourgeois quarters of Paris’ eighth arrondissement. When not busy with his prosperous legal practice, he enjoys both a contented marriage to his aristocratic wife, Geneviève, and satisfying afternoon encounters with his mistress, Madeleine. He is never late for those five o’clock appointments nor for family dinner at seven—until a mysterious widow comes to his office with an unusual request.


The lady insists that only Dubon can save her innocent friend, an Army captain named Dreyfus who was convicted of spying and exiled to Devil’s Island two years earlier. Not wishing to disappoint the alluring widow, the gallant Dubon makes some perfunctory inquiries. But when he discovers the existence of a secret military file withheld from the defense during the trial, he embarks on an obsessive pursuit of justice that upends his complacent life.

Donning a borrowed military uniform, Dubon goes undercover into the murky world of counterespionage, where his erratic hours alarm his forbidding wife and make his mistress increasingly aloof. As the layers of deceit and double crosses mount, Dubon’s quixotic quest leads him into the heart of a dark conspiracy—one that endangers his own life and threatens to throw France herself into turmoil.

Based on the infamous Dreyfus Affair and enriched with a generous dose of classic noir, A Man in Uniform is a gripping and seductive mystery set against the gilded years of late nineteenth-century Paris.

 

 Alix and Nicky by Virginia Rounding.  Non-fiction.  US and UK release January 17, 2012.

For the first time since Robert Massie’s classic Nicholas and Alexandra, comes a penetrating and deeply personal study of the lives of the last Russian Tsar and Tsarina that gives profound psychological insight into their marriage and how it shaped the events that engulfed them

Few characters in history are as fascinating or controversial as Nicholas and Alexandra. From their passionate love to their horrifying execution, they are alternately viewed as innocent victims of Bolshevik assassins or blamed for causing the Revolution themselves.

Much has already been written about their lives. But acting as a curator of the many conflicting histories, acclaimed author Virginia Rounding offers a different kind of biography, with an intimate look that probes the souls of these unforgettable figures, and tells the story of their passion and its consequences for Russia. Through newly revealed letters and diaries, Rounding explores the Empress’s ill health, examines the enigmatic triangular relationship between Nicky, Alix and her confidante Ania Vyrubova, and looks anew at the reasons behind their reliance on the infamous Rasputin. Her conclusions are surprising. With eloquence and compassion, Rounding makes these characters come alive, presenting them in all their complexity and ardor, guiding the reader into their vanished world.

 

 Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen.  Young Adult.  US and UK release February 14, 2012.
 

Many readers know the tale of Robin Hood, but they will be swept away by this new version full of action, secrets, and romance. Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. Helping the people of Nottingham outwit the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham could cost Scarlet her life as Gisbourne closes in. It’s only her fierce loyalty to Robin—whose quick smiles and sharp temper have the rare power to unsettle her—that keeps Scarlet going and makes this fight worth dying for.

 Sacrilege by S.J. Parris.  UK release February 21, 2012.

London, summer of 1584: Radical philosopher, ex-monk, and spy Giordano Bruno suspects he is being followed by an old enemy. He is shocked to discover that his pursuer is in fact Sophia Underhill, a young woman with whom he was once in love. When Bruno learns that Sophia has been accused of murdering her husband, a prominent magistrate in Canterbury, he agrees to do anything he can to help clear her name.


In the city that was once England's greatest center of pilgrimage, Bruno begins to uncover unsuspected secrets that point to the dead man being part of a larger and more dangerous plot in the making. He must turn his detective's eye on history—on Saint Thomas Becket, the twelfth-century archbishop murdered in Canterbury Cathedral, and on the legend surrounding the disappearance of his body—in order to solve the crime.

As Bruno's feelings for Sophia grow more intense, so does his fear that another murder is about to take place—perhaps his own. But more than Bruno's life is at stake in this vividly rendered, impeccably researched, and addictively page-turning whodunit—the stability of the kingdom hangs in the balance as Bruno hunts down a brutal murderer in the shadows of England's most ancient cathedral.

 

 The Plantagenets by Dan Jones.  Non-fiction.  UK release March 1, 2012.

A rich, sprawling cast of characters, the Plantagenets were both gifted and cursed by an inherited trait that made some brilliant rulers and statesmen, and others cowards, bullies and tyrants. They fought holy Crusades and bitter feuds with Rome. At times their subjects enjoyed national glory and vast wealth; at others they suffered plagues, famines and ignominious defeat at the hands of their enemies. The Plantagenets were by turns beautiful and cruel, judicious and insanely paranoid, brilliant and a tragically flawed family.


This brilliant new book explores the lives of eight generations of England’s kings and queens in a historical epic of the sort that has not been written of British history for nearly a century. Here are such fascinating characters as

Count Goeffrey V of Anjou, the first Plantagenet; Richard the Lionheart and his less famous older brother Henry; Edward the Black Prince; and the stunning and influential princess Joan of Kent. In a book of dazzling scope and ambition, Dan Jones paints a psychological family portrait of the royal house of Plantagenet, creating a mesmerising new history of Britain before the Tudors.