Historical Fiction Library

Read by Fenella Woolgar, known for her role as Sister Hilda in BBC series Call the Midwife. Three women united by their love of books. One library that has the power to change lives, even in wartime . . . When Juliet begins work ats Bethnal Green Library, she discovers it is far from the...

After months of travel, former maid Lottie Sprigg returns to Fortescue Manor in the rolling hills of Shropshire. Her arrival coincides with a celebratory dinner to mend a family feud. But the flow of champagne dwindles to a trickle when a body is found in the library. Who committed the atrocity? Suspicion falls on several characters: some above stairs and some below....

From the bestselling author of The Bookseller of Inverness comes the unforgettable story of a Scottish town on the cusp of change and the group of townspeople whose lives will be irrevocably altered over the course of one tumultuous year...

1940, London. When Cordelia accepts the post of head librarian in Silver Town Library, her mother is more than a little disapproving. The East End has high levels of poverty and illiteracy, and her mother says it’s no place for a woman of her status. But Cordelia is determined to make a difference in these times of strife, and along with her colleagues, Jane and Mavis, she begins to help the local community, making sure everyone knows what the library can offer them. And maybe even a romance will blossom.

This novel centres on the friendship of William Beckwith, a young gay aristocrat who leads a life of privilege and promiscuity, and the elderly Lord Nantwich, who is searching for someone to write his biography.

Librarian Sylvia Ashe knows nothing about her past, having grown up without a father and a mother who refused to discuss him. When she stumbles upon a diary that suggests she's descended from magicians, she's skeptical. After all, magicians are special, and she's just an ordinary woman who loves books. She seeks answers from a member of the most prominent family of magicians, but she quickly learns that finding the truth won't be easy, especially when he turns out to be as artless as her, and more compelling and dangerous than books.

War brings them together. Liberation will tear them apart. A POWERFUL PORTRAIT OF WAR. A HEARTBREAKING STORY OF LOVE. THE EXTRAORDINARY NEW NOVEL FROM THE AUTHOR OF WHILE PARIS SLEPT. Paris 1944. Elise Chevalier knows what it is to love...and to hate. Her fiancé, a young French soldier, was...

An ancient family diary. A timely prophecy. An epic conclusion. As Sylvia prepares to meet Gabe’s parents for the first time, the last thing she needs is for her long-lost father to cause trouble. While his answers to her questions finally bring clarity, they also usher in danger. But that's not all her elusive father brings into Sylvia's life. His treasured gift of an ancient journal passed down through the generations, connects her to the past with its mystical spells and captivating stories.

A road trip with Gabe and her friends leads Sylvia to discover more about her mother’s veiled past yet throws up several questions, too. The stack of unopened letters addressed to her family will hopefully provide answers. As she delves into the contents, a startling revelation emerges: the letters allude to a clandestine union between two magician families, hinting at the elusive identity of Sylvia’s father. Full of hope, she embarks on a quest to find the author of the letters.

With her sharpened magical senses, Sylvia recognizes invisible writing while cataloging an obscure book for the library. She’s shocked to discover the message, written many years earlier, pleaded for help. She’s even more shocked to discover the author of the message was married to a paper magician. Could there be a connection to Sylvia’s father? With a magical mystery on her hands, Sylvia engages the help of Gabe Glass, and together they follow the clues to the location of two hidden ledgers that implicate a very dangerous individual in an illegal bookmaking scheme.

When a set of bound manuscripts written on magician-made paper is brought to the Glass Library, Sylvia and the professor send the owner away. After all, the library collects books about magic, not containing it. But the murder of the bookbinder who bound them sees the books returned to the library, along with Gabe in his role as consultant for Scotland Yard. When his investigation uncovers a link to Sylvia’s past, they’re even more determined to find the murderer. But they’re not the only ones searching for answers.

London, 1944. Clara Button is no ordinary librarian. While the world remains at war, in East London Clara has created the country's only underground library, built over the railway tracks in the disused Bethnal Green tube station. Down here a whole community thrives: with hundreds of bunk beds...

Brought to you by Penguin. As the war rages on outside, it is the battle within that must be won, through the quiet strength of words. Josie Everley may have survived the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, but she lost the man she loves most to the sea. Broken-hearted and destitute, Josie must start...

Rae Burke is a brigand assassin, and he's good at what he does. But when the winds of change whistle by, he throws himself into the chance for freedom and safety for his family. Wren Burke knows that she trusts her husband, so she accepts the grimoire he shoves into her arms, plunges into the wild forest with her three children, and throws herself into the mercy of magic and mayhem. Ghosts from Rae's past won't let him, or the magic, go so easily.

Enter the library of an enigmatic collector, where occult books are guarded and researched at a fatal cost, with this uncanny eldritch horror novel from Nebula Award–winning author Premee Mohamed and The Magnus Archives’ Jonathan Sims. Fear comes before the fall. In the winding, perilous...

"This beautiful page-turner kept me reading all night.” —Janet Skeslien Charles, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Library "This one’s an absolute gem.” —Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Stolen Queen When a young librarian discovers hidden historic...

England, 1850. Bookworm Irene Denton lives with a painful secret. To the citizens of Lindenfell, her mother is a kind, generous lady—but behind closed doors, she's a cruel and controlling tyrant. Stories have always been Irene’s refuge, so when the possibility arises for Lindenfell to have a library of its own, Irene is hopeful she’ll soon have a safe place to escape her mother’s merciless grasp.

"One Love", legendary in proportions, unites the "Two Hearts" of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Delight in the sweet romance of "Three Stories" from J. Dawn King’s what-if variations inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

In the darkness of war, light shines from the pages of a book… For as long as Alice Carmichael can remember, the only thing she’s been able to count on is the written word. The war may have taken everything from her, but the stories she cherishes provide solace and escape into a world that...

Inspired by the author's family history, Library for the War-Wounded transports listeners to the aftermath of World War II, uncovering the life of Helfer's father, Josef. Born with the stigma of illegitimacy, he found solace in books, and his education was eventually funded by the Catholic Church. Drafted into the Wehrmacht, he witnessed the horrors of the Eastern Front and returned from the war an amputee. He married his nurse and brought his family to the high, idyllic slopes of the Austrian Alps, where he took a position as manager of a convalescent home for war-wounded.