Great biographical historical fiction
Explore the best biographical historical fiction books! Dive into captivating tales of real-life figures and events masterfully woven into unforgettable stories. Perfect for history buffs and fiction lovers alike.
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Katherine
by Anya Seton
A biographical novel concerning the love affair between Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, in fourteenth-century England.
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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.
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Jane Boleyn
by Julia Fox
In a life of extraordinary drama, Jane Boleyn was catapulted from relative obscurity to the inner circle of King Henry VIII. As powerful men and women around her became victims of Henry’s ruthless and absolute power–including her own husband and her sister-in-law, Queen Anne Boleyn–Jane’s allegiance to the volatile monarch was sustained and rewarded. But the cost of her loyalty would eventually be her undoing and the ruination of her name. For centuries, little beyond rumor and scandal has been associated with “the infamous Lady Rochford,” but now historian Julia Fox sets the record straight. Drawing upon her own deep knowledge and years of original research, she brings us into the inner sanctum of court life, teeming with intrigue and redolent with the threat of disgrace. In the eyes and ears of Jane Boleyn, we witness the myriad players of the stormy Tudor period, and Jane herself emerges as a courageous spirit, a modern woman forced by circumstances to make her own way in a privileged but vicious world.
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The Boleyn Wife
by Brandy Purdy
Encompassing the reigns of four of Henry's wives, from the doomed Anne to the reckless Katherine Howard, The Boleyn Wife is an unforgettable story of ambition, lust, and jealousy, of the power of love to change the course of history, and of the terrible price of revenge.
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No Will But His
by Sarah A. Hoyt
Katherine Howard, cousin to the ill-fated Anne Boleyn, becomes the intended child bride and fifth wife of England's Henry VIII, and faces the same lies, dangers and treachery that cost Queen Anne her head. Original.
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Legacy
by Susan Kay
The much-praised "Legacy" offers an exquisite psychological portrait of the queen who defined an era, beloved and touted by readers for its stunning storytelling and intriguing take on the monarch's life.
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The Affair of the Poisons
by Anne Somerset
From the acclaimed author of "Elizabeth I" comes a look into the glittering court of France's Sun King, Louis XIV, and one of the most sensational crimes of all time. 12-page full-color insert.
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The Other Boleyn Girl (Movie Tie-In)
by Philippa Gregory
The daughters of a ruthlessly ambitious family, Mary and Anne Boleyn are sent to the court of Henry VIII to attract the attention of the king, who first takes Mary as his mistress, in which role she bears him an illegitimate son, and then Anne as his wife. Reprint. 250,000 first printing. (A Columbia Pictures film, written by Peter Morgan, directed by Justin Chadwick, releasing Fall 2007, starring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana, and others) (Historical Fiction)
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Desiree
by Annemarie Selinko
"Desiree" charts the passions and intrigues of Bonaparte's court seen through the eyes of the merchant's daughter from Marseilles who was Napoleon's fiance and rose to become the Queen of Sweden.
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The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn
by Robin Maxwell
When Elizabeth I assumes the throne of England, she is given the secret diary of her mother Anne Boleyn, who was betrayed and beheaded by her husband Henry VIII. In reading the diary she learns about her mother's life and determines to heed the lessons of her mother's difficult life.
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Hugh and Bess
by Susan Higginbotham
"A delightful novel full of chivalry, romance, and real-life terrors." Historical Novels Review
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The Last Queen
by C. W. Gortner
In this stunning novel, C. W. Gortner brings to life Juana of Castile, the third child of Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand of Spain, who would become the last queen of Spanish blood to inherit her country’s throne. Along the way, Gortner takes the reader from the somber majesty of Spain to the glittering and lethal courts of Flanders, France, and Tudor England. Born amid her parents’ ruthless struggle to unify and strengthen their kingdom, Juana, at the age of sixteen, is sent to wed Philip, heir to the Habsburg Empire. Juana finds unexpected love and passion with her dashing young husband, and at first she is content with her children and her married life. But when tragedy strikes and she becomes heir to the Spanish throne, Juana finds herself plunged into a battle for power against her husband that grows to involve the major monarchs of Europe. Besieged by foes on all sides, Juana vows to secure her crown and save Spain from ruin, even if it costs her everything. Praise for The Last Queen “This moving tale of Juana la Loca (the Mad) vividly re-creates the passion, politics, and betrayals that drove a smart and spirited queen to the brink of insanity . . . or perhaps, as C. W. Gortner suggests, to the pretense of insanity–a pretense that baffled Juana’ s enemies and led to triumph for her children and her country. The Last Queen is an absorbing account of one of history’s most fascinating women, from her never-before-told point of view.”—Donna Woolfolk Cross, author of Pope Joan “I ached for this intelligent, one-of-a-kind queen. Her struggle and passion kept me up until the early hours of the morning. A page-turner, a nail-biter, an eye-opener: I loved being possessed by The Last Queen!”—Ki Longfellow, author of The Secret Magdalene “A vibrant tapestry of love and hate . . . brings to life an extraordinary queen at an unforgettable time in history.”—Sandra Worth, author of Lady of the Roses “An exquisite evocation of a dangerous era and of a forgotten queen.”—Holly Payne, author of The Virgin’ s Knot “Gripping and unforgettable . . . captures Juana of Castile’s electrifying drama.”—Judith Merkle Riley, author of The Water Devil
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Nicholas and Alexandra
by Robert K. Massie
A “magnificent and intimate” (Harper’s) modern classic of Russian history, the spellbinding story of the love that ended an empire—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, The Romanovs, and Catherine the Great “A moving, rich book . . . [This] revealing, densely documented account of the last Romanovs focuses not on the great events . . . but on the royal family and their evil nemesis. . . . The tale is so bizarre, no melodrama is equal to it.”—Newsweek In this commanding book, New York Times bestselling author Robert K. Massie sweeps readers back to the extraordinary world of the Russian empire to tell the story of the Romanovs’ lives: Nicholas’s political naïveté, Alexandra’s obsession with the corrupt mystic Rasputin, and little Alexis’s brave struggle with hemophilia. Against a lavish backdrop of luxury and intrigue, Massie unfolds a powerful drama of passion and history—the story of a doomed empire and the death-marked royals who watched it crumble.
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Sex with the Queen
by Eleanor Herman
In royal courts bristling with testosterone—swashbuckling generals, polished courtiers, and virile cardinals—how did repressed regal ladies find happiness? Anne Boleyn flirted with courtiers; Catherine Howard slept with one. Henry VIII had both of them beheaded. Catherine the Great had her idiot husband murdered and ruled the Russian empire with a long list of sexy young favorites. Marie Antoinette fell in love with the handsome Swedish count Axel Fersen, who tried valiantly to rescue her from the guillotine. Princess Diana gave up her palace bodyguard to enjoy countless love affairs, which tragically led to her early death. In this impeccably researched, scandalously readable follow-up to her New York Times bestseller Sex with Kings, Eleanor Herman reveals the truth about what has historically gone on behind the closed door of the queen's boudoir.
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A Treasury of Royal Scandals
by Michael Farquhar
From Nero's nagging mother (whom he found especially annoying after taking her as his lover) to Catherine's stable of studs (not of the equine variety), here is a wickedly delightful look at the most scandalous royal doings you never learned about in history class. Gleeful, naughty, sometimes perverted-like so many of the crowned heads themselves-A Treasury of Royal Scandals presents the best (the worst?) of royal misbehavior through the ages. From ancient Rome to Edwardian England, from the lavish rooms of Versailles to the dankest corners of the Bastille, the great royals of Europe have excelled at savage parenting, deadly rivalry, pathological lust, and meeting death with the utmost indignity-or just very bad luck.