There are many pounds of entertaining reading on the 1947 bestseller list for 21st century readers. Novel buyers that year got plenty for their money. My favorite is the weighty novel of the Confederacy, House Divided by Ben Ames Williams.
Archive for the ‘1947 Bestselling Novels’ Category
My 1947 top picks
Posted in 1947 Bestselling Novels, Asides, My Top Pics on October 13, 2007 | Comments Off
Prince of Foxes Will Keep You Intrigued
Posted in 1947 Bestselling Novels, Adventure, Historical, My Top Pics, tagged Cesare Borgia, Italian city states, Italy, Renaissance on October 10, 2007 | Comments Off
Prince of Foxes is historical fiction at its swashbuckling best. Samuel Shellabarger sets his tale of a blacksmith’s son who picks up the armor and identify of a fallen cavalier in 1400s Italy when the Borgias were top dogs in the city states.
East Side, West Side Is Too Good for Comfort
Posted in 1947 Bestselling Novels, My Top Pics, Psychological novel, tagged divorce, marriage, World War II on October 3, 2007 | Comments Off
East Side, West Side is almost too good for comfort. In its pages we see how ordinary experiences like being bored by one’s relatives or arguing with one’s spouse can become catalysts that change the course of a person’s life.
Timeless Page-Turner Also Is Irritating
Posted in 1947 Bestselling Novels, Psychological novel, tagged civil rights, race discrimination, race relations, World War II on September 26, 2007 | Comments Off
About 70 pages into Kingsblood Royal, Sinclair Lewis throws a bombshell into his boring characters’ boring lives—and the rest of the book is a real page-turner.
House Divided is Good — and Long
Posted in 1947 Bestselling Novels, Historical, My Top Pics, War, tagged Ben Ames Williams, Civil War, Confederacy, Virginia on September 19, 2007 | Comments Off
House Divided deserves to be dusted off and reread. Ben Ames Williams gives us believable characters, high drama, and superb dialogue, all resting on an extensive base of facts about the War Between the States.
Don’t Take The Wayward Bus
Posted in 1947 Bestselling Novels, tagged John Steinbeck on September 12, 2007 | Comments Off
Despite believable characters, a plausible plot, keen observation, and superb writing by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, The Wayward Bus is a totally unappealing novel.
The Vixens Deserves Extinction
Posted in 1947 Bestselling Novels, Historical, Romance, tagged Frank Yerby, sequel on September 9, 2007 | Comments Off
Frank Yerby had a smash hit with The Foxes of Harrow in 1946. The next year, he published a sequel, which also became a bestseller, even though The Vixens is even more awful than its predecessor.
Only Returning Vets Could Love Lydia
Posted in 1947 Bestselling Novels, Historical, tagged 19the century history, Haiti, Kenneth Roberts, Tripoli on September 7, 2007 | Comments Off
Lydia Bailey burst onto the post-war literary scene, securing author Kenneth Roberts a niche in popular historical fiction for years. Today the novel serves only as a glimpse into the background of events that occasionally erupt onto the evening news.
In 1800, lawyer Albion Hamlin reluctantly leaves his New England farm to represent clients fighting government [...]
Gentleman’s Agreement Victim of Its Own Success
Posted in 1947 Bestselling Novels, Psychological novel, tagged antisemitism, Laura Z. Hobson, prejudice on September 6, 2007 | Comments Off
Laura Z. Hobson’s Gentleman’s Agreement shook readers who had just come through World War II and considered themselves unprejudiced.
Journalist Phil Green decides to pose as a Jew to get the inside angle on anti-Semitism. Initially, only his mother, his girlfriend, and his editor know his Jewishness is only a pose.
Green becomes increasingly sensitized to prejudice. [...]
The Moneyman Gives Good Value
Posted in 1947 Bestselling Novels, Historical, Romance, Suspense, tagged Charles VII, France, Renaissance, Thomas B. Costain on September 3, 2007 | Comments Off
The Moneyman, Thomas B. Costain’s novel of 15th century French intrigue and counter-intrigue. is a much better novel than the tales of the Christian era for which Costain is famous.
“The Moneyman” is Jacques Coeur, semi-official financier for Charles VII. For years, Coeur manipulated French policy through the king’s mistress, Agnes Sorel. When Agnes becomes ill, [...]
