Historical Fiction Europe

An Irish Easter uprising lays waste to Dublin and fractures a British Empire struggling to supply men and arms to defeat Germany. In Dublin’s ruins, the affluent Carmody family is not only forced to confront the rebellion’s devastating effects on its personal lives, but also the terrible secrets and lies uncovered in the midst of grief. Jenny, self-entitled and strong-willed, sees her wedding plans and grand ambitions disintegrate. She faces a dismal life in one of London’s munitions factories - until a cataclysmic event changes her life and perception of love forever.

As war rages over Europe, Barbara Sinclair is desperate to escape from her unhappy home, which is a target of the German Luftwaffe. Caught up by the emotion of the moment, she agrees to marry John, her childhood friend who's leaving to join the RAF; but a meeting with Simon Farley, the son of a local industrialist, and an encounter with Alex Everton, a Spitfire pilot, complicate matters.

Selma Lagerlöf ist die erste Frau, die den Literatur-Nobelpreis verliehen bekam. Ihre Prosa besticht durch eine überaus klare und flüssige Sprache, welche Situationen herbeiführt, innerhalb derer die vermittelten Gedanken tiefes moralisches und zwischenmenschliches Verständnis beweisen. Sehr lebensnah und humorvoll mit starkem Gespür für die menschliche Natur ist Lagerlöf in der Lage Charaktere zu schaffen, deren Geschichten berühren und zum Träumen und Nachdenken anregen.

Inspired by a true story. In 1825, in a remote Irish valley lying between the mountains and Flesk River of Killarney, three women are brought together by strange and troubling events. Nora Leahy, a widow, has lost her daughter and her husband in the same year and is now burdened with the care of her grandson, Michael. The boy cannot walk or speak, and Nora has kept him hidden from neighbours, who might see in his deformity evidence of supernatural interference.

Le 13 juillet 1131, le destin de la monarchie capétienne et du royaume de France a pris un tour tragique. Alors qu'il chevauchait avec quelques compagnons dans un faubourg de Paris, le jeune prince Philippe, fils aîné du roi Louis VI le Gros et héritier du trône déjà sacré et couronné, fit une grave chute de cheval et mourut quelques heures plus tard. Le cheval n'est pas en cause dans cet accident. Un autre animal se trouve être responsable de la chute, un animal gyrovague, remplissant en ville un rôle d'éboueur : un vulgaire cochon domestique.

It is 1965, and Cora, a young, hearing impaired woman, buys a one-way ticket to the island of St. Thomas, where she discovers four dolphins held in captivity as part of an experiment led by the obsessive Dr. Blum. Drawn by a strong connection to the dolphins, Cora falls in with the scientists and discovers her need to protect the animals.

At the center of this fiercely compelling story is Devlin Judge, an American lawyer in Europe as part of the International Military Tribunal to try Nazi war criminals. Haunted by his own demons, Judge has a secret agenda: to find Erich Seyss, the Nazi responsible for his brother's death. An elite member of Hilter's SS and former Olympic sprinter known as "The White Lion", Seyss has just escaped from an American P.O.W. camp.

It is wartime and Carrie and her little brother Nick have been evacuated from their London home to the Welsh hills. In an unfamiliar place, among strangers, the children feel alone and find little comfort with the family they are billeted with: Mr Evans, a bullying shopkeeper and Auntie Lou, his kind but timid sister. When Carrie and Nick visit Albert, another evacuee, they are welcomed into Hepzibah Green's warm kitchen. Hepzibah is rumoured to be a witch, but her cooking is delicious, her stories are enthralling and the children cannot keep away.

Victoria woke one morning at the age of 18 to discover that her uncle had died and that she was now queen. She went on to rule for 63 years, with an influence so far-reaching that the decades of her reign now bear her name - the Victorian period. Victoria is filled with the exciting comings and goings of royal life: intrigue and innuendo, scheming advisors, and assassination attempts - not to mention plenty of passion and discord.

In 1226 a young German noble plotted the unthinkable: to kidnap the archbishop of Cologne. What followed was a cavalcade of murder, exile, torture, and vengeance. The noble was named Friedrich von Isenberg. Eight centuries later writer Robert Isenberg traveled to Germany to explore Friedrich's legacy. Picking through the ruins of Castle Isenberg and surveying scant documentation, he began to reassemble Friedrich's tragic tale.

The three tales in this audiobook are adapted from stories told by the peasants in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. They are drawn from some books I found in shops when I visited the former USSR in 1988 as part of a citizen diplomacy group. I was intrigued by these folktales, since my paternal grandmother lived for some time in Odessa in the Ukraine. Also, I found these stories share a common theme - the poor peasant is able to succeed despite obstacles against an unfair ruler.

The actual events behind A Scandal in Bohemia. Get ready for surprising revelations about that story’s heroine and meet two non-Bohemian kings, a hapless queen, and conspirators who will light the Balkan Powder Keg that sets off World War I.

Best-selling author Michael Morpurgo turns his storytelling skills to the drama and tragedy of the Spanish Civil War, illustrated by Michael Foreman. Toro, Toro is the story of a young boy growing up in Andalucia, Spain, on a farm rearing bulls for the bull ring. Antonito hand rears a little black calf, and they become firm friends, but the boy doesn't yet understand the fate of the black bulls: the corrida and death.

Holmes is summoned to Geneva by the legendary “Sisi”, Empress Elisabeth of Austria, to “rake through the coals of Mayerling” and learn the true fate of Crown Prince Rudolf, her dead son.

Queen Bees looks at the lives of six remarkable women who made careers out of being society hostesses, including Lady Astor, who went on to become the first female MP, and Mrs Greville, who cultivated relationships with Edward VII, as well as Lady Londonderry, Lady Cunard, Laura Corrigan and Lady Colefax. Told with wit, verve and heart, Queen Bees is the story of a form of societal revolution and the extraordinary women who helped it happen.

On the day of his birth, Prince Alexos is revealed to be the long-awaited champion of Athene. He grows up lonely, conscious of all that is expected of him. But Alexos discovers that being a champion isn't about fame and glory - it's about sacrifice and courage.

In ancient Finland, young Vierra begins her passage to adulthood. It's a time when Viking warriors prowl the land, and riches are in reach of the powerful. The medieval north of myth is a dangerous place, and powers both natural and supernatural are ready to take away everything she holds dear. Vierra sets to overcome the odds with iron will and sharp wit, but fate has more in store for the young woman.

Paris, 1938. A shadow edges over Europe, while in Spain the war has already begun. Cristián Ferrar, a handsome Spanish lawyer in Paris, is approached to help a clandestine agency supply weapons to beleaguered Republican forces and agrees, putting his life on the line. Joining Ferrar is an unlikely group of allies: including Max de Lyon, a man hunted by the Gestapo, and the Marquesa Maria Cristina, a refined beauty with a taste for danger.

From the author of the New York Times best seller Firebird comes this richly detailed historical novel of an unconventional tailor's daughter who is swept up in a suspenseful drama of passion and intrigue. When a fever leaves her deaf at the age of 16, shattering her hopes of marriage, Veda Grenfell turns her exceptional talent to her father's prestigious Savile Row tailoring firm.

Anglo-Saxon England. Having built a rich empire and keen to win the favor of the royal court, Hilda and AEligard have little time for their daughter, Catheryn. But one man, Selwyn, is intrigued by the intelligent and high-spirited girl.