Ancient Historical Fiction

Zhu Yuanzhang, the Radiant King, is riding high after her victory that tore southern China from its Mongol masters. Now she burns with a new desire: to seize the throne and crown herself emperor. But Zhu isn’t the only one with imperial ambitions. Her neighbor in the south, the courtesan Madam Zhang, wants the throne for her husband—and she’s strong enough to wipe Zhu off the map. To stay in the game, Zhu will have to gamble everything on a risky alliance with an old enemy: the talented but unstable eunuch general Ouyang, who has already sacrificed everything for a chance at revenge.

It is a time of fire. A small band of pioneers struggle valiantly to keep their ancestors' dreams alive in an unforgiving, drought-stricken land. Driven by the promise of an awesome vision, a heroic young dreamer and a fearless woman warrior unite to lead their people to a magnificent destiny. A towering epic filled with tragedy and triumph, courage and conflict, People of the Fire is the second compelling novel in a majestic saga of America's first peoples.

Jerusalem and the Sinai desert, AD 55. In the turbulent aftermath of the crucifixion of Jesus, agents of the Roman Empire receive information about a pilgrim bearing an incendiary letter from a religious fanatic calling himself Paul the Apostle to insurrectionists in Corinth. What's in the letter could bring down an empire. The Romans hire a former legionary, a solitary man-at-arms named Telamon to intercept the letter and destroy the courier. But once he meets the courier, Telamon experiences an extraordinary conversion.

Game of Thrones meets Ancient Egypt in this magnificent, action-packed epic. On the gleaming banks of the Nile, the brilliant Taita - slave and advisor to the Pharaoh - finds himself at the center of a vortex of passion, intrigue, and danger. His quest to destroy the Hyksos army and form an alliance with Crete takes him on an epic journey up the Nile, through Arabia and the magical city of Babylon, and across the open seas.

In this sweeping tale, at once epic and intimate, Shyam Selvadurai introduces us to Siddhartha Gautama—who will later become “the enlightened one,” or the Buddha—an unusually bright and politically astute young man settling into his upper-caste life as a newlywed to Yasodhara, a woman of great intelligence and spirit. Mansions of the Moon traces the couple’s early love and life together, and then the anguished turmoil that descends upon them both as Siddhartha’s spiritual calling takes over and the marriage partnership slowly, inexorably crumbles.

AD 55. The Emperor Claudius is dead. Nero rules. His half-brother Britannicus has also laid claim to the throne. A bloody power struggle is underway. All Prefect Cato and Centurion Macro want is a simple army life, fighting with their brave and loyal men. But Cato has caught the eye of rival factions determined to get him on their side. To survive, Cato must play a cunning game and enlist the help of the one man in the empire he can trust: Macro.

The Dacian kingdom and Rome are at peace, but no one thinks that it will last. Sent to command an isolated fort beyond the Danube, centurion Flavius Ferox can sense that war is coming but also knows that enemies may be closer to home. Many of the Brigantes under his command are former rebels and convicts, as likely to kill him as obey an order. And then there is Hadrian, the emperor's cousin, and a man with plans of his own.

After surviving the Crossing, Zahru has sworn off adventures. While Crown Prince Jet navigates the looming threat of war, she's content to simply figure out what the future holds for them. But they're dealt a devastating blow when prince Kasta returns with a shocking claim: He's the true winner of the Crossing and the rightful heir, and he bears the gods' mark as proof. Even more surprising - he's not the only one. Somehow, Zahru possesses the very same mark, giving her equal right to the throne.

Years have passed since the clash of shieldwalls echoed across the land. The Saxons are now the lords of Britain. And yet the bards still sing of Arthur - 'In our darkest time, when we need him most, shall he come again.' Yet old Beran has no love of bards' songs. Nor of people, unless they are paying him to steal or kill. He is a mercenary, in the employ of the cutthroat Nabor ap Nabor, and he has been ordered to murder a boy fleeing a burning city. No ordinary boy either. No, this boy is the son of King Constantine and the grandson of High King Ambrosius.

Nationally bestselling author of Daughters of Sparta Claire Heywood returns with an imaginative and female-centered reinterpretation of the myth of the great hero Perseus, told through the voices of three women who are sidelined in the traditional version—his mother, Danae; his trophy, Medusa; and his wife, Andromeda—but whose viewpoints reveal a man who is not, in fact, a hero at all.

Princess Jehosheba wants nothing more than to please the harsh and demanding Queen Athaliah, daughter of the notorious Queen Jezebel. Her work as a priestess in the temple of Baal seems to do the trick. But when a mysterious letter from the dead prophet Elijah predicts doom for the royal household, Jehosheba realizes that the dark arts she practices reach beyond the realm of earthly governments. To further Athaliah and Jezebel's strategies, she is forced to marry Yahweh's high priest and enters the unfamiliar world of Yahweh's temple.

A finales del siglo III a. C., Roma se encontraba al borde de la destrucción total, a punto de ser aniquilada por los ejércitos cartagineses al mando de uno de los mejores estrategas militares de todos los tiempos: Aníbal. Su alianza con Filipo V de Macedonia, que pretendía la aniquilación de Roma como Estado y el reparto del mundo conocido entre las potencias de Cartago y Macedonia, constituía una fuerza imparable que, de haber conseguido sus objetivos, habría determinado para siempre el devenir de Occidente.

"L'Odyssée", est-il nécessaire de présenter ce " très vieux poème " ? La superbe traduction (en vers) de Philippe Jaccottet fait revivre l'épopée d'Homère, qui vient "à son lecteur ou, mieux peut-être, à son auditeur un peu comme viennent à la rencontre du voyageur ces statues ou ces colonnes lumineuses dans l'air cristallin de la Grèce...". D'après la tradition antique, Homère, l'aède aveugle, aurait vécu au IXe siècle avant J.-C. et serait l'auteur de cette épopée universellement connue, composée après "L'Iliade".

Taita, the pharaoh's advisor and hero of Desert God and River God, once again finds himself caught up in a whirlpool of ruthless intrigue that threatens the very foundations of the beloved empire he has pledged his life to protect. Plunged into dangerous and deadly waters more treacherous than the Nile, he must use his intelligence, alchemy, and cunning to protect his pharaoh and keep safe all he loves.

Britannia, AD 117: Roman centurion Flavius Ferox is trying to live a quiet life of dignified leisure, overseeing his wife's estate and doing his best to resist the urge to murder an annoying neighbor—until someone else does it for him. Dragged back into a life of violence, Ferox finds himself chasing raiders, fighting chieftains and negotiating with kings, journeying far into the north just as war breaks out. With the new emperor, Hadrian, sending agents from Rome, the whole world seems to be changing.

Mare Internum, año 75 a. C. Un barco mercante navega rumbo a la isla de Rodas. A bordo, Julio César acompañado sólo por su fiel Labieno. Obligado por sus enemigos a exiliarse de Roma, se dirige al encuentro con el maestro Apolonio para aprender oratoria y de este modo, a su regreso, iniciar una feroz pugna para ingresar en el Senado y enfrentarse allí al temido Cicerón.

Alexander's beauty, strength and defiance were apparent from birth, but his boyhood honed those gifts into the makings of a king. His mother, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son's loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. His love for the youth Hephaistion taught him trust, while Aristotle's tutoring provoked his mind and Homer's Iliad fuelled his aspirations.

After some long and perilous journeys, Menedemos and Sostratos finally head back to Athens just in time for the Dionysia, a bacchanalian festival of plays and celebrations. Like earlier installments in the series, Owls to Athens has the cousins going through various adventures, trade negotiations and sexual escapades, all set against a finely painted mosaic of Hellenic life in the fourth century BCE.

Set 5,000 years ago and ranging through what is now Montana, Wyoming, northern Colorado, and Utah, People of the Earth follows the migration of the Uto-Aztecan people south out of Canada. It is the unforgettable tale of a woman torn between two peoples and two dreams, of the two men who love her and the third who must have her, and of the vision given to the peoples long ago by the spirit of the wolf.

Rome, 77 B.B. The corrupt Senator Dolabella is about to go on trial for his crimes. But Dolabella owns the jury. He’s hired the best lawyers in the city. And he’s very willing to use violence against those who oppose him. In all of Rome, no man dares accept the role of prosecutor—until, against all odds, an unknown twenty-three-year-old steps out to lead the case, defend the people of the city, and defy the power of the ruling elite. That lawyer’s name is Gaius Julius Caesar.