English Renaissance

A bestselling author crafts a sweeping gothic tale in which, after the shocking death of her husband, a troubled young widow inherits a Tuscan estate from a mysterious benefactor and finds herself thrust into the crosshairs of a dangerous conspiracy. Lately, Julia Pritzker is beginning to think...

A woman wrestles with stifling race and gender expectations in this debut novel by Nella Larsen, one of the most important voices of the Harlem Renaissance.

Many have attempted to read Edmund Spenser's 1590s epic The Faerie Queene, only to be discouraged by language even more difficult than Shakespeare’s. Now, educator Rebecca K. Reynolds presents a text-faithful prose rendering that gradually introduces Spenser's distinctive vocabulary, preparing listeners to engage confidently with the original text. Richly illustrated by fantasy artist Justin Gerard, this three-volume set shares the adventures of knights who confront monsters, wizards, enchantresses, and their own weaknesses.

Many have attempted to read Edmund Spenser's 1590s epic The Faerie Queene, only to be discouraged by language even more difficult than Shakespeare’s. Now, educator Rebecca K. Reynolds presents a text-faithful prose rendering that gradually introduces Spenser's distinctive vocabulary, preparing listeners to engage confidently with the original text. Richly illustrated by fantasy artist Justin Gerard, this three-volume set shares the adventures of knights who confront monsters, wizards, enchantresses, and their own weaknesses.

Renowned as a period of cultural rebirth and artistic innovation, the Renaissance is cloaked in a unique aura of beauty and brilliance. Its very name conjures up awe-inspiring images of an age of lofty ideals in which life imitated the fantastic artworks for which it has become famous. But behind the vast explosion of new art and culture lurked a seamy, vicious world of power politics, perversity, and corruption that has more in common with the present day than anyone dares to admit.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER | WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2025 by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, People, LitHub, Debutiful, and CrimeReads For readers of Jonathan Franzen and Nathan Hill comes a haymaker of an American novel about a missing teenage boy...

Present day: When thirty-six-year-old Robyn Willoughby discovers an exquisite yet blood-stained Tudor map in her father’s antique map shop, desperate for a distraction from her problems, she decides to investigate. But as Robyn delves into the mystery, she finds herself caught up in a centuries-old secret—one that will change her life forever.

Every age and social strata has its bad eggs, rule-breakers, and nose-thumbers. As acclaimed popular historian and author of How to Be a Victorian Ruth Goodman reveals in her madcap chronicle, Elizabethan England was particularly rank with troublemakers, from snooty needlers who took aim with a cutting "thee" to lowbrow drunkards with revolting table manners. Goodman draws on advice manuals, court cases, and sermons to offer this colorfully crude portrait of offenses most foul.

The Scarlet Letter is one of the great classics of American literature. Set in the harsh Puritan environment of 17th-century Boston, it describes the plight of Hester Prynne, an independent-minded woman who stands alone against society. Having given birth to a child after an illicit affair, she refuses to name the father and is forced to wear the letter "A", for Adulteress, embroidered on her dress.

The Teutonic Knights were powerful and ferocious advocates of holy war. Their history is suffused with crusading, campaigning, and struggle. Feared by their enemies but respected by medieval Christendom, the knights and their Order maintained a firm hold over the Baltic and Northern Germany and established a formidable regime that flourished across Central Europe for 300 years. William Urban's narrative charts the rise and fall of the Order and, in an accessible and engaging style, throws light on a band of knights whose deeds and motives have long been misunderstood.

In Mystics of the Renaissance, Rudolf Steiner examines the thought of 11 European mystics (Eckhart, Tauler, Suso, Ruysbroek, Nicholas of Cusa, Agrippa von Nettesheim, Paracelsus, Weigel, Boehme, Giordano Bruno, and Angelus Silesius) through a collection of essays and explains their ideas and how they relate to modern Concepts.

Nearly six hundred years ago, a short, genial, cannily alert man in his late 30s took a very old manuscript off a library shelf, saw with excitement what he had discovered, and ordered that it be copied. That book was the last surviving manuscript of an ancient Roman philosophical epic by Lucretius—a beautiful poem containing the most dangerous ideas: that the universe functioned without the aid of gods, that religious fear was damaging to human life, and that matter was made up of very small particles.

*Winner of the CWA Historical Dagger 2023* 'A great insight into Renaissance Florence. What I love about these books is the seamless weaving of factual history with a great story' – Abir Mukherjee Florence. Spring, 1537. When Cesare Aldo investigates a report of intruders at a convent in the...

La Rochelle, France, 1661. Fierce Protestant Isabelle is desperate to escape persecution by the Catholic King. Isabelle is tortured and harassed, her people forced to convert to the religion that rules the land. She risks her life by helping her fellow Protestants, which is forbidden by the powers of France. She accepts her fate—until she meets a handsome Catholic soldier who makes her question everything. The only way to save herself is to flee to the colony of Canada. She can have money, protection, and a new life—if she adopts the religion she’s spent a lifetime fighting.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE A BOSTON GLOBE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR This remarkable work about women writers in the English Renaissance explodes our notion of the Shakespearean period by drawing us into the lives of four women who were committed to their craft long...

Recovering from Training is the ultimate guide to the theory and practice of recovery from training. It will allow the dedicated athlete and coach to plan out training, diet, and recovery strategies for optimal results. If you can recover better, you can train more, train harder, and make better gains over time.

In all of human history there has never been an era as richly endowed with human creativity as the Italian Renaissance. When the economic boom of the Late Middle Ages had allowed a flourishing and wealthy merchant class to emerge, a plethora of artists, sculptors, architects, and thinkers followed in their wake. In an astonishingly short period of time, Italy was transformed mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Tom Swan - soldier, scholar, bastard, spy. Tom Swan and his friends are trying to save Europe from the Turks, but most of his adversaries seem to be other Europeans. This time, an unnamed cabal is trying to kill him and, incidentally, ruin the banks and trade of England, France and Italy. Join Tom Swan on his latest adventure as the likes of Cosimo di Medici, Warwick the Kingmaker, Bessarion the cardinal and Aneas Picclomini the Pope show Tom the Renaissance in all its deadly glory!

In this groundbreaking biography of Queen Anne Boleyn, learn how the ill-fated second wife of Renaissance England's Henry XVIII met her downfall–and how she came to be so vilified and misunderstood. Anne Boleyn has mesmerized the general public for centuries. Her tragic execution at the Tower...

Mary Boleyn was the mistress of two kings, Francois I of France and Henry VIII of England, and sister to Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife. In this astonishing and riveting biography, Alison Weir’s extensive research gives a new and detailed portrayal, in which she recounts that, contrary to popular belief, Mary was entirely undeserving of her posthumous notoriety as a great whore.