Showing titles in Renaissance

The Church is fracturing, revolution is brewing, and society is changing rapidly. Three authors who shaped this new world with their pens—Martin Luther, Desiderius Erasmus, and Philipp Melanchthon—will now be shaped by it in turn. When the pope and King Henry VIII of England pressure Erasmus to take a public stand against Luther, both authors will be forced to wrestle with literal and figurative demons. Erasmus is haunted by his illegitimate birth. Luther struggles with the rejection of the Church and his own father.

The International Bestseller “Lois Leveen’s richly detailed, fascinating novel offers a wholly original and intriguing take on one of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays” (New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini). In Verona, a city ravaged by plague and political rivalries, a...

Highland Scotland was no place for a woman in the early 1500s. Life was turbulent and short, battles were waged, and sisters and daughters were traded as pawns in marriage. Catherine Campbell was one such young bride, betrothed to Lachlan Maclean and sent from her fine home to join him on the Isle of Mull, to bear his sons and heirs. But Lachlan proved to be nothing like the man of Catherine’s dreams, and she was forced to resign herself to enduring life with him for the sake of duty. Until the day when he threatened to take away the one thing she couldn’t sacrifice: her daughter.

Once upon a time a young couple met and fell in love. You probably know that story, and how it ended (hint: badly). Only here’s the thing: That’s not how it ended at all. Romeo and Juliet are alive and well and the parents of seven kids. I’m the oldest, with the emphasis on ‘old’—a certified spinster at twenty, and happy to stay that way. It’s not easy to keep your taste for romance with parents like mine. Picture it—constant monologues, passionate declarations, fighting, making up, making out … it’s exhausting.

Montpellier in 1566 - only fools walk the streets at night unarmed while a profession of faith in the wrong company can lead to a knife in the back. Not even this proud city of philosophers is safe from the menaces that endanger the peace of France. The city militia are struggling to contend with the lawlessness and religious hatred that threaten to tear the whole country in two.

When Sir Guy promised Will's dying mother he'd look after her son, he couldn't imagine where that oath would lead. So he takes Will on as a man-at-arms for the worst job in England—guarding the deposed king. Will's fondness for making friends in the tavern and for the occasional company of barmaids runs contrary to Guy's personal code of honor-devotion to God and king. But the young man is a competent soldier and well-liked, so Guy settles for the occasional, public admonishment to keep the others from going down what he considers Will's path of dissolution.

Carlo meets the famed nun, Sister Giulia di Marco, and her confessor, Father Aniello Arcieri, a few years later, while restoring an altarpiece in a church. The charismatic pair gradually draw the lonely artist into their scandalous Confraternity of Carnal Charity, whose wealthy noble acolytes believe divine glory can be achieved through sexual ecstasy. Unable to continue living a lie, Carlo confesses a big secret to Sister Giulia. The crafty nun wastes no time assigning the novitiate a prominent role within the cult, which soon captures the attention of the Holy Inquisition....

Mary Howard is the dutiful daughter of the infamous Duke of Norfolk. Protected by her prestigious family and wealth, she is swept up in Anne Boleyn’s glittering court. Charmed by talented poets and flirtatious knights, it’s easy to forget that someone is watching her every move. The court grows wilder as the world changes around them. Everything seems possible, even marrying for love. All Mary can think of is her poetry, but then she gets involved in her uncle’s affairs. Soon her world of privilege and safety are torn away. But she’s not a Howard girl for nothing.

In the castle at the heart of battle-scarred Elysia, Tessa Serafina di Acampora faces her wedding to Duka Yosef. She’s spent years building herself into a strategic advisor invaluable to the ailing leader of the nation, becoming a woman the world won’t forget. The betrothal should be a boon, a promise of the good life. But she can’t stop thinking of the other beautiful ladies of the court… Prema Nyssa, hero of Elysia who just ended their long war with Ermandi, finds herself dragged to Casteli Valoria to reap the rewards.

Elena Morandi has gained a fragile foothold in a master tailor's workshop, despite the profession being barred to women. But then Antonio della Fontana, a powerful man from her past, crosses her path and threatens everything she has built. Fontana has every corner of the city in his pocket and Elena knows all too well of his past abuses, but driven to fight for justice, she hatches a daring plan to get retribution for herself, a lost friend, and his other victims.

June 1589: Lord Sinclair, proud of his castle in Aberdeenshire, hosts the banquet to celebrate peace with England and the king's impending marriage. Celebrations have to be discreet, as the country is facing political and financial turmoil, but this won't be a quiet night's celebration for the king. It can't be, not for Lord Sinclair's sake.

October 1502. As Cesare Borgia sets out to invade the Florentine Republic, Niccolò Machiavelli is sent to spy on him and to glean details of his nefarious plan. But when Borgia asks Machiavelli to write his life story, their bond gains complexity and nuance: ultimately, they both aspire to everlasting fame and to achieve it, they need each other, for the one's sword can only rule in eternity via the pen of the other.

May 1536: Queen Anne Boleyn has fallen and Jane Seymour is about to become Queen, yet the King's new love is troubled not only by the fall and execution of his last wife and Queen, but by the creeping feeling that she knows not the man she has promised to marry. As Jane steps into the palaces of the King, emerging quietly as England's Queen, she finds herself haunted by thoughts of Anne Boleyn, Katherine of Aragon and what the past means for her own fate. And Jane is not the only one troubled by the actions of King Henry VIII.

È l'anno del signore 1550 L'Europa è ancora percorsa da venti di guerra. Il lungo scontro tra Spagna e Francia, durato decenni, causando tante morti e tanta distruzione, senza risparmiare nemmeno Roma, messa a ferro e fuoco dai lanzichenecchi, non si è ancora concluso. Il luteranesimo e le altre confessioni protestanti infiammano gli animi del Nord Europa e dell'Inghilterra. E la minaccia dei turchi, che hanno già conquistato tutto l'Oriente e raso al suolo quel che restava dell'impero bizantino, è più viva che mai.

Based on real-life characters and events, this historical novel tells the story of Sebastian Castellio, a brilliant theologian and ethicist, whose calls for religious tolerance and dialogue in the sixteenth century sparked a violent backlash from his one-time colleague and friend, the renowned Protestant Reformer John Calvin.

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?

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.

It’s 1806. A young republic just three decades old - the United States of America - is about to make a great push westward, across the Mississippi, into a wild, beautiful, and dangerous land. A territory of towering mountains and violent waters, of icy glaciers and searing deserts. The great northwest. It is a time and a place where fortunes will be made, destinies will be revealed, and legends will rise.

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.

Lady Madeline Sheldon has no intention of making a precipitous marriage. However, she has no objection to visiting Lord Grey Carshalton and his grandmother when the opportunity arises. His lordship is only recently returned from the Peninsular where he was serving as an intelligence officer. Grey isn't looking to set up his nursery – he’s more concerned with discovering the identity of the person dogging his every move. Because Grey is certain that someone is trying to kill him and he believes it to be associated with his time in the military.