Books with category 1950s Nostalgia
Displaying 2 books

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets

2007

by Eva Rice

Set in 1950s London, The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets centers around Penelope, the wide-eyed daughter of a legendary beauty, Talitha, who lost her husband to the war. Penelope, with her mother and brother, struggles to maintain their vast and crumbling ancestral home while postwar London spins toward the next decade's cultural revolution.

Penelope wants nothing more than to fall in love, and when her new best friend Charlotte, a free spirit in the young society set, drags Penelope into London with all of its grand parties, she sets in motion great change for them all. Charlotte's mysterious and attractive brother Harry uses Penelope to make his American ex-girlfriend jealous, with unforeseen consequences, and a dashing, wealthy American movie producer arrives with what might be the key to Penelope's—and her family's—future happiness.

Vibrant, witty, and filled with vivid historical detail, The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets is an utterly unique debut novel about a time and place just slipping into history.

Rocket Boys

2000

by Homer Hickam

Rocket Boys is an extraordinary memoir by Homer "Sonny" Hickam Jr., detailing his life in the hard-scrabble mining town of Coalwood, West Virginia. Until he began to build and launch rockets, he was unaware of the town's silent war against its own future and the unspoken conflict between his parents about his and his brother's lives.

In 1957, inspired by the sight of the Soviet satellite Sputnik crossing the Appalachian sky, Sonny and his friends, Roy Lee Cook, Sherman O'Dell, and Quentin Wilson, embarked on a journey to design and launch homemade rockets. Their journey was not just about rocket science; it was about daring to dream beyond the borders of their town.

With a cast of unforgettable characters, the boys learned to transform scrap into sophisticated rockets, sustaining their dreams in a town left behind by the postwar boom. Hickam's memoir is a powerful story of growing up, getting out, a mother's love, and a father's fears.

This uniquely endearing book captures universal themes of class, family, coming of age, and the thrill of discovery, all wrapped in vivid storytelling. Rocket Boys is evocative, magical, and a testament to the power of dreams.

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