Biographical Fiction

In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world....

Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He's a normal Italian teenager - obsessed with music, food, and girls....

Mrs. Post, the President and First Lady are here to see you. . . . So begins another average evening for Marjorie Merriweather Post. Presidents have come and gone, but she has hosted them all....

It is 1936, and Nancy Wake is an intrepid Australian expat living in Paris who has bluffed her way into a reporting job for Hearst newspaper when she meets the wealthy French industrialist Henri Fiocca....

Inspired by a true story, two teens kidnapped by an African warlord find salvation through love in a powerful and healing historical novel from the #1 bestselling author of Beneath a Scarlet Sky and The Last Green Valley....

The classic samurai novel about the real exploits of the most famous swordsman. Miyamoto Musashi becomes a reluctant hero to a host of people whose lives he has touched and by whom he has been touched. Inevitably, he has to pit his skill against the naked blade of his greatest rival....

Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, an Oxford garden shed in which her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary....

Her beauty saved her from the rising Nazi party and led to marriage with an Austrian arms dealer. Underestimated in everything else, she overheard the Third Reich's plans while at her husband's side, understanding more than anyone would guess. She devised a plan to flee....

The New York Times bestselling author of the Six Tudor Queens series explores the dramatic and poignant life of King Henry VIII’s daughter—infamously known as Bloody Mary—who ruled England for five violent years....

The Brothers Karamazov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving the “wicked and sentimental” Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and his three sons—the impulsive and sensual Dmitri....

From the author of the number one best seller Beneath a Scarlet Sky comes a new historical novel inspired by one family’s incredible story of daring, survival, and triumph....

New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray returns with a captivating and dramatic new novel about an American heroine Frances Perkins....

Under direct orders from Vladimir Lenin, Bolshevik secret police force Anastasia Romanov, along with the entire imperial family, into a damp basement in Siberia....

1867, Richmond, Virginia: Though she wears the same low-cut purple gown that is the uniform of all the girls who work at Worsham's gambling parlor, Arabella stands apart. It's not merely her statuesque beauty and practiced charm....

In 1580s England, during the Black Plague, a young Latin tutor falls in love with an extraordinary, eccentric young woman in this “exceptional historical novel” (The New Yorker) and best-selling winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction....

Dan Freeman, the “spook who sat by the door,” is enlisted in the CIA’s elitist espionage program. Upon mastering agency tactics, however, he drops out to train young Black Chicagoans to combat racism as “Freedom Fighters” in this explosive novel....

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post comes an epic imagining of the life of Margaret Fuller—America’s forgotten leading lady and the central figure of a movement that defined a nation....

Sharp-eyed, stubborn, and passionate, Jindan was known for her beauty. When she caught the eye of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, she was elevated to royalty, becoming his youngest and last queen—and his favorite....

Descended from Melusina, the river goddess, Jacquetta always has had the gift of second sight....

The Lioness of Boston is a portrait of what society expected a woman's life to be, shattered by a courageous soul who rebelled and was determined to live on her own terms....

The Magician opens in a provincial German city at the turn of the 20th century, where the boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable....

1938: She was one of the six sparkling Mitford sisters, known for her stinging quips, stylish dress, and bright green eyes. But Nancy Mitford’s seemingly dazzling life was really one of turmoil....

The story of Lily Casey Smith, Jeannette Walls's no nonsense, resourceful, and spectacularly compelling grandmother....

Anne Berest’s The Postcard is a vivid portrait of twentieth-century Parisian intellectual and artistic life, an enthralling investigation into family secrets, and poignant tale of a Jewish family devastated by the Holocaust and partly restored through the power of storytelling....

This is Irving Stone's powerful and passionate biographical novel of Michelangelo....

****Women's stories are often lost to history*** Susanna Jackson was just a girl from Scrooby, in north Nottinghamshire, England. Her home was located on the Great Road between London and Scotland. Susanna’s father, Richard Jackson, became involved in the Separatist Protestant movement. His faith and commitment molded Susanna’s path to Amsterdam and then, the Mayflower, and finally Plymouth, Massachusetts the new world..

Wanted: Male, forty to fifty years of age. Must be free to travel with no family obligations for a one-year contract. Sense of adventure, ability to do field research required. Call Beth for an interview at: 888-555-6363. Would you answer this classified ad? Alex did, and it changed his life forever when he became A Man Called Friday. Join Alex, as Friday, as he travels around the country helping strangers at crossroads in their lives; in the process, he discovers how, by helping others, he helped himself.

Born from young King Henry’s first marriage, his elder daughter, Princess Mary, is raised to be queen once it becomes clear that her mother, Katherine of Aragon, will bear no more children. However, Henry’s passion for Anne Boleyn has a devastating influence on the young princess’s future when, determined to sire a male heir, he marries Anne, has his marriage to Katherine declared unlawful, brands Mary illegitimate, and banishes them both from the royal court.

Six years before the American Civil War, a pair of 27-year-old Helena, Arkansas residents remained in the town to care for victims of an 1855 yellow fever epidemic when nearly everyone else evacuated to save their own skins. One, Pat Cleburne, was a Protestant Irish immigrant who had earlier served in the British Army. The other, Tom Hindman, was a a Mexican War veteran. He was also a well-educated second son of a Mississippi Planter family who sought his fortune in Helena where good cotton lands were cheaper than in Mississippi. The two became lawyers and best friends. Pat was Tom's best ...

When the Confederacy concentrated their forces at Corinth, Mississippi preparatory to attacking General U. S. Grant’s army at Shiloh in April 1862, the Rebel brass ordered the largest army west of the Mississippi River–The Army of the West–to join the concentration. Although it did not arrive at Corinth until after Shiloh had been fought and lost, the bulk of the Army of the West remained east of the Mississippi River until the end of the war. Consequently, the Northern front of the Confederate battle line west of the River was almost defenseless. Even after Arkansans complained to ...

In 1892, running one of the Wests fanciest brothels is a rough game. In a town filled with brazen criminals, corrupt police, zealous politicians, and morality committees, Madam Mattie Silks makes her fortune catering to Colorados gold and silver millionaires. Notorious crime boss Soapy Smith is at the top of the Denver underworld. There are no rules for Smith's gang. They solve problems with bribes and bullets. Mattie's husband stumbles into Soapy's dealings, and she struggles to protect him.

Jacob's Room is a novel by Virginia Woolf, first published in 1922. It's considered one of her pioneering works in modernist literature. The novel follows the life of Jacob Flanders, from his childhood to his adulthood, primarily through the perspectives and memories of those who knew him. Woolf's experimental narrative style, characterized by stream-of-consciousness and shifting perspectives, creates a fragmented yet rich portrayal of Jacob's inner life and the world around him.

A gifted raconteur, distinctive humorist, and irascible moralist, Mark Twain transcended the apparent limitations of his origins to become a popular public figure and one of America's best and most beloved writers.

Into this fevered forum, a child is born. His mother is Agrippina, granddaughter of Emperor Augustus. But their imperial blood is no protection. The closer you are to the heart of the empire, the closer you are to power, intrigue, and danger. She faces soldiers, senators, rivals, silver-tongued pretenders, each vying for position. One mistake risks exile, incarceration, execution. Or, worst of all, the loss of her infant son.

Sergei Yesenin is a young poet, formed by childhood abandonment, set on becoming the most famous poet in Russia in a time of war, revolution and terror. A sensitive soul in a senseless time, searching for meaning through poetry, fame and passionate affairs with both women and men – until a meeting with the beautiful actress Zinaida Raikh changes everything.

It's 1980 and Neil is a burned-out local musician whose band never made it. He has put his heart and soul into his music for a decade but now has little to show for it except a dozen of tapes of his original music that nobody has ever heard. He's getting ready to take a promotion at work and give up music forever when he gets a freak opportunity to go on tour.

In England, the Middle Ages are a time for ambitious men to prosper. Before he becomes the father of William Marshal, John FitzGilbert is a man of honor and loyalty, sworn to royal service. When the old king dies, his successor rewards the handsome and ambitious John with castles and lands. But King Stephen has a tenuous hold on his reign over medieval England. In these unstable times, John's loyalty to the British king comes at great cost. So, when jealous rivals at court seek to destroy John, he takes matters into his own hands.

In the year 1526 King Henry VIII is facing a great personal crisis. He has been married to Queen Catherine of Aragon for seventeen years. But he has no son and the kingdom is without an heir. He has fallen in love with a maid of honor named Anne Boleyn. But she refuses to become his mistress and insists on being recognized as his lawful wife. The tragedy of “The King’s Great Matter” begins to unfold with terrible consequences for all concerned.

Set against the backdrop of the antebellum South, this compelling work of historical fiction follows the harrowing journey of a young man, stolen from his family and thrust into the merciless world of slavery. The story unfolds with the abduction of IDI, a bright and resourceful young man who is cruelly torn from his family and homeland. His journey takes him to the American South, where he is subjected to the dehumanizing horrors of servitude. Driven by an unshakable determination to regain his freedom, David befriends a group of fellow slaves who share his longing for escape.

A young boy from Shropshire named Will Somers has a special talent for entertaining. His gifts bring him all the way to the court of Henry VIII where he becomes a favoured servant and close companion of the king. In his role as the royal fool, he observes the life and times of Henry and his court. He witnesses the successive rise and fall of his queens, nobles and ministers. He is the only one whom Henry trusts with his true thoughts. “The Tudor Fool” tells the story of the unlikely relationship between a tyrannical king and his humble jester.