A Star for Mrs. Blake,
by
April Smith

(historical fiction)

 Published September 23, 2014
at Penguin Random House

352 pages

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Yes, I’m the same April Smith
who writes the FBI Special Agent Ana Grey Mystery/Thriller,
but I’ve taken a new direction into suspenseful historical fiction.
A STAR FOR MRS. BLAKE, set in the 1930s,
tells the untold true story of the Gold Star Mothers pilgrimages to Europe
to visit the graves of their loved ones killed during WWI.

My latest novel, HOME SWEET HOME, takes place in 1950s South Dakota,
where a family becomes the victim of a witch hunt during the McCarthy era.

Where do I get such wide-ranging ideas?
I grew up in the Bronx, New York, where the Kingsbridge Road Branch public library
was the center of my universe.
There it was safe and warm — the library was a tiny space above a dry cleaners —
and I was free to explore everything from science fiction to James Bond.
I moved to Los Angeles to write and produce TV shows
— most recently the miniseries, Mrs. America, starring Cate Blanchett as Phyllis Schlafly,
but I am still, firmly and forever, happy in the world of books.

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You can also contact her here
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Café Unfiltered,
by
Jean-Philippe Blondel

(literary fiction)

 Published July 11, 2023
at New Vessel Press

232 pages

***

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Bookshop
New Vessel Press
Amazon

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At a classic café in the French provinces, anonymity, chance encounters, and traumatic pasts collide against the muted background of global instability.

Jean-Philippe Blondel, author of the bestselling The 6:41 to Paris, presents a moving fresco of intertwined destinies portrayed with humor, insight, and tenderness.
In the span of twenty-four hours, a medley of characters retrace the fading patterns of their lives after a long disruption from Covid. A mother and son realize their vast differences, a man takes tea with a childhood friend he had once covertly fallen for, and a woman crosses paths with the ex who abandoned her in Australia.
Amidst it all, the café swirls like a kaleidoscope, bringing together customers, waiters, and owners past and present.

Within its walls and on its terrace, they examine the threads of their existence, laying bare their inner selves, their failed dreams, and their hopes for the uncertain future that awaits us all.

Jean-Philippe Blondel
was born in 1964 in Troyes, France,
where he lives as an author and English teacher.
His novel The 6:41 to Paris
has been acclaimed in both the United States and Europe.

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Review copies are currently available
on Edelweiss Plus

Marie Antoinette’s World:
Intrigue, Infidelity, and Adultery in Versailles,
by
Will Bashor

(historical nonfiction)

 Published July 30, 2020
at Rowman & Littlefield

320 pages

***

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Will Bashor
is the author of the award-winning
Marie Antoinette’s Head: The Royal Hairdresser, the Queen, and the Revolution and
Marie Antoinette’s Darkest Days: Prisoner No. 280 in the Conciergerie.
He holds a doctorate in international studies
from the American Graduate School in Paris
and is professor of global issue at Franklin University.
He lives in Barcelona, Spain.

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or connect with him on Facebook  and Twitter

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