HISTORICAL FICTION

A BEND IN THE STARS by Rachel Barenbaum With Russia on the brink of war in 1914, two ambitious and headstrong siblings — one, a young physicist and the other, a doctor fending off suspicions of witchcraft — race to solve one of the world’s great scientific mysteries.

COURTING MR. LINCOLN by Louis Bayard Was Abraham Lincoln gay? In his new novel, Louis Bayard skillfully explores the idea that the president was involved in a subtle love triangle with his wife, Mary Todd, and his best friend and onetime roommate, Joshua Speed. And while Lincoln woos Todd, the ambiguous tête-à-têtes between Lincoln and Speed may make you wonder who really was courting whom.

ONLY WOMAN IN THE ROOM by Marie Benedict Based on the life of Austrian-born film actress Hedy Lamarr ( Algiers, Sampson and Delilah) who supported the Allies in the Second World War by helping to invent an anti-jamming device for torpedoes, Benedict’s book tells the story of a Jewish woman who flees the Nazis and her wealthy munitions manufacturer husband, and makes her way to London where she meets Metro-GoldwynMayer studio head Louis B. Mayer. The rest is history.

A BRIGHTNESS LONG AGO by Guy Gavriel Kay Go back to the early days of Renaissance Italy in this story of destiny, love and ambition from the international bestselling author of Children of Earth and Sky and recipient of the Order of Canada (2014). Told in the first person, a man recalls the rollicking adventures of his youth and, as ever, how fate can shape our lives in the most incredible and unexpected ways.

THE HUNTRESS by Kate Quinn They were called the Night Witches – a Russian, all-female bomber squadron that ran thousands of missions during the Second World War. Now, the best-selling author of The Alice Network brings us the story of those women, who join forces with a British journalist in the seach for a Nazi murderess known as the Huntress. — CRC