Chinese Historical Fiction

San Kuo: Or Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong, set during the turbulent final years of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period (circa 184–280 AD). Widely regarded as one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it combines history, legend, and myth to depict the power struggles and heroic exploits of the era.

According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.

By day, 17-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady's maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, "Dear Miss Sweetie". When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society's ills, but she's not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender.

China, 1937: When Japanese bombs begin falling on the city of Nanking, 19-year-old Hu Lian and her classmates at Minghua University are ordered to flee. Lian and a convoy of more than 100 students, faculty, and staff must walk 1,000 miles to the safety of China’s western provinces, a journey marred by hunger, cold, and the constant threat of aerial attack. And it is not just the student refugees who are at risk: Lian and her classmates have been entrusted with a priceless treasure, a 500-year-old collection of myths and folklore known as the Library of Legends.

A concubine at the palace learns quickly that there are many ways to capture the emperor's attention. Many paint their faces white and style their hair attractively, hoping to lure in the One Above All with their beauty. Some present him with fantastic gifts, such as jade pendants and scrolls of calligraphy, while others rely on their knowledge of seduction to draw his interest. Young Mei knows nothing of these womanly arts, yet she will give the emperor a gift he can never forget.

Edward Rutherfurd has enthralled millions of people with his grand, sweeping historical sagas that tell the history of a famous place over multiple generations. Now, in China: The Novel, Rutherfurd takes listeners into the rich and fascinating milieu of the Middle Kingdom. The story begins in 1839, at the dawn of the First Opium War, and follows Chinese history through Mao's Cultural Revolution and up to the present day. Rutherfurd chronicles the rising and falling fortunes of members of Chinese, British, and American families, as they negotiate the tides of history.

Twelve-year-old Ji-li Jiang has brains, friends, and a bright future. Then Mao Zedong launches China’s infamous Cultural Revolution. Soon school is suspended and students are getting caught up in the fervor of Mao’s extreme politics. When Ji-li’s family is accused of capitalist crimes, all of her beautiful dreams burst like soap bubbles. Because Ji-li’s grandfather was a landlord, her family is harassed and humiliated. Their home is searched, and they live in constant fear. Nonetheless, Ji-li remains loyal to her beloved Chairman Mao....

At thirteen, investigative prodigy Huang Zixia had already proved herself by aiding her father in solving confounding crimes. At seventeen, she's on the run, accused of murdering her family to escape an arranged marriage. Driven by a single-minded pursuit, she must use her skills to unmask the real killer...and clear her name.

Lalu Nathoy's father called his thirteen-year-old daughter his treasure, his "thousand pieces of gold," yet when famine strikes northern China in 1871, he is forced to sell her. Polly, as Lalu is later called, is sold to a brothel, sold again to a slave merchant bound for America, auctioned to a saloonkeeper, and offered as a prize in a poker game. This biographical novel is the extraordinary story of one woman's fight for independence and dignity in the American West.

This searing novel, originally banned in China but later named one of that nation's most influential books, portrays one man's transformation from the spoiled son of a landlord to a kindhearted peasant. After squandering his family's fortune in gambling dens and brothels, the young, deeply penitent Fugui settles down to do the honest work of a farmer. Forced by the Nationalist Army to leave behind his family, he witnesses the horrors and privations of the Civil War, only to return years later to face a string of hardships brought on by the ravages of the Cultural Revolution.

Some of the cruelest deeds of Japan's war in Asia did not occur on the battlefield, but in quiet, antiseptic medical wards in obscure parts of China. Far from front lines and prying eyes, Japanese doctors and their assistants subjected human guinea pigs to gruesome medical experiments in the name of science and Japan's wartime chemical and biological warfare research. Author Hal Gold draws upon a wealth of sources to construct a portrait of the Imperial Japanese Army's most notorious medical unit, giving an overview of its history and detailing its most shocking activities.

Daiyu never wanted to be like the tragic heroine for whom she was named, revered for her beauty and cursed with heartbreak. But when she is kidnapped and forced across an ocean from China to America, Daiyu must relinquish the home and future she imagined for herself. Over the years that follow, she is forced to keep reinventing herself to survive. From a calligraphy school, to a San Francisco brothel, to a shop tucked into the Idaho mountains, we follow Daiyu on a desperate quest to outrun the tragedy that chases her.

When Senator Aulus Aemilius Galba is tapped to lead the first Roman mission to China, he anticipates an easy path to fame and fortune. Gaius Lucullus sees a bright military future, but his reluctant centurion Antonius Aristides would rather be somewhere else. Translators Marcia Lucia and her brother Marcus were taken from their village in China to serve the Han court, abused and despised, hiding a horrible secret.

Red Notice is a searing expose of the wholesale whitewash by Russian authorities of Magnitsky's imprisonment and murder, slicing deep into the shadowy heart of the Kremlin to uncover its sordid truths.

As tensions rise on the Korean peninsula, US diplomat Nate Simon is sent to Seoul to gauge the political situation and advise the president. He also needs to find out why someone sent the president an ancient, intricately carved comb with an ivory inlay of a two-headed dragon. Though familiar with Korea’s language and culture, Nate knows little of its troubled history. Beautiful and mysterious embassy aide Anna Carlson believes it’s time he learns, starting with the extraordinary story of Korea’s last queen.

The House of Life & Death by Vann Chow is an epic narrative that spans generations, weaving together love, betrayal, history, and the supernatural. Elise’s world turns upside down when she stumbles upon her grandmother’s ancient diary, leading her into a web of dark family secrets and haunting supernatural forces. The diary reveals a deep connection to the House of Life, a mystical realm where the souls of the dead linger, shaped by Chinese folklore and ancient rituals. As Elise uncovers her family’s legacy, she learns that the House of Life is tied to a centuries-old curse rooted in ...

Can she escape her fate? In 1942 China, Magnolia dreams of becoming a soldier, and marriage is the last thing on her mind. But when her father’s superior, a Sichuan army general, arranges for her to marry the Mosuo chief, she becomes bound to a man she has never met. To escape her fate, Magnolia decides to run away. Alas, she runs right into the man she is supposed to marry. Zhaxi is on his way to pick up his future bride. The daughter of an army captain will strengthen his ties with the Hans. But his betrothed turns out to be much different than he expected: she’s rebellious and ...

An anonymous letter warns Senior Police Inspector Melnikov to “DROP YOUR INVESTIGATION OR FACE DEATH”. But the dilemma—which one of his ongoing investigations did they mean? It’s 1935, and Borya Melnikov has risen to the rank of Senior Inspector on Harbin’s Judicial Police unit in Manchuria. But his position is becoming untenable as Manchukuo’s Japanese masters are increasingly intolerant of his independent style . . . and now this anonymous threat lands on his desk. It’s not in his nature to back down to threats, but it is only weeks before his wife returns to Harbin. He must...

乱世十八好汉，看孰真孰假？灭隋建唐伟业，谁一统天下？那个时代，是暴君、英雄、枭雄、豪杰、谋士辈出的时代，是中国历史上最崇尚“力”的时代……亂世十八好漢，看孰真孰假？滅隋建唐偉業，誰一統天下？那個時代，是暴君、英雄、梟雄、豪傑、謀士輩出的時代，是中國歷史上最崇尚「力」的時代……

字字珠玑的故事、始料未及的真相、彻骨入髓的爱杀，这是一部从古言套路中挣脱出来的真情之作！一念情痴金匣起，死生契阔心相照…… 字字珠璣的故事、始料未及的真相、徹骨入髓的愛殺，這是一部從古言套路中掙脫出來的真情之作！一念情癡金匣起，死生契闊心相照……