Tags
1800s, 19th Century, 2014, Literature, Novel, Pre-Reads, Steampunk, Victorian

Young Girl Reading by Otto Scholderer, 1883
The Pre-Reads are here! As the last Wednesday of the month, it is time to reveal 16 new and up-coming titles that are 19th century in nature. The books may be historical fiction, biographies, non-fiction, or even steampunk. All titles below are newly published or not yet published. Consequently, I have not read any of the titles listed below so I cannot recommend any particular one. Likewise, I am not paid to endorse any of these titles. The fiction titles have been reviewed by Library Journal, Kirkus Review, Publisher’s Weekly and the synopsizes are taken directly from the Baker and Taylor website. If the summary is pithy, I have copied from Amazon. If you have no idea what I just said, it is quite okay. The bottom line is . . . books! Lots of them! Set during our favorite time period! Take a gander below and let me know which one(s) you plan on pestering your local librarian to purchase.
Fiction
The Vintner’s Daughter by Kristen Harnisch
Loire Valley, 1895. When seventeen-year-old Sara Thibault’s father is killed in a mudslide, her mother sells their vineyard to a rival family whose eldest son marries Sara’s sister, Lydia. But a violent tragedy compels Sara and her sister to flee to New York, forcing Sara to put aside her dream to follow in her father’s footsteps as a master winemaker. Meanwhile, Philippe Lemieux has arrived in California with the ambition of owning the largest vineyard in Napa by 1900. When he receives word of his brother’s death in France, he resolves to bring the killer to justice. Sara has travelled to California in hopes of making her own way in the winemaking world. When she encounters Philippe in a Napa vineyard, they are instantly drawn to one another, but Sara knows he is the one man who could return her family’s vineyard to her, or send her straight to the guillotine.