Search Results: Historical Fiction from Encanto Books

Synopsis: Birds Without Wings is a novel by Louis de Bernières, written in 2004. Narrated by various characters, it tells the tragic love story of Philothei and Ibrahim. It also chronicles the rise of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the 'Father of the Turkish Nation'. The overarching theme of the story covers the impact of religious intolerance, over-zealous nationalism, and the war that often results. The characters are unwittingly caught up in historical tides outside of their control. The book's title is taken from a saying by one of the characters, Iskander the Potter, "Man is a bird without wings, and a bird is a man without sorrows."

Comments: Two small bumps on top of boards. Tight copy. Book has slight lean.
Synopsis: In 1949, Americans were poised on the edge of a golden age of seeming prosperity and peace. Everyone had a job, the middle class was expanding, television brought wonders into living rooms, and every night at 5 o'clock, cocktails tinkled in their glasses. But Robert Clark uncovers the reality behind the illusion, as the MacEwan family, in the depth of winter, realizes how fragile that prosperity and the ties that hold family together are, acknowledging the moral ambiguities of American culture. First-time novelist Robert Clark has a Cheeveresque penchant for dialogue and detail, rendering this family's dissolution with care.

Synopsis: English magicians were once the wonder of the known world, with fairy servants at their beck and call; they could command winds, mountains, and woods. But by the early 1800s they have long since lost the ability to perform magic. They can only write long, dull papers about it, while fairy servants are nothing but a fading memory.
But at Hurtfew Abbey in Yorkshire, the rich, reclusive Mr. Norrell has assembled a wonderful library of lost and forgotten books from England's magical past and regained some of the powers of England's magicians. He goes to London and raises a beautiful young woman from the dead. Soon he is lending his help to the government in the war against Napoleon Bonaparte, creating ghostly fleets of rain-ships to confuse and alarm the French.
All goes well until a rival magician appears. Jonathan Strange is handsome, charming, and talkative-the very opposite of Mr. Norrell. Strange thinks nothing of enduring the rigors of campaigning with Wellington's army and doing magic on… Read More

Comments: SIGNED in blue ink by JOHN HERSEY on third free endpaper (bound in, not tipped in); tissue guard laid in. 1982 Franklin Library Limited Edition leather bound collector's edition. Rich deep green hand-cut full leather boards with ornate gilt design. Hubbed spine. All edges gilt. Lovely green silk moire endpapers, matching bound-in ribbon. Textblock clean, tight, square, black and white illustrations by Luba Krugman Gurdus. No d-j issued.
Synopsis: Riveting & compelling, The Wall tells the inspiring story of forty men & women who escape the dehumanizing horror of the Warsaw ghetto. John Hersey's novel documents the Warsaw ghetto both as an emblem of Nazi persecution & as a personal confrontation with torture, starvation, humiliation & cruelty–a gripping, visceral story, impossible to put down.