Historical Biographical Fiction

Barely five feet tall, suicidally courageous, obsessed with tigers, and sexually eccentric, Mabel Stark was the greatest female tiger trainer in history. Clad in her leather suits and married five times, she was the Mae West of tiger taming. In the 1910s and 1920s, when circus was the most popular entertainment in America, Mabel Stark was the biggest attraction for the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey circus.

On the lam for an act of violence against the American government, 25-year-old Jenny Shimada agrees to care for three younger fugitives whom a shadowy figure from her former radical life has spirited out of California. One of them, the kidnapped granddaughter of a wealthy newspaper magnate in San Francisco, has become a national celebrity for embracing her captors' ideology and joining their revolutionary cell.

"The Heroic Slave" is the only work of fiction by the eminent abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The narrative was inspired by Madison Washington, a slave on the Creole who led a rebellion on the ship in November 1841, and had it sail to Nassau in the Bahamas instead of New Orleans. The short story appeared in the collection Autographs for Freedom (1852).

August, 1797. Midwife Parthenia Blenkinsop has delivered countless babies, but nothing prepares her for the experience that unfolds when she arrives at Mary Wollstonecraft’s door. Over the 11 harrowing days that follow, as Mrs. Blenkinsop fights for the survival of both mother and newborn, Mary Wollstonecraft recounts the life she dared to live amidst the impossible constraints and prejudices of the late 18th century, rejecting the tyranny of men and marriage, risking everything to demand equality for herself and all women.

Salisbury, 1226. A mysterious poacher claims to be a long-lost heir - to a man found crushed by his own cart wheel. Ela Longespée is determined to find the truth, even though the king has coldly appointed another sheriff in her place. Ela takes pity on the man - an injured knight who once saved her husband’s life - and convinces the sheriff to release him from jail while she investigates. Will it turn out to be a deadly mistake?

Renie Lee has climbed the ladder in a man's world to be head of the Story Department at Warner Bros. Studios. Renie is an idealist who believes that "the perfect film" can be created. When she pulls an unproduced stage play set in Morocco out of the slush pile, she has a feeling this one is special, maybe not perfect but special enough to secure her place as an equal to the studio's most powerful men. No one agrees with her until two young studio writers, Julius and Philip Epstein, decide to back Renie's gamble and bring the Morocco story to the screen. Their screenplay's name: Casablanca.

From a working-class family, Scotsman Andrew Cunningham stewards for wealthy travelers aboard elegant cruise ships of the early 20th century, but he resents those who flaunt their inherited wealth. New Yorkers Florence and Bradley Cumings, first-class passengers traveling aboard Titanic, are the exception, and the three discover an ancestral connection. As the ship sinks on the fateful morning of April 15, 1912, Florence watches in horror from her lifeboat.

Inspired by the extraordinary true stories of World War II’s American Army nurses famously known as the Angels of Bataan and the unsung contributions of Filipinas of the resistance, this novel transports us to a remarkable era of hope, bravery, perseverance, and ultimately—victory.

The story of two Civil War soldiers who fight on opposite sides but somehow come together in an unexpected bur profound way. Based on a true story of the author's own ancestors, it is a story of how their families united despite the odds.

Caryl Phillips' A View of the Empire at Sunset is the sweeping story of the life of the woman who became known to the world as Jean Rhys. Born Ella Gwendolyn Rees Williams in Dominica at the height of the British Empire, Rhys lived in the Caribbean for only 16 years before going to England. A View of the Empire at Sunset is a look into her tempestuous and unsatisfactory life in Edwardian England, 1920s Paris, and then again in London.

Nineteen-year-old Ada Weeks confronts danger and calamity along the hazard-filled journey to California. After a fateful decision that delays the overlanders more than a month, she - along with 81 other members of the Donner Party - finds herself stranded at Truckee Lake on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, stuck there for the entirety of a despairing, blizzard-filled winter. Forced to eat shoe leather and blankets to survive, will Ada be able to battle the elements - and her own demons - as she envisions a new life in California?

He persuaded a King, he Moved an Empire, and He Redeemed Himself! His name was Jonah, and he didn’t choose the mission—God did. Thrown into a storm, swallowed by a great fish, and sent to confront the most violent city on earth, Jonah’s journey is anything but ordinary. Along the way, he wrestles with his calling, his love for his beloved Naomi, and the loyalty of his lifelong friend, Amos. Set in 762 BC against the backdrop of crumbling kingdoms and rising empires, "Jonah in the Time of the Kings" is a powerful tale of love, justice, and the unstoppable reach of grace.

Pensando al Rinascimento è probabile che vi vengano in mente lo splendore delle città, le opere sublimi, la magnificenza di signori e papi. Aprendo questo libro, mettete da parte ciò che sapete: verrete travolti dallo stupore. State per cominciare un viaggio nei meandri di un tempo imprevedibile, fatto di voli pindarici e cadute fragorose. Popolato di artisti strepitosi oggi dimenticati, contesse guerriere e frati ribelli. Al vostro fianco in questa avventura, ci saranno due giganti della storia dell'arte destinati a odiarsi per tutta la vita.

Based on a true story, this is the tale of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard’s fight to take her rightful place in the competitive art world of 18th-century Paris. With a beautiful rival who’s better connected and better trained than she is, Adélaïde faces an uphill battle. Her love affair with her young instructor in oil painting gives rise to suspicions that he touches up her work, and her decision to make much-needed money by executing erotic pastels threatens to create as many problems as it solves.

Lady Be Good transports us to the glittering, sumptuous era of 1920s New York to follow the life of aspiring actress Dorothy Hale as she comes of age. Breaking societal rules imposed on women, “Peck’s Bad Girl of Pittsburgh Society” leaves behind her privileged world for the bright lights of Broadway to chase her dream.

A moving story, wrapped in humor, about love, loss, and hope in one of history’s darkest hours. 1933. Hitler’s rise to power in Germany marks the beginning of the end for the Jews of Europe. For little newborn Yaakov, this is only the beginning. Hungary, 1944. 11-year-old Yaakov and his parents and younger sister are forced out of their home into the unknown. They find themselves in the ghetto, living under impossible conditions, until they are banished by the Nazis to Bergen Belsen concentration camp through Austria, what might be their final destination.

From the explosive opening in the vast waters of the Atlantic Ocean to the endless expanses of the African continent, Arthur and Barbara Stannard’s journey is no ordinary one. It is a journey of faith in every sense beginning in troubled world times.

Anya Seton's best-selling first novel, originally published in 1941, captures all the drama of the short life of Theodosia Burr (1783-1813). Her father, Aaron - Thomas Jefferson's vice president, most famous for his great duel with Alexander Hamilton - holds sway over young Theodosia's heart. But his arrogance forces her to choose between the man he insists she marry and her love for a young soldier, who will turn out to play a decisive role in her father's fate.

Sent into exile once more, Don Rodrigo de Vivar has just Will Redbeard and two warriors for companions. Over the next years, he creates the legend of El Cid, defeating enemy after enemy. Fighting overwhelming odds, he succeeds every time until, at last, he has his fiefdom of Valencia. This is the final chronicle in the series and details the last 18 years of the life of the man known as El Cid. Although this is the last in the series, it is a standalone book. Forget the film and listen to the reality of the man who was the greatest knight of his age - some would say, any age!

After eight months as a maid of court, Catherine Howard has become Queen. Separated from past friends and surrounded by people who resent her rise to the throne, the sole close companion she has left is Jane Boleyn, the infamous Lady Rochford. And this is not the only strain upon Catherine. People from her past come calling, the threat that the King may find out she is not the pure, innocent maiden he thinks she is puts her in peril. Catherine must imitate the Queens of the past in order to survive.