Showing titles in Biographical Fiction

Salzburg, März 1913. Der Schausteller Otto Witte wird in eine Irrenanstalt eingewiesen, weil er steif und fest behauptet, König von Albanien gewesen zu sein. Der junge Doktorand Alois Schilchegger ist von diesem Mann fasziniert und nimmt sich seiner an. Ottos Version der Weltgeschichte beginnt im Oktober 1912 in Konstantinopel. Das Osmanische Reich droht auseinanderzubrechen. Albanien nutzt die Gunst der Stunde, erklärt sich unabhängig und sucht einen König. Otto und sein Kumpan, der Schwertschlucker Max Hoffmann, riskieren einen waghalsigen Coup: Albanien sucht einen König?

As a child growing up in 1920s Paris, Ida Chagall copes with her father Marc Chagall's brilliant artistic mind and overbearing ego and the tight leash he keeps on her. But as Ida blossoms into a young woman, she begins to glimpse freedom and opportunities for herself.

April, 1912: It's the perfect finale to a Grand Tour of Europe—sailing home on the largest, most luxurious ocean liner ever built. For the Fortune sisters, the voyage offers a chance to reflect on the treasures of the past they've seen and contemplate the futures that await them. For Alice, there's foreboding mixed with her excitement. A fortune teller in Egypt gave her a dire warning about traveling at sea. And the freedom she has enjoyed on her travels contrasts with her fiance's plans for her return—a cossetted existence she's no longer sure she wants.

Donald Rumsfeld was a major player in American history. In this riveting alternative history, he's put on trial for his role in the United States 2003 invasion of Iraq. The story charts Rumsfeld's rise to fame and power, the fight with President Donald Trump that leads to his prosecution, and his spellbinding trial at the International Criminal Court. Told through the eyes of a mysterious narrator whose identity—and role in Rumsfeld’s downfall—are eventually revealed, The Trial of Donald H. Rumsfeld is a tale of politics, betrayal, and the explosive nexus between ambition and power.

1816. A massive volcanic eruption has caused the worst storms that Europe has seen in decades, yet Percy and Mary Shelley have chosen to visit the infamous Lord Byron at his villa on Lake Geneva. It wasn't their idea: Mary's eighteen-year-old step-sister, Claire Clairmont, insisted. But the reason for Claire's visit is more pressing than a summer escape with the most famous writers in the world. She's pregnant with Byron's child - a child Byron doesn't want, and scarcely believes is his own.

After twelve years of marriage to English explorer James Cook, Elizabeth has yet to spend an entire year with her husband. In their house by the Thames, she moves to the rhythms of her life as a society wife, but there is so much more to her than meets the eye. She has the fortitude to manage the house and garden, raise their children, and face unbearable sorrow by herself - in fact, she is sometimes in thrall to her own independence.

Published in 1928, Orlando is a fictional biography that spans several centuries and follows the protagonist, Orlando, an Elizabethan nobleman who undergoes a mysterious gender transformation. The novel explores themes of gender identity, fluidity and the constraints imposed by societal norms. It challenges traditional notions of gender roles and raises questions about the nature of identity and the passage of time.

The first work of long fiction from the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright—a tour de force of memory, mystery, death, and life. This searing, extraordinarily evocative narrative opens with a man in his house at dawn, surrounded by aspens, coyotes cackling in the distance as he quietly...

Right before talking pictures slug Tinsel Town in the jaw, a luminous silent screen star converts her private estate into the Garden of Allah Hotel. The lush grounds soon become a haven for Hollywood hopefuls to meet, drink, and revel through the night. George Cukor is in the pool, Tallulah Bankhead is at the bar, and Scott Fitzgerald is sneaking off to a bungalow with Sheilah Graham while Madame Alla Nazimova keeps watch behind her lace curtains.

"Nous étions six – cinq garçons et une fille – insouciants, frivoles, joyeux, dans un été de tous les possibles. Pourquoi a-t-il fallu que l'un d'entre nous disparaisse ?" S'inspirant d'une histoire vécue, Philippe Besson retrace un drame de sa jeunesse, survenu dans l'île de Ré, un soir de juillet, au milieu des années 80.

In her acclaimed novels, Susan Vreeland has given us portraits of painting and life that are as dazzling as their artistic subjects. Now, in The Forest Lover, she traces the courageous life and career of Emily Carr, who—more than Georgia O'Keeffe or Frida Kahlo—blazed a path for modern women...

Daughter of the ambitious Earl of Warwick, Anne Neville is drawn into the ferocious war between Lancaster and York; a series of battles we now know as the Wars of the Roses. When Anne's father falls foul of Edward IV she is married without royal sanction to the Lancastrian heir, a man she has been taught to loathe.

Before Jane Austen, there was Fanny Burney. In the 1780s, she was England’s most celebrated female author, having achieved extraordinary success with two hit novels. She went on to become a royal servant, marry an exile from the French Revolution and undergo a gruelling mastectomy without the aid of anaesthetic – all events chronicled in her diaries, which were published posthumously to great acclaim. Contained here are dramatisations of her first and most famous novel, and her remarkable journals and letters.

In the bustling silver mining town of Aspen, Colorado, a young woman's promising life was cut short on a June evening in 1886. I should know—I was that woman. My name is Ida Chatfield, and my mysterious death has remained one of Aspen's oldest unsolved enigmas. From beyond the grave, I recount my journey from the Nebraska prairie to the soaring peaks of Colorado.

Lady Penelope Rich is one of the most beautiful and sought-after women in Elizabethan England. The daughter of the Earl of Essex, she is married to the wealthy Baron Robert Rich. Penelope's life is full of love and scandal. The inspiration for Sir Philip Sidney’s sonnet "Astrophel and Stella", she is involved in the Essex Rebellion. A complex and fascinating woman, her life is a story of love, betrayal, and tragedy.

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.

At the age of fourteen Lady Margaret de la Roche is presented at court as a New Year’s Day gift for King Henry VIII and Queen Catherine of Aragon. In her role as a maid of honour she develops a great admiration for the virtuous queen. But her loyalty is tested when the king falls in love with the fascinating Anne Boleyn. As her life at court becomes increasingly perilous, she must find a way to be a faithful servant of the queen and a true subject of the king. “The Tudor Lady in Waiting” tells the story of the dangers and intrigues of the Tudor court in the reign of Henry VIII.

Based on the true story of Mary Bryant, an iconic figure in the foundational lore of Australia as Great Britain's penal colony, Fled is a sweeping, heart-wrenching account of one woman's lifelong search for freedom.

Born into poverty and raised in a brothel, Nell Gwynne sells oranges in the pit at London's King's Theater, newly reopened after the plague and the Great Fire devastated the city. Soon, her quick sense of humor and natural charm get her noticed by those who have the means to make her life easier. But the street-smart Nell knows a woman doesn't get ahead by selling her body. Through talent, charm, intelligence, and sheer determination, Nell works her way out of the pit and onto the stage to become the leading comedic actress of the day.

Deeply moving and illuminating, Trouble the Water reveals the little-known real-life story of Robert Smalls. Born enslaved before the Civil War, Smalls witnesses great privilege and immense suffering alongside his owner's daughter. When the war erupts and his cotton steamer becomes a confederate warship, Robert attempts a harrowing escape to freedom for himself and the people he loves. Robert Smalls is one of America's great unsung heroes, and Trouble the Water finally brings his story into the light.