Historical Novels
Annotation:Documenting his grandparents' experiences during the siege of Leningrad, a young writer learns his grandfather's story about how a military deserter and he tried to secure pardons by gathering hard-to-find ingredients for a powerful colonel's daughter's wedding cake.
Place a Hold
Annotation:Offered a position as a captain's assistant in exchange for a stint in prison, fourteen-year-old pickpocket John Jacob Turnstile finds himself aboard the H.M.S. Bounty, where harrowing difficulties render him an unwitting participant in his historic mutiny.
Annotation:Set in turn of the century New York, this historical novel is the story of a woman who mysteriously becomes prone to nervousness and fits. Her husband sends her to doctor after doctor in search of treatment, but when the source of her affliction is discovered, she learns that the cure may ruin her comfortable society life.
Annotation:A poor seventeenth-century servant girl named Griet knows her place in the household of the painter Johannes Vermeer, but when he begins to paint her, their growing intimacy sparks whispers; and when Vermeer paints her wearing his wife's pearl earrings, the gossip escalates into a full-blown scandal that irrevocably changes Griet's life.
Annotation:The story of Dinah, a tragic character from the Bible whose great love, a prince, is killed by her brother, leaving her alone and pregnant. The novel traces her life from childhood to death, in the process examining sexual and religious practices of the day, and what it meant to be a woman.
Annotation:Turning fifteen in Renaissance Florence, Alessandra Cecchi becomes intoxicated with the works of a young painter whom her father has brought to the city to decorate the family's Florentine palazzo.
Annotation:A story of passion and idealism which describes a group of men and women in the Middle Ages whose destinies are fatefully linked with the building of a cathedral. In a country torn by civil war, two generations struggle to rise above their primitive circumstances and create something beautiful.
Annotation:After Inman escapes from a war hospital in 1864 and starts walking to Cold Mountain, his wife Ada struggles to save her mountain farm with the help of Ruby, an illiterate but efficient farmer.
Annotation:A fisherman's daughter in 1930s Japan rises to become a famous geisha. After training, Sayuri's virginity is sold to the highest bidder, then the school finds her a general for a patron. When he dies, she is reunited with the only man she ever loved.
Annotation:Young sisters Mary and Anne Boleyn compete for the affections of King Henry VIII in a medieval tale of high-stakes sibling rivalry.
Annotation:Young Sarah Carrier tries to cope with life in Salem, Massachusetts, after her mother, Martha Carrier, is accused, tried, and hanged as a witch.
Annotation:Forced to leave Shanghai when their father sells them to California suitors, sisters May and Pearl struggle to adapt to life in 1930s Los Angeles while still bound to old customs, as they face discrimination and confront a life-altering secret.
Annotation:In seventeenth-century Hindustan, the reigning emperor, grieving over the death of his beloved wife, commissions the construction of the Taj Mahal as a monument to their lasting relationship, in an account narrated by Princess Jahanara, the couple's daughter, who embarks on a love affair with the architect of the landmark.
Annotation:In Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962, there are lines that are not crossed. With the civil rights movement exploding all around them, three women start a movement of their own, forever changing a town and the way women--black and white, mothers and daughters--view one another.
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Description
Try one of these historical novels - where the setting is as much a character as the characters themselves.
Genre Guide