2010 Historical Fiction
Explore the best 2010 historical fiction books! Dive into captivating stories set in the past with our curated list of top-rated historical novels from 2010.
Book
The Confessions of Catherine de Medici
by C. W. Gortner
Leaving her native Florence to marry Henry II of France, Catherine de Medici embarks on an unanticipated destiny of religious warfare, thwarted leadership and psychologically charged royal machinations. By the author of The Last Queen.
Book
The Burning Land
by Bernard Cornwell
After breaking with King Alfred of Wessex and joining the Danes and the Vikings in hopes of reclaiming Bebbanburg, warlord Uhtred switches sides again after Alfred's daughter pleads with him to take command of the Mercian army and protect Britain from being conquered. By the author of the best-selling Agincourt. 200,000 first printing.
Book
Daughters of the Witching Hill
by Mary Sharratt
A tale inspired by the Pendle witch hunt of 1612 finds the granddaughter of a folk healer targeted by an ambitious local magistrate who plays neighbors and family members against one another until paranoia reaches frenzied levels.
Book
Heresy
by S. J. Parris
Condemned for his heretical belief that the Earth orbits the sun, scientist and occult researcher Giordano Bruno is unexpectedly recruited by Elizabeth I, who dispatches him to Oxford University to investigate a Catholic plot against the crown.
Book
Her Mother's Daughter
by Julianne Lee
A new novel of sixteent-century royalty from the author of A Question of Guilt Her name was Mary Tudor. First of the Tudor queens, she has gone down in history as Bloody Mary. But does she deserve her vicious reputation? She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, and half-sister to Edward VI and Elizabeth I. Mary Tudor?s life began as the sweetly innocent, pampered princess of Wales?until the age of eleven when the father she adored cast aside the mother she worshipped and declared Mary a bastard. Only after years of exile did Mary finally rise to the throne alongside the man who, aside from her father, was her greatest love?and her greatest betrayer. Told by Mary herself and the people around her, this grand-scale novel takes us back to the glittering court of sixteenth-century England, and tells the tragic story of a fascinating, largely misunderstood woman who withstood the treachery and passion around her only to become one of England?s most vilified queens.
Book
Black Hills
by Dan Simmons
When Paha Sapa, a young Sioux warrior, "counts coup" on General George Armstrong Custer as Custer lies dying on the battlefield at the Little Bighorn, the legendary general's ghost enters him - and his voice will speak to him for the rest of his event-filled life. Seamlessly weaving together the stories of Paha Sapa, Custer, and the American West, Dan Simmons depicts a tumultuous time in the history of both Native and white Americans. Haunted by Custer's ghost, and also by his ability to see into the memories and futures of legendary men like Sioux war-chief Crazy Horse, Paha Sapa's long life is driven by a dramatic vision he experienced as a boy in his people's sacred Black Hills. In August of 1936, a dynamite worker on the massive Mount Rushmore project, Paha Sapa plans to silence his ghost forever and reclaim his people's legacy-on the very day FDR comes to Mount Rushmore to dedicate the Jefferson face.
Book
Claude & Camille
by Stephanie Cowell
A vividly rendered portrait of both the rise of Impressionism and of Monet, the artist at the center of the movement. It is, above all, a love story of the highest romantic order.
Book
For the King
by Catherine Delors
In the aftermath of an assassination attempt on Napoleon, Chief Inspector Roch Miquel is dispatched to find those responsible, a case that is complicated by his superior's political maneuverings, his father's indiscretions and two intriguing women. By the author of Mistress of the Revolution.
Book
His Last Letter
by Jeane Westin
Depicts the great love between Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley, who played together as children and became lovers as adults, but who could never be united in marriage. Original.
Book
The Heretic's Wife
by Brenda Rickman Vantrease
From the bestselling author of The Illuminator comes a magnificent tale about the power of love and the perils of faith Tudor England is a perilous place for booksellers Kate Gough and her brother John, who sell forbidden translations of the Bible. Caught between warring factions—English Catholics opposed to the Lutheran reformation, and Henry VIII’s growing impatience with the Pope’s refusal to sanction his marriage to Anne Boleyn—Kate embarks on a daring adventure that will lead her into a dangerous marriage and a web of intrigue that pits her against powerful enemies. From the king’s lavish banquet halls to secret dungeons and the inner sanctums of Thomas More, Brenda Rickman Vantrease’s glorious new novel illuminates the public pageantry and the private passions of men and women of conscience in treacherous times.
Book
The Master of Bruges
by Terence Morgan
In 15th century Bruges, master painter Hans Memling is about to find himself at the heart of a political storm that stretches from his home city to Plantagenet England.
Book
Charlotte and Emily
by Jude Morgan
In a novel that one of the Bronts could have written, Morgan brings the sisters' genius to life. Quite simply the best novel about the Bronts I have ever read.--Juliet Barker, author of "The Bronts: A Life in Letters."
Book
Mistress of Rome
by Kate Quinn
A slave girl, Thea, displeases her jealous mistress by her love affair with Rome's newest and most savage gladiator and must remake herself as a singer for Rome's aristocrats, where she catches the eye of the Emperor of Rome. Original.
Book
The Jewel of St. Petersburg
by Kate Furnivall
The national bestselling author of The Russian Concubine takes us back to Tsarist Russia for a sweeping novel of love and intrigue. Russia, 1910. Valentina Ivanova is the darling of St. Petersburg's elite aristocracy-until her romance with a Danish engineer creates a terrible scandal and her parents push her into a loveless engagement with a Russian count. Meanwhile, Russia itself is bound for rebellion. With the Tsar and the Duma at each other's throats, and the Bolsheviks drawing their battle lines, the elegance and opulence of Tsarist rule are in their last days. And Valentina will be forced to make a choice that will change not only her own life, but the lives of those around her forever...
Book
The Fifth Servant
by Kenneth J. Wishnia
“Whatever you are currently reading, I promise you it is not nearly as intelligent, witty, compelling, or entertaining as The Fifth Servant….Wishnia makes history come alive.” — David Liss, author of The Devil's Company A brilliantly imagined, beautifully written combination of scrupulously researched historical novel and riveting suspense thriller, Kenneth Wishnia’s The Fifth Servant carries readers back to 16th century Prague in the shadow of the Papal Inquisition—and introduces a uniquely unforgettable protagonist, a young Talmudic scholar who has three days to solve a heinous murder before official reprisals decimate the city’s Jewish community. A richly atmospheric tale of religion, mystery, and intrigue, The Fifth Servant recreates life in the era when Emperor Rudolph II occupied the throne—a time of uncertainty and fear viewed through the eyes of an intrepid rabbinical student on a quest for truth and justice.
Book
Dancing for Degas
by Kathryn Wagner
In the City of Lights, at the dawn of a new age, begins an unforgettable story of great love, great art—and the most painful choices of the heart. With this fresh and vibrantly imagined portrait of the Impressionist artist Edgar Degas, readers are transported through the eyes of a young Parisian ballerina to an era of light and movement. An ambitious and enterprising farm girl, Alexandrie joins the prestigious Paris Opera ballet with hopes of securing not only her place in society but her family’s financial future. Her plan is soon derailed, however, when she falls in love with the enigmatic artist whose paintings of the offstage lives of the ballerinas scandalized society and revolutionized the art world. As Alexandrie is drawn deeper into Degas’s art and Paris’s secrets, will she risk everything for her dreams of love and of becoming the ballet’s star dancer?
Book
The Secret Eleanor
by Cecelia Holland
Describes the secret affair between Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife to Louis VII and Queen of France, and Henry D'Anjou, son of a Duke and in line for the British throne. Original.
