Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in Historical Fiction

It's the 1950's; after a nuclear blast in the mid-Pacific, a Thoreau-reading American Air Force General makes an unexpected and troubling discovery. There, in a flowery field on a tiny island in the middle of a vast ocean, is an angel, its beautiful face frozen in a death mask and its huge wings wrapped around an inert body. As the general ponders this mystery, the Soviets discover their own angel after a similar nuclear test in Siberia. Are these twin phenomena a ploy in the ongoing hostilities between two international powers?

All he wanted was enough whiskey to forget. Ravaged by grief after a car crash killed his cherished wife and unborn child, Chase Tyler has abandoned his family business. He'd hit the rodeo circuit and the bars with equal disregard for his life, unwilling to face his pain and move on - until a bad-tempered bull and a lady from the past forced him to.... All she wanted was his love. Marcie Johns had known Chase all her life, and had been driving the car when it crashed.

A brooding, suspenseful novel of sensuality and vengeance, set amid the fields and villages of 19th century England. Bella Ford, jilted by her unscrupulous lover, plans revenge that ends in a catastrophic act of violence. Narrated by the star of the 1995 Merchant Ivory Productions motion picture Feast of July, Embeth Davidtz.

Life has always been a banquet for Sappho, one to be savored to the fullest. Following a magnificent destiny, her strange and sensual odyssey has carried her to the far corners of the ancient world, from Delphi to Egypt, to the Land of the Amazons, and the realm of Hades. For Sappho, it was always about love—love that seduced her into a plot to depose a dictator, and love that made her trade an unwanted marriage bed of a despised and drunken husband for a seemingly endless series of lovers, both male and female. 

At the end of the 19th century, fourteen-year-old Ántonia Shimerda has realized the immigrant's dream. She has just arrived in rural Nebraska with her Bohemian (Czech) family at the same time as ten-year-old Jim Burden, an orphan sent to live with his grandparents. While Jim's family is prosperous and steady, the Shimerdas quickly find themselves mired in poverty and struggle to make ends meet. But they live near to each other (by pioneer standards), and the two youngsters become close. Ántonia's warmth belongs to the land and the people who love her. For Jim, Ántonia is home.

In Rachel & Leah, Orson Scott Card paints vivid portraits of four celebrated women—Laban's daughters, Rachel and Leah; Bilhah, the orphaned servant; and Zilpah, an ambitious member of Laban's household. Into the desert camp comes Jacob, a handsome and charismatic kinsman who is clearly destined to be Rachel's husband. But that doesn't prevent the other woman from vying for his attention. Tracing their lives from childhood to maturity, Card shows how these women change in relationship to each other and how they are changed again by the holy books that Jacob brings with him. 

One of America's funniest comedians, Carl Reiner, tells of a young man's frustrations as a machinist's helper who tries to break into show business. The semi-autobiographical novel details the bumpy journey as the aspiring actor tries to extricate himself from his overly protective parents—and his two girlfriends. Enter Laughing is a heartwarming, laugh-out-loud, and relatable story of a young man with love in his heart and grease paint on his face—a tale that guarantees to have listeners exit laughing. 

This rich and nuanced portrait of eighteenth-century China follows a Chinese girl's path to enlightenment. At the midpoint of the Manchus' long sway over the largest empire in China's history, a young girl stands reluctantly on the brink of womanhood. Lotus, the Empress Dowager's servant, decides to follow a spiritual path through the Forbidden City. She travels down routes of erotic fancy in search of a place called Mandala, where life's troubles are left behind.

It is 1757, the third year of the French and Indian War. Deep in the forests of New York State, the brave woodsman Hawkeye and his loyal Mohican friends become involved in the bloody French and Indian War. Hawkeye, a colonial scout, Chingachgook, the Mohican chief, and Uncas, his son, risk their lives to guide two English sisters through hostile territory and evade the evil Huron chief, Magua, who is determined to destroy them. The thrilling events that lead to the final tragic confrontation between rival war parties create an unforgettable, spine-tingling picture of life on the frontier.

Considered by many critics to be Jane Austen's finest achievement, Emma is the witty classic about youthful hubris and matchmaking gone awry. Emma Woodhouse, a privileged young lady with little to occupy her time, imagines that she dominates those around her in the small town of Highbury, but her inept matchmaking creates problems for herself and others.

Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan—the four musketeers—find themselves caught between conflicting loyalties. Deep inside the Bastille, a young prisoner called merely "Philippe" has languished for eight long years, completely unaware of his real name or the nature of his crime. But Aramis knows his secret—a secret so dangerous that it could change the face of the French monarchy and topple the King from his throne! Will Aramis' cause divide the once indivisible band of musketeers?

Jean Valjean is one of society's victims. A poor but honest peasant, he is caught stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's starving family and is sent to prison. By the time of his eventual release, he has become a hardened criminal, but his friendship with the saintly Monseigneur Bienvenu gives him another chance at life. This new, respectable life is precarious, for Valjean is still sought by the law, in the person of the implacable Inspector Javert.