Showing titles in Biographical Fiction

It is December, 1648, and England faces one of the greatest crises in its history. Bands of renegade soldiers and broken men roam the countryside, looting, burning, and raping. In Parliament, former allies are torn apart after six years of bloody conflict. John Swynfen, a rising young MP and one of the leaders of the moderate party, is working for peace, but only if safeguards can be established to protect Parliament and control the powers of the king. Ranged against him and his friends are Oliver Cromwell and his son-in-law Henry Ireton, intent on seizing power by the sword.

The only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the most brilliant, revered, and scandalous of the Romantic poets, Ada was destined for fame long before her birth. Estranged from Ada's father, who was infamously "mad, bad, and dangerous to know", Ada's mathematician mother is determined to save her only child from her perilous Byron heritage. Banishing fairy tales and make-believe from the nursery, Ada's mother provides her daughter with a rigorous education grounded in mathematics and science.

Fourteenth-century Scotland suffers under the heel of England's King Edward, and James Douglas refuses to submit to the conqueror. As he wages a scorched-earth guerrilla war to drive out the invader and reclaim his birthright, Edward brings a vast army to crush the Scots. In the midst of the brutal war, even the woman James loves is threatened by his implacable duty.   

There was a Breaker Morant - he was executed at Pietersburg on 27 February 1902. His crime? Wilful murder of civilians. Yet to this day his guilt remains in doubt. Kit Denton's novel, The Breaker, does more than recount the facts and mystery surrounding Morant's death sentence. Full of action and set in three continents, it covers the entire range of the Breaker's activities. We see him as a champion horseman, a likeable larrikin, a popular balladist. We see him in love and in war. Then we see him face the firing squad that will end his life. Was he a cold-blooded killer or a scapegoat?

"In this sweeping, immersive novel, Clare McHugh draws readers into the mesmerizing world of the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria – Princess Vicky – as she emerges into a powerful force in her own right and ascends to become the first German Empress.” —Marie Benedict, New York Times...

Now in her early teens, Laura moves to the village of Candleford Green to work in the post office under the tutelage of her cousin Dorcas Lane, and grow into womanhood. In Candleford Green, new ideas and new ways are coming in from the outside world, from Dorcas' famous telegraph machine to the scandalous sight of ladies riding bicycles. There are also new people entering Laura's life: the curmudgeonly old servant Zillah, the grand Sir Thomas, the Irish Harvesters and the ardent young gamekeeper Philip White.

A beautiful celebration of the power of hope, this New York Times bestselling novel tells the story of a girl who comes of age during the Cambodian genocide. You are about to read an extraordinary story, a PEN Hemingway Award finalist “rich with history, mythology, folklore, language and...

In the shadows of London's Highgate Cemetery, Ngaroma stands before her great-great-grandfather's crypt, unknowingly about to unravel a tale that spans two centuries and two hemispheres. Victorian New Zealand sets the stage for an extraordinary story of two brothers bound by blood but divided by empire. Hōhepa, born to a British captain and a Māori mother, navigates a precarious path between two worlds during a time of mounting colonial tensions.

1969: Albert Speer, l'architetto star del regime, ministro dell'armamento e gerarca prediletto di Hitler, pubblica le sue memorie. Grazie a questa rivisitazione del suo passato (a partire dalle monumentali, megalomani messe in scena ideate per i congressi e le adunate naziste fino agli ultimi convulsi, terribili giorni della caduta del Reich) porta a compimento l'ultima delle sue metamorfosi.

Il 19 giugno 2022 Massimo Bochicchio - definito dalla stampa "il broker del vip" - si schianta con la sua BMW K75 contro un muro perimetrale dell'aeroporto dell'Urbe. Il corpo è carbonizzato al punto che per accertarne l'identità bisogna ricorrere all'esame genetico. Il giorno dopo, Bochicchio sarebbe dovuto comparire in tribunale per la terza udienza nel processo a suo carico. Le accuse: riciclaggio, abusiva attività finanziaria, truffa. A denunciarlo erano stati trentasette clienti, tra cui l'ex CT della Nazionale di calcio Antonio Conte e altri personaggi di spicco dello sport italiano.

Brendan Behan is widely remembered as a hard-drinking, wise-cracking writer who turned up roaring drunk for interviews and cared little for authority. But he was more than just a hell-raising celebrity. His wit, expressive use of language and understanding of human nature made his writing famous around the world, and his masterpieces The Quare Fellow, Borstal Boy and The Hostage rank among the greatest works of 20th century Irish literature. Dramatisations of all three appear here, alongside a short interview with Behan himself and a fascinating biographical programme celebrating his genius.

It’s October 1931. When Winnie Ruth Judd arrives at the Los Angeles train station from Phoenix, her shipping trunks catch the attention of a suspicious porter. By the time they’re pried open, revealing the dismembered bodies of two women inside, Ruth has disappeared into the crowd. The search for, and eventual apprehension of, the Trunk Murderess quickly becomes a headline-making sensation. Even the Phoenix murder house is a sideshow attraction.

"I want everyone I know to read this book." --Kelly Rimmer, New York Times bestselling author of The Things We Cannot Say For fans of The Warsaw Orphan and The Tattooist of Auschwitz. The start of WWII changed everything in Poland irrevocably--except for one man's capacity to love. September 1...

From “queen of royal fiction” (USA TODAY) Philippa Gregory comes this instant New York Times bestseller that tells the story of the remarkable Elizabeth of York, daughter of the White Queen, and mother to the House of Tudor. When Henry Tudor picks up the crown of England from the mud of...

Adored by her parents and pampered by the court, the infant Princess Mary’s life changes suddenly and drastically when her father’s eye is taken by the enigmatic Anne Boleyn. Mary stands firm against her father’s determination to destroy both her mother’s reputation and the Catholic church. It is a battle that will last throughout both her father’s and her brother’s reign, until she is almost broken by persecution.

Annie Fox will stop at nothing to serve her country. But what happens when her country fails her? In November 1941, Annie Fox, an Army nurse, is transferred to Hickam Field, an air force base in Honolulu. The others on her transport plane are thrilled to work in paradise, but Annie sees her new duty station as the Army's way of holding the door open to her retirement. But serving her country is her calling and she will go wherever she is told.

Inspired by the true story of mountaineer George Mallory, Paths of Glory bring to life one of history's enduringly enigmatic figures in a stunning novel from bestselling author Jeffrey Archer. 'Archer at the peak of his imaginative powers' – The Times Some people have dreams that are so...

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!

Barney Panofsky - Canadian expat, wily lover of women, writer, television producer, raconteur - is finally putting pen to paper so he can rebut the charges about him made in his rival’s autobiography. Whether it’s ranting about his bohemian misadventures during the 1950s in Paris, his tumultuous three marriages, or his successful trashy TV company, Totally Unnecessary Productions, he quickly proves that his memory may be slipping, but his bile isn’t.

James, Lord of Douglas, known to his foes as the Black Douglas, leads a flank of the Scottish army in crushing a vast invading English force at the waters of the Bannockburn. Fresh from battle, James revels in honors heaped on him by the Scots and in the hatred of the enemy. When King Robert the Bruce orders him to push their advantage and force the English to the peace table, they both know the only way James can do so is by fire and the sword - the only language King Edward of England understands.