Showing results for "life" in Historical Fiction

"[Narrator Julia] Whelan's performance is unforgettable in this darkly romantic fantasy about one young woman cursed always to be forgotten...Her depiction of the darkness is smooth with a low cadence, capturing listeners' attention and their heart strings." –Booklist In the vein of The Time...

The Golden Lion has retreated to Atalia with the remnants of his army. An anxious calm has settled over war-torn Bergonia, but it doesn't seem likely that things will stay quiet for very long. With the burden of command finally removed from his shoulders, Max is headed to northern Bergonia. To the lands of the Margraviate de Valier, which were conferred on him by King Carl III.

Georgiana Allen is a spinster, and everybody knows it. She also happens to be one of the writers for the Spinster Chronicles, and everybody knows that, as well. She’s accepted her lot in life, and along with the other spinsters in her circle, takes great pride in the articles she writes and the influence she has. Then, Captain Anthony Sterling infiltrates their group and her life, and Georgie impossibly begins to hope, once more.

In the frostbitten town of Eldermoor, Cecilia Wrenwood grows up as the overlooked daughter, strong, resourceful, and starved of affection. But when fate, betrayal, and a royal decree cast her into hardship, she finds herself reborn with memories of a life already lived. This time, she refuses to be a victim, outsmarting rivals, reshaping her destiny, and building an empire from grit and cunning.

Fed up with an outlaw existence, Calico Jack Rackam swears off the pirate life, but he hasn’t reckoned with Anne Bonny, a woman who would as soon stab a man as give him a good tumble—that is, unless he’s a pirate. Soon Jack finds himself out on the high seas again, with Anne by his side and his men spoiling for action. And when they capture a Dutch merchant ship, they pick up an unlikely crewmate as well, an expert sword fighter and topmast seaman who has a secret: he just happens to be a woman named Mary. Together they cut a bold swath through the West Indies.

Current day, Oxford, England. Young American scholar Kendra Van Zant, eager to pursue her vision of a perfect life, interviews Isabel McFarland just when the elderly woman is ready to give up secrets about the war that she has kept for decades...beginning with who she really is. What Kendra receives from Isabel is both a gift and a burden--one that will test her convictions and her heart.

Saeed is the comic hero, the luckless fool, whose tale tells of the aggression and resistance, terror and heroism, reason and loyalty, that typify the hardships and struggles of Arabs in Israel. An informer for the Zionist state, his stupidity, candor, and cowardice make him more of a victim than a villain; but in a series of tragicomic episodes, he is gradually transformed from a disaster-haunted, gullible collaborator into a Palestinian—no hero still, but a simple man intent on survival and, perhaps, happiness.

ELIZABETH BENNET AND FITZWILLIAM DARCY have an instant attraction to one another when they meet in the summer of 1811 at Netherfield Park. Love blossoms quickly and an autumn wedding is planned for happily betrothed couple.

Lady Emily Hardcastle is an eccentric widow with a secret past. Florence Armstrong, her maid and confidante, is an expert in martial arts. The year is 1908 and they've just moved from London to the country, hoping for a quiet life. But it is not long before Lady Hardcastle is forced out of her self-imposed retirement. There's a dead body in the woods, and the police are on the wrong scent. Lady Hardcastle makes some enquiries of her own, and it seems she knows a surprising amount about crime investigation...

In a former life, Jack was gifted, meaning he possessed peculiar abilities. If rich folks found themselves in a jam, Jack could use his talents to get them out of it. Where others were sure to fail, Jack's aristocratic clientele could always count on him to finish jobs cleanly, efficiently, and leave no trace, for which his services commanded a hefty fee. But one day, Jack picked a fight with the wrong man and his old life came to an end. But, as it turned out, his story was far from over.

At the start of the twentieth century, on the edge of the Russian empire, a family prospers. It owes its success to a delicious chocolate recipe, passed down the generations with great solemnity and caution. A caution which is justified: this is a recipe for ecstasy that carries a very bitter aftertaste....

Eloisa Holt is not the type of woman to wander London on her own. In fact, she's not even the type of woman to consider such a thing. After all, her governesses hailed her as a paragon of everything proper. But when a nude painting of her mother scandalizes the ton, Eloisa must stop more paintings from being displayed. This debutante is desperate.

In the waning years of the eighteenth century, young William Culpepper leaves behind his quiet family home and steps into the ruthless world of the British Army. Appointed an ensign in the King’s 33rd Regiment of Foot, he soon learns that courage, intellect, and moral conviction are tested in the forge of the battlefield.

Kenneth Branagh stars in BBC Radio 4's ambitious eight-hour dramatisation of Life and Fate, Vasily Grossman's epic masterpiece set during the Battle of Stalingrad. This powerful work, completed in 1960, charts the fate of both a nation and a family in the turmoil of war. Its comparison of Stalinism with Nazism was considered by Soviet authorities to be so dangerous that the KGB placed the manuscript under arrest and Grossman was informed his book would not be published for at least 200 years.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY “A glorious sweep of a novel” (Ann Patchett) that weaves the intimate lives of two midwestern families across generations, from World War II to the late twentieth century. “Mesmerizing.”—People...

Christmas Eve, 2019. Ninety-four-year-old Molly lies in her hospital bed. A stroke and a fall may have broken her body - but her mind is alive with memories. London, 1940s. Molly is a bright young woman, determined to help the war effort and keep her head up despite it all. Life becomes brighter when she meets and falls in love with a man who makes her forget everything with one dance. But then war forces her to make an unforgettable sacrifice.

A history of peasants in the Middle Ages, the story takes the listener into the life of Marion, the carpenter's wife, and her extended family as they struggle to survive through hardship, featuring a year in their lives at the mercy of the weather and the Lord of the Manor. Existing without soap, paper or glass and only with the most basic of tools, we learn how they survive starvation, sickness, fire and natural disaster in their home on the edge of the Weald.

Dave seemed to have it all. A successful career, a loving family, the respect of everyone around him. But behind the polished surface, he was drinking in secret, convincing himself it wasn’t a problem. No arrests. No missed meetings. Just a few drinks to relax… The Double Life of a High-Functioning Alcoholic is a raw, memoir-style novel inspired by Howard Kane’s own sobriety journey. It takes you inside the hidden world of high-functioning addiction where success becomes a mask, denial runs deep, and every drink feels both normal and dangerous.

A new ruler is ascending to the throne of Vintervald, and his army is heading to the North to give battle to the Frost Knights. And meanwhile, Princess Astrid is desperate to find new allies. The King of Astland dreams of an Imperial Crown, and he's waiting for the right moment to hurl his legions into Vestonia. In Atalia, a shift in the balance of power is already well underway, and the Golden Lion is hungry for revenge. The King of Claron, Olgerd III the Proud, has fixed his eyes on Bergonia and the Margraviate de Valier.

'The portrait of a fascinating, eccentric, and indomitable woman . . . an incandescent novel' Elle 'No author has yet captured Frida's tragic life in words as sensually and passionately as this' Grazia 'Claire Berest writes as captivatingly and vividly as Frida Kahlo painted' Paris Match WINNER...