Historical Fiction Literature

In 1914 collisions between motor cars and horse-drawn carriages are an everyday occurrence on the streets of Paterson, New Jersey. But when an out-of-control driver smashes into a buggy driven by Constance, Norma, and Fleurette Kopp, their lives change forever. Constance, the oldest, demands payment for the damages but quickly realizes that she is dealing with a madman.

All of London is abuzz over the imminent arrival of Wulfric Bedwyn, the reclusive, cold-as-ice Duke of Bewcastle, at the most glittering social event of the season. Some whisper of a tragic love affair. Others say he is so aloof and passionless that not even the greatest beauty could capture his attention. But on this dazzling afternoon, one woman did catch the duke's eye - and she was the only female in the room who wasn't even trying.

In a moment of recklessness, Gervase Tregarth, sixth Earl of Crowhurst, swears he’ll marry the next eligible lady to cross his path. Cloistered at his ancestral castle in Cornwall, with nary a suitable woman for miles, he never expects he’ll have to fulfill his pledge, at least not until the London season begins. But then he meets his neighbor, the very appealing Madeline Gascoigne.

Years of secret service to the Crown have taught Gervase the value of always having a loophole - there will be no wedding if he and Madeline are not compatible in every way.

Forced into a betrothal to a man she hates, her only way out is to escape to a convent. Laird Alexander Grant is honor bound to rescue Maddie after seeing the bruises on her face. What he doesn't realize is that once he holds the beaten lass in his arms, his heart will never be the same. He vows revenge for the abuse she was forced to endure and yearns to make the sweet woman with an iron will his, but can he help her fight the demons in her mind left behind by her abusers' horrid treatment?

At 18, Alexandra Wickham is presented to King George V and Queen Mary in an exquisite white lace and satin dress her mother has ordered from Paris. With her delicate blond looks, she is a stunning beauty who seems destined for a privileged life. But fate, a world war, and her own quietly rebellious personality lead her down a different path. By 1939, Europe is on fire and England is at war. From her home in idyllic Hampshire, Alex makes her way to London as a volunteer in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. But she has skills that draw the attention of another branch of the service.

Genghis Khan was born Temujin, the son of a khan, raised in a clan of hunters migrating across the rugged steppe. Shaped by abandonment and betrayal, Temujin endured, driven by a singular fury: to survive in the face of death, to kill before being killed, and to conquer enemies who could come without warning from beyond the horizon. Through a series of courageous raids, Temujin's legend grew until he was chasing a vision: to unite many tribes into one, to make the earth tremble under the hoofbeats of 1,000 warhorses, to subject all nations and empires to his will.

Eleven years have passed sub Lieutenant John Dunbar became Dances With Wolves and married Stands With A Fist, a white-born woman raised as a Comanche from early childhood. With their three children, they live peacefully in the village of Ten Bears. But there is unease in the air, caused by increased reports of violent confrontations with white soldiers, who want to drive the Comanches onto reservations. Disquiet turns to horror, and then to rage, when a band of white rangers descends on Ten Bear's village, slaughtering half its inhabitants and abducting Stands With A Fist and her baby.

They proved their bravery fighting for His Majesty’s Secret Service and were rewarded with brides of great beauty and breeding. But one member of the Bastion Club has remained a bachelor - until now. "Christian, I need your help. There is no one else I can turn to…L.” When Christian Allardyce, sixth Marquess of Dearne, reads those words, his world turns upside down. Lady Letitia Randall is a woman like no other, and the day he left her behind to fight for king and country was the most difficult of his life.

On a mission to rescue his runaway sister from the lure of flowery compliments and a useless lot of satin-clad scalawags disguised by their snooty titles, Ranulf MacLawry, Marquis of Glengask, has roared into British society like a storm across the Highlands. But he's about to find out that satin has its appeal, especially when it covers the curves of Miss Lady Charlotte Hanover-whose tongue is as sharp as her skin is soft.

For a moment Wilson froze and looked at the white-helmeted pilot who sat high on the nose of the colossal fighter. Across the small void, he saw the pilot's eyes peer over his mask. Dark, chilling eyes. Wilson kicked right rudder to slide closer and jam any chance for a bandit gunshot. When the bandit pulled all the way over, almost on its back but in control, he cursed in frustration at what he knew was coming next.

When Xerxes, king of Persia, issues a call for beautiful young women, Hadassah, a Jewish orphan living in Susa, is forcibly taken to the palace of the pagan ruler. After months of preparation, the girl known to the Persians as Esther wins the king's heart and a queen's crown. But because her situation is uncertain, she keeps her ethnic identity a secret until she learns that an evil and ambitious man has won the king's permission to exterminate all Jews - young and old, powerful, and helpless.

In the long hot summer of 1939, Britain is preparing for war, but on a riverside farm in Suffolk there is excitement of another kind. Mrs. Pretty, a widowed farmer, has had her hunch proved correct that the strange mounds on her land hold buried treasure. As an archaeological dig proceeds against a background of mounting national anxiety, it becomes clear that this is no ordinary find, and the discovery leads to a host of jealousies and tensions.

Set in the wake of the Mau Mau rebellion and on the cusp of Kenya's independence from Britain, A Grain of Wheat follows a group of villagers whose lives have been transformed by the 1952-1960 Emergency. At the center of it all is the reticent Mugo, the village's chosen hero and a man haunted by a terrible secret. As we learn of the villagers' tangled histories in a narrative interwoven with myth and peppered with allusions to real-life leaders, including Jomo Kenyatta, a masterly story unfolds in which compromises are forced, friendships are betrayed, and loves are tested.

In 1540, 12-year-old Jahan arrives in Istanbul. As an animal tamer in the sultan's menagerie, he looks after the exceptionally smart elephant Chota and befriends (and falls for) the sultan's beautiful daughter Princess Mihrimah. A palace education leads Jahan to Mimar Sinan, the empire's chief architect, who takes Jahan under his wing as they construct (with Chota's help) some of the most magnificent buildings in history.

An elusive courtesan, Marthe de Florian had cultivated a life of art and beauty, casting out all recollections of her impoverished childhood in the dark alleys of Montmartre. With Europe on the brink of war, she shares her story with her granddaughter, Solange Beaugiron, using her prized possessions to reveal her innermost secrets. Most striking of all are a beautiful string of pearls and a magnificent portrait of Marthe painted by the Italian artist Giovanni Boldini.

An avid member of the Hitler Youth in 1940s Vienna, Johannes Betzler discovers his parents are hiding a Jewish girl named Elsa behind a false wall in their home. His initial horror turns to interest - then love and obsession. After his parents disappear, Johannes is the only one aware of Elsa's existence in the house and the only one responsible for her fate. By turns disturbing and blackly comic, Christine Leunens' captivating and masterful novel examines this world of truth and lies, laying bare the darkest corners of the human soul.

Meet Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grader at Camillo Junior High who must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, while the rest of the class has religious instruction. Mrs. Baker doesn’t like Holling - he’s sure of it. Why else would she make him read the plays of William Shakespeare outside class? But everyone has bigger things to worry about, like Vietnam.

Wyatt Earp was a man who craved fame, power, and prominence. He came to Tombstone with a plan to get elected sheriff and a dream of building the biggest business empire the booming mining town had ever seen. But by Christmas, both his brothers had been struck down, and their assassins were coming after him and Doc Holliday. For Earp, a man of ambition and pride, it would mean putting aside his dream for one last fight...not for glory, but revenge.

Ten years ago, young Elspeth Murray rescued a wounded knight and lost her heart forever. Now a stunning beauty and gifted healer, she is reunited with Cormac Armstrong when he saves her from an unwanted suitor. But Cormac is promised to another, a woman who has blinded him to her ruthlessness. Now Elspeth must battle against the odds to claim a man and a love she will not be denied.Cormac is stunned by the desire Elspeth's kiss awakens - and cannot resist the temptation she offers.

This, the first title in the Port William series, introduces the rural section of Kentucky with which novelist Wendell Berry has had a lifelong fascination. When young Nathan loses his grandfather, Berry guides listeners through the process of Nathan's grief, endearing the listener to the simple humanity through which Nathan views the world.