Historical Sagas

The year is AD 95, and John, the one whom Jesus called "beloved", is the last of the 12 apostles still alive. Now nearing 90, John is still committed to spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. When a renegade begins misleading the masses with dangerous, heretical teachings, John is called by God to write a gospel to show that Jesus was, in fact, the Son of God.

Demonstrating once again her gift for spellbinding storytelling, Anne Rice makes real for us a great dynasty of four centuries of witches - a family given to poetry and incest, murder and philosophy, a family that over the ages is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous, and seductive being called Lasher who haunts the Mayfair women. Moving in time from today's New Orleans and San Francisco to long-ago Amsterdam and the France of Louis XIV, from the coffee plantations of Port-au-Prince to Civil War New Orleans and back to today, Anne Rice has spun a mesmerizing tale.

In seventh-century Britain, small kingdoms are merging, frequently and violently. A new religion is coming ashore; the old gods are struggling, their priests worrying. Hild is the king's youngest niece, and she has a glimmering mind and a natural, noble authority. She will become a fascinating woman and one of the pivotal figures of the Middle Ages: Saint Hilda of Whitby. But now she has only the powerful curiosity of a bright child, a will of adamant, and a way of seeing the world that can seem uncanny, even supernatural, to those around her.

The second novel in Wilbur Smith's The Courtneys series, The Sound of Thunder is a powerful story of family tragedy set against the backdrop of the ravages of the Second Boer War. 'Only once in his life had Sean met a man whose strength matched his own - and now, again, they were pitted against each other....' Sean Courtney, impulsive adventurer of When the Lion Feeds, returns from the wildnerness a rich man - until he is robbed by the Boers of his wagons, his gold and the girl he loves.

The end of the colonies' fight for independence ushers in a fresh and even more glorious struggle to build the new nation. It is an epoch ripe with the energy of a country in its springtime. Two young heirs to a family dynasty turn their eyes west - the frontier beckons. It took a special breed to give up the comfortable life along our eastern seaboard. Who knew what lay beyond? But when Abraham Kent fell in love with his beautiful stepsister, he knew that leaving was the only course open to him.

Often called the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace is at once an epic of the Napoleonic wars, a philosophical study, and a celebration of the Russian spirit. Tolstoy's genius is clearly seen in the multitude of characters in this massive chronicle, all of them fully realized and equally memorable.

Long ago, The Lord Aiduel emerged from the deserts of the Holy Land, possessed with divine powers. He used these to forcibly unite the peoples of Angall, before His ascension to heaven. Over eight hundred years later, in a medieval world which is threatened by war and religious persecution, four young men and women begin to develop supernatural abilities. These forbidden and secret powers will shatter the lives that they have known, and will force each of them to confront the mystery of the ethereal Gate which haunts their dreams.

Thirty-one years after workers first broke ground, the magnificent Hotel Neversink in the Catskills finally opens to the public. Then a young boy disappears. This mysterious vanishing - and the ones that follow - will brand the lives of three generations. At the root of it all is Asher Sikorsky, the ambitious and ruthless patriarch whose purchase of the hotel in 1931 set a haunting legacy into motion.

The Secret News spread like wildfire throughout the whole county that the most eligible bachelor was getting engaged to his young beautiful, spirited sister. How could a brother and sister get married? Everyone knew that they weren’t blood relatives but they had grown up together since Hope was only a small child of three. They had shared adventures and took part in each other’s struggles as they tried to follow their dreams. Will A young, rugged rancher with coal black hair and crystal blue eyes, he had always been bossy, over-protective, and affectionate at times when it came to Hope,...

Set against the barbaric splendor of the ninth century when the Vikings reigned. Ragnar Haraldsson was handsome, brave, intelligent, and daring. He would emerge out of the mists of a violent age to become a Viking leader of great renown and would unite his people. Touching on the shores of Britain, Scotland and then Ireland, he will not only find love but will march into legend as Ragnar Longsword. Young Ragnar Haraldsson, could hardly wait to grow to manhood so that he could be as brave as his Viking father. One day he would be jarl and exchange his wooden sword for one that was real. ...

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.

Robert FitzStephan has served Edward Longshanks loyally since the age of twelve. Now he is riding with his king to once and for all bring Wales under English control. Eleanor d’Outremer—Noor to family—lost her Castilian mother as a child and is left entirely alone when her father and brother are killed. When ordered to wed the unknown Robert FitzStephan, she has no choice but to comply. Two strangers in a marriage bed is not easy. Things are further complicated by Noor’s blood-ties to the Welsh princes and by covetous Edith who has warmed Robert’s bed for years.

After discovering six gold Roman coins buried in the mud of the Devil's Dyke, Barnabas Sackett enthusiastically invests in goods that he will offer for trade in America. But Sackett has a powerful enemy: Rupert Genester, nephew of an earl, wants him dead. A battlefield promise made to Sackett’s father threatens Genester’s inheritance. So on the eve of his departure for America, Sackett is attacked and thrown into the hold of a pirate ship.

After Englishman John Blackthorne is lost at sea, he awakens in a place few Europeans know of and even fewer have seen—Nippon. Thrust into the closed society that is seventeenth-century Japan, a land where the line between life and death is razor-thin, Blackthorne must negotiate not only a foreign people, with unknown customs and language, but also his own definitions of morality, truth, and freedom. As internal political strife and a clash of cultures lead to seemingly inevitable conflict, Blackthorne’s loyalty and strength of character are tested by both passion and loss.

Bootlegging was Milton and Yvonne Hamilton's ticket out of poverty, prison time, and plain bad luck. Now they've moved on - to a bigger, richer pool of clientele - right in their own respectable new middle-class backyard. And their growing friendship with seemingly-perfect couple Joyce and Odell Watson is proving golden in more ways than one. As Milton soon learns, Odell is hiding an outside family and dubious business dealings. It's the perfect recipe for a blackmail scheme that will help Milton hide his own dirty secrets - even from Yvonne....

Matthew Repington has sworn off love. He's also decided that finding a wife is no longer a priority after he's spurned by the only woman he thinks he could marry for love. He's taken his vows to join the clergy and is preparing to take his post in Whitehall. Miss Diana Walford was in trouble with her mother. She had not yet managed to make a suitable match and time was running out. Her father had threatened to arrange a marriage if she did not get this taken care of herself quickly. She avoided the subject as much as possible, but secretly feared for her future happiness. Falling in love ...

In the rugged beauty of the Scottish Highlands, where mist rolls through ancient glens and loyalties run deep, Alasdair Strathearn fights to reclaim the legacy stolen from his family. Exiled from his ancestral lands as a boy, Alasdair has grown into a fierce leader, determined to unite his fractured clan and restore their honor. But his mission becomes even more dangerous—and deeply personal—when he meets Isobel Kinross, a bold and spirited woman tied to the very family that destroyed his own. Caught between love and loyalty, Isobel is torn. Raised under the shadow of her uncle, the ...

Greed took her family. Grief awakened her gift. Now she’s running for her life—and her freedom. Cassandra Wolfe was born with a gift she was told to hide - until tragedy forces her to embrace it. When gold is discovered on her family’s land, a wave of greed and violence shatters everything she holds dear. Widowed, hunted, and furious, she finally stops hiding. She fights back. Her escape to San Francisco is meant to be a new beginning - but fate has other plans. Dalton Rivers has a mission to complete and a family legacy to protect. But when he meets Cassandra, that mission shifts. ...

A decorated officer betrayed. A proud soldier enslaved. A legend forged in the blood-soaked sands of the arena. Decurion Valerius is a loyal soldier of Rome, his reputation built on discipline and battlefield victories. But when a treacherous act of political ambition, orchestrated by the man he trusts most, Legate Tiberius, strips him of his rank and honor, Valerius is sold into the brutal world of a Carthaginian gladiator school. Chained and condemned, he is no longer a commander of men but a slave forced to fight for the roaring mob. To survive, he must abandon the rigid tactics of a ...

In mid-nineteenth-century Ireland, a small girl arrives on the same dock her mother departed from six years earlier. Laoise Hogan is alone, traumatized, and bearing letters from her mother addressed to the man who abandoned them. Sir Lucius O’Brien, 5th Baronet, 13th Baron Inchiquin, is summoned to Dublin by an orphan society. He finds himself face to face with a small girl whose haunted face looks eerily similar to his brother's.