Historical Fiction Renaissance

Beatrice is the convent's librarian. For years, she has shunned the company of her sisters, finding solace only with her manuscripts. Then, one carnival night, two women, bleeding and stricken, are abandoned outside the convent's walls. Moments from death, one of them presses something into Beatrice's hands: a bewitching book whose pages have a dangerous life of their own.

In the gripping conclusion to Tracy Borman’s Stuart-era trilogy, Frances Gorges must face a dangerous new enemy deep within the court of James I.

The United States endured a bitter civil war and embarked on the complex process of Reconstruction, aiming to eliminate slavery and secure civil rights for African Americans in the South. Despite the ratification of constitutional amendments guaranteeing these rights, their full realization would not come for another century. Johnson, who assumed the presidency only after Lincoln's assassination, bears significant responsibility for this delay. His actions enabled the growth of Jim Crow laws and entrenched racial inequality throughout the South in Reconstruction's aftermath.

Giulia Tofana never wanted to be a nun, but she is determined to atone for her past misdeeds by making her new monastery a success. When an unexpected disaster closes the convent, Giulia is forced to turn to her old friend, Fabio Pasello, for help. Giulia still has intense feelings for Fabio, and Fabio’s passion for her has never diminished. But they are not the same people they were before. Giulia has taken her vows, and Fabio is apprenticed to Gianlorenzo Bernini, the famous sculptor, and has become one of Bernini’s rakish libertines.

Le 22 juin 1627, François de Montmorency-Bouteville est décapité en place de Grève. Il laisse une jeune épouse de vingt ans, deux petites filles et un garçon à naître. La famille aurait sombré dans la misère si la princesse de Condé, leur cousine, ne se chargeait d'élever les enfants selon leur rang.

France, 1562. Les tensions entre catholiques et protestants montent, le royaume se déchire. Le prince de Condé et le duc de Guise se livrent un combat sans merci. Les huguenots sont persécutés, les massacres se succèdent. À Carcassonne, Marguerite Joubert, une jeune libraire catholique, fait la connaissance de Piet, un protestant converti dont la vie est en danger.

Isola d'Elba, 1544. I corsari turchi, al comando di Khayr al-Din detto Barbarossa, sbarcano nottetempo su una spiaggia accanto a Longone – l'odierna Porto Azzurro – dove Lucero e sua sorella Angiolina si preparano alla pesca dei calamari. Lucero viene ferito, Angiolina rapita. Il mondo si apre, la storia comincia. Lucero, guidato da un indomabile sentimento di vendetta, si trasforma – anche grazie all'incontro con il capitano Rodrigo, compagno e mentore – in un "duellante imbattibile" e in un soldato di ventura.

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 Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea (Spanish: Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea), known in Spain as La Celestina, is a work entirely in dialogue published in 1499. It is attributed to Fernando de Rojas, a descendant of converted Jews, who practiced law and, later in life, served as an alderman of Talavera de la Reina, an important commercial center near Toledo.

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.

In 1537, amidst England's religious turmoil, fifteen-year-old Anne Askew is forced to take her dead sister’s place in an arranged marriage. The witty, well-educated daughter of a Lincolnshire knight, Anne is determined to free herself from her abusive husband, harsh in-laws, and the cruel strictures of her married life. But this is the England of Henry VIII, where religion and politics are dangerously entangled.

During the sweltering Roman summer of 1492, Rodrigo Borgia has risen to power as pope. Rodrigo’s eldest son Cesare, forced to follow his father into the church and newly made the Archbishop of Valencia, chafes at his ecclesiastical role and fumes with jealousy and resentment at the way that his foolish brother has been chosen for the military greatness he desired. Maddalena Moretti comes from the countryside, where she has seen how the whims of powerful men wreak havoc on the lives of ordinary people. But now, employed as a servant in the Vatican Palace, she cannot help but be entranced by Cesare Borgia.

A girl as beautiful as Simonetta Cattaneo never wants for marriage proposals in 15th-century Italy, but she jumps at the chance to marry Marco Vespucci. Marco is young, handsome, and well-educated. Not to mention he is one of the powerful Medici family's favored circle. Even before her marriage with Marco is set, Simonetta is swept up into Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici's glittering circle of politicians, poets, artists, and philosophers. The men of Florence - most notably the rakish Giuliano de' Medici - become enthralled with her beauty.

Florence, 1500. Fresco painter Jacopo Torni longs to make his mark in the world. But while his peers enjoy prestigious commissions, his meager painting jobs are all earmarked to pay down gambling debts. When Jacopo hears of a competition to create Florence's greatest sculpture, he pins all his hopes on a collaboration with his boyhood companion, Michelangelo Buonarroti. But will the frustrated artist ever emerge from the shadow of his singularly gifted friend?

Une écriture d'une beauté inouïe, portée par la voix de Marie Bouvet. C'est un grand jour à Ferrare. On y célèbre les noces du duc Alfonso et de Lucrèce de Médicis. La fête est extravagante et la foule n'a d'yeux que pour le couple. La mariée a quinze ans. Rien ne l'avait préparée à ce rôle. Elle n'était que la troisième fille du grand duc de Toscane, la discrète, la sensible, celle dont ses parents ne savaient que faire. Mais le décès soudain de sœur aînée a changé son histoire.

Eine spannende, dramatische Geschichte über Liebe und Verrat, Heldentum und Opferbereitschaft, Niedertracht und Tot. Der Roman schildert außerdem die katastrophalen Lebensverhältnisse jener Zeit in Paris und London um 1790. Frankreich steht am Rande des Chaos der französischen Revolution und dem Niedergang der Aristokratie, während London sich in einem noch stabilen gesellschaftlichen Wandel wähnt.

Isaac Stanfield leaves his home to become a sailor on a merchantman, the Sweet Rose, and through ingenuity and sheer luck, finds himself in the middle of the drama and explorations that precede the departure of the Mayflower for New England in 1620. Exploration is Isaac's coming-of-age story, capturing the turbulence of the times through his observations and experiences. Suspenseful, poignant, and expertly researched, David Tory's novel brings to life an engaging cultural history of English seafaring exploration and intrigue in the early 17th century.

Louise Lloyd is finally living the quiet life she’d longed for, working in a parfumerie by day and spending time with her new friends every night at the Aquarius club in Paris. When a desperate mother asks for help locating her artist daughter, Louise initially refuses to keep her hard-won but fragile peace intact. But the woman comes with a letter of introduction from an old friend in Harlem, and Louise realizes she has no choice but to do what she can to find the missing young woman.

The daughter of a wealthy merchant, Anneke Sheldrake suddenly finds her family bankrupted when her father’s ship is swept away at sea. Forced to find a way to provide for herself and her siblings, Anneke rejects an offer of marriage from a despised cousin and instead turns to her late mother’s family business – brewing ale. Armed with her mother’s recipes, she then makes a bold deal with her father’s aristocratic employer, putting her home and family at risk.

It’s the fifteenth century and only heretics are curious about the universe. Germany, 1494. Born under a rare alignment of the stars, Johann Georg Gerlach, "the lucky one" to his mother - is fated for greatness. But Johann’s studies and wonder at the sky have made him suspect. Especially in wake of the child disappearances that have left the God-fearing locals trembling and his one true love trapped in terrified catatonia. Her only words: "I have seen the devil..."