Historical Fiction Literature

Thea is a slave girl from Judaea, passionate, musical, and guarded. Purchased as a toy for the spiteful heiress Lepida Pollia, Thea will become her mistress' rival for the love of Arius the Barbarian, Rome's newest and most savage gladiator. His love brings Thea the first happiness of her life, but that is quickly ended when a jealous Lepida tears them apart.

Hailed as Charlotte Brontë’s “finest novel” by Virginia Woolf, Villette is the timeless semi-autobiographical tale of Lucy Snowe. Left with no family and no money, Lucy goes against her own timid nature and travels to the small city of Villette, France, where she becomes a school teacher in Madame Beck’s school for girls. During her stay, she falls in love—twice—and discovers an independent, inner strength rarely seen in women of her time.

Hattie Walker dreams of becoming a painter, while her parents want her to settle down. As a compromise, they give her two months to head to Denver and place her works in an exhibition or give up the dream forever. Her journey is derailed when a gunman attacks her stagecoach, leaving her to be rescued by a group of Arapaho, but she's too terrified to recognize them as friendly.

Lady Ella Myerston can always find a reason to smile - even if it's just in hope that tomorrow will be better than today. All her life everyone has tried to protect her from the realities of the world, but Ella knows very well the danger that has haunted her brother and their friend, and she won't wait for it to strike again. She intends to take action, and if that happens to involve an adventurous trip to the Cotswolds, then so much the better.

Young Josiah Paddock, on the run from his past in St. Louis, didn’t have much hope of survival. Winter was coming to the Rockies, and if the cold cutting through his city clothes didn’t kill him, grizzlies or Indians would. Then his luck turned. He stumbled across the trail of Ol’ Scratch, a solitary mountain man eager enough for company to take the brash youngster under his wing.

As a notorious member of the Heirs' Club, Bray Drakestone can't resist a challenge from one of his well-heeled colleagues - especially when it involves money and horses. But the friendly wager takes an unexpected and deadly turn.

Nicolette Chamard, a woman of color in the most color-conscious city in the world, rejoices when the Union Army marches into New Orleans. At last her people will be free, and even knowing her collaboration with the Union will put her in danger, she means to help make it happen. Marcel Chamard, Nicolette's privileged white half-brother, surveys the same parade and sees conquerors, not liberators.

A wanderer's life was all James Randall Kirkland had known since he was an orphaned boy in San Antonio. And while years of adventure had satisfied his younger self, now he's longing to put down roots of his own and is prepared to go it alone. But when he sees the Apache slave woman with the startling blue eyes, the course of his journey is changed forever.

As a child, Hester Wyatt escaped slavery, but now the dark-skinned beauty is a member of Michigan's Underground Railroad, offering other runaways a chance at the freedom she has learned to love. When one of her fellow conductors brings her an injured man to hide, Hester doesn't hesitate...even after she is told about the price on his head. The man in question is known as the "Black Daniel," a vital member of the North's Underground Railroad network.

Society dictates that a governess should be modest, quiet, and keep to herself. She should never contradict her employer. And, above all, she must not attract the attention of any male in the household. But Michael Severson doesn't see Isabel Halloran as a governess - he sees her as a woman, one whose lush curves cannot be hidden behind a dowdy gown...and whose efforts at hiding her sparkling intelligence are betrayed by her wit.

Find the second star from the right, and fly straight on ’til morning, all the way to Neverland, a children’s paradise with no rules, no adults, only endless adventure and enchanted forests—all led by the charismatic boy who will never grow old. But Wendy Darling grew up. She has a husband and a young daughter called Jane, and a life in London. But one night, after all these years, Peter Pan returns. Wendy finds him outside her daughter’s window, looking to claim a new mother for his Lost Boys. But instead of Wendy, he takes Jane.

When Victoria fell in love with the Earl of Pembroke, she never imagined he'd heartlessly wed, bed, and abandon her in the countryside. After he suddenly returns, determined to prove to her he's a changed man, she's not about to forgive him, trust him, or succumb to his scorching kisses. Will has devoted his life to enraging his loathsome father by creating one scandal after the next. Duty forces him back to the wife he resents, but he isn't prepared for the raw desire she makes him feel. Seducing her will hardly be a tedious task. Guarding his heart, however, is another matter.

Following the death of her husband, Lady Darby has taken refuge at her sister's estate, finding solace in her passion for painting. But when one of the house guests is murdered, her brother-in-law asks her to aid the insufferable Sebastian Gage - a fellow guest with some experience as an inquiry agent. While Gage is clearly more competent than she first assumed, Kiera isn't about to let her guard down, as accusations and rumors swirl.

Marty Dandridge Olson is a widow looking for a way out of Texas. Widower Jake Wythe has secured a job as a bank manager in Denver, only to discover that the bank board wants him to be a married man. With Texas in his roots, he advertises for a Lone Star bride, and Marty answers the call. They both agree they are done with romance and love and will make this nothing more than a marriage of convenience. Marty works to carve out a new life in high-society Denver as Jake works to guide the bank through a collapsing economy.

With 22 million of her books in print, and 12 consecutive New York Times best-sellers to her credit, Amanda Quick is a phenomenally popular author of historical romances. With This Ring, set in Regency England, sends a beautiful, headstrong woman on a perilous quest for the Forbidden Rings of Aphrodite. To recover her family’s meager fortunes, Beatrice Poole must locate the antiquities stolen from her favorite uncle shortly before his highly suspicious death.

The Duke of Griffin has never lived down his reputation as one of the Rakes of St. James. Now rumors are swirling that his twin sisters may bear the brunt of his past follies. Hiring a competent chaperone is the only thing Griffin has on his mind - until he meets the lovely and intriguing Miss Esmeralda Swift. In ways he could never have expected, she arouses more than just his curiosity.

Unlike his brothers, Vane Cynster vows to never marry. The eligible women of London have different plans for him, however. Seeking safety at Bellamy Hall, the residence of his eccentric godmother, Vane doesn't expect to meet any new unmarried women. But upon his arrival, he encounters the voluptuous Patience Debbington in the garden. When their gazes meet for the first time, she is filled with a sensation that leaves her quivering.

A mysterious stranger arrives in the small Herefordshire market town of Ledbury. He offers a solicitor, Anthony Midwinter, a generous sum to look after a package for him until spring, no questions asked. The stranger warns that it must remain sealed or else the very stability of England will come under threat. The Ledbury Lamplighters see out the year with a public ceremony extinguishing the town's lamps, a local tradition. A prominent local businessman is brutally murdered in full view of the revellers.

Set against the backdrop of an elegant Cornwall mansion before World War II and a vast continent-spanning canvas during the turbulent war years, this captivating story tells of an extraordinary young woman's coming of age, coming to grips with love and sadness, and in every sense of the term, coming home.... In 1935, Judith Dunbar is left behind at a British boarding school when her mother and baby sister go off to join her father in Singapore.

It had been a decade since Victor Cale, first cousin to the Duke of Lyons, had seen his wife. After some royal jewelry went missing from the jeweler's shop where they worked, Isabel Mertens disappeared. When Victor gets word of a woman who fits his wife's description, he sets out to confront her. But he discovers that nothing is as it seems-and revenge is never as sweet as true love.