Historical Fiction Books

Book SynopsisA BRAND-NEW gripping and unforgettable tale of love, loss and bravery in the shadows of war. Perfect for fans of Kate Quinn, Mandy Robotham and Suzanne Kelman. 📖They said women were a liability in war. They were wrong. An intriguing invitationHampered by a controlling father and overlooked by everyone she knows, Serenity Ashworth (Wren to her friends) is determined to do her duty for the war effort and take advantage of the new opportunities for young women like her. So, when a mysterious letter from a Major Belinda Stapleton arrives, Wren is intrigued. A secret army of womenMajor Stapleton invites Wren to join her Secret Army a select group of women operating undercover to combat enemy agents. It's an opportunity to play a critical role in the British Resistance should Hitler ever invade Britain's shores. Eager to sign up, Wren must first complete a tough training program and, if she succeeds, will enter a world of secrets and spies where the only people she can rely on are the other girls she's trained with. A daring and deadly missionUnable to share her secret with anyone, Wren must be ever alert. But when her twin brother Tommy is reported missing in action, Wren is devastated, and even more determined to hit back at the enemy any way she can. When an unexpected opportunity arises to save Tommy, Wren must overcome all self-doubt and take a chance to save those she loves - even if she pays the ultimate price... A gripping new saga series filled with courage and bravery inspired by the true-life stories of The Women's Secret Army. Perfect for fans of Fenella J. Miller, Lizzie lane and Rosie Clarke.

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Book SynopsisThere is a certain hour, in the dead of night, when the orchid's scent can put you under a spell... Nancy Bilyeau, author of The Blue, returns with a tantalizing novel about one woman caught up in a secret nightclub that one can only reach through a certain florist on a cobblestone street. New York City, 1923. Zia De Luca's life is about to be shattered. Having lost her husband to The Great War, she lives with her son and in-laws in Little Italy and works at the public library. But when a quiet poetry lover is murdered outside the library, the police investigation focuses on Zia. After a second tragedy strikes even closer to home, Zia learns that both crimes are connected to a new speakeasy in Greenwich Village called The Orchid Hour. When the police investigation stalls, Zia decides to find her own answers. A cousin with whom she has a special bond serves as a guide to the shadow realm of The Orchid Hour, a world filled with enticements Zia has shunned up to now. She must contend with a group of players determined to find wealth and power in New York on their own terms. In this heady atmosphere, Zia begins to wonder if she too could rewrite her life's rules. As she's pulled in deeper and deeper, will Zia be able to bring the killers to justice before they learn her secret?Trade Review"Nancy Bilyeau has created a beautifully layered and utterly seductive tale... and, at its living, tender heart, a strong-willed and magnetic heroine." - Emilya Naymark, author of Behind the Lie, finalist for the 2023 Sue Grafton Award

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Book SynopsisAran Islands, 1898. Rose O'Neill learns that her beloved brother Donal has died fighting in the Spanish-American war. The news is followed by Donal's comrade-in-arms, Adam Blakely, who arrives a month later on Kilronan's scenic shores. He's come to return Rose's letters. Letters that Adam has re-read a hundred times. Two weeks stretch into two glorious months, then Adam's father falls ill, and he's summoned home to New York. He leaves Rose with the memory of a beautiful night and the promise of marriage. Yet Rose's eighteenth birthday comes and goes, and she doesn't hear a word. Unable to ignore the child growing inside of her, she leaves the only home she's ever known, clutching Adam's address. But in New York's crowded harbor, she's met with a cruel awakening. Penniless, pregnant, and alone in a foreign city, Rose must ford through sweatshops, Lower East Side tenements, and personal tragedy, before she can let go of her first love and hope for a second chance with a good, steady man. Then, just as Rose makes peace with her past, changes nobody could have foreseen threaten to topple the life for which she has sacrificed so much.Trade Review'An expansive, breath-taking tale . . . Rose's voice is eloquent and lyrical, the writing glorious, and the historical detail superb.' Fiona Davis, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author

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Book SynopsisGabriella Mondini is a rarity in 16th century Venice, she's a woman who practices medicine. Her father, a renowned physician, has provided her entrée to this all-male profession, and inspired in her a shared mission to understand the secrets of the human body. Then her father disappears and Gabriella faces a crisis: without her father's patronage, she is no longer permitted to treat her patients. So she sets out across Europe to find her father. Following clues from his occasional enigmatic letters, Gabriella crosses Switzerland, Germany and France, entering strange and forbidding cities. She travels to Scotland, the Netherlands, and finally to Morocco. In each new land, she uncovers details of her father's unexplained flight, and opens new mysteries of her own. Not just the mysteries of ailments and treatments, but the ultimate mysteries of mortality, love, and the timeless human spirit. Filled with medical lore and sensuous, vivid details of Renaissance life, The Book of Madness and Cures is an intoxicating, unforgetable debut.

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Book SynopsisA sumptuous novel of love and loss set in 17th-century Spain. From the author of the bestselling novel, ‘The Binding Chair’. As Marie Louise de Bourbon, niece of Louis XIV, journeys south from Versailles to marry the Spanish king, she is forced to abandon the cumbersome orange trees brought from her beloved Versailles, leaving them to wither in the chill Pyrenees. This loss presages the future that awaits her, in a court riven by intrigue, with an impotent husband who demands an heir. Marie’s fate is dreamed of by Francisca de Luarca, as she sits in her prison cell far from the Queen’s chamber. This imaginative Castilian silk grower's daughter has fallen passionately and dangerously in love with a young priest. In this luscious, hypnotic novel, Kathryn Harrison twists together their stories, bringing to vivid life the wonders and the horrors of 17th-century Spain, a world convulsed by poverty and religious upheaval.Trade Review‘A magical novel.’ Lisa Tuttle, Time Out ‘Audacious feats of the imagination. This rich and complex novel is both harrowing and compelling.’ Nicola Humble, TLS ‘A rich deep well of stories as fantastic as dreams.’ Anne Chisholm, Observer ‘Superlative.’ Claire Messud, Vogue ‘Kathryn Harrison writes about the dark side of a woman's destiny with an intensity that makes you shiver.’ She ‘Seductive, earthy, shocking and emotional.’ Woman’s Journal

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