Historical Fiction

Venice, 1486. Across the lagoon lies Murano. Time flows differently here – like the glass the island’s maestros spend their lives perfecting.In secret, Orsola Rosso learns to craft glass. As a woman, she must flout convention to s…

The exhilarating follow-up to Pat Barker's The Women of Troy and The Silence of the Girls'Brilliant, masterful . . .Barker strips away the glittering armour of myth' Guardian After ten blood-filled years, the war is over. Troy lie…

At the close of the eighteenth century, Angel Kelly, an Irishman, sets sail from Liverpool aboard the Atlas with the intention of creating a Utopian commune in Brazil. But when a mutiny takes place on the ship, he finds himself s…

'One of the greatest storytellers of our time' - Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing'A story of love, family, unbreakable bonds, bravery and hope' - Christy Lefteri, author of The Beekeeper of AleppoThe Four Winds, an i…

'One of the greatest storytellers of our time' - Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads SingIn this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American…

Hanging beside the door is a painting of a wedding feast. The light is centred on the bride; the guests are banished to the shade.That is how it is when he looks at her: all others fade away. Geertje, an impoverished widow from Ed…

Here was one who would squeeze the sun in her fist if she ever got the chance; yes, and tilt her head back to swallow its liquid light.  August 9th, 1945, Nagasaki. Twenty-one year old Hiroko Tanaka steps out onto her veranda, wea…

Northern Germany, 1945. Dead of night and dead of winter, a boy hears soldiers and sees strangers - forced labourers - fleeing across the heathland by his small town: shawls and skirts in the snowfall.The end days are close, war b…

February 6, 1958, British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on take-off at Munich Airport. On board were the young Manchester United team, 'the Busby Babes', and the journalists who followed them.Twenty-one of the passengers die…

A stunning debut on queer love, betrayal and survival in Elizabethan England. Perfect for fans of Hilary Mantel and Maggie O'Farrell.  England, 1593.Kit Marlowe is one of London's most beloved playwrights. He lives audaciously, le…

A heart-rending story of a Native American community told through the generations. Colorado, 1864. Star, a young survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, is brought to the Fort Marion prison castle where he is forced to learn English …

The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter forever, he flees to nearby Jackson’s Island until he can formulate a …

For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh G…

Winifred Notty arrives at Ensor House prepared to play the perfect Victorian governess. She’ll dutifully tutor her charges, Drusilla and Andrew, tell them bedtime stories, and only joke about eating children. But the longer Winifr…

The outstanding novel from the Carnegie Medal-winning, former Laureate na nÓg Sarah Crossan; thought-provoking and moving, it explores love and family during The Great Hunger. Ireland, 1846. Nell is working as a scullery maid in t…

When Miss Catherine Symonds arrives to take up a position as governess at remote Locksley Abbey in the foothills of the Black Mountains, where England bleeds into Wales, she is apprehensive. It is not the echoing, near empty house…

The Women is a novel of epic love and devastating loss. And it is a story of a memorable heroine, and her deep friendships, whose idealism and courage under fire will define an era.Their friendship changed lives. Their bravery cha…

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023A Reese's Bookclub December Pick (2022)An Instant Sunday Times, New York Times and Irish Times Bestseller (August 2022)A Guardian and LitHub Book of the Year (December 2022) 'Every…

Trieste, 1904. James Joyce - not yet famous - arrives in the city by train with Norah Barnacle. Penniless, he goes to seek out a loan, leaving Norah sitting on a suitcase outside the train station for almost an entire day and nigh…

Kyiv, 1919. The Soviets control the city, but White armies menace them from the West.No man trusts his neighbour and any spark of resistance may ignite into open rebellion. When Samson Kolechko's father is murdered, his last act i…

Set in Burma during the British invasion of 1885, this masterly novel tells the story of Rajkumar, a poor boy lifted on the tides of social and political chaos, who goes on to create an empire in the Burmese teak forest. When sold…

Ancient Sicily. Enter GELON: visionary, dreamer, theatre lover.Enter LAMPO: lovesick, jobless, in need of a distraction.  Imprisoned in the quarries of Syracuse, thousands of defeated Athenians hang on by the thinnest of threads.…

Meet the indomitable Marie de France. Born from a long line of female warriors and crusaders, yet too coarse, too wild, too rough-hewn for courtly life, Marie de France is cast from the royal court. Woefully, she is sent to the mu…

The first time Romeo Montague sees young Rosaline Capulet he falls instantly in love. Rosaline, headstrong and independent, is unsure of Romeo's attentions but with her father determined that she join a convent, this handsome and …

Hidden behind the walls of Grangegorman Mental Hospital in 1941, four lives collide, all afflicted by the human cost of wars, betrayals and trauma. Gus, a shrewd attendant, is the keeper of everyone’s secrets, especially his own.…

The triumphant new novel from the author of the Orange Prize-winning Fugitive Pieces: a soaring and luminous story of chance and change. 1917. On a battlefield near the River Escaut, John lies in the aftermath of a blast, unable t…

In this beautiful story of adventure and survival from the New York Times bestselling author of Room, three men vow to leave the world behind them as they set out in a small boat for an island their leader has seen …

June, 1878. The body of a boy is pulled from the depths of the River Thames, suspected to be the beloved missing child of the widely admired Liberal MP Ralph Gethin. Four months earlier. Harriet is a young maid newly employed at F…

Winner of the Aurora Award for Best Novel.  Hell is empty and all the devils are here. The Chatelaine has come. The year is 1328 and Hell has overrun Bruges.Demons stalk the streets and revenants swarm the walls. The city's men ha…

Standing by the mailbox in Ithaca, New York, Elaine thinks of her child and husband, an Ivy League academic, inside her house and wonders...is this it? As she begins to push back against the structures of her life in 1950s America…