Historical Sagas

Two half sisters, Effia and Esi, unknown to each other, are born into different villages in 18th-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and will live in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle, raising children who will be sent abroad to be educated before returning to the Gold Coast to serve as administrators of the empire. Esi, imprisoned beneath Effia in the castle's women's dungeon and then shipped off on a boat bound for America, will be sold into slavery.

This is the story of Elizabeth de Grey of Coudenoure, the secret love, the one and only truly great love of England's famed King Henry the VIII. Pre-contracted in the blush of youth and young love before the death of Henry the VII's first son, Henry and Elizabeth are then kept apart through the malice of his grandmother, Lady Margaret Beaufort once Henry becomes heir apparent to the throne. But theirs is a love so deep that all of history's tides cannot quench the sacred flame of love that burns between Henry and Elizabeth, the seventh wife.

For those looking for the real story behind the fictionalized movie account of the 47 Ronin story, this is the definitive, fascinating account of this unforgettable tale of a band of samurai who defied the Emperor to avenge the disgrace and death of their master, and faced certain death as a result. It led to one of the bloodiest episodes in Japanese history, and in the process, created a new set of heroes in Japan.

Body & Soul is the story of a young man whose life is transformed by a gift. The gift is not without price - the work is relentless, the teachers exacting - but the reward is a journey that takes him to the drawing rooms of the rich and powerful, private schools, a gilt-edged marriage, and Carnegie Hall. Claude moves through this life as if he were playing a difficult composition, swept up in its drama and tension, surprised by its grace notes. Music, here, becomes a character in its own right, equaled in strength only by the music of Frank Conroy's own unmistakable, true voice.

Summer comes to Ireland, and an uneasy peace holds at Loch Garman. The Northmen, eager to get to sea, work relentlessly on their ships, with the aid of their unlikely allies, the Irish, who are just as eager to see them go. But not everyone is willing to just let them sail away. Certain that God demands the heathens be punished, the one-eyed warrior turned monk Brother Becc is determined that Thorgrim and his men will not simply go free. And when another band of raiders arrives, Becc finds the excuse he needs to take action.

Elegant, secretive Sabina may be empress of Rome, but she still stands poised on a knife's edge. She must keep the peace between two deadly enemies: her husband, Hadrian, Rome's brilliant and sinister emperor; and battered warrior Vix, who is her first love. But Sabina is guardian of a deadly secret: Vix's beautiful son, Antinous, has become the emperor's latest obsession.

1850. When Opal Sharp finds herself and her younger siblings suddenly orphaned and destitute, she thinks things can get no worse. But soon three of them - including Opal - are struck down with the illness that took their father from them, and her brother Charlie is forced to make an impossible decision. Unable to afford a doctor, he knows the younger children will not survive. So, unbeknownst to Opal, Charlie takes their younger siblings to the workhouse, where he knows they will at least be fed and have a roof over their heads. Opal is heartbroken and struggles to forgive him.

In a land of mountains and mist, tradition and superstition, Languoreth and her brother Lailoken are raised in the Old Way of their ancestors. But in Scotland, a new religion is rising, one that brings disruption, bloodshed, and riot. And even as her family faces the burgeoning forces of Christianity, the Anglo-Saxons, bent on colonization, are encroaching from the east. When conflict brings the hero Emrys Pendragon to her father’s door, Languoreth finds love with one of his warriors. Her deep connection to Maelgwn is forged by enchantment, but she is promised in marriage to Rhydderch, son of a Christian king.

Following the fall of a beloved prince, division brews across the north. Elyon Daecar, freed of the Warrior King’s cells, rides to Dragon’s Bane to defend the border of Vandar against an incoming Agarathi horde. He must become a prince, and a champion, to his people. But will it be enough? Having finally arrived in Aram, Saska finds herself a captive yet again, this time by the sinister Sunlord Elio Krator, the man once betrothed to her mother. When a Tukoran army arrives to siege the great fortress of Eagle’s Perch, Krator marches to defend it, taking Saska with him.

London, 1938: Lizzie Larch is a 20-year-old hat maker in London's east end. She is happy and popular, but she carries a secret. Seven years ago she was viciously attacked and recovered in a private sanatorium where she miscarried a child. Lizzie has no memory of the night of the attack, but secrets cannot stay secret for too long. When she starts courting her boss' nephew, a shocking revelation surfaces; threatening to destroy their new-found happiness.

In 1558 the ancient stones of Kingsbridge Cathedral look down on a city torn apart by religious conflict. As power in England shifts precariously between Catholics and Protestants, high principles clash bloodily with friendship, loyalty, and love. Ned Willard wants nothing more than to marry Margery Fitzgerald. But when the lovers find themselves on opposing sides of the religious divide sweeping across the country, Ned goes to work for Princess Elizabeth. When she becomes queen, all Europe turns against England.

Rebaa’s adopted tribe lies slaughtered behind her. Rebaa’s lover, Juran, lays down his life for hers, and now she must use all of her cunning and extraordinary powers to survive the inhospitable wilderness alone, ensuring that Juran’s sacrifice was not in vain.

In 1989 Ken Follett astonished the literary world with The Pillars of the Earth, set in 12th-century England. Readers and listeners ever since have hoped for a sequel. At last, here it is. Although the two novels may be listened to in any order, World Without End also takes place in Kingsbridge, two centuries after the townspeople finished building their exquisite Gothic cathedral. The cathedral is again at the center of a web of love and hate, greed and pride, ambition and revenge.

In the shadow of World War II, a young woman’s life is forever changed. Krista Schulz, a 17-year-old German girl living in Poland, faces a harrowing loss as the Nazi occupation shatters her peaceful life. After witnessing the brutal murder of her beloved grandparents, the Nazis are now hunting her. Krista flees her village, carrying the weight of unanswered questions and a heart heavy with grief. Determined to survive and find purpose in the chaos, Krista makes her way to Warsaw. As she grows from a frightened young girl into a resolute young woman, Krista discovers the strength within ...

Germany 1939 – To save her baby, Trudi Beck must hand her over to strangers who will take her across the sea to a foreign country. Trudi has already lost her husband to the Nazis, her stepsons are taking the train too. Walking away from the train station with empty arms is the hardest thing she's ever done. London 1939 – Newly married, Sally Matthews, is alone again. Her husband is away training for war, leaving her days and home empty. She volunteers to help with the children from the Kindertransport, becoming captivated by five-year-old Tom and his baby sister, Liesel.

A new world is beginning to take shape in the aftermath of The Fated War, a world that must be brought together if it is to survive. As the king and queen of Illian, it falls on Vighon and Inara Draqaro to forge this future. As they did during the war, they have allies—old friends—to call upon, heroes all who fought and bled for Verda's fragile era of peace. Among those allies are the likes of a ranger and a dragon.

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child—not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power—the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

New England, 2022. Three years ago, single mother Mallory Dunne received the telephone call every parent dreads—her ten-year-old son, Sam, had been airlifted from summer camp with acute poisoning from a toxic death cap mushroom, leaving him fighting for his life. Now, searching for the donor kidney that will give her son a chance for a normal life, Mallory’s forced to confront two harrowing secrets from her past: her mother’s adoption from an infamous Irish orphanage in 1952, and her own all-consuming summer romance fourteen years earlier with her childhood best friend, Monk Adams.

Having recovered from the wounds of battle and having won for himself a fortune, a crew, and a longship, Thorgrim Night Wolf makes ready to leave the Viking town of Dubh-linn for the long journey back to his home in Norway. But the gods have other plans, and Thorgrim and his men wash up in the small Viking longphort of Vík-ló. Thinking themselves among friends, they soon learn that the opposite is true - that Grimarr Giant, the Lord of Vík-ló, has reason to want Thorgrim and his son, Harald, dead.

As the Stuart and Sinclair families prepare to celebrate Christmas at Branham, a mysterious group called the Blackstone Exploration Society dig for hidden secrets in the estate’s old tunnels. After one of the group’s volunteers is found murdered, Charles Sinclair must use all his skill to unmask the killer; be he spirit or flesh. Redwing is fracturing, and even Raziel is at risk; whilst in France, a powerful challenger arises. The powers and principalities of hell conspire to bewitch the men of the inner circle, and Redwing’s oldest goals bear evil fruit. Are Charles’s vivid dreams ...