Great historical fiction for women
Discover the best historical fiction books for women! Explore captivating stories of strong female characters set in rich historical eras. Perfect for book lovers seeking immersive reads.
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Rashi's Daughters: Joheved
by Maggie Anton
In 1068 the scholar Salomon ben Isaac returns home to Troyes, France to take over the family winemaking business and embark on a path that will indelibly influence the Jewish world, writing the first Talmud commentary and secretly teaching Talmud to his daughters.
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The Birth of Venus
by Sarah Dunant
Turning fifteen in Renaissance Florence, Alessandra Cecchi becomes intoxicated with the works of a young painter whom her father has brought to the city to decorate the family's Florentine palazzo, a situation that is complicated by her unwanted arranged marriage to an older man and a battle between the Medici family and the fundamentalist followers of Savonarola. 75,000 first printing.
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The Lady and the Unicorn
by Tracy Chevalier
Interweaves historical fact with fiction to explore the mystery behind the creation of the remarkable Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, woven at the end of the fifteenth century, which today hang in the Cluny Museum in Paris.
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The Ghost of Hannah Mendes
by Naomi Ragen
The ghost of a real-life historical figure helps elderly Catherine da Costa convince her granddaughters to travel across Europe with her and helps them find a link between past and present by leaving mysterious journal entries along their travel route.
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The Book of Splendor: A Novel
by Frances Sherwood
"The Book of Splendor" is a historical novel about the most unlikely of lovers, interwoven with the mysticism of the Jewish occult, and replete with the political tension and court intrigue of 17th century Prague.
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Hellion
by Bertrice Small
SHE WAS CALLED BELLE FROM HELL. . . . As fierce and indomitable as any man, Isabelle of Langston rules the family lands with an iron hand after her father's death. But the brazen beauty meets her match in Hugh Fauconier, bold knight and rightful Saxon heir to Langston Keep. By the king's hand, he is made her husband. Hugh's virile prowess reveals to Belle the delicious pleasures of the flesh, as their turbulent days of verbal sparring melt into nights of erotic abandon. But a treacherous plot enslaves Hugh to the evil Vivienne d' Bretagne, a sorceress whose sexual magic is as powerful as it is dark. Discovering the castle lair where her husband is enchanted, Belle is caught and rendered helpless by the twisted passion of Vivienne's brother, Guy. But not even her captor's devious ecstasy can destroy her will to free her beloved Hugh. . . . "The plot is cleverly woven into the history of the times in such a way as to make the era come to life on the written page. . . . Ms. Small once again delights and thrills." *Rendezvous An Alternate Selection of the Literary Guild(c) and Doubleday Book Club(c)
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He, She and It
by Marge Piercy
"A triumph of the imagination. Rich, complex, impossible to put down."—Alice Hoffman In the middle of the twenty-first century, life as we know it has changed for all time. Shira Shipman's marriage has broken up, and her young son has been taken from her by the corporation that runs her zone, so she has returned to Tikva, the Jewish free town where she grew up. There, she is welcomed by Malkah, the brilliant grandmother who raised her, and meets an extraordinary man who is not a man at all, but a unique cyborg implanted with intelligence, emotions—and the ability to kill. . . . From the imagination of Marge Piercy comes yet another stunning novel of morality and courage, a bold adventure of women, men, and the world of tomorrow.