Ancient Historical Fiction

From the author of the “engrossing historical epic” (Booklist) The Scribe of Siena comes a thrilling tale set in the crumbling city of Mystras, Greece, in which a scientist’s vacation with her young son quickly turns into a fight for their lives after they cross paths with a man out of time.

Britannia 43AD. The last unconquered stronghold of the Celts and a land of gold and slaves. A dangerous place of men without fear, led by mystical Druid warriors, yet still to face the might of Rome in the unrelenting expansion of the empire. Four Roman legions have assembled in Gaul undertaking final preparations for the invasion of Britannia. Two young men are posted to a training cohort under the sadistic tutorage of a battle scarred veteran, Remus. The training is brutal, but eventually the trainees find themselves involved in their first campaign. The invasion of Britannia.

Trouble has a way of seeking out Nicolas Calva, and it's not likely to leave him alone anytime soon. With Caesar's magic bulla, the Malice of Mars, and the possibility of a Jupiter Stone in play, all the powers of Rome are circling Nic. He'll have to maneuver his way through scheming government officials and reawakened magical beasts to save the Empire.

Rome - 97 BC. Quintus Sertorius is now serving as a legate in Greece. It's supposed to be a peacetime mission, but quickly Sertorius discovers there is more happening beneath the peaceful veneer of democracy's birthplace. Roman citizens are disappearing. Whispers are spreading that there is a force operating in the shadows bent on Rome's destruction.

It is no act of love that Regan experiences the night she takes her sister's place in the marriage bed, a counterfeit bride to sate the lust of her twin's new husband. Come morning, her sister, carrying another man's child, resumes her place, and Regan is spirited away to a nunnery. But a more exotic fate awaits the fiery Celtic beauty: Regan is sold to a slave trader. It will be her destiny to come under the tutelage of Karim al Malina, master of the erotic arts, who will mold Regan - now renamed Zaynab, the beautiful one - into a love slave fit for a Moorish king.

Achill, Sohn der Meeresgöttin Thetis und des König Peleus, ist stark, anmutig und schön - niemand, dem er begegnet, kann seinem Zauber widerstehen. Patroklos ist ein unbeholfener junger Prinz, der nach einem schockierenden Akt der Gewalt aus seinem Heimatland verbannt wurde. Ein Zufall führt die beiden schon als Kinder zusammen, und je mehr Zeit sie gemeinsam verbringen, desto enger wird das Band zwischen ihnen. Nach ihrer Ausbildung in der Kriegs- und Heilkunst durch den Zentauren Chiron erfahren sie vom Raub der Helena.

At eight years old, Lucia is torn from the life she knew. Her village burned to the ground and parents murdered by Romans, she is kidnapped, sold and shipped abroad to the Villa Tempestatis in Britannia to serve the young Roman army officer Castus. Faced with a bleak future of decades of servitude to her master, as well as sadistic brutality at the hands of his slave and manageress, Paltucca, she finds herself fixated by one thought alone. Fuelled by hatred and a belief that the gods saved her for a reason, she vows to never taste freedom until she gets her revenge.

Kateri, an arrogant warrior princess, has to fight in the arena against her suitors to win her right to rule, and she is desperate to prove to her father that she is strong enough to take over his throne and rule the kingdom. But when she finds out her final opponent, she knows she cannot win. Kateri flees to the desert to train under the enemy she hates the most and the only one who might be able to give her a shot at winning. But what Kateri discovers in the desert twists her world - and her heart - upside-down.

High in the Samnium Mountains of southern Italy, Chloé, daughter of a Roman patrician and his Greek wife, lives as a slave. The mysterious and tragic story of Chloé's birth is told and retold to her by her fellow-slave Melissa, who served her mother and now cares for the young Chloé. But hatred for the father who abandoned her festers in Chloé's heart as she and Melissa weave for long hours each day in the tiny mountain hut above her father's neglected villa - which he has not visited since before Chloé's birth.

This is the saga of a Spartan family, torn apart by a cruel law that forces them to abandon one of their two sons, born lame, to the elements. The elder son, Brithos, is raised in the caste of the warriors, while the other, Talos, is spared a cruel death and is raised by a Helot shepherd, among the peasants.

USA Today hails Steven Saylor as a “modern master of historical fiction.” Rich in intrigue and period detail, his novels set in ancient Rome have garnered acclaim the world over. A prequel to his epic Roma Sub Rosa series, The Seven Wonders follows series star Gordianus the Finder as an 18-year-old traveling the Mediterranean to witness the wonders of that fabled age. At each stop, the young investigator finds a beguiling mystery that pushes his powers of deduction to the limit.

Bound by destiny, Melisto and Rhaskos - Amber and Clay - never meet in the flesh. By the time they do, one of them is a ghost. But the thin line between life and death is just one boundary their unlikely friendship crosses. It takes an army of snarky gods and fearsome goddesses, slaves and masters, mothers and philosophers to help shape their story into a gorgeously distilled, symphonic tour de force.

Emperor Domitian is hosting a banquet for the senators in honour of fallen soldiers, and it's an invitation Aelianus and Justinus Camillus dare not refuse. On arrival, they enter a black-painted room furnished with couches resembling those found in mausoleums, complete with a tombstone bearing each of the senators' names. As the evening progresses the brothers conclude that Domitian has finally turned against them for their uncle's part in a plot to oust his father and start to wonder if they'll ever see the light of day again....

It’s business as usual on the set of another cheap sword-and-sandal production by Pharos Pictures—until the lead actress suddenly falls into a deep, mysterious sleep. Jordan Harper can talk down high-strung starlets and knock sense into stuntmen, but this…this is the kind of uncanny problem that he’d usually bring to Mrs. Hope. Unfortunately, the preternaturally capable secretary is on a business trip with the studio head. Harper must get to the bottom of the mystery on his own before another cast member succumbs—or worse, they blow the budget.

The second daughter of the Pharaoh, Ahmose has always dreamed of a quiet life as a priestess, serving Egypt's gods, ministering to the people of the Two Lands. But when the Pharaoh dies without an heir, she is given instead as Great Royal Wife to the new king - a soldier of common birth. For Ahmose is god-chosen, gifted with the ability to read dreams, and it is her connection to the gods which ensures the new Pharaoh his right to rule.

Hatshepsut longs for power, but she is constrained by her commitment to maat - the sacred order of righteousness, the way things must be. Her mother claims Hatshepsut is destined for Egypt's throne - not as the king's chief wife, but as the king herself, despite her female body. But a woman on the throne defies maat, and even Hatshepsut is not so bold as to risk the safety of the Two Lands for her own ends.

Princess Maakah of Geshur is duty-bound to create a political alliance for her father through marriage. The cancellation by King Saul of her betrothal to his fourth-born son compels Maakah's father to arrange an unexpected marriage to the rebel David ben Jesse, a shepherd-warrior anointed years earlier as Israel's future king. Taken aback by stories of David's fierceness and lowly birth, Maakah considers the match a degrading fate but obeys her father's wishes out of duty as her nation's only heir.

Fourteen-year-old Max Murphy is looking forward to a family vacation. But his parents, both archaeologists and Maya experts, announce a change in plan. They must leave immediately for a dig in the tiny Central American country of San Xavier. Max will go to summer camp. Max is furious. When he's mysteriously summoned to San Xavier, he thinks they've had a change of heart.

This sweeping narrative spans two decades, from Normandy's shores to Constantinople's walls. Following both historical figures and compelling fictional characters, it explores power, legitimacy, and the price of ambition. Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell and Sharon Kay Penman, The Bastard's Crown offers a fresh perspective on how one man's determination to prove himself reshaped medieval England forever. Experience the intrigue, battles, and human drama that transformed a single year—1066—into a turning point that still echoes today.

G.A. Henty weaves a rousing, yet poignant, adventure of the revolt of Palestine against the power of Rome, and the birth of Christianity. Follow John, a courageous young Jew, as he fights in the siege of Jerusalem, survives slavery in Alexandria and the dispersal of the Jews, wins the favor of the Emperor Titus, and returns triumphantly to Galilee.