Renaissance Fiction

Adored only child of King Henry VIII and his first wife Katherine of Aragon, young Princess Mary grows up as the sole heiress to the English throne. But her father wants a son, and soon Mary's world begins to fall apart. With her parents' marriage - and England - in crisis, Mary is banished from the court and kept apart from the mother she adores. The King promises to restore his daughter to favour, but first Mary must do something for which she will never forgive herself. She seeks solace in her faith.

How to Be Both is a novel all about art's versatility. Borrowing from painting's fresco technique to make an original literary double-take, it's a fast-moving, genre-bending conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions. There's a renaissance artist of the 1460s. There's the child of a child of the 1960s. Two tales of love and injustice twist into a singular yarn where time gets timeless, structural gets playful, knowing gets mysterious, fictional gets real - and all life's givens get given a second chance.

In 1660, Amsterdam is the trading and map-printing capital of the world. Anneke van Brug is one of the colorists paid to enhance black-and-white maps for a growing number of collectors. Her artistic talent brings her to the attention of the Blaeu printing house, and she begins to color for a rich merchant, Willem de Groot. But Anneke is not content to simply embellish the work of others; she longs to create maps of her own. Cartography, however, is the domain of men - so it is in secret that she borrows the notes her father made on a trip to Africa in 1642 and sets about designing a new map.

Secrets deepen, alliances shift—and love is no longer the only risk. As Lady Abigall’s secret romance with Prince Everald grows more serious, she dares to introduce him to the one person she trusts most: her loyal friend and maid, Mairi. But in the shadows, Alisa—driven by ambition and unrelenting desire—schemes to use their forbidden love for her own gain. When Abigall falls unexpectedly ill, a shocking revelation threatens to shatter the fragile world she’s built. As she struggles to hold her secrets together, Mairi finds herself caught up in a budding romance of her own—one ...

Escaping the sack of Rome in 1527, with their stomachs churning on the jewels they have swallowed, the courtesan Fiammetta and her dwarf companion, Bucino, head for Venice, the shimmering city born out of water to become a miracle of east-west trade: rich and rancid, pious and profitable, beautiful and squalid.

Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Nature" is perhaps the greatest original work of philosophy written by an American. This specially-prepared edition includes a foreword on the origin and significance the book.

When rumors reach Vienna that an attack by the Ottoman army is imminent, Wilhelm von Schor, one of the emperor’s courtiers, prepares to evacuate his family—including his sister, Katja. But Katja’s reluctance to leave the city and the people she loves so well grows the farther the family carriage gets from her childhood home. When she learns that another brother, Xavier, is returning to Vienna with his musketeers, she decides to remain behind and face the shadow of war. But all too soon, the Ottomans encircle the city, blanketing its inhabitants in fear.

Federico doesn’t mind being a political hostage in the Pope’s palace, especially now that he has a cat as a friend. But he must admit that a kitten walking into a wardrobe and returning full-grown a moment later is quite odd. Even stranger is Herbert, apparently an art collector from the future, who emerges from the wardrobe the next night. Herbert barters with Federico to get a sketch signed by the famous painter Raphael, but his plans take a dangerous turn when he hurries back to his era, desperate to save a dying girl.

Cesare Borgia, former cardinal, Duke of Valentinois and Romagna, has been a figure of awe and scorn for generations. Seemingly compelled to explore this fascinating historical figure's true nature, Rafael Sabatini brought Borgia life as no one had before. Drawn to the passion, suspicion, betrayal, and ambition of Borgia's brief but exciting life, Sabatini penned seven short stories set during the Italian Renaissance: "The Honour of Varano", "The Test", "Ferrante's Jest", "Gisimondi's Wage", "The Snare", "The Lust of Conquest", and "The Pasquinade". These stories are collected here.

Le roman Les Borgia fait partie de la saga historique "Les Crimes célèbres", une série de romans d'Alexandre Dumas, parus entre 1839 et 1840. Chaque roman prend son origine dans un contexte historique différent, couvrant une période allant de la Renaissance à l'époque contemporaine de Dumas. César Borgia, fils du pape Alexandre VI, domine cette famille illustre qui va se construire un royaume dans l'Italie de la Renaissance, éliminant par le fer ou le poison ses principaux rivaux. Il est le frère de Lucrèce Borgia qui a marqué son époque comme protectrice des arts et des lettres.

Toledo, 1479. Nace Juana I de Castilla, tercera hija de los Reyes Católicos. A pesar de tener una educación esmerada, ni sus padres, Isabel I de Castilla y Fernando II de Aragón, ni su esposo Felipe de Habsburgo por el que sentía un amor y unos celos desmedidos, la consideraron capaz de gobernar. Relegada a un segundo plano, y olvidada, su padre y su esposo ejercieron la regencia hasta que su hijo Carlos I tuvo la mayoría de edad.

It is May 1706. Ana, a young Spanish woman, lives in a small town on the north-west coast of Tenerife with her mother and twin younger brothers. The town is in the shadow of a mighty volcano, which legend says has the devil living inside it. However, there has been no eruption for thousands of years, and no one believes it is a threat. One day, Ana notices that the air feels strange and heavy, that the birds have stopped singing. Tending the family vineyard, a sudden strange tremor in the earth frightens her.

Hubo una época en la que los hombres levantaron catedrales, pintaron frescos e imitaron al ser humano en sus mármoles... Entonces, apareció alguien que se atrevió a construir una raza de caballos para la posteridad. En 1522, fruto del amor prohibido entre una criada y un rico y corrupto hacendado, vecino de Jerez de la Frontera, Yago volverá a la vida gracias al aliento de un viejo caballo. Privado del amor de su madre, su vida no va a ser nada fácil.

Le XVIème siècle est très riche, notamment en raison des grandes découvertes et à la pensée humaniste qui se diffuse chez tous les intellectuels de l'époque. Il y a effusion et diffusion des connaissances : on veut tout savoir, tout comprendre. C'est aussi un moment de retour aux textes antiques. La Pléiade, avec Du Bellay et Ronsard, est un groupe d'amis poètes qui ont pour volonté de renouveler la poésie du Moyen Age qu'ils considèrent comme dépassée.

New Caelum is virus-free, and its citizens are eager to venture outside for the first time in nearly seven years. But when an outsider shows up with a near-fatal dog bite along with a harsh message from Governor Jackson, it becomes clear: the elite people of New Caelum are not welcome outside the gates of New Caelum and new dangers lurk in the outside world.

Age Level: 12 and up In this first book of the teen/young adult series of The Gilded Mirror, fifteen-year-old Anna Moore discovers an antique mirror that whisks her back in time to seventeenth-century England. The year is 1643 and the English Civil War is underway. Anna finds herself at Corfe Castle with the Bankes family when the castle is laid siege. Against all odds, she helps the family defend the castle from rebel forces who hopelessly outnumber them. What will happen and will Anna be able to return to her own time? Inspired by true historical events, The Gilded Mirror is an ...

Spanning 2,000 years, The Everlasting follows four characters whose struggles resonate across the centuries: an early Christian child martyr; a medieval monk on crypt duty in a church; a Medici princess of Moorish descent; and a contemporary field biologist conducting an illicit affair. Outsiders to a city layered and dense with history, this quartet separated by time grapple with the physicality of bodies, the necessity for sacrifice, and the power of love to sustain and challenge faith.

The Agents of the Crown - the “rollicking new historical thriller” (The New York Times Book Review) series - returns with this riveting novel following the original MI6 agent as he is assigned a dangerous mission to recreate a weapon from antiquity.

Nel maggio del 1624 un uomo accompagna la figlia sulla spiaggia di Santa Severa, dove si è arenata una balena. Esiste anche ciò che è al di là del nostro orizzonte, è questo che il padre insegna a Plautilla. Una visione che contribuirà a fare di quella bambina un'artista, misteriosa pittrice e architettrice nel torbido splendore della Roma barocca.

A woman wrestles with stifling race and gender expectations in this debut novel by Nella Larsen, one of the most important voices of the Harlem Renaissance.