Renaissance Fiction

Shakespeare's plays have been beloved for so many years that his characters and words have shaped our world today. This collection has adapted these works adapted for younger listeners, introducing them to iconic characters such as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Queen Cleopatra of Egypt.

The roots of the Agent J universe were established in the first book, The Shadows of Agent J in what seemed to be a confusing, clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caliginous vignettes (tiny storyettes). That anthology was in fact, a collection of puzzle pieces that will appear in future Agent J books . . . including this one. Ultimately, this will lead to an explanation of the stratospheric Holy Sequence and the Holy Darkness that is metastasizing, bringing chaos to mankind.

UNA MISSIONE PERICOLOSA. UN TRADIMENTO IMPERDONABILE. UN SEGRETO NASCOSTO NEI MEANDRI DEL TEMPO. 1584. Da poco arrivato in Inghilterra dalla Francia, Tom Lutton, giovane erborista sordomuto, viene ingaggiato come assistente dallo speziale di corte e per una serie di circostanze fortuite entra nelle grazie della sovrana. Donna di acuta intelligenza, Elisabetta I intuisce subito quanto possa rivelarsi utile un domestico che non può parlare né sentire e tuttavia riesce a capire ciò che si dice attorno a lui, e in breve lo trasforma nella sua spia personale.

Florence. Spring, 1537. When Cesare Aldo investigates a report of intruders at a convent in the Renaissance city’s northern quarter, he enters a community divided by bitter rivalries and harbouring dark secrets. His case becomes far more complicated when a naked man’s body is found deep inside the convent, stabbed more than two dozen times. Unthinkable as it seems, all the evidence suggests one of the nuns must be the killer. Meanwhile, Constable Carlo Strocchi finds human remains pulled from the Arno that belong to an officer of the law missing since winter.

Cesare Aldo, a former soldier and now an officer of the Renaissance city's most feared criminal court, is given four days to solve the murder: catch the killer before the feast of Epiphany—or suffer the consequences. During his investigations Aldo uncovers a plot to overthrow the volatile ruler of Florence, Alessandro de' Medici. If the duke falls, it will endanger the whole city. But a rival officer of the court is determined to expose details about Aldo’s private life that could lead to his ruin.

Florence. Autumn, 1539. Cesare Aldo was once an officer for the city’s most feared criminal court. Following a period of exile, he is back but demoted to night patrol when only the drunk and the dangerous roam the streets. Chasing a suspect in the rain, Aldo discovers a horrifying scene beneath Michelangelo’s statue of David. Lifeless eyes gaze from the face of a man whose body has been posed as if crucified. It’s clear the killer had religious motives. When more bodies appear, Aldo believes an unholy murderer is stalking the citizens of Florence.

Dos mujeres de mundos diferentes en la Francia del Renacimiento se cruzan de una manera que cambia sus vidas. Una es Margarita de Navarra, hermana de un rey. Poderosa, privilegiada y muy admirada, Marguerita debe casarse por conveniencia familiar, independientemente de sus sentimientos y, a pesar de las nuevas y emocionantes ideas de reforma religiosa que causan furor en Francia, debe seguir la tradición por el bien del reino de su hermano. Siempre dispuesta a asumir riesgos, hace lo que puede para proteger a sus amigos reformistas.

The saga that has enthralled the millions of fans of The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End now continues with Ken Follett's magnificent, gripping A Column of Fire. Christmas 1558, and young Ned Willard returns home to Kingsbridge to find his world has changed. The ancient stones of Kingsbridge Cathedral look down on a city torn by religious hatred. Europe is in turmoil as high principles clash bloodily with friendship, loyalty and love.

Spring, 1549. Two years after the death of Henry VIII, England is sliding into chaos...The king, Edward VI, is 11 years old. His uncle Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, rules as Protector. Radical Protestants are conducting all-out war on the old religion, stirring discontent among the people. The Protector's prolonged war with Scotland is proving a disastrous failure. Worst of all, the economy is in collapse, inflation rages, and rebellion is stirring among the peasantry.

1589. Scottish housemaid Geillis and Danish courtier Margareta lead opposite lives, but they both know one thing: when a man cries “witch”, no woman is safe. Yet when the marriage of King James VI and Princess Anna of Denmark brings Geillis and Margareta together, everything they supposed about good, evil, men, and women, is cast in a strange and brilliant new light. For the first time in history, could black magic – or rumours of it – be a very real tool for women’s political gain?

Whispered tales of ages long ago, Do they still enchant, their magic glow? Into realms of Renaissance, with grace, alight, With Eternal Sonnets, feel passions ignite. Bound in pages, passion’s timeless quest, Each sonnet shines, among the very best. Elizabethan tales reborn, their voice so true, Their timeless allure, ever beckoning you. Through echoes of Shakespeare, ancient love resounds, Its timeless rhythm, in every heartbeat it’s found. Heavenly desires and earthly passions blend, In tales of an era, where love knows no end.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Tomorrow by Damian Dibben, read by George Blagden. Tomorrow tells the story of a 217-year-old dog and his search for his lost master. His adventures take him through the London Frost Fair, the strange court of King Charles I, the wars of the Spanish succession, Versailles, the Golden Age of Amsterdam, 19th-century Venice and the Battle of Waterloo.

Karibik 1635: In den spanischen Kolonien hat der Schwarzhandel überhand genommen. Der neue Gouverneur von Hispaniola schwört, jeden Schmuggler, den er erwischt, eigenhändig aufzuhängen. Die schöne Doña Maria zittert um ihren Gemahl, einen reichen Pflanzer und heimlichen Drahtzieher des verbotenen Handels. Im fernen Bremen hat der junge Handelsherr Jan van Hagen nur die Wahl zwischen Schuldturm und Flucht in die Neue Welt, um als Schmuggler das verlorene Familienvermögen wieder herzustellen. Noch in der Nacht entkommt er den Schergen und nimmt Kurs auf Westindien. Seine Suche nach dem Gold des Südens hat begonnen.

When soldiers attack the inhabitants of a Jewish ghetto in sixteenth-century Lithuania, Abigail manages to escape both the attack and her abusive husband, Reuven. She travels over land and sea to Venice, where she settles in another ghetto. Believing Reuven is dead, Abigail falls in love with her widowed neighbor, Daniel. But before Abigail and Daniel announce their betrothal, her violent husband reappears.

È il 1840, Enrichetta ha diciannove anni e ha da poco perso il padre, Don Fabio Caracciolo, maresciallo del Regno delle Due Sicilie a Reggio Calabria, ultimo figlio del Principe di Forino. Lei è giovane, nobile, innamorata di Domenico. Ma la famiglia di lui non approva l’unione. Sì, Enrichetta vanta ascendenze illustri, ma è priva di solidità economica e il matrimonio non s’ha da fare.

All’approssimarsi di un evento decisivo per la storia della Cristianità – la battaglia di Lepanto (1571) che impegnerà la flotta mussulmana dell’Impero Ottomano e quelle alleate del Papa e dell’Imperatore guidate da don Giovanni d’Austria, figlio naturale di Carlo V d’Absburgo – a Messina un maturo frate intellettuale e una donna di nobili origini, giunta da Aquisgrana al seguito del giovane condottiero, tramano un complesso intrigo per favorire la flotta imperiale a scapito dei papisti, tra colpi di scena e difficoltà nel portare a buon esito il piano.

Mia madre era una strega. O almeno così dissero quando la trascinarono via. Ma per me era vera solo una cosa: lei era il centro del mio universo. Avevo nove anni e la mia vita cominciò quel giorno. Inghilterra, 1573: in un mondo già illuminato dalla luce del Rinascimento, ma in cui ancora si dà la caccia alle streghe, la piccola Rose è figlia di una madre accusata di stregoneria, e per lei la vita sembra avere in serbo solo povertà e amarezza.

"Столпы земли" - грандиозная панорама самых темных лет в истории Англии, когда борьба за престол и междоусобные войны были привычным фоном жизни. Перед читателем раскрываются сплетенные в единый клубок истории самых разных людей - от простых ремесленников до графов и членов королевских семей. Воссоздан целый мир страстей и преступлений, интриг, тайн, страхов, любви и верности, на фоне которого медленно и величественно разворачивается строительство самого высокого собора в Англии.

"Столпы земли" - грандиозная панорама самых темных лет в истории Англии, когда борьба за престол и междоусобные войны были привычным фоном жизни. Перед читателем раскрываются сплетенные в единый клубок истории самых разных людей - от простых ремесленников до графов и членов королевских семей. Воссоздан целый мир страстей и преступлений, интриг, тайн, страхов, любви и верности, на фоне которого медленно и величественно разворачивается строительство самого высокого собора в Англии.

Ein großes Panorama aus historischem Wissen, Spannung, Intrigen und Liebe. 1540. Die kräuterkundige Verena von Pfäffikon soll als Hexe verbrannt werden. Doch bevor sie auf dem Scheiterhaufen stirbt, brennt das Dorf – Verena gelingt die Flucht. Drei beschwerliche Wochen später trifft sie – als Mann verkleidet und sich nun Johann nennend – in Padua ein. Im Sog einer Gruppe von Studenten gelangt sie ins anatomische Theater und wird Zeugin, wie der berühmte Anatom Andreas Vesal eine Obduktion ausführt.