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From Here To There: How My Last Book Inspired My Next Book
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From Here To There: How My Last Book Inspired My Next Book

Author Alina Adams doesn’t always write to her heart, she writes to her readers’ hearts. That’s why, after receiving a positive reception from her last historical novel, The Nesting Dolls, she wrote another historical novel, My Mother’s Secret.

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Samokritika: An audio excerpt from My Mother’s Secret by Alina Adams
Colin Mustful Colin Mustful

Samokritika: An audio excerpt from My Mother’s Secret by Alina Adams

In this audio excerpt, Regina, who recently fled Joseph Stalin's Great Purge for the Jewish Autonomous State of Birbidzhan, faces samokritika, a form of self-criticism in Marxist-Leninist ideology used to publicly interrogate and expose those with counter-revolutionary ideas. In this scene Regina struggles between her desire to show loyalty to the Communist ideals and her affection for Aaron, a man who chooses reason over ideals.

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Little Facts Paint a Big Picture
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Little Facts Paint a Big Picture

Alina Adams, author of My Mother’s Secret, tells us that it’s easy to throw facts around, but but much harder to put those facts into context. “Show not tell” is the maxim every writer lives and dies by, she says. Rather than merely telling about what life was like in the USSR, Alina shows readers. And, in order to do that, she needed to include as many small details as possible in order to form a larger picture.

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Emotional Truths, Historical Facts: My Mother’s Secret is not a WWII novel, it’s more
Colin Mustful Colin Mustful

Emotional Truths, Historical Facts: My Mother’s Secret is not a WWII novel, it’s more

All good historical fiction immerses the reader into the world of its characters while sharing important and relevant historical details. My Mother’s Secret by Alina Adams, does this masterfully by focussing on the lives and struggles of its primary characters, Regina and Aaron, while still exposing the reader to the real life historical facts of WWII. Learn more about some of those historical facts in this blog post.

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My Immigrant Experience: San Francisco, CA 1980s
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My Immigrant Experience: San Francisco, CA 1980s

Growing up as a Soviet-Jew in San Francisco, author Alina Adams did not see herself represented in the media. In her new novel, My Mother’s Secret, Alina wanted to see someone a little more like her. That’s why, her lead character, Lena, is perennially stuck between two worlds. Check out the blog post to learn more!

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Meet the Intern: Tamera Coston
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Meet the Intern: Tamera Coston

We’ve got a new intern! Her name is Tamera and she is a lifeguard who also loves reading, writing, and storytelling. Check out the blog to learn more about her!

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A New Gastonia Novel - Prosperity Mill by Mary Anna Barbey
Colin Mustful Colin Mustful

A New Gastonia Novel - Prosperity Mill by Mary Anna Barbey

In the early 1930s, six strike novels were written in quick succession, each one acting as a symbol of "the strength, courage, and tenacity" of workers in America. Known as the Gastonia novels, these stories were written in response to one of the most notable strikes in American history: The Loray Mill Strike in Gastonia, North Carolina.

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Cover Reveal! A Noble Cunning by Patricia Bernstein
Colin Mustful Colin Mustful

Cover Reveal! A Noble Cunning by Patricia Bernstein

We have a new title! A Noble Cunning: The Countess and the Tower is based on the true story of one woman’s tremendous courage and incomparable wit in trying to rescue her husband from the Tower of London the night before he is to be executed. Check out the amazing cover.

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5 Famous Literary Quotes Explained: “To be, or not to be, that is the question.”
Bex Roden Bex Roden

5 Famous Literary Quotes Explained: “To be, or not to be, that is the question.”

Authored by volunteer contributor Bex Roden, History Through Fiction is proud to release a weekly blog series titled 5 Famous Literary Quotes Explained. Each post, released Wednesdays during the month of August, will examine and explain a famous literary quote you’ve probably heard, but aren’t certain of its origin or meaning. We begin the series with the quote, “To be, or not to be, that is the question.”

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