Historical Fiction Classics

. C. “Scar” Gordon was on the French Riviera recovering from a tour of combat in Southeast Asia, but he hadn’t given up his habit of scanning the personals in the newspaper. One ad in particular leapt out at him: "Are you a coward? This is not for you. We badly need a brave man. He must be 23 to 25 years old, in perfect health, at least six feet tall, weigh about 190 pounds, fluent English with some French, proficient with all weapons, some knowledge of engineering and mathematics essential...."

At the dawn of the nineteenth century, two very different magicians emerge to change England's history. In the year 1806, with the Napoleonic Wars raging on land and sea, most people believe magic to be long dead in England—until the reclusive Mr Norrell reveals his powers, and becomes a celebrity overnight. Soon, another practicing magician comes forth: the young, handsome, and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell's student, and they join forces in the war against France. But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic.

The novel that launched the astonishing career of one of the 20th century's greatest writers of action and suspense - an acclaimed classic of heroism and the sea in World War II. The story of men who rose to heroism, and then to something greater, HMS Ulysses takes its place alongside The Caine Mutiny and The Cruel Sea as one of the classic novels of the navy at war. It is the compelling story of Convoy FR77 to Murmansk - a voyage that pushes men to the limits of human endurance.

In 1927, in Brooklyn, New York, Carl Brown and Annie McGairy meet and fall in love. Though only 18, Annie travels alone halfway across the country to the Midwestern university where Carl is studying law - and there they marry. But Carl and Annie’s first year together is much more difficult than they anticipated as they find themselves in a faraway place with little money and few friends. With hardship and poverty weighing heavily upon them, they come to realize that their greatest sources of strength, loyalty, and love will help them make it through.

With a growing reputation as a trail boss, Nate Carlton, wants to forget the Civil war and make his way in the west. Having successfully pioneered driving collective herds from the depressed South, Nate leaves the trail head to look up an old friend. He finds Isobel Hart and her family caught up in a run to take over the mining boom town of Langtonville. Caught between opposing factions he has to make a decision: to take a side or walk away. Fate takes a hand and he is forced to use his deadly skill with a gun. But will one man be enough to face the overwhelming odds of land grabbers, ...

After his parents freeze to death, seventeen-year-old Garret Brassfield takes responsibility for his surviving kin and their herd of starving cattle. It’s the Big Die Up – the worst winter in anybody’s memory. With the little help he has left, Garret fights to spare his loved ones from a lonely, frigid death on the open range and learns the ways of ranching so they may survive. Come springtime, everybody’s cattle are half-dead and the money has evaporated from the once booming industry… with one exception. Delmer Potter. His fortunes are securely built on a foundation of ...

The work tells the story of Jane's early life, her experience at Lowood School and as a governess. Her refusal to accept Rochester's love on any but her own strictly moral terms is a passionate cry for independence.

Marcus, a Roman officer in Nero's army, risks his career, his family, and even his life when he falls in love with a Christian woman named Callina. In order to win Callina's love, Marcus must come to understand the true meaning of her religion, even as Rome sinks under the excesses of Nero and Christians are thrown to the lions. Quo Vadis brims with passion and life as it explores one of the turning points in history.

Persuasion, Jane Austen's last novel, is a tale of love and marriage told with irony and insight. Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth have met and seperated years before. Their reunion, after the passage or irrecoverable years of their youth, forces a recognition of the false values that drove them apart.

From the best-selling author of Wicked comes a magical new twist on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll's beloved classic. When Alice toppled down the rabbit hole 150 years ago, she found a Wonderland as rife with inconsistent rules and abrasive egos as the world she left behind. But what of that world? How did 1860s Oxford react to Alice's disappearance?

Veinte años tardará Ulises, el rey de Ítaca, en volver a su patria. Luego de luchar en la guerra de Troya por diez años, siendo uno de los héroes, Ulises emprende el regreso a su tierra natal. Pero una ofensa al dios Poseidón lo alejará de su camino por otros diez años, siendo condenado a navegar sin rumbo y a vivir las más extrañas aventuras y vicisitudes en el camino. Así, en su retorno a Ítaca, Ulises desafiará monstruos y tempestades, se enfrentará a encantamientos y a las seductoras sirenas, sobreponiéndose al designio de los dioses, en su intento por volver a su hogar.

When Arcady Kirsanov returns from college to the country manor of his father, he brings along his radical friend Bazarov, a nihilist who believes in nothing and respects no one. But behind the intellect of this caustic, impatient man is a heart full of compassion and kindness that will change the Kirsanov's lives forever.

In this, the final Horatio Hornblower adventure, C.S. Forester throws his hero into one of the most challenging missions yet. Upon discovering highly confidential papers dispatched by Bonaparte, Hornblower sets off to enlighten the Admiralty about his game-changing, new findings. Troubled after having been informed of Pierre-Charles Villeneuve's escape into Spain, they welcome Horatio's news and send him off on a high-priority assignment that they believe will lead to England's victory over Napoleon.

Allan Gurganus's Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All became an instant classic upon its publication. Critics and fans alike fell in love with the voice of 99-year-old Confederate widow Lucy Marsden, one of the most entertaining and loquacious heroines in American literature. Lucy married at the turn of the 20th century, when she was 15 and her husband was 50. If Colonel William Marsden was a veteran of the "War for Southern Independence", Lucy became a "veteran of the veteran" with a unique perspective on Southern history and Southern manhood.

As the Great War drags on, German Uboats prowl the North Atlantic, torpedoing military and civilian vessels alike. When a shipwrecked man is recovered at sea, he tells a strange and disturbing tale of his experience on a German submarine. Has the experience driven him mad, or did his voyage reveal unseen monstrosities at the bottom of the ocean?

Stone Tobin’s life on the frontier has never been short of hazards. But nothing can keep him from what’s important: caring for his adopted son, Clyde. After years of supporting himself and Clyde through his talents of wet-plate photography, Stone’s sense of justice takes them off the beaten path when he and Clyde stumble upon a woman in deep trouble. Hazel Allen. Soon after learning of her husband’s role in her parents’ untimely deaths, she was abducted by an outlaw gang. There’s a steep reward for her return – but her powerful husband, Wesley, hopes she’s killed before she ...

When the Emperor's army comes recruiting, Mai signs up, seeing it as the perfect escape from her stepmother and a lifetime of drudgery. Armed with her mother's armor and a pair of magic shoes, Mai marches off to war only to find herself sharing a tent with the General's arrogant nephew, Prince Yi. The best swordsman in the Empire, Prince Yi wants to make war, not love, but the Emperor insists this will be Yi's last campaign before he must marry. Prince Yi has never met his match until now.

When sisters Muna and Sakti wake up on the peaceful beach of the island of Janda Baik, they can’t remember anything, except that they are bound as only sisters can be. They have been cursed by an unknown enchanter, and slowly Sakti starts to fade away. The only hope of saving her is to go to distant Britain, where the Sorceress Royal has established an academy to train women in magic. If Muna is to save her sister, she must learn to navigate high society and trick the English magicians into believing she is a magical prodigy.

Mitchell Rankin couldn’t stop his parents’ violent death when he was a boy. Now the outlaws and Indians of South Texas can’t stop Mitchell Rankin. Fifteen years after a Comanche raid upturned his young life, Mitchell joins the newly formed Frontier Battalion to help bring peace to his Texan homeland. He’s putting desperadoes on notice: someone has to pay the price for what was done to his family. But after setting out as a Texas Ranger, Mitchell discovers there’s an evil greater than the Comanche lurking on the borderlands of the Lone Star State… His name is Dudley Haddock – ...

Fantasy, love and an exuberant celebration of English life and literature, Orlando is a uniquely entertaining story. Originally conceived by Virginia Woolf as a playful tribute to the family of her friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West, Orlando's central character, a fictional embodiment of Sackville-West, changes sex from a man to a woman and lives throughout the centuries, whilst meeting historical figures of English literature.