19th century – Page 3 – Cannonball Read 17

“I am not an angel, and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself” Charlotte Bronte

Bronte by Manuela Santoni

June 2, 2021 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

I was given a readers copy of this graphic novel. I was curious about it due to the interesting cover, and I like biographies told in graphic novels. And even if it was going to be a story/memoir like book, and not a “true” biography, I still thought it was going to be informative. I finally picked it up because I was looking for something easier to get into. I needed a break from the mess of novels that I had found myself tangled in […]

Women in science, 19th century edition

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

May 23, 2021 by KimMiE" 2 Comments

I’m on a roll with splendid historical fiction featuring strong female characters. What I didn’t know until I was about half-way through this novel is that Tracy Chevalier’s Remarkable Creatures is based on real women in science about whom I’d never heard. I suppose I should say “real women on the outskirts of science” because, as females, they were barred from having a meaningful place in scientific discussions in 19th century England. Mary Anning, now recognized as the finder of the first known ichthyosaur skeleton […]

Ye Olde Childrearing

Ungovernable: The Victorian Parent's Guide to Raising Flawless Children by Therese O'Neill

April 13, 2021 by Ale 3 Comments

I was a huge fan of O’Neill’s first book, Unmentionable, so when a friend sent along the link for her newest publication, I immediately ordered it from the library. Similar to Unmentionable, O’Neill tackles the crazy of the Victorian era with wit, sarcasm, and a dose of brutal honesty that both criticizes the dark parts of Victorian parenting culture while also contextualizing it in a way that makes it understandable, if not condonable. Where Unmentionable focused on sex, love, and marriage for young women, Ungovernable tackles the next stage […]

In the 19th Century she was first

What Miss Mitchell Saw by Hayley Barrett

March 30, 2021 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

A simple, but not simplistic look at Maria Mitchell and all the amazing things she saw comes to life in What Miss Mitchell Saw. Hayley Barret created a biography that reads as fiction about the first professional female astronomer. Yet, it is not just about what she saw (as what was out there had already been seen by others in the past) but the one very important find in the sky that made her world famous and respected by her peers and even a King. […]

lovely, stinking, brutal, sunburned, magical, and filthy.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

March 28, 2021 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Jacob de Zoet is a young man of meager means. He has hitched his hopes to the Dust East India Company- he’ll spend several trading seasons on Dejima- about as far away from home and his fiancée as he can physically be. What is Dejima? Why, I’m glad you asked! The year is 1799, and Japan is very strict in regards to foreign interference and influence. Following disasters interactions with the Spanish and Portuguese decades earlier, Japan is a closed empire. Dejima, a man-made island […]

The Voices of the Ignored

The Colors of Courage: Gettysburg's Forgotten History, Immigrants, women, & African Americans in the Civil War's Defining Battle by Margaret S. Creighton

January 19, 2021 by Ale 2 Comments

Until I joined a reenactment group about 6 years ago, I’d never had any interest in the Civil War since its most popular focus is white men shooting each other. Now, this isn’t to say that the experiences of the white, male soldiers consumed by the jaws of war aren’t important, it just means I don’t particularly care what Gen. So-&-So did at noon on July 2nd, 1863. And unfortunately, at least at Gettysburg, ninety-nine percent of the focus is what white men did in […]

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