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Book List - Essential Historical Fiction

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<?=$who;?> Essential Historical Fiction This is a list of Historical Fiction "must reads", as deemed by the witty, intelligent folks on the Historical Fiction genre forum. Join us there to discuss these and other favorite "Blasts from the Past"
List created by Christa H. (flchris) - , on Jun 30, 2010
List Votes: 298 Books: 288 Contributors: 71 Watchers: 570 List Type: Friends
1
eclecticreader10
Donna B. (eclecticreader10) - ,
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus -- three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of...  more

Book Votes: 384
2
MichiganderHolly
Holly P. (MichiganderHolly)
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Margaret Mitchell's epic novel of love and war won the Pulitzer Prize and went on to give rise to two authorized sequels and one of the most popular and celebrated movies of all time. Many novels have been written about the Civil War and its aftermath. None take us into the burning fields...  more

Book Votes: 335
3
eclecticreader10
Donna B. (eclecticreader10) - ,
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women: Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace...  more

Book Votes: 329
4
SASgirl526
Sarah J. (SASgirl526)
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
As a new age dawns in England's twelfth century, the building of a mighty Gothic cathedral sets the stage for a story of intrigue and power, passion and romance. It is in this rich tapestry, where kings and queens are corrupt, that the common man shows eternal promise -- and one majestic...  more

Book Votes: 318
5
answerquest
Genie (answerquest)
Outlander (Outlander, Bk 1) by Diana Gabaldon
Unrivaled storytelling... unforgettable characters... rich historical detail... these are the hallmarks of Diana Gabaldon's work. Her New York Times bestselling Outlander novels have earned the praise of critics and captured millions of readers. Here is the story that started it all,...  more

Book Votes: 310
6
Doughgirl
Lynne J. (Doughgirl)
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that are about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons. Told in Dinah's voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood...  more

Book Votes: 285
7
kkowert
Karen K. (kkowert) - ,
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Bar...
January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she's never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written...  more

Book Votes: 245
8
nyteacher
Nicole G. (nyteacher)
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
Two sisters competing for the greatest prize: the love of a king When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen, she catches the eye of Henry VIII. Dazzled by the king, Mary falls in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as unofficial queen. However, she soon...  more

Book Votes: 216
9
charitysheppard
Charity S. (charitysheppard)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.' Thus memorably begins Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, one of the world's most popular novels. Pride and Prejudice -- Austen's own 'darling child' -- tells the story of...  more

Book Votes: 205
10
eclecticreader10
Donna B. (eclecticreader10) - ,
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Pearl S. Buck's epic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of a China that was -- now in a Contemporary Classics edition. Though more than sixty years have passed since this remarkable novel won the Pulitzer Prize, it has retained its popularity and become one of the great modern classics. "I...  more

Book Votes: 204
11
Cattriona
Elizabeth B. (Cattriona) -
The Clan of the Cave Bear (Earth's Children, Bk 1) by Jean M. Auel
This novel of awesome beauty and power is a moving saga about people, relationships, and the boundaries of love. Through Jean M. Auel’s magnificent storytelling we are taken back to the dawn of modern humans, and with a girl named Ayla we are swept up in the harsh and beautiful Ice Age...  more

Book Votes: 196
12
Cattriona
Elizabeth B. (Cattriona) -
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
History and fiction merge seamlessly in this luminous novel about artistic vision and sensual awakening. Girl with a Pearl Earring tells the story of sixteen-year-old Griet, whose life is transformed by her brief encounter with genius... even as she herself is immortalized in canvas and oil.

Book Votes: 182
13
fairfax512
Emily L. (fairfax512) - ,
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
In 1959, Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist, takes his four young daughters, his wife, and his mission to the Belgian Congo -- a place, he is sure, where he can save needy souls. But the seeds they plant bloom in tragic ways within this complex culture. Set against one of the most...  more

Book Votes: 182
14
charitysheppard
Charity S. (charitysheppard)
Jane Eyre (Barnes and Noble Classics) by Charlotte Bronte & Susan Ostrov Weisser ...
Poor and plain, Jane Eyre begins life as a lonely orphan in the household of her hateful aunt. Despite the oppression she endures at home, and the later torture of boarding school, Jane manages to emerge with her spirit and integrity unbroken. She becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall, where...  more

Book Votes: 178
15
Generic Profile avatar
Sharla U. (sharz96)
Shogun by James Clavell
Shogun is irresistible...I can't remember when a novel has seized my mind like this one. Perhaps it was the author's Hong Kong novel, Tai-Pan, nine years ago. James Clavell breathes narrative. It's almost impossible not to continue to read Shogun once having opened it. Yet it's not only...  more

Book Votes: 173
16
MichiganderHolly
Holly P. (MichiganderHolly)
Lonesome Dove (Lonesome Dove, Bk 1) by Larry McMurtry
Bestselling winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize, Lonesome Dove is an American classic. First published in 1985, Larry McMurtry's epic novel combined flawless writing with a storyline and setting that gripped the popular imagination, and ultimately resulted in a series of four novels and an...  more

Book Votes: 170
17
eclecticreader10
Donna B. (eclecticreader10) - ,
Roots by Alex Haley
"Early in the spring of 1750, in the village of Juffure, four days upriver from the coast of The Gambia, West Africa, a man-child was born to Omoro and Binta Kinte." So begins "Roots" ... When he was a boy in Henning, Tennessee, Alex Haley's grandmother used to tell...  more

Book Votes: 170
18
shastasweetpea
Donna R. (shastasweetpea)
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed Amer...
The 1893 Chicago World's Fair is the setting for this true account of two very different men: the celebrated architect Daniel H. Burnham who designed and supervised the construction of the "White City" around which the fair was built, and H.H. Holmes (born Herman Webster Mudgett),...  more

Book Votes: 165
19
kkowert
Karen K. (kkowert) - ,
Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks
This gripping historical novel is based on the true story of Eyam, the "Plague Village," in the rugged mountain spine of England. In 1666, a tainted bolt of cloth from London carries bubonic infection to this isolated settlement of shepherds and lead miners. A visionary young preacher convinces...  more

Book Votes: 158
20
Doughgirl
Lynne J. (Doughgirl)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Lily is haunted by memories–of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower, and asks the gods for forgiveness. In nineteenth-century China, when wives and daughters were foot-bound and...  more

Book Votes: 154
21
Cattriona
Elizabeth B. (Cattriona) -
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten-year-old girl, is taken with her parents by the French police as they go door to door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard -- their secret hiding place -- and promises...  more

Book Votes: 149
22
charitysheppard
Charity S. (charitysheppard)
Memiors of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
No description available.

Book Votes: 148
23
shastasweetpea
Donna R. (shastasweetpea)
World Without End (Pillars of the Earth, Bk 2) by Ken Follett
In 1989 Ken Follett astonished the literary world with The Pillars of the Earth, a sweeping epic novel set in twelfth-century England centered on the building of a cathedral and many of the hundreds of lives it affected. Critics were overwhelmed- "it will hold you, fascinate you, surround...  more

Book Votes: 131
24
fairfax512
Emily L. (fairfax512) - ,
A Tale of Two Cities (Wordsworth Classics) by Charles Dickens
Tor Classics are affordably-priced editions designed to attract the young reader. Original dynamic cover art enthusiastically represents the excitement of each story. Appropriate "reader friendly" type sizes have been chosen for each title—offering clear, accurate, and readable text. All...  more

Book Votes: 131
25
bookworm-51
DARYL D. (bookworm-51)
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to "Mister," a brutal man who terrorizes...  more

Book Votes: 126
26
Generic Profile avatar
Sharla U. (sharz96)
The Killer Angels (Civil War, Bk 2) by Michael Shaara
In the four most bloody and courageous days of our nation's history, two armies fought for two dreams. One dreamed of freedom, the other of a way of life. Far more than rifles and bullets were carried into battle. There were memories. There were promises. There was love. And far more than...  more

Book Votes: 117
27
Generic Profile avatar
Cassie S. (cassie86) - ,
Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander, Bk 2) by Diana Gabaldon
For twenty years Claire Randall has kept her secrets. But now she is returning with her grown daughter to Scotland's majestic mist-shrouded hills. Here Claire plans to reveal a truth as stunning as the events that gave it birth: about the mystery of an ancient circle of standing stones ......  more

Book Votes: 115
28
Patouie
Patty P. (Patouie) - ,
Hawaii by James A. Michener
The saga of a land from the time when the volcanic islands rose out of the sea to the decade in which they become the 50th state. Michener uses individuals' experiences to symbolize the struggle of the various races to establish themselves in the islands

Book Votes: 114
29
Generic Profile avatar
Hillary G.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
A young girl discovers her father's darkest secret and embarks on a harrowing journey across Europe to complete the quest he never could -- to find history's most legendary fiend: Dracula. When a motherless American girl living in Europe finds a medieval book and a package of letters,...  more

Book Votes: 113
30
Generic Profile avatar
Kristin S.
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
San Piedro Island, north of Puget Sound, is a place so isolated that no one who lives there can afford to make enemies. But in 1954 a local fisherman is found suspiciously drowned, and a Japanese American named Kabuo Miyamoto is charged with his murder. In the course of the ensuing trial, it...  more

Book Votes: 111
31
beebs
Becki
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Denouncing the institution of slavery in dramatic terms, the incendiary novel quickly draws the reader into the world of slaves and their masters. Stowe's characters are powerfully and humanly realized in Uncle Tom, a majestic and heroic slave whose faith and dignity are never corrupted;...  more

Book Votes: 107
32
hannamatt52
Cheryl M. (hannamatt52)
Katherine by Anya Seton
This classic romance novel tells the true story of the love affair that changed history—that of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the ancestors of most of the British royal family. Set in the vibrant 14th century of Chaucer and the Black Death, the story features...  more

Book Votes: 103
33
charitysheppard
Charity S. (charitysheppard)
The Thornbirds by Colleen McCullough
Multiple reviews of the book

Book Votes: 100
34
gaslight
Karla B. (gaslight) - ,
North and South (North and South, Bk 1) by John Jakes
Part history, part novel, this book chronicles two great American dynasties over three generations. Though brought together in a friendship that neither jealousy nor violence could shatter, the Hazards and the Mains are torn apart by the storm of events that has divided the nation.

Book Votes: 95
35
janeeyre72
Marta K. (janeeyre72)
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco & William Weaver (Translator)
There's a murderer loose in the Abbey. Enter the labyrinth. Unravel the mystery. You will never look at death... or life in quite to same way again. Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and an English Brother, William of Baskerville, is sent to investigate. His...  more

Book Votes: 92
36
Generic Profile avatar
Kristin S.
One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus
In 1874 the great Cheyenne chief, Little Wolf, had an idea to help his people assimilate into the new white culture. He asked President Ulysses S. Grant for "the gift of 1000 white women as wives." Since all children born in the Cheyenne culture become members of their mother's...  more

Book Votes: 90
37
gaslight
Karla B. (gaslight) - ,
The Winds of War by Herman Wouk
Book Description: In this massive novel, Pulitzer Prize winner Herman Wouk recreates the most dramatic years of the twentieth century - 1939-1941, when the world's nations decended reluctantly but inexorably into the maelstrom of World War II. The Winds of War pulses with the life of those...  more

Book Votes: 88
38
FeliciaJ
Felicia J. (FeliciaJ)
The Autobiography of Henry VIII : With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers by Margaret Geo...
Much has been written about the mighty, egotistical Henry VIII: the man who dismantled the Church because it would not grant him the divorce he wanted; who married six women and beheaded two of them; who executed his friend Thomas ore; who sacked the monasteries; who longed for a son and...  more

Book Votes: 87
39
flchris
Christa H. (flchris) - ,
Mistress of the Art of Death (Mistress of the Art of Death, Bk 1) by Ariana Franklin
A chilling, mesmerizing novel that combines the best of modern forensic thrillers with the detail and drama of historical fiction. In medieval Cambridge, England, four children have been murdered. The crimes are immediately blamed on the town's Jewish community, taken as evidence that Jews...  more

Book Votes: 87
40
kkowert
Karen K. (kkowert) - ,
Daughter of Fortune (Daughter of Fortune, Bk 1) by Isabel Allende & Margaret Saye...
Orphaned at birth, Eliza Sommers is raised in the British colony of Valparaiso, Chile, by the well-intentioned Victorian spinster Miss Rose and her more rigid brother Jeremy. Just as she meets and falls in love with the wildly inappropriate Joaquin Andieta, a lowly clerk who works for Jeremy,...  more

Book Votes: 86
41
Generic Profile avatar
Lois M. (hilo) - ,
Christy by Catherine Marshall
At nineteen, Christy Huddleston left home to teach school in the Smokies -- coming to know and care for the wild mountain people, with their fierce pride, terrible poverty dark superstitions... and their yearning for beauty and truth. But in these primitive surrounding, Christy's faith would...  more

Book Votes: 85
42
Generic Profile avatar
Pam C. (PamC)
I, Claudius by Robert Graves
Into the racy 'autobiography' of Clau-Clau-Claudius, the pitiful stammerer who was destined to become Emperor in spite of himself, Graves packs the everlasting intrigues, the depravity, the bloody purges and mounting cruelty of the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, soon to culminate in...  more

Book Votes: 84
43
Generic Profile avatar
Cassie S. (cassie86) - ,
Voyager (Outlander, Bk 3) by Diana Gabaldon
In this rich, vibrant tale, Diana Gabaldon continues the story of Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser that began with the now-classic novel Outlander and continued in Dragonfly in Amber. Sweeping us from the battlefields of eighteenth-century Scotland to the exotic West Indies, Diana Gabaldon weaves...  more

Book Votes: 84
44
jscrappy
Janelle C. (jscrappy)
The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye
When The Far Pavilions was first published nineteen years ago, it moved the critic Edmund Fuller to write this: "Were Miss Kaye to produce no other book, The Far Pavilions might stand as a lasting accomplishment in a single work comparable to Margaret Mitchell's achievement in Gond With the...  more

Book Votes: 81
45
Generic Profile avatar
Alice E. (alilovestoread)
Exodus by Leon Uris
Exodus is an international publishing phenomenon--the towering novel of the twentieth century's most dramatic geopolitical event.  Leon Uris magnificently portrays the birth of a new nation in the midst of enemies--the beginning of an earthshaking struggle for power.  Here is...  more

Book Votes: 79
46
Flight
Flight -
Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross
For a thousand years men have denied her existence--Pope Joan, the woman who disguised herself as a man and rose to rule Christianity for two years. Now this compelling novel animates the legend with a portrait of an unforgettable woman who struggles against restrictions her soul cannot...  more

Book Votes: 75
47
Generic Profile avatar
Cassie S. (cassie86) - ,
Drums of Autumn (Outlander, Bk 4) by Diana Gabaldon
It began at an ancient Scottish stone circle. There, a doorway, open to a select few, leads into the past--or the grave. Dr. Claire Randall survived the extraordinary passage, not once but twice. Her first trip swept her into the arms of Jamie Fraser, an eighteenth-century Scot whose love for...  more

Book Votes: 74
48
flchris
Christa H. (flchris) - ,
March by Geraldine Brooks
As the North reels under a series of unexpected defeats during the dark first year of the war, one man leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. Riveting and elegant as it is meticulously...  more

Book Votes: 73
49
gaslight
Karla B. (gaslight) - ,
The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman
"The reader is left with the haunting sensation that perhaps the good a man does can live after him--especially in the hands of a dedicated historian." SAN DIEGO UNION In this stirring historical novel, Sharon Kay Penman redeems Richard III from his villainous role in history as the hulking,...  more

Book Votes: 72
50
gaslight
Karla B. (gaslight) - ,
London : The Novel by Edward Rutherfurd
In the tradition of his phenomenal bestseller Sarum, Edward Rutherfurd now gives us a sweeping novel of London, a glorious pageant spanning two thousand years. He brings this vibrant city's long and noble history alive through the ever-shifting fortunes, fates, and intrigues of half-a-dozen...  more

Book Votes: 72
51
ASJ
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie
History offers few eras richer in drama than the last years of imperial Russia. Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, Empress Alexandra, presided over a glittering world of huge palaces, lavish balls, and incomparable luxury. Then their cherished son Alexis was born. His hemophilia led to their tragic...  more

Book Votes: 71
52
beebs
Becki
The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander
Drawing from decades of work, travel, and research in Russia, Robert Alexander re-creates the tragic, perennially fascinating story of the final days of Nicholas and Alexandra as seen through the eyes of the Romanovs' young kitchen boy, Leonka. Now an ancient Russian immigrant, Leonka claims...  more

Book Votes: 70
53
Dargent
Denise S. (Dargent) -
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque & A. W. Wheen (Translator)
Paul Baumer enlisted with his classmates in the German army of World War I. Youthful, enthusiastic, they become soldiers. But despite what they have learned, they break into pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches. And as horrible war plods on year after year, Paul holds fast to a...  more

Book Votes: 70
54
Generic Profile avatar
Christina D. (fireguardian13)
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
THREE WOMEN WHO SHARE ONE FATE: THE BOLEYN INHERITANCE ANNE OF CLEVES She runs from her tiny country, her hateful mother, and her abusive brother to a throne whose last three occupants are dead. King Henry VIII, her new husband, instantly dislikes her. Without friends, family, or even an...  more

Book Votes: 69
55
Doughgirl
Lynne J. (Doughgirl)
Moloka'i (Moloka'i, Bk 1) by Alan Brennert
Rachel Kalama, a spirited seven-year-old Hawaiian girl, dreams of visiting far-off lands like her father, a merchant seaman. Then one day a rose-colored mark appears on her skin, and those dreams are stolen from her. Taken from her home and family, Rachel is sent to Kalaupapa, the quarantined...  more

Book Votes: 66
56
flchris
Christa H. (flchris) - ,
When Christ and His Saints Slept (Henry II & Eleanor of Aquitaine, Bk 1) by Sharon Ka...
A.D. 1135. As church bells tolled for the death of England's King Henry I, his barons faced the unwelcome prospect of being ruled by a woman: Henry's beautiful daughter Maude, Countess of Anjou. But before Maude could claim her throne, her cousin Stephen seized it. In their long and...  more

Book Votes: 64
57
answerquest
Genie (answerquest)
Here Be Dragons (Welsh, Bk 1) by Sharon Kay Penman
Thirteenth-century Wales is a divided country, ever at the mercy of England's ruthless, power-hungry King John. Then Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, secures an uneasy truce with England by marrying the English king's beloved, illegitimate daughter, Joanna. Reluctant to wed her...  more

Book Votes: 64
58
gaslight
Karla B. (gaslight) - ,
War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk
Follows the various members of the Henry family as they become involved in the events preceeding America's involvement in World War II and captures all the drama, romance, heroism, and tragedy of the Second World War-and that constitute Wouk's crowning achievement-are available for the first...  more

Book Votes: 64
59
Patouie
Patty P. (Patouie) - ,
Chesapeake by James A. Michener
The central scene of Michener's historical novel is that section of Maryland's Eastern shore, hardly more than 10 miles square. To this point come the founders of families that will dominate the story.

Book Votes: 64
60
Generic Profile avatar
Lois M. (hilo) - ,
Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy: The Crystal Cave / The Hollow Hills / The Last Enchant...
The Arthurian legend is one of the most enduring and powerful of myths, and Mary Stewart's classic The Merlin Trilogy is one of its most beloved and acclaimed retellings. In prose that is as vividly, achingly real as it is poetic, New York Times bestselling author Mary Stewart brings to life...  more

Book Votes: 64
61
Patouie
Patty P. (Patouie) - ,
Centennial by James A. Michener
"Michener is America's best writer, and he proves it once again in CENTENNIAL."THE PITTSBURGH PRESSA stunning panorama of the West, CENTENNIAL is an enthralling celebration of our country, brimming with the glory and the greatness of the American past that only bestselling author James Michener...  more

Book Votes: 63
62
bkydbirder
Jeanne L. (bkydbirder) - ,
War and Peace (Modern Library Classics) by Leo Tolstoy & Constance Garnett (Trans...
Often called the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace is at once an epic of the Napoleonic Wars, a philosophical study, and a celebration of the Russian spirit. Tolstoy’s genius is seen clearly in the multitude of characters in this massive chronicle—all of them fully realized...  more

Book Votes: 62
63
charitysheppard
Charity S. (charitysheppard)
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
In memories that rise like wisps of ghosts, LuLing Young searches for the name of her mother, the daughter of the Famous Bonesetter from the Mouth of the Mountain. Trying to hold on to the evaporating past, she begins to write all that she can remember of her life as a girl in China. Meanwhile,...  more

Book Votes: 61
64
ASJ
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
Pompeii by Robert Harris
All along the Mediterranean coast, the Roman empire's richest citizens are relaxing in their luxurious villas, enjoying the last days of summer. The world's largest navy lies peacefully at anchor in Misenum. The tourists are spending their money in the seaside resorts of Baiae,...  more

Book Votes: 57
65
Hoody
Judy B. (Hoody) -
City of Thieves by David Benioff
Author and screenwriter Benioff follows up The 25th Hour with this hard-to-put-down novel based on his grandfather's stories about surviving WWII in Russia. Having elected to stay in Leningrad during the siege, 17-year-old Lev Beniov is caught looting a German paratrooper's corpse....  more

Book Votes: 56
66
ALbookbugg
Valli
Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati
Weaving a vibrant tapestry of fact and fiction, Into the Wilderness sweeps us into another time and place...and into the heart of a forbidden, incandescent affair between a spinster Englishwoman and an American frontiersman. Here is an epic of romance and history that will captivate readers from...  more

Book Votes: 55
67
ASJ
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
River God (Ancient Egyptian, Bk 1) by Wilbur Smith & Robert Powell
Ancient Egypt. Land of the Pharaohs. A kingdom built on gold. A legend shattered by greed... Now the Valley of the Kings lies ravaged by war, drained of its lifeblood, as weak men inherit the cherished crown. City of Thebes. The Festival of Osiris. Loyal subjects of the Pharaoh gather to pay...  more

Book Votes: 52
68
flchris
Christa H. (flchris) - ,
The Last Kingdom (Saxon Chronicles, Bk 1) by Bernard Cornwell
From Bernard Cornwell, the New York Times bestselling author whom the Washington Post calls "perhaps the greatest writer of historical adventure novels today," comes a saga of blood, rage, fidelity, and betrayal that brings to center stage King Alfred the Great, one of the most crucial...  more

Book Votes: 51
69
jscrappy
Janelle C. (jscrappy)
Ahab's Wife: Or, The Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund & Herman Melville & Chr...
From the opening line--"Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last"--you will know that you are in the hands of a masterful storyteller and in the company of a fascinating woman hero. Inspired by a brief passage in Melville's Moby-Dick, where Captain Ahab speaks...  more

Book Votes: 51
70
bookworm-51
DARYL D. (bookworm-51)
The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory
In the autumn of 1558, church bells across England ring out the joyous news that Elizabeth I is the new queen. One woman hears the tidings with utter dread. She is Amy Dudley, wife of Sir Robert, and she knows that Elizabeth's ambitious leap to the throne will pull her husband back to the very...  more

Book Votes: 51
71
eclecticreader10
Donna B. (eclecticreader10) - ,
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book -- a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her...  more

Book Votes: 50
72
gaslight
Karla B. (gaslight) - ,
Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor
Abandoned pregnant and penniless on the teeming streets of London, 16-year-old Amber St. Clare manages, by using her wits, beauty, and courage, to climb to the highest position a woman could achieve in Restoration England—that of favorite mistress of the Merry Monarch, Charles II. From...  more

Book Votes: 48
73
Generic Profile avatar
Cassie S. (cassie86) - ,
The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
I am Catalina, Princess of Spain, daughter of the two greatest monarchs the world has ever known... and I will be Queen of England. Thus, bestselling author Philippa Gregory introduces one of her most unforgettable heroines: Katherine of Aragon. Known to history as the Queen who was pushed...  more

Book Votes: 48
74
Generic Profile avatar
Mar
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
In the opening pages of Jamie Ford's stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery:...  more

Book Votes: 48
75
ruthyless
Kathy F.
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to swim in the river. I want to feel the current. So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. Four years earlier, in 1903, Mamah and her...  more

Book Votes: 47
76
cameron55
Cameron B. (cameron55) - ,
The Serpent's Tale (Mistress of the Art of Death, Bk 2) (aka The Death Maze) by Arian...
When King Henry II’s mistress is found poisoned, suspicion falls on his estranged queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. The king orders Adelia Aguilar, expert in the science of death, to investigate—and hopefully stave off civil war. A reluctant Adelia finds herself once again in the company...  more

Book Votes: 45
77
Generic Profile avatar
Alice E. (alilovestoread)
Trinity by Leon Uris
The "terrible beauty" that is Ireland comes alive in this mighty epic that re-creates that Emerald's Isle's fierce struggle for independence. "Trinity" is a saga of glories and defeats, triumphs and tragedies, lived by a young Catholic rebel and the beautiful and...  more

Book Votes: 44
78
kkowert
Karen K. (kkowert) - ,
The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough
When the world cowered before the legions of Rome, two extraordinary men dreamed of personal glory: the military genius and wealthy rural "upstart" Marius, and Sulla, penniless and debauched but of aristocratic birth. Men of exceptional vision, courage, cunning, and ruthless ambition, separately...  more

Book Votes: 43
79
gaslight
Karla B. (gaslight) - ,
Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen
A magnificent tapestry of a grand and glorious era As opulent and passionate as the 18th century it celebrates.Through a Glass Darkly will sweep you away to the splendors of a lost era. Like Gone with the Wind, it is rich with characters so vivid -- from aristocrats toscoundrels--they...  more

Book Votes: 42
80
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Lois M. (hilo) - ,
Master and Commander (Aubrey / Maturin, Bk 1) by Patrick O'Brian
This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, Royal Navy, and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of life aboard a man-of-war in Nelson's...  more

Book Votes: 42
81
MichiganderHolly
Holly P. (MichiganderHolly)
Aztec by Gary Jennings
Aztec is the extraordinary story of the last and greatest native civilization of North America. Told in the words of one of the most robust and memorable characters in modern fiction, Mixtli-Dark Cloud, Aztec reveals the very depths of Aztec civilization from the peak and feather-banner splendor...  more

Book Votes: 40
82
caudillbear
Brittney C. (caudillbear) - ,
The Bastard (Kent Family Chronicles, Bk 1) by John Jakes
This is the story of Philip Kent. The illegitimate son of a British nobleman who was denied his heritage, he embraces the ideals of the fledgling nation of America-and takes up arms against his father's homeland.

Book Votes: 40
83
maggiethecat
Meg C. (maggiethecat)
Mila 18 by Leon Uris
The blazing story of the uprising that defied Nazi tyranny and Wehrmacht tanks with homemade weapons and bare fists -- the most heroic struggle of modern times.

Book Votes: 39
84
Page5
Sheila M. (Page5)
The Last Kingdom (Saxon Chronicles, Bk 1) by Bernard Cornwell
From Bernard Cornwell, the New York Times bestselling author whom the Washington Post calls "perhaps the greatest writer of historical adventure novels today," comes a saga of blood, rage, fidelity, and betrayal that brings to center stage King Alfred the Great, one of the most crucial...  more

Book Votes: 39
85
Cattriona
Elizabeth B. (Cattriona) -
The Physician (Cole Trilogy, Bk 1) by Noah Gordon
In the eleventh-century London, Rob Cole left poor, disease-ridden London to make his way across the land, hustling, juggling, peddling cures to the sick--and discovering the mystical ways of healing. It was on his travels that he found his own very real gift for healing--a gift that urged him...  more

Book Votes: 39
86
philomene
MP G. (philomene) -
The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
While in hospital, Inspector Grant’s professional curiosity is soon aroused. In a portrait of Richard III, the hunchbacked monster of nursery stories and history books, he finds a face that refuses to fit its reputation. But how, after four hundred years, can a bedridden policeman uncover...  more

Book Votes: 39
87
1ging
Ginger C. (1ging) -
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Perhaps the most haunting and tragic love story ever written, Wuthering Heights is the tale of Heathcliff, a brooding, troubled orphan, and his doomed love for Catherine Earnshaw. His desire for her leads him to madness, however, when Catherine is made to marry a wealthy lord, sending Heathcliff...  more

Book Votes: 39
88
FeliciaJ
Felicia J. (FeliciaJ)
The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George
Bestselling novelist Margaret George brings to life the glittering kingdom of Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, in this luch, sweeping, and richly detailed saga. Told in Cleopatra's own voice, this is a mesmerizing tale of ambition, passion, and betrayl, which begins when the twenty-year-old queen...  more

Book Votes: 38
89
ALbookbugg
Valli
The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton
First published in 1958 and set in the early 17th century, this bestselling novel?and follow-up to Katherine?follows Elizabeth Winthrop, a courageous Puritan woman who finds herself at odds with her heritage and surroundings. A real historical figure, Elizabeth married into the family of...  more

Book Votes: 38
90
ASJ
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
The Covenant by James A. Michener
Adventurers, scoundrels and missionaries. The best and worst of two continents carve an empire out of the vast wilderness that is to become South Africa. For hundreds of years, their rivalries and passions spill across the land. From the first Afrikaners to the powerful Zulu nation, and the...  more

Book Votes: 38
91
Patouie
Patty P. (Patouie) - ,
King Rat by James Clavell
Clavell's adventure novel takes place in a World War II prison camp, Changi, where 8,000 English, Australian, and American prisoners of war are incarcerated. Left largely to themselves, the prisoners establish a hierarchy of power in which a brutal American corporal, known as King Rat, rises to...  more

Book Votes: 38
92
Generic Profile avatar
Christina D. (fireguardian13)
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
When her small hometown in Arkansas becomes the site of a camp housing German prisoners during World War II, 12-year-old Patty Bergen learns what it means to open her heart. Although she's Jewish, she begins to see a prison escapee, Anton, not as a Nazi--but as a lonely, frightened young man...  more

Book Votes: 38
93
Generic Profile avatar
Cassie S. (cassie86) - ,
Gap Creek: The Story of a Marriage by Robert Morgan
Julie Harmon works hard, "hard as a man" they say, so hard that at times she's not sure she can stop. People depend on her. She is just a teenager when her brother dies in her arms. The following year, she marries Hank and moves to Gap Creek. Julie and Hank discover that the modern world is...  more

Book Votes: 38
94
Page5
Sheila M. (Page5)
The Pale Horseman (Saxon Chronicles, Bk 2) by Bernard Cornwell
Uhtred is a Saxon, cheated of his inheritance and adrift in a world of fire, sword, and treachery. He has to make a choice: whether to fight for the Vikings, who raised him, or for King Alfred the Great of Wessex, who dislikes him. In the late ninth century, Wessex is the last English...  more

Book Votes: 36
95
Generic Profile avatar
Maria M.
The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family's Florentine palazzo. A child of the Renaissance, with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is...  more

Book Votes: 36
96
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Mar
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende & Magda Bogin (Translator)
Here, in an astonishing debut by a gifted storyteller, is the magnificent saga of proud and passionate men and women and the turbulent times through which they suffer and triumph. They are the Truebas. And theirs is a world you will not want to leave, and one you will not forget. Esteban --...  more

Book Votes: 35
97
Generic Profile avatar
Mar
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family. Orphaned while onboard ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is...  more

Book Votes: 35
98
flchris
Christa H. (flchris) - ,
Genghis: Birth of an Empire (Conqueror, Bk 1) by Conn Iggulden
He was born Temujin, the son of a khan, raised in a clan of hunters migrating across the rugged steppe. Temujin’s young life was shaped by a series of brutal acts: the betrayal of his father by a neighboring tribe and the abandonment of his entire family, cruelly left to die on the harsh...  more

Book Votes: 34
99
ASJ
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
Captains and the Kings by Taylor Caldwell
This is a great surging novel about the amassing of a colossal fortune , the political power that comes with it, and the operation of a curse laid on an Irish-American dynasty and the ruthless driving man who founded it. Joseph Francis Xavier Armagh was thirteen years old when he first saw...  more

Book Votes: 34
100
Generic Profile avatar
Pam C. (PamC)
Claudius the God by Robert Graves
With the same brilliance that characterized I, CLAUDIUS, Robert Graves continues the tumultuous life of the Roman who became emperor in spite of himself and his handicaps. CLAUDIUS THE GOD captures the vitality, splendor and decadence of Rome just entering its decline. It is a superb...  more

Book Votes: 34
101
cameron55
Cameron B. (cameron55) - ,
Grave Goods (Mistress of the Art of Death, Bk 3) (aka Relics of the Dead) by Ariana F...
Set in 1176, Franklin's excellent third Mistress of the Art of Death novel (after The Serpent's Tale) finds Adelia Aguilar, a qualified doctor from the School of Medicine in Salerno, in the holy town of Glastonbury, where Henry II has sent her to inspect two sets of bones rumored to be...  more

Book Votes: 34
102
philomene
MP G. (philomene) -
The Shadow of the Wind (Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Bk 1) by Carlos Ruiz Zafon &...
The international literary sensation-a runaway bestseller in Spain, rights sold in more than 20 countries-about a boy's quest through the secrets and shadows of postwar Barcelona for a mysterious author whose book has proved as dangerous to own as it is impossible to forget. Barcelona,...  more

Book Votes: 33
103
hannamatt52
Cheryl M. (hannamatt52)
The Game of Kings (Lymond Chronicles, Bk 1) by Dorothy Dunnett
The first book in the legendary Lymond Chronicles, Game of Kings takes place in 1547. Scotland has been humiliated by an English invasion and is threatened by machinations elsewhere beyond its borders, but it is still free. Paradoxically, her freedom may depend on a man who stands accused of...  more

Book Votes: 32
104
caudillbear
Brittney C. (caudillbear) - ,
The Rebels (Kent Family Chronicles, Bk 2) by John Jakes
Philip Kent fights for the future of his adopted country and of his own wife and son, as British oppression leads America further into Revolutionary War...

Book Votes: 32
105
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Christina D. (fireguardian13)
The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory
The National BestsellerIn the autumn of 1558, church bells across England ring out the joyous news that Elizabeth I is the new queen. One woman hears the tidings with utter dread. She is Amy Dudley, wife of Sir Robert, and she knows that Elizabeth's ambitious leap to the throne will draw her...  more

Book Votes: 32
106
Page5
Sheila M. (Page5)
Lords of the North (Saxon Chronicles, Bk 3) by Bernard Cornwell
The year is 878. Uhtred, the dispossessed son of a Northumbrian lord, has helped the Saxons of Wessex defeat the invading Danes. Now, finally free of his allegiance to the victorious, ungrateful King Alfred, he is heading home to rescue his stepsister, a prisoner of Kjartan the Cruel in the...  more

Book Votes: 31
107
Generic Profile avatar
Alice E. (alilovestoread)
Trinity by Leon Uris
The "terrible beauty" that is Ireland comes alive in this mighty epic that re-creates that Emerald's Isle's fierce struggle for independence. Trinity is a saga of glories and defeats, triumphs and tragedies, lived by a young Catholic rebel and the beautiful and valiant Protestant girl who defied...  more

Book Votes: 31
108
Dargent
Denise S. (Dargent) -
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
THINGS FALL APART tells two overlapping, intertwining stories, both of which center around Okonkwo, a “strong man” of an Ibo village in Nigeria. The first of these stories traces Okonkwo's fall from grace with the tribal world in which he lives, and in its classical purity of...  more

Book Votes: 31
109
Dargent
Denise S. (Dargent) -
Wolf Hall (Wolf Hall, Bk 1) by Hilary Mantel
In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII?s court, only one man dares to gamble his life to win the king's favor and ascend to the heights of political power England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil...  more

Book Votes: 31
110
eclecticreader10
Donna B. (eclecticreader10) - ,
The Josephine Bonaparte Collection: The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B....
The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. In this first of three books inspired by the life of Josephine Bonaparte, Sandra Gulland has created a novel of immense and magical proportions. We meet Josephine in the exotic and lush Martinico, where an old island woman predicts that one day...  more

Book Votes: 30
111
flchris
Christa H. (flchris) - ,
The Greatest Knight: The Unsung Story of the Queen's Champion by Elizabeth Chadwick
Based on fact, this is the story of William Marshal, the greatest knight of the Middle Ages, unsurpassed in the tourneys, adeptly manoeuvring through the colourful, dangerous world of Angevin politics to become one of the most powerful magnates of the realm and eventually regent of England. From...  more

Book Votes: 30
112
constance2u
Constance E. (constance2u)
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
At the heart of this panoramic, multidimensional narrative is the compelling struggle of a young woman to lift her body and soul out of the gutter. Faber leads us back to 1870s London, where Sugar, a nineteen-year-old whore in the brothel of the terrifying Mrs. Castaway, yearns for escape to a...  more

Book Votes: 30
113
Generic Profile avatar
Jennifer S.
Ben-Hur : A Tale of the Christ (Modern Library Classics) by Lew Wallace
One of the most popular American novels of all time, General Lew Wallace’s Ben-Hur vividly reimagines the mighty Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity. The saga of Judah Ben-Hur’s spiritual journey from slavery to vengeance to redemption is both a vivid historical adventure and a...  more

Book Votes: 30
114
SASgirl526
Sarah J. (SASgirl526)
Jackdaws by Ken Follett
Jackdaws is one of the most stirring, successful, and popular thrillers of Ken Follett's career-a patriotic adventure that has won the hearts of readers and critics alike. But perhaps People magazine said it best: "Returning to the World War II setting of his bestselling thrillers Eye of the...  more

Book Votes: 29
115
caudillbear
Brittney C. (caudillbear) - ,
The Seekers (Kent Family Chronicles, Bk 3) by John Jakes
The Kent Family Chronicles continue as Abraham Kent seeks to build a new life on the untamed Western frontier...

Book Votes: 29
116
caudillbear
Brittney C. (caudillbear) - ,
The Furies by John Jakes
Kent family saga traces Amanda Kent as first seen in Texas in the struggle for independence and in her life out West

Book Votes: 29
117
Cattriona
Elizabeth B. (Cattriona) -
The Illuminator by Brenda Rickman Vantrease
It is England, in the fourteenth century, the old feudal order is starting to crack but the whim of a lord or the pleasure of a bishop can still seal nearly anyones fate. For Lady Kathryn of Blackingham Manor, a widow desperately trying to safeguard her holdings, it is a time made both sweeter...  more

Book Votes: 28
118
Generic Profile avatar
Nancy B. (ruthienan)
Alaska by James A. Michener
Master storyteller James Michener reveals Alaska in all its awesome, sweeping majesty. From the near-forgotten past, to the highly technological present, from self-defense to self-determination, here are the men and women who tried to tame the land, seize its bounty, and lay claim to the elusive...  more

Book Votes: 28
119
bookworm-51
DARYL D. (bookworm-51)
The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
The story deals with the tri-cornered relationship between Charles Smithson, Ernestina, his fianc?e, and Sarah Woodruff, reputed and professing to be a French Lieutenant's discarded woman. Charles is a well-born young man of scientific bent and dilettante pursuits; Ernestina, up from trade, is...  more

Book Votes: 28
120
wendybird
Wendy R. (wendybird)
My Name Is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira
The Civil War offers a 20-year-old midwife who dreams of becoming a doctor the medical experience she craves, plus hard work and heartbreak, in this rich debut that takes readers from a small upstate New York doctor's office to a Union hospital overflowing with the wounded and...  more

Book Votes: 28
121
flchris
Christa H. (flchris) - ,
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
We are in England in the 1660s. Charles II has been restored to the throne following years of civil war and Cromwell's short-lived republic. Oxford is the intellectual seat of the country, a place of great scientific, religious, and political ferment. A fellow of New College is found dead in...  more

Book Votes: 27
122
Dargent
Denise S. (Dargent) -
Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor
The greatest of our Civil War novels."-The New York Times. The 1955 Pulitzer Prize-winning story of the Andersonville Fortress and its use as a concentration camp-like prison by the South during the Civil War.

Book Votes: 27
123
ASJ
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
The Princes of Ireland (Dublin Saga, Bk 1) by Edward Rutherfurd
From the bestselling author of LONDON and SARUM - a magnificent epic about love and battle, family life and political intrigue in Ireland over the course of eleven centuries. THE PRINCES OF IRELAND brilliantly weaves impeccable historical research and mesmerizing storytelling in capturing the...  more

Book Votes: 26
124
janeeyre72
Marta K. (janeeyre72)
The King Must Die by Mary Renault
The story of the mythical hero Theseus, slayer of monsters, abductor of princesses and king of Athens. He emerges from these pages as a clearly defined personality; brave, aggressive and quick. The core of the story is Theseus' Cretan adventure.

Book Votes: 26
125
caudillbear
Brittney C. (caudillbear) - ,
The Titans by John Jakes
The Kent Family Chronicles continue as abolitionist Jeptha Kent and his sons find themselves on opposite sides of the Civil War.

Book Votes: 26
126
caudillbear
Brittney C. (caudillbear) - ,
The Lawless (Kent Family Chronicles, Bk 7) by John Jakes
The Kent Family Chronicles continue as Jeremiah Kent becomes an infamous shootist in the Wild West-bringing him closer to a destiny that will end in bloodshed.

Book Votes: 26
127
caudillbear
Brittney C. (caudillbear) - ,
The Americans (Kent Family Chronicles, Bk 8) by John Jakes
A NATION ADRIFT -- AND THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO GAVE IT HOPE It was the whip-end of an era -- when innocence died and money lust was enthroned. The new generation of Kents was locked in a feverish race for wealth -- even as Europe's millions poured across the seas, to change the face of our...  more

Book Votes: 26
128
1ging
Ginger C. (1ging) -
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas & Lowell Bair (Translator)
Three great swordsmen, Porthos, Aramis, and Anthos, with their protege, D'Artagnan, match wits with the sinister Cardinal Richelieu who seeks to divide the royalty in his own quest for power.

Book Votes: 26
129
Generic Profile avatar
Sharla U. (sharz96)
The First Man in Rome by Colleen Mccullough
When the world cowered before the legions of Rome, two extraordinary men dreamed of personal glory: the military genius and wealthy rural "upstart" Marius, and Sulla, penniless and debauched but of aristocratic birth. Men of exceptional vision, courage, cunning, and ruthless ambition, separately...  more

Book Votes: 25
130
gaslight
Karla B. (gaslight) - ,
The Grass Crown (Masters of Rome, Bk 2) by Colleen McCullough
Throughout the Western world, great kingdoms have fallen and despots lay crushed beneath the heels of Rome's advancing legions. But in this age of magnificent triumph and barbaric cruelty, internal rebellion threatens the stability and survival of the mighty Republic. And an aging, ailing Gaius...  more

Book Votes: 25
131
ASJ
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
Avalon by Anya Seton
This saga of yearning and mystery travels across oceans and continents to Iceland, Greenland, and North America during the time in history when Anglo-Saxons battled Vikings and the Norsemen discovered America. The marked contrasts between powerful royalty, landless peasants, Viking warriors and...  more

Book Votes: 25
132
Generic Profile avatar
Pam C. (PamC)
Jubilee Trail by Gwen Bristow
The history of California in the mid-19th century comes alive in this captivating historical novel. Garnet Cameron, a fashionable young lady of New York, is leading a neat, proper life, full of elegant parties and polite young men, yet the prospect of actually marrying any of them appalls her....  more

Book Votes: 25
133
Page5
Sheila M. (Page5)
The Burning Land (Saxon Chronicles, Bk 5) by Bernard Cornwell
At the end of the ninth century, King Alfred of Wessex is in ill health; his heir, an untested youth. His enemy, the Danes, having failed to conquer Wessex, now see their chance for victory. Led by the sword of savage warrior Harald Bloodhair, the Viking hordes attack. But Uhtred, Alfred’s...  more

Book Votes: 25
134
Page5
Sheila M. (Page5)
Sword Song (Saxon Chronicles, Bk 4) by Bernard Cornwell
The year is 885, and England is at peace, divided between the Danish kingdom to the north and Alfred's kingdom of Wessex in the south. But trouble stirs, a dead man has risen and new Vikings have arrived to occupy London. It is a dangerous time, and it falls to Uhtred, half Saxon, half Dane,...  more

Book Votes: 25
135
Cattriona
Elizabeth B. (Cattriona) -
A Vision of Light by Judith Merkle Riley
A Vision... of 14th century England - a time of crude country villages, brawling towns, and splendid cities teeming with untold riched and strange wonders. A Vision... of demons and angels, simpletons, holy flagellants, and fools... of traveling players, corrupt priests, and merchant princes,...  more

Book Votes: 25
136
kkowert
Karen K. (kkowert) - ,
Caesar by Colleen McCullough
Colleen McCullough's track record in publishing reads like Caesar's triumphs in battlewide-ranging in scope, masterful in style, unequaled in achievement. From her almost twelve-million-copy-selling Thorn Birds through her four novels in the Masters of Rome series, McCullough has never faltered....  more

Book Votes: 24
137
kkowert
Karen K. (kkowert) - ,
Portrait in Sepia (Daughter of Fortune, Bk 2) by Isabel Allende & Margaret Sayers...
Recounted in the voice of a young woman in search of her roots, Portrait in Sepia is a novel about memory and family secrets. Aurora del Valle suffers a brutal trauma that shapes her character and erases from her mind all recollection of the first five years of her life. Raised by her ambitious...  more

Book Votes: 24
138
janeeyre72
Marta K. (janeeyre72)
Peony in Love by Lisa See
“I finally understand what the poets have written. In spring, moved to passion; in autumn only regret.” For young Peony, betrothed to a suitor she has never met, these lyrics from The Peony Pavilion mirror her own longings. In the garden of the Chen Family Villa, amid the scent...  more

Book Votes: 24
139
Hoody
Judy B. (Hoody) -
The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust by Edith H. Beer
Edith Hahn was an outspoken young woman in Vienna when the Gastapo forced her into a ghetto and then into a labor camp. When she returned home months later, she knew she would become a hunted woman and went underground. With the help of a Christian friend, she emerged in Munich as Grete Denner....  more

Book Votes: 24
140
cameron55
Cameron B. (cameron55) - ,
A Murderous Procession (Mistress of the Art of Death, Bk 4) by Ariana Franklin
In 1176, King Henry II sends his daughter Joanna to Palermo to marry his cousin, the king of Sicily. Henry chooses Adelia Aguilar, his Mistress of the Art of Death, to travel with the princess and safeguard her health. But when people in the wedding procession are murdered, Adelia and Rowley...  more

Book Votes: 23
141
cameron55
Cameron B. (cameron55) - ,
Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake, Bk 1) by C. J. Sansom
The year is 1537, and the country is divided between those faithful to the Catholic Church and those loyal to the king and the newly established Church of England. When a royal commissioner is brutally murdered in a monastery on the south coast of England, Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s...  more

Book Votes: 23
142
caudillbear
Brittney C. (caudillbear) - ,
The Warriors (Kent Family Chronicles, Bk 6) by John Jakes
The Kent Family Chronicles continue as Confederate Corporal Jeremiah Kent carries out his commander's dying request -- while the Union Army ravages Georgia.

Book Votes: 23
143
Generic Profile avatar
Jennifer S.
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
Published in February of 1678, The Pilgrim's Progress has never been out of print (over 300 years!). It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature and has been translated into more than 200 languages. It is referenced in many...  more

Book Votes: 23
144
chimchiminee
Mel C. (chimchiminee)
Calico Palace by Gwen Bristow
This thrilling story of the California gold rush is not about the forty-niners, the prospectors who came rushing to the San Francisco area in 1849, but about the men and women who were there when it all began with the first discovery of gold in 1848, when San Francisco was a village of 900...  more

Book Votes: 22
145
Generic Profile avatar
Sharla U. (sharz96)
Celia Garth by Gwen Bristow
Bringing to life the heady days of the American Revolution through the eyes of a heroine who played a brave and dramatic part in the conflict, this novel follows Celia Garth, a Charleston native, as she transforms from a fashionable dressmaker to a patriot spy. When the king's army captures...  more

Book Votes: 21
146
ASJ
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
Lion of Ireland by Morgan Llywelyn
Brina Boru was stronger, braver and wiser than all other men - the greatest king Ireland has ever known. Out of the mists of the country's most violent age, he emerged to lead his people to the peak of their golden era. Set against the barbaric splendors of the tenth century, this is a story...  more

Book Votes: 21
147
charitysheppard
Charity S. (charitysheppard)
The Queen's Man (Medieval Mystery, Bk 1) by Sharon Kay Penman
Justin de Quincy, the bastard son of a bishop in 12th century England, is featured. Epiphany, 1193. Eleanor of Aquitaine sits upon England's throne. Her beloved son Richard Lionheart is missing, presumed dead - and the court whispers that her younger son, John, is plotting to seize the...  more

Book Votes: 21
148
ruthyless
Kathy F.
Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
On the windswept, fossil-strewn beaches of the English coast, poor and uneducated Mary Anning learns that she has a unique gift: "the eye" to spot fossils no one else can see. When she uncovers an unusual fossilized skeleton in the cliffs near her home, she sets the religious community...  more

Book Votes: 21
149
Generic Profile avatar
Rebecca M. (midnightreader1)
These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 Arizona Territories (P.S...
"A thread of truth can weave a powerful story. Plumb powerful, as Sarah Prine might say....Taking great-grandmother Sarah's diary as an inspiration, Tucson novelist Nancy E. Turner has spun a frontier novel that teeters on the fine edge of truth and fiction...simply place an 1880's map of the...  more

Book Votes: 20
150
ASJ
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
Roma (Rome, Bk 1) by Steven Saylor
Spanning a thousand years, and following the shifting fortunes of two families though the ages, this is the epic saga of Rome, the city and its people. Weaving history, legend, and new archaeological discoveries into a spellbinding narrative, critically acclaimed novelist Steven Saylor gives...  more

Book Votes: 19
151
Generic Profile avatar
Christina D. (fireguardian13)
Mary, Called Magdalene by Margaret George
Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute, a female divinity figure, a church leader, or all of those? Biblical references to her are tantalizingly brief, but we do know that she was the first person to whom the risen Christ appeared-and the one commissioned to tell others the good news, earning her the...  more

Book Votes: 19
152
kkowert
Karen K. (kkowert) - ,
Caesar's Women (Masters of Rome, Bk 4) by Colleen McCullough
His victories were legend -- in battle and bedchamber alike. Love was a political weapon he wielded cunningly and ruthlessly in his private war against enemies in the forum. Genius, general, patrician, Gaius Julius Caesar was history. His wives bought him influence. He sacrificed his beloved...  more

Book Votes: 18
153
Cattriona
Elizabeth B. (Cattriona) -
Cry to Heaven by Anne Rice
Following the stories of two men castrated to ensure their perfect soprano voices, Cry to Heaven is a historical novel in 18th century Italy. Guido Maffeo is castrated at age six and enters the conservatory. He becomes a star until he loses his voice. When his voice is gone, he becomes a...  more

Book Votes: 18
154
cameron55
Cameron B. (cameron55) - ,
Sovereign (Matthew Shardlake, Bk 3) by C. J. Sansom
Autumn 1541. A plot against the throne has been uncovered, and Henry VIII has set off on a spectacular progress from London to York, along with a thousand soldiers, the cream of the nobility, and his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, to quell his rebellious northern subjects. Awaiting his arrival...  more

Book Votes: 18
155
Generic Profile avatar
Jennifer A. (jenn1a)
New York: The Novel by Edward Rutherfurd
The bestselling master of historical fiction weaves a grand, sweeping drama of New York from the city's founding to the present day.Rutherfurd celebrates America's greatest city in a rich, engrossing saga that showcases his extraordinary ability to combine impeccable historical research and...  more

Book Votes: 18
156
kkowert
Karen K. (kkowert) - ,
The October Horse : A Novel of Caesar and Cleopatra by Colleen McCullough
A SWEEPING EPIC OF ANCIENT ROME FROM THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE THORN BIRDSWith her renowned storytelling gifts in full force, Colleen McCullough delivers a breathtaking novel that is both grand in scope and vivid in detail -- and proves once again why she is the top historical...  more

Book Votes: 17
157
starrynight
Ellen L. (starrynight) -
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
In her most accomplished novel, Barbara Kingsolver takes us on an epic journey from the Mexico City of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover. The Lacuna is a poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as they invent their modern...  more

Book Votes: 17
158
cameron55
Cameron B. (cameron55) - ,
Dark Fire (Matthew Shardlake, Bk 2) by C. J. Sansom
It is 1540, and Matthew Shardlake, the lawyer renowned as "the sharpest hunchback in the courts of England," is pressed to help a friend’s young niece who is charged with murder. Despite threats of torture and death by the rack, the girl is inexplicably silent. Shardlake is about...  more

Book Votes: 17
159
cameron55
Cameron B. (cameron55) - ,
Revelation (Matthew Shardlake, Bk 4) by C. J. Sansom
The  year is 1543 and King Henry VIII is wooing Lady Catherine Parr, a woman sympathetic to reform, whom he wants for his sixth wife— much to the dismay of Archbishop Cranmer and the embattled Protestant faction at court. Meanwhile, Matthew Shardlake is working to defend a teenage...  more

Book Votes: 17
160
cameron55
Cameron B. (cameron55) - ,
Heartstone (Matthew Shardlake, Bk 5) by C .J. Sansom
It was summer, 1545. England is at war. Henry VIII's invasion of France has gone badly wrong, and a massive French fleet is preparing to sail across the Channel. As the English fleet gathers at Portsmouth, the country raises the largest militia army it has ever seen. The King has debased the...  more

Book Votes: 17
161
charitysheppard
Charity S. (charitysheppard)
Cruel As the Grave (Medieval Mystery, Bk 2) by Sharon Kay Penman
She was young--barely fifteen. A poor peddler's daughter newly arrived in London, she was loved as much for her good heart as for her good looks. Someone had taken advantage of that sweet nature, leaving her dead in a churchyard, a ripped bodice testimony to her struggle, a bloodstained cross...  more

Book Votes: 17
162
jkmarsha
Jodie M. (jkmarsha)
Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell
An extraordinary and dramatic depiction of the legendary battle of Agincourt from the number one historical novelist Agincourt, fought on October 25th 1415, on St Crispin's Day, is one of the best known battles, in part through the brilliant depiction of it in Shakespeare's Henry V, in part...  more

Book Votes: 17
163
Dargent
Denise S. (Dargent) -
The Persian Boy by Mary Renault
The Persian Boy traces the last years of Alexander's life through the eyes of his lover, Bagoas. Abducted and gelded as a boy, Bagoas was sold as a courtesan to King Darius of Persia, but found freedom with Alexander after the Macedon army conquered his homeland. Their relationship sustains...  more

Book Votes: 16
164
Dargent
Denise S. (Dargent) -
To Serve Them All My Days by R. F. Delderfield
Miner's son David Powlett-Jones returns from the carnage of the Western Front in 1918, shell-shocked and bitterly hardened by the violence of war. He begins life again as a master at a remote Devon school, controlling the destiny of boys barely his junior. As the years pass David...  more

Book Votes: 15
165
terrylazz2
Terry W. (terrylazz2)
The Forest by Edward Rutherfurd
In The Forest, Edward Rutherfurd, whose greatly admired Sarum and London have captivated millions of readers, now unfolds the saga of nine turbulent centuries in the life of the quintessential English heartland: the New Forest. The New Forest lies in a vast bowl scooped from England's...  more

Book Votes: 15
166
Cattriona
Elizabeth B. (Cattriona) -
The Oracle Glass by Judith Merkle Riley
Seventeenth-century Paris. Geneviève is a skinny, precocious girl with a mind full of philosophy and the remarkable power to read the swirling waters of an oracle glass. Left for dead by her family, she is taken in by the ingenious occultist La Voisin, who rules a secret society of...  more

Book Votes: 14
167
BaileysBooks
Amy B. (BaileysBooks)
Hood (King Raven, Bk 1) by Stephen R. Lawhead
The Legend Begins Anew For centuries, the legend of Robin Hood and his band of thieves has captivated the imagination. Now the familiar tale takes on new life, fresh meaning, and an unexpected setting. Hunted like an animal by Norman invaders, Bran ap Brychan, heir to the throne Elfael,...  more

Book Votes: 14
168
Dargent
Denise S. (Dargent) -
The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
Bit by bit, the ravages of age are eroding Marina's grip on the everyday. An elderly Russian woman now living in America, she cannot hold on to fresh memories -- the details of her grown children's lives, the approaching wedding of her grandchild -- yet her distant past is miraculously preserved...  more

Book Votes: 14
169
kkowert
Karen K. (kkowert) - ,
Morgan's Run by Colleen McCullough
In a novel of sweeping narrative power unequaled since her own beloved worldwide bestseller The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough returns to Australia -- this time with the story of its birth. At the center of her new novel is Richard Morgan, son of a Bristol tavern-keeper, devoted husband and...  more

Book Votes: 13
170
SanJoseCa
ANNA S. (SanJoseCa)
Confessions of a Pagan Nun by Kate Horsley
When we think of the Dark Ages, we often think of a dim, primitive society where people struggled just to stay alive, with no room for spirituality or philosophy. The cool, clear, gemlike precision of Horsley's (Crazy Woman) new novel tells another tale. Gwynneve is born into a world suspended...  more

Book Votes: 13
171
ruthyless
Kathy F.
Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Sena Jeter Naslund
Marie Antoinette was a child of fourteen when her mother, the Empress of Austria, arranged for her to leave her family and her country to become the wife of the fifteen-year-old Dauphin, the future King of France. Coming of age in the most public of arenas -- eager to be a good wife and strong...  more

Book Votes: 13
172
ASJ
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
Journeyer by Gary Jennings
Marco Polo was nicknamed "Marco of the millions" because his Venetian countrymen took the grandiose stories of his travels to be exaggerated, if not outright lies. As he lay dying, his priest, family, and friends offered him a last chance to confess his mendacity, and Marco, it is said, replied...  more

Book Votes: 12
173
kkowert
Karen K. (kkowert) - ,
Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende & Margaret Sayers Peden (Translator)
Born into a poor family in Spain, Ines, a seamstress, finds herself condemned to a life of hard work without reward or hope for the future. It is the sixteenth century, the beginning of the Spanish conquest of the Americas, and when her shiftless husband disappears to the New World, Ines uses...  more

Book Votes: 12
174
kkowert
Karen K. (kkowert) - ,
Resistance by Anita Shreve
In Resistance, Anita Shreve uses a wartime setting to sharpen the themes she has explored in previous novels--and leads us into a harrowing work where forbidden passions have catastrophic consequences. In a Nazi-occupied Belgian village, Claire Daussois, the wife of a resistance worker, shelters...  more

Book Votes: 12
175
SanJoseCa
ANNA S. (SanJoseCa)
Company of Liars by Karen Maitland
In this extraordinary novel, Karen Maitland delivers a dazzling reinterpretation of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales - an ingenious alchemy of history, mystery, and powerful human drama. The year is 1348. The Black Plague grips the country. In a world ruled by faith and fear, nine desperate...  more

Book Votes: 12
176
Cattriona
Elizabeth B. (Cattriona) -
The Bridal Wreath (Kristin Lavransdatter, Bk 1) by Sigrid Undset
Volume one of the trilogy; Kristin's girlhood. The acknowledged masterpiece of the Nobel Prize-winning Norwegian novelist Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter tells the story of the heroine, Kristin -- beautiful, strong-willed, and passionate --and of a woman's life in...  more

Book Votes: 12
177
caudillbear
Brittney C. (caudillbear) - ,
Homeland (Crown Family Saga, Bk 1) by John Jakes
In Homeland, internationally acclaimed bestselling author John Jakes brings to life an epic saga of the American immigrant experience in this story of a family dynasty in turmoil at the dawn of a new century. From the uncontrolled chaos of Chicago's infamous Pullman Strike, to the birth of...  more

Book Votes: 12
178
caudillbear
Brittney C. (caudillbear) - ,
California Gold by John Jakes
James Macklin Chase was a poor Pennsylvanian who dreamed of making it rich in California. But at the turn of the century, the money to be made was in oil, citrus, water rights, and the railroads. Mack would have it all, if he had his way. And along the way, the men and women he met, the passion...  more

Book Votes: 12
179
escapeartistk
Kristin K. (escapeartistk) -
Claudius the God by Robert Graves
With the same brilliance that characterized I, CLAUDIUS, Robert Graves continues the tumultuous life of the Roman who became emperor in spite of himself and his handicaps. CLAUDIUS THE GOD captures the vitality, splendor and decadence of Rome just entering its decline. It is a superb...  more

Book Votes: 12
180
Generic Profile avatar
Maria M.
Nefertiti (Nefertiti, Bk 1) by Michelle Moran
This fictionalized life of the notorious queen is told from the point of view of her younger sister, Mutnodjmet. In 1351 B.C., Prince Amunhotep secretly kills his older brother and becomes next in line to Egypt's throne: he's 17, and the 15-year-old Nefertiti soon becomes his chief...  more

Book Votes: 12
181
hannamatt52
Cheryl M. (hannamatt52)
Niccolo Rising (The House of Niccolo, 1) by Dorothy Dunnett
With the bravura storytelling and pungent authenticity of detail she brought to her acclaimed Lymond Chronicles, Dorothy Dunnett, grande dame of the historical novel, presents The House of Niccol series. The time is the 15th century, when intrepid merchants became the new knighthood of Europe....  more

Book Votes: 11
182
kkowert
Karen K. (kkowert) - ,
Imperium (Cicero, Bk 1) by Robert Harris
When Tiro, the confidential secretary (and slave) of a Roman senator, opens the door to a terrified stranger on a cold November morning, he sets in motion a chain of events that will eventually propel his master into one of the most suspenseful courtroom dramas in history. The stranger is a...  more

Book Votes: 11
183
Generic Profile avatar
Pam C. (PamC)
The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Blending archaeological fact and legend, the myths of the gods and the feats of heroes, Marion Zimmer Bradley breathes new life into the classic tale of the Trojan War -- reinventing larger-than-life figures as living people engaged in a desperate struggle that dooms both the victors and the...  more

Book Votes: 11
184
Generic Profile avatar
Nancy B. (ruthienan)
APRIL MORNING by Howard Fast
When you read this novel about April 19, 1775, you will see the British redcoats marching in a solid column through your town. Your hands will be sweating and you will shake a little as you grip your musket because never have you shot with the aim of killing a man. But you will shoot, and shoot...  more

Book Votes: 11
185
Generic Profile avatar
Christina D. (fireguardian13)
His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Bk 1) by Naomi Novik
From Publisher's Weekly: In this delightful first novel, the opening salvo of a trilogy, Novik seamlessly blends fantasy into the history of the Napoleonic wars. Here be dragons, beasts that can speak and reason, bred for strength and speed and used for aerial support in battle. Each nation has...  more

Book Votes: 11
186
Generic Profile avatar
Linda E. (uncbballfan)
The Given Day (Coughlin, Bk 1) (P.S.) by Dennis Lehane
Set in Boston at the end of the First World War, bestselling author Dennis Lehane's extraordinary eighth novel unflinchingly captures the political and social unrest of a nation caught at the crossroads where past meets future. Filled with a cast of richly drawn, unforgettable characters,...  more

Book Votes: 11
187
ALbookbugg
Valli
City of Light by Lauren Belfer
It is 1901 and Buffalo, New York, stands at the center of the nation's attention as a place of immense wealth and sophistication. The massive hydroelectric power development at nearby Niagara Falls and the grand Pan-American Exposition promise to bring the Great Lakes "city of light" even more...  more

Book Votes: 11
188
answerquest
Genie (answerquest)
Lords of the White Castle by Elizabeth Chadwick
Westminster, 1184-- in the court of King Henry, playful competition is about to turn into something far more serious. Young courtier Fulke FitzWarin would not be an obvious companion for Prince John, but the boy from the Welsh Marches is there as a reward for his family's loyalty to the crown....  more

Book Votes: 10
189
Generic Profile avatar
Raydene B. (Knitbooky)
Absolution by Murder (Sister Fidelma, Bk 1) by Peter Tremayne
This immensely appealing launch of a new series is set in seventh-century Ireland, which in Tremayne's rendering is a golden age of enlightenment and of total equality for women. Such narrative stumbling blocks as an abundance of stereotypical characters and much more dynastic trivia,...  more

Book Votes: 10
190
bkxchange
Laura O. (bkxchange)
King Hereafter (Vintage) by Dorothy Dunnett
Back in print by popular demand--"A stunning revelation of the historical Macbeth, harsh and brutal and eloquent." --Washington Post Book World.With the same meticulous scholarship and narrative legerdemain she brought to her hugely popular Lymond Chronicles, our foremost historical novelist...  more

Book Votes: 10
191
ASJ
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran
The marriage of Marc Antony and Cleopatra is one of the greatest love stories of all time, a tale of unbridled passion with earth-shaking political consequences. Feared and hunted by the powers in Rome, the lovers choose to die by their own hands as the triumphant armies of Antony's...  more

Book Votes: 10
192
Generic Profile avatar
Maria M.
Sarah (Canaan Trilogy, Bk 1) by Marek Halter
The first novel in a dazzling new trilogy about the women of the Old Testament by internationally bestselling author Marek Halter. The story of Sarah--and of history itself--begins in the cradle of civilization: the Sumerian city-state of Ur, a land of desert heat, towering gardens, and...  more

Book Votes: 10
193
Generic Profile avatar
Maria M.
The Heretic Queen (Nefertiti, Bk 2) by Michelle Moran
In ancient Egypt, a forgotten princess must overcome her family's past and remake history. The winds of change are blowing through Thebes. A devastating palace fire has killed the Eighteenth Dynasty's royal family -- all with the exception of Nefertari, the niece of the reviled former...  more

Book Votes: 10
194
kkowert
Karen K. (kkowert) - ,
Antony and Cleopatra (Masters of Rome, Bk 7) by Colleen McCullough
Caesar is dead, and Rome is, again, divided. Lepidus has retreated to Africa, while Antony rules the opulent East, and Octavian claims the West, the heart of Rome, as his domain. Though this tense truce holds civil war at bay, Rome seems ripe for an emperor -- a true Julian heir to lay claim to...  more

Book Votes: 9
195
kkowert
Karen K. (kkowert) - ,
The October Horse (Masters of Rome) by Colleen McCullough
A SWEEPING EPIC OF ANCIENT ROME FROM THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE THORN BIRDSWith her renowned storytelling gifts in full force, Colleen McCullough delivers a breathtaking novel that is both grand in scope and vivid in detail -- and proves once again why she is the top historical novelist of...  more

Book Votes: 9
196
answerquest
Genie (answerquest)
As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann
In the seventeenth century, the English Revolution is under way. The nation, seething with religious and political discontent, has erupted into violence and terror. Jacob Cullen and his fellow soldiers dream of rebuilding their lives when the fighting is over. But the shattering events of war...  more

Book Votes: 9
197
thk
Linda S. (thk) - ,
The Heaven Tree / The Green Branch / The Scarlet Seed (Heaven Tree Trilogy) by Edith ...
Beloved author Ellis Peters, creator of Benedictine sleuth Brother Cadfael, penned this superb trilogy under her real name nearly 30 years ago. The story spans roughly the first third of the 13th century. Pargeter weaves her tale into the politics of medieval England and Wales, and her knowledge...  more

Book Votes: 9
198
Generic Profile avatar
Hillary G.
The Bronze Horseman (Tatiana and Alexander, Bk 1) by Paullina Simons
The golden skies, the translucent twilight, the white nights, all hold the promise of youth, of love, of eternal renewal. The war has not yet touched this city of fallen grandeur, or the lives of two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha Metanova, who share a single room in a cramped apartment with their...  more

Book Votes: 9
199
vavoice
Al C. (vavoice) -
The Lantern Bearers (Eagle of the Ninth, Bk 3) by Rosemary Sutcliff
Threatened by a tide of invaders, the last of the Roman Auxiliaries are to leave Britain forever. But Aquila, a young legionnaire, chooses to stay behind, in order to join the fight to save his native land.

Book Votes: 9
200
bookworm-51
DARYL D. (bookworm-51)
Household Gods by Judith Tarr & Harry Turtledove
Nicole Gunther-Perrin is a modern young professional, proud of her legal skills but weary of the daily grind, of childcare, and of sexist coworkers and her deadbeat ex-husband. Then after one exceptionally awful day, she awakens to find herself in a different life, that of a widowed tavernkeeper...  more

Book Votes: 9
201
Generic Profile avatar
Cassie S. (cassie86) - ,
Mary by Janis Cooke Newman
An engrossing novel about Mary Todd Lincoln – one of history’s most misunderstood and enigmatic women.Writing from Bellevue asylum — where the shrieks of the other inmates keep her awake at night — a famous widow can finally share the story of her life in her own words....  more

Book Votes: 9
202
kkowert
Karen K. (kkowert) - ,
Helen of Troy by Margaret George
Depicts the grand spectacle surrounding Helen of Troy. The author's research into Mycenaean culture, coupled with Trojan War mythology's larger-than-life heroes, enliven a bold story pulsing with romance and sacrifice, omens and battles. Helen's noble Spartan parents try to defy the fates when a...  more

Book Votes: 9
203
kaitlynrouge
Kaitlyn P. (kaitlynrouge)
The Disorderly Knights (Lymond Chronicles, 3) by Dorothy Dunnett
The third volume in The Lymond Chronicles, the highly renowned series of historical novels by Dorothy Dunnett, Disorderly Knights takes place in 1551, when Francis Crawford of Lymond is dispatched to embattled Malta, to assist the Knights of Hospitallers in defending the island against the...  more

Book Votes: 9
204
terrylazz2
Terry W. (terrylazz2)
Ireland by Frank Delaney
From a land famous for storytelling comes an "absolute masterpiece"* -- an epic novel of Ireland that captures the intimate, passionate texture of the Irish spirit. One wintry evening in 1951, an itinerant storyteller -- a Seanchai, the very last practitioner of a fabled tradition...  more

Book Votes: 9
205
ASJ
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
The Courts of Love: The Story of Eleanor of Aquitaine (Queens of England, Vol 5) by J...
Eleanor of Aquitaine was revered for her superior intellect, extraordinary courage, and fierce loyalty. She was equally famous for her turbulent relationships, which included marriages to the kings of both France and England. As a child, Eleanor reveled in her beloved grandfather’s...  more

Book Votes: 8
206
answerquest
Genie (answerquest)
The Religion by Tim Willocks
This is what we dream of: to be so swept away, so poleaxed by a book that the breath is sucked right out of us. Brace yourselves. May 1565. Suleiman the Magnificent, emperor of the Ottomans, has declared a jihad against the Knights of Saint John the Baptist. The largest armada of all time...  more

Book Votes: 8
207
Cattriona
Elizabeth B. (Cattriona) -
The Beacon at Alexandria (Hera) by Gillian Bradshaw
When Charis learns that her father has betrothed her to the hated Roman governor Festinus, she enlists the aid of her brother and flees to Alexandria. There, disguised as a eunuch, she begins to study Hippocratic medicine under the tutelage of a patient Jewish physician. The young woman excels...  more

Book Votes: 8
208
barbieofmpls
Barbara B. (barbieofmpls)
Gates of Fire : An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield
The national bestseller!At Thermopylae, a rocky mountain pass in northern Greece, the feared and admired Spartan soldiers stood three hundred strong. Theirs was a suicide mission, to hold the pass against the invading millions of the mighty Persian army.Day after bloody day they withstood the...  more

Book Votes: 8
209
charitysheppard
Charity S. (charitysheppard)
Shinju (Sano Ichiro, Bk 1) by Laura Joh Rowland
When beautiful, wealthy Yukiko and low-born artist Noriyoshi are found drowned together in a shinju, or ritual double suicide, everyone believes the culprit was forbidden love. Everyone but newly appointed yoriki Sano Ichiro. Despite the official verdict and warnings from his superiors, the...  more

Book Votes: 8
210
constance2u
Constance E. (constance2u)
Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy
In a stunning tour-de-force, Marge Piercy has woven a tapestry of World War II, of six women and four men, who fought and died, worked and worried, and moved through the dizzying days of the war. A compelling chronicle of humans in conflict with inhuman events, GONE TO SOLIDERS is an...  more

Book Votes: 8
211
Dargent
Denise S. (Dargent) -
The Spies of Warsaw (Night Soldiers, Bk 10) by Alan Furst
War is coming to Europe. French and German intelligence operatives are locked in a life-and-death struggle on the espionage battlefield. At the French embassy, the new military attache, Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier, a decorated hero of the 1914 war, is drawn into a world of abduction, betrayal,...  more

Book Votes: 8
212
terrylazz2
Terry W. (terrylazz2)
The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis (Camulod Chronicles, Bk 6) by Jack Whyte
Throughout the widely praised Camulod Chronicles, Merlyn Britannicus has been driven by one sacred dream--to see Britain united under one just, powerful king. In The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis, it is time for the Sorcerer to fulfill his promise--to present the battle-proven Arthur as the Riothamus,...  more

Book Votes: 8
213
terrylazz2
Terry W. (terrylazz2)
The Saxon Shore (Camulod Chronicles, Bk 4) by Jack Whyte
Merlyn Britannicus and Uther Pendragon--The Silver Bear and The Red Dragon--are the leaders of the Colony, lifeblood to the community from which will come the fabled Camulod. But soon their tranquility is in ruins, Uther lies dead following treachery...and all that is left of the dream is the...  more

Book Votes: 8
214
terrylazz2
Terry W. (terrylazz2)
Cornwell's Thomas of Hookton Three-Book Set (Heretic, The Archer's Tale, Vagabond) by...
Cornwell's Thomas of Hookton Three-Book For a limited time get three of Bernard Cornwell’s works of historical fiction in one easy-to-order package, including Cornwell’s latest, Heretic.

Book Votes: 8
215
Generic Profile avatar
Julien C. (jaimelesmaths)
The Sot-Weed Factor (The Anchor Literary Library) by John Barth
This is Barth's most distinguished masterpiece.  This modern classic is a hilarious tribute to all the most insidious human vices, with a hero who is "one of the most diverting...to roam the world since Candide" (Time ).

Book Votes: 7
216
charitysheppard
Charity S. (charitysheppard)
Dreaming the Eagle (Boudica, Bk 1) by Manda Scott
Boudica means Bringer of Victory (from the early Celtic word "boudeg"). She is the last defender of the Celtic culture in Britain; the only woman openly to lead her warriors into battle and to stand successfully against the might of Imperial Rome -- and triumph. It is 33 AD and...  more

Book Votes: 7
217
SanJoseCa
ANNA S. (SanJoseCa)
To Defy a King by Elizabeth Chadwick
A story of huge emotional power set against the road to Magna Carta and the fight to bring a tyrant king to heel. The privileged daughter of one of the most powerful men in England, Mahelt Marshal's life changes dramatically when her father is suspected by King John. Her brothers become hostages...  more

Book Votes: 7
218
VickyJo
Vicky T. (VickyJo) -
Faded Coat of Blue (Abel Jones, Bk 1) by Owen Parry
A recent immigrant to this land -- where American has taken up arms against American -- Abel Jones finds himself mysteriously chosen as confidential agent to General George McClellan, the "savior of the Union." No stranger to the cruel paradoxes of war, Jones is asked to investigate the death of...  more

Book Votes: 7
219
Generic Profile avatar
Alice E. (alilovestoread)
Redemption by Leon Uris
Master storyteller Leon Uris, internationally acclaimed author of such bestsellers as Exodus, Topaz, QBVII, Trinity, the Haj and Mitla Pass, continues the epic story of the Irish struggle for freedom in Redemption. A dramatic saga set against the backdrop of growing unrest in Ireland and a world...  more

Book Votes: 7
220
ruthyless
Kathy F.
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
In an astonishing feat of empathy and narrative invention, our most ambitious novelist imagines an alternate version of American history. In 1940 Charles A. Lindbergh, heroic aviator and rabid isolationist, is elected President. Shortly thereafter, he negotiates a cordial...  more

Book Votes: 7
221
terrylazz2
Terry W. (terrylazz2)
The Singing Sword (Camulod Chronicles, Bk 2) by Jack Whyte
A sequel to The Skystone, this rousing tale continues Whyte's nuts-and-bolts, nitty gritty, dirt-beneath-the-nails version of the rise of Arthurian "Camulod" and the beginning of Britain as a distinct entity. In this second installment of the Camulod Chronicles, Whyte focuses even more strongly...  more

Book Votes: 7
222
1ging
Ginger C. (1ging) -
Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell
No description available.

Book Votes: 7
223
Doughgirl
Lynne J. (Doughgirl)
Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors
In 1632, the Emperor of Hindustan, Shah Jahan, consumed by grief over the death of his empress, Mumtaz Mahal, ordered the building of a grand mausoleum to symbolize the greatness of their love. Against scenes of unimaginable wealth and power, murderous sibling rivalries, and cruel despotism,...  more

Book Votes: 6
224
ASJ
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
Madonna of the Seven Hills (Lucrezia Borgia, Bk 1) by Jean Plaidy
The legendary Lucrezia Borgia did everything with a passionate intensity. She loved with a burning lust. She hated with a ruthless violence. There wasn't another woman in all of Rome who could rival her exquisite beauty -- or her incredible power. As the only daughter of Pope Alexander...  more

Book Votes: 6
225
charitysheppard
Charity S. (charitysheppard)
The Flames of Rome by Paul L. Maier
The splendor and pagan excesses of Roman society are confronted by the life-changing faith of Christianity in this historically accurate fiction work. Guaranteed fiction!

Book Votes: 6
226
coffeeqn
coffeeqn -
The Quality of Mercy by Faye Kellerman
Rebecca Lopez enjoys a life of privilege in Elizabeth's England -- yet she guards secrets she dares not reveal. The beautiful, tempestuous daughter of the queen's own physician, Rebecca is also a converso -- a Jew who practices her prohibited religion clandestinely -- helping others of her...  more

Book Votes: 6
227
bookworm-51
DARYL D. (bookworm-51)
The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Steeped in the intriguing history of Niagara Falls, this epic love story is as rich, spellbinding, and majestic as the falls themselves. 1915. The dawn of the hydroelectric power era in Niagara Falls. Seventeen-year-old Bess Heath has led a sheltered existence as the youngest daughter of the...  more

Book Votes: 6
228
wendybird
Wendy R. (wendybird)
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
Paris, 1937. Andras Lévi, a Hungarian-Jewish architecture student, arrives from Budapest with a scholarship, a single suitcase, and a mysterious letter he has promised to deliver to C. Morgenstern on the rue de Sauvigne. As he falls into a complicated relationship with the letter's...  more

Book Votes: 6
229
Generic Profile avatar
Ralph W.
The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner
The novel that confirmed Wallace Stegner's position as an important American writer is based on his own family history. Bo and Elsa Mason and their two sons set out to conquer the West, pursuing the American dream of wealth and success -- the Big Rock Candy Mountain.

Book Votes: 6
230
terrylazz2
Terry W. (terrylazz2)
The Skystone (Camulod Chronicles, Bk 1) by Jack Whyte
Everyone knows the story-how Arthur pulled the sword from the stone, how Camelot came to be, and about the power struggles that ultimately destroyed Arthur's dreams. But what of the time before Arthur and the forces that created him? How did the legend really come to pass? Before...  more

Book Votes: 6
231
terrylazz2
Terry W. (terrylazz2)
The Eagles' Brood (Camulod Chronicles, Bk 3) by Jack Whyte
The Eagles? Brood continues the saga of the Colony known as Camulod, and the tale of the descendants of those brave Romans who forged a new way of life for the Celt and Roman peoples when the Roman legions departed Britain. Most know the new leader of the Colony as Merlyn; all call him...  more

Book Votes: 6
232
terrylazz2
Terry W. (terrylazz2)
The Fort at River's Bend (Camulod Chronicles, Bk 5) by Jack Whyte
Merlyn Britannicus, leader of the colony known as Camulod, is faced with the task of educating his young charge, Arthur, future King of the Britons. Fearing for the life of his nephew when an assassination attempt is thwarted, Merlyn takes Arthur and his boyhood companions Gwin, Ghilleadh, and...  more

Book Votes: 6
233
terrylazz2
Terry W. (terrylazz2)
The Winter King: A Novel of Arthur (Warlord Chronicles, Bk 1) by Bernard Cornwell
This retelling of Arthurian legend returns to Britain in the Dark Ages and the coming of the greatest king of them all. It takes a remarkable writer to make an old story as fresh and compelling as the first time we heard it. With The Winter King, the first volume of his magnificent Warlord...  more

Book Votes: 6
234
terrylazz2
Terry W. (terrylazz2)
Enemy of God: A Novel of Arthur (Thorndike Press Large Print Basic Series) by Bernard...
With the Winter King, the first volume of his magnificent Warlord

Book Votes: 6
235
ALbookbugg
Valli
A Hollow Crown: The Story of Emma, Queen of Saxon England by Helen Hollick
Aged only thirteen, Emma, daughter of the Duke of Normandy, is married in a strategic alliance to King Aethelred of England. Inept and arrogant, Aethelred is loathed by his young wife, whom he punishes for his many failings as a ruler. Their first son, Edward, is born through an act of violence...  more

Book Votes: 5
236
ALbookbugg
Valli
Harold the King by Helen Hollick
The story of the men and women involved in the tide of events that led to a battlefield near Hastings, in 1066

Book Votes: 5
237
gaslight
Karla B. (gaslight) - ,
Freedom: A Novel of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War by William Safire
Sweeping across a divided land, FREEDOM, weaves the unforgettable saga of men and women caught up in the maelstrom of war-the generals and the spies, the politicians and the pamphleteers, the lovers and the users and above all, Abraham Lincoln, the president and the man. From the backrooms of...  more

Book Votes: 5
238
Cattriona
Elizabeth B. (Cattriona) -
Circle of Stones (Druid Circle, Bk 1) by Anna Lee Waldo
History would call her Brenda, the mistress of a powerful Welsh prince. But when she arrives at Gwynedd Castle, she is only a naive girl who cannot control her desire for Prince Owain-- until he decides to murder her child. Now, in a court filled with jealousy and betrayal, Brenda will harbor a...  more

Book Votes: 5
239
Generic Profile avatar
Hillary G.
The Geographer's Library by Jon Fasman
Item 1: An alembic is the top part of an apparatus used for distilling. This one is made of sturdy green glass, thirty-six centimeters tall, eighteen centimeters around at the widest point of its base. The top part of the vessel is narrow and fluted and turns sharply to the right; alembics are...  more

Book Votes: 5
240
charitysheppard
Charity S. (charitysheppard)
Dreaming the Serpent Spear (Boudica, Bk 4) by Manda Scott
From Publishers Weekly Scott concludes her popular Boudica series with a haunting tale of healing and war set in the summer of A.D. 60 in Roman-occupied Britannia, where the native tribes have raised a 5,000-strong war party for a "war of liberation." But their leader, Breaca of the Eceni...  more

Book Votes: 5
241
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siriusgirl
The Uncrowned Queen (War of the Roses, Bk 3) by Posie Graeme-Evans
As England tears itself apart in the War of the Roses, Anne de Bohun lives far from the intrigues of cities and courts. Once King Edward IV's mistress, Anne has found safety with their son in Brugge. But now Edward himself is a hunted fugitive, and Anne's real father, King Henry VI,...  more

Book Votes: 5
242
Generic Profile avatar
siriusgirl
The Innocent (War of the Roses, Bk 1) by Posie Graeme-Evans
The year is 1450, a dangerous time in medieval Britain. Civil unrest is at its peak and the legitimacy of the royal family is suspect. Meanwhile, deep in the forests of western England, a baby is born. Powerful forces plot to kill both mother and child, but somehow the newborn girl survives. Her...  more

Book Votes: 5
243
bookworm-51
DARYL D. (bookworm-51)
Fallen Skies by Philippa Gregory
Lily Valance wants to forget the war. She's determined to enjoy the world of the 1920s, with its music, singing, laughter and pleasure. When she meets Captain Stephen Winters, a decorated hero, back from the Front, she's drawn to his wealth and status. In Lily he sees his salvation - from the...  more

Book Votes: 5
244
escapeartistk
Kristin K. (escapeartistk) -
Killing Mister Watson (Watson, Bk 1) by Peter Matthiessen
Drawn from fragments of historical fact, Matthiessen's masterpiece brilliantly depicts the fortunes and misfortunes of Edgar J. Watson, a real-life entrepreneur and outlaw who appeared in the lawless Florida Everglades around the turn of the century.

Book Votes: 5
245
Generic Profile avatar
Jennifer A. (jenn1a)
The Given Day (Coughlin, Bk 1) by Dennis Lehane
Set in Boston at the end of the First World War, New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane's long-awaited eighth novel unflinchingly captures the political and social unrest of a nation caught at the crossroads between past and future. Filled with a cast of unforgettable characters...  more

Book Votes: 5
246
Dargent
Denise S. (Dargent) -
The Brothers of Gwynedd: Sunrise in the West / The Dragon at Noonday / The Hounds of ...
The story of Llewelyn, first true Prince of Wales, is the history of medieval Wales in dramatic and epic form. Llewelyn's burning vision is of one Wales, united against the threat of the English. But before he can achieve his dream, he must first tackle enemies nearer home. All three of...  more

Book Votes: 5
247
terrylazz2
Terry W. (terrylazz2)
The Lance Thrower (Camulod Chronicles, Bk 8) by Jack Whyte
Jack Whyte has written a lyrical epic, retelling the myths behind the boy who would become the Man Who Would Be King--Arthur Pendragon. He has shown us, as Diana Gabaldon said, "the bone beneath the flesh of legend." In his last book in this series, we witnessed the young king pull the sword...  more

Book Votes: 5
248
terrylazz2
Terry W. (terrylazz2)
Uther (Camulod Chronicles, Bk 7) by Jack Whyte
With Uther, Jack Whyte, author of the richly praised Camulod Chronicles, has given us a portrait of Uther Pendragon, Merlyn's shadow--his boyhood companion and closest friend. And the man who would sire the King of the Britons. From the trials of boyhood to the new cloak of adult...  more

Book Votes: 5
249
terrylazz2
Terry W. (terrylazz2)
The Eagle (Camulod Chronicles, Bk 9) by Jack Whyte
Whyte concludes his nine-volume retelling of the Arthurian legend with a rousing final chapter in the saga of Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere. With the threat of a Saxon invasion looming, Arthur attempts to cobble together a united Britain but is thwarted by jealous rivals. Meanwhile, Clothar...  more

Book Votes: 5
250
terrylazz2
Terry W. (terrylazz2)
Excalibur (Warlord Chronicles, Bk 3) by Bernard Cornwell
The third novel in the Warlords Chronicle, Excalibur: A Novel of Arthur immerses the reader in the Britain of the Dark Ages. Merlin, the greatest of the Druids, believes that the ancient gods are deserting Britain, and that the invading Saxons can't be defeated without the gods' help....  more

Book Votes: 5
251
cameron55
Cameron B. (cameron55) - ,
Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom
Part thriller, part love story, this is a remarkable tale set against the backdrop of Spain's bloody Civil War and war-torn London. Winter in Madrid follows the fortunes of three young men - formerly at public school together, now set on profoundly opposing courses, and navigating the tumultous...  more

Book Votes: 4
252
charitysheppard
Charity S. (charitysheppard)
Dreaming the Bull (Boudica Trilogy (Hardcover)) by Manda Scott
The second part of the stunning fictionalization of the life of Britain’s warrior queen, Boudica, immerses us in a world of druids and dreamers, warriors and lovers, passion and courage. Originally a trilogy, this is now a four-part series.“Boudica” means “Bringer of...  more

Book Votes: 4
253
charitysheppard
Charity S. (charitysheppard)
Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya
Named Notable Book of 1955 by the American Library Association, this is the very moving story of a peasant woman in a primitive village in India whose whole life was a gallant and persistent battle to care for those she loved.

Book Votes: 4
254