Historical Fiction Renaissance

Lucifer’s Legion is back!! A fighting order of nuns… a mysterious woman from the sea… and a sexy Highlander come together in this blow-out adventure romance set in Scotland!

In a city of masks, no one is what they seem . . . Englishman Richard Hughes has survived a stint as a galley slave and is now a free man in Venice, where he enjoys a modest life as a fencing master. He believes he has long-since left behind the ideals that landed him in slavery...until he...

Shrewd bankers, astute politicians, godfathers of the Renaissance, glittering dukes... how history remembers Florence's most notorious family. But the Medici and their bloody path to power was built on murder, intrigue and conspiracies that stretched across three centuries. Florence, 1429...

Born into poverty, brutalised and ignored by her family, it is only when she is married off to a nobleman that her life undergoes a transformation, as her husband recognises in Rosamund a magic she does not know she possesses but which affects almost all who encounter her. Presiding over a luxurious chocolate house where men go to be seen, exchange news and indulge in the sweet and heady drink to which they have become addicted, Rosamund feels blessed. But disaster strikes, and Rosamund stands on the brink of losing all she has worked so hard to achieve.

The Crime Writers’ Association Historical Dagger Winning Author Tuscany. Winter, 1540. Travelling north into the hills above Florence, investigator Cesare Aldo seeks answers about his past. The trail leads him to Ospedale de’ Pazzi, a secure institution for the criminally insane. Soon after...

Mary is the queen of Scotland and the jewel of the French court. Except when she's a mouse. Yes, reader, Mary is an Eðian (shapeshifter) in a kingdom where Verities rule. Thrust onto the throne, Mary and Francis face a viper's nest of conspiracies, traps and treason. And if Mary's secret is revealed, heads are bound to roll.

The Church is fracturing, revolution is brewing, and society is changing rapidly. Three authors who shaped this new world with their pens—Martin Luther, Desiderius Erasmus, and Philipp Melanchthon—will now be shaped by it in turn. When the pope and King Henry VIII of England pressure Erasmus to take a public stand against Luther, both authors will be forced to wrestle with literal and figurative demons. Erasmus is haunted by his illegitimate birth. Luther struggles with the rejection of the Church and his own father.

A beautifully illustrated history of the Renaissance told through the lives of its most influential patrons. From the late Middle Ages, the independent Italian city-states were taken over by powerful families who installed themselves as dynastic rulers. Inspired by the humanists, the princes of...

In Navola, a city-state dominated by a handful of influential families, business is power, and power is everything. For generations, the di Regulai family—merchant bankers with a vast empire—has nurtured tendrils that stretch to the farthest reaches of the known world. And though they claim not to be political, their wealth has bought cities and toppled kingdoms. Soon, Davico di Regulai will be expected to take the reins of power from his father and demonstrate his mastery of the games of Navolese diplomacy. But in Navola, strange and ancient undercurrents lurk behind the gilt and grandeur.

Giulia Tofana longs for more responsibility in her mother’s apothecary business, but Mamma has always been secretive and refuses to tell her the hidden keys to her success. But the day Mamma is arrested for the poisoning of the powerful Duke de Verdi, Giulia is shocked to uncover the darker side of her trade. Giulia must run for her life and escapes to Naples, under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, to the home of her aunt Isabetta, a famous courtesan.

When a well-known British TV historian, Marmaduke Godolphin, is found murdered in the canals of Venice during carnival, stabbed by a stiletto blade, the Venetian police are eager to have the case solved and cleared up within a day - murder is bad for tourism! The police recruit the help of...

The Crime Writers' Association Historical Dagger Winning Author City of Vengeance is an explosive debut novel in an historical thriller series by D. V. Bishop, set in Renaissance Florence. 'An impressive and immersive debut set in a beautifully realized sixteenth-century Florence' – Antonia...

Brought to you by Penguin. Florence, New Year’s Day 1557. As dawn breaks, a painter is discovered lying on the floor of a church, stabbed through the heart. Above him, the paintings he laboured over for more than a decade. At his home, a hidden painting scandalously depicting Maria de Medici...

In 1570, Pope Pius V signed a document that changed everything. With a single papal bull, Elizabeth I became a heretic—excommunicated, her assassination blessed by Rome, her subjects absolved of all loyalty. For thirty-three years, Elizabeth navigated a world where every Catholic courtier might be an assassin and every foreign ambassador a spy. The Northern Rising. The Ridolfi conspiracy. Mary, Queen of Scots. The Spanish Armada. The Earl of Essex's betrayal.

Mia Caiozzi is determined to discover her destiny by studying the science of astronomy. But her stepmother Giulia forbids her to engage in this dangerous occupation, fearing it will lead her into trouble. The ideas of Galileo are banned by the Inquisition, so Mia must study in secret.

In the heart of Rome, the conclave is choosing a new Pope, and whoever wins will determine the fate of the Eternal City. Astrologer Mia and her fiancé Jacopo, a physician at the Santo Spirito Hospital, plan to marry, but the election result is a shock and changes everything. As Pope Innocent X takes the throne, he brings along his sister-in-law, the formidable Donna Olimpia Maidalchini, known as La Papessa – the female Pope. When Mia is offered a position as her personal astrologer, she and Jacopo find themselves on opposite sides of the most powerful family in Rome.

*Winner of the CWA Historical Dagger 2023* 'A great insight into Renaissance Florence. What I love about these books is the seamless weaving of factual history with a great story' – Abir Mukherjee Florence. Spring, 1537. When Cesare Aldo investigates a report of intruders at a convent in the...

'A stunning debut. Weaving together a cast of loveable rogues, a richly detailed historical setting, and a cinematic thrill ride of a story, Medici Heist knocked us flat!' The Duffer Brothers, creators of Netflix's STRANGER THINGS 'Riotously readable' the Guardian Welcome to Florence, 1517, a...

Giulia Tofana never wanted to be a nun, but she is determined to atone for her past misdeeds by making her new monastery a success. When an unexpected disaster closes the convent, Giulia is forced to turn to her old friend, Fabio Pasello, for help. Giulia still has intense feelings for Fabio, and Fabio’s passion for her has never diminished. But they are not the same people they were before. Giulia has taken her vows, and Fabio is apprenticed to Gianlorenzo Bernini, the famous sculptor, and has become one of Bernini’s rakish libertines.

'A BEAUTIFULLY PORTRAYED AND IMAGINATIVE TALE OF WOMEN IN MEDIEVAL SCOTLAND IN ALL THEIR VULNERABILITY AND POWER' - S. G. MacLean, author of THE BOOKSELLER OF INVERNESS 'IMMERSIVE STORYTELLING AND GREAT CHARACTERS' - Philip Paris, author of THE LAST WITCH OF SCOTLAND 1593, Scotland. King James...