Historical Fiction Classics

An historical romance set in London and the English countryside with remarkable nuance and descriptions about dress, parties, houses, men and women and their dealings with each other, with special insights into marriage. A wonderful ode to our better selves and what we can be if we move beyond the bumps and bruises in life.

Pride and Prejudice is a romantic novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story charts the emotional development of the protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, who learns the error of making hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the difference between the superficial and the essential. The comedy of the writing lies in the depiction of manners, education, marriage, and money during the British Regency period.

In the wake of the Crusades, Wilfred of Ivanhoe vows to return Richard the Lion Heart to the throne. But the Saxon son’s allegiance to the Norman king, and his forbidden love for Lady Rowena, leave Ivanhoe disinherited from his father. To set his mission on course, he returns to England in disguise and quickly finds himself entrenched in an epic battle for power. As destinies entwine, Ivanhoe fights to restore the crown and marry his queen with help from the healer Rebecca; Robin Hood and his Merry Men; and the Black Knight, the Saxon’s mysterious ally.

Sir Launcelot and His Companions consists of many series of episodes in the legend of the chief knight of the Round Table, Sir Lancelot, and many of his friends, including the Lady Elaine, Sir Ewaine, and Sir Gareth.

In a fantastic world that is and is not 17th-century England, a baby is found floating in the Thames. The child, Jordan, is rescued by Dog Woman and grows up to travel the world like Gulliver, though he finds that the world’s most curious oddities come from his own mind. Winterson leads the listener from discussions on the nature of time to Jordan’s fascination with journeys concealed within other journeys, all with a dizzying speed that shoots the listener from epiphany to shimmering epiphany.

What would happen if an author went back to the darker themes of the original fairy tales for his plots, and then crossed the Disney princesses with Charlie's Angels? What's delivered is The Stepsister Scheme, a whole new take on what happened to Cinderella and her prince after the wedding. And with Jim C. Hines penning the tale, listeners can bet it won't be "and they lived happily ever after."

A mad priest, a vagabond playwright, a social-climbing soldier, and a deformed bell-ringer—all are captivated by a gypsy girl's beauty and charm. Two of them will betray her, but the others will remain loyal, even in the shadow of the gallows. These outlaws find sanctuary within the walls of medieval Paris' greatest monument, the grand Cathedral of Notre Dame.

Gwenhwyfar moves in a world where gods walk among their pagan worshipers, where nebulous visions warn of future perils, and where there are two paths for a woman: the path of the Blessing or the rarer path of the Warrior. Gwenhwyfar chooses the latter, giving up the power that she is born into. Yet the daughter of a king is never truly free to follow her own calling.

A moving love story displaying all of Austen's signature wit and ironic narrative style. Persuasion is Jane Austen's last completed novel. She began it soon after she had finished Emma, completing it in August 1816.

Set in post-First World War Britain, Woolf’s masterpiece follows Clarissa Dalloway, a vivacious yet self-reflective upper-class woman, through a single day in her life. Preparing for a party that very evening, Clarissa keeps busy by moving through the streets of London, her thoughts drifting between past and present, revealing lost loves, secret regrets and the quiet ache of grief. Interwoven with Clarissa’s narrative is that of Septimus Warren Smith, a war veteran who suffers terribly from his traumatic past. As their two lives tangentially cross...

Emma Bovary, a beautiful yet naïve young woman living in rural France. Her husband, a kind-hearted physician, is committed to his wife, but Emma soon grows listless and dissatisfied with the provincial life he has provided her with. Yearning for passion, excitement and luxury, Emma daringly engages in various affairs, while accumulating enormous debt as she attempts to live a life beyond her means. A moving and tragic tale of misguided idealism, materialism and the bourgeois lifestyle.

From the award-winning author of The Bellwether Revivals comes a "gorgeous and harrowing work" (Emily St. John Mandel) set on a mysterious island, where artists strive to recover their lost gifts--and where nothing is quite as it seems. Situated on a Turkish island, Portmantle might be the...

Often described as an alchemical allegory, John Crowley instead decided this is "the first science fiction novel". After all, "it's fiction; it's about the possibilities of a science; and it's a novel". No matter what else it might be, it's definitely one of the great outlandish stories in Western literature.

《红楼梦》，中国古代四大名著之一，是一部具有高度思想性和高度艺术性的伟大作品。…… 《紅樓夢》，中國古代四大名著之一，是一部具有高度思想性和高度藝術性的偉大作品。

A classic of faith, fortitude, and inspiration, this faithful New Testament tale combines the events of the life of Jesus with grand historical spectacle in the exciting story of Judah of the House of Hur, a man who finds extraordinary redemption for himself and his family. Judah Ben-Hur lives as a rich Jewish prince and merchant in Jerusalem at the beginning of the first century. His old friend, Messala, arrives as commanding officer of the Roman legions.

From the depths of catastrophe, a glimmer of hope After the capture of Coruscant, the mighty heart of the New Republic, a stunned galaxy fears that nothing can stop the Yuuzhan Vong. Still, that crushing defeat produces one small miracle: Jacen Solo is alive. Yet he can scarcely imagine himself...

Abbie Mackenzie dreamed of becoming a fine lady like her aristocratic grandmother, devoting herself to music and art. But at eighteen Abbie found a different dream, turning away from the promise of a comfortable life as a doctor’s wife to marry handsome, quiet Will Deal. Together, they eagerly accepted the challenge of homesteading in Nebraska territory, where the prairies stretched as far as the eye could see, and only the strongest survived for long.

Based loosely on the tale of Puss in Boots, Reserved for the Cat takes place in 1910 in an alternate London. A young dancer, penniless and desperate, is sure she is going mad when a cat begins talking to her mind-to-mind. But her feline guide, actually an Elemental Earth Spirit, helps her to impersonate a famous Russian ballerina and achieve the success she's been dreaming of.

She was a child crowned a queen.... A sinner hailed as a saint.... A lover denounced as a whore... A woman murdered for her dreams... Margaret George's Mary Queen of Scotland & the Isles brings to life the fascinating story of Mary, who became the Queen of Scots when she was only six days old...

Social climber Alroy Kear is flattered when he is selected by Edward Driffield’s wife to pen the official biography of her lionized novelist husband, and determined to write a bestseller. But then Kear discovers the great novelist’s voluptuous muse (and unlikely first wife), Rosie. The lively, loving heroine once gave Driffield enough material to last a lifetime, but now her memory casts an embarrassing shadow over his career and respectable image.