Superb Historical Fiction in 2008

The Enchantress of Florence

By Salman Rushdie

"The Enchantress of Florence" is the story of a woman attempting to command her own destiny in a man's world. Vivid, gripping, and profoundly moving, this dazzling book is by one of the world's most important living writers.

None

By None

None

Devil's Brood

By Sharon Kay Penman

The third installment of a trilogy about Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine traces the collapse of the royal family in the aftermath of Henry's self-imposed exile to Ireland, as Eleanor and Henry's three eldest sons enter into a rebellion against him.

Company of Liars

By Karen Maitland

Maitland writes the stories of nine characters trying to escape the Black Death in her novel inspired by Chaucer's Canterbury tales.

The Jewel Trader of Pegu

By Jeffrey Hantover

Adventure, treasure, and forbidden love are interwoven in this beautiful and original debut novel set in the lush land of 16th-century Southeast Asia.

None

By None

None

By None

None

Mistress of the Sun

By Sandra Gulland

An eccentric young woman's love for a wild white stallion tempts her into using an ancient magic that overshadows her subsequent life and leads to her affair with the charismatic Louis XIV.

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

Stealing Athena

By Karen Essex

The complex history of the Elgin Marbles is viewed through the lives of two women--Aspasia, an ancient Greek female philosopher, and Mary Nisbet, wife of the Earl of Elgin, who played a key role in bringing the sculptures to England.

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

By None

None

The Heretic's Daughter

By Kathleen Kent

Martha Carrier was one of the first women to be accused, tried, and hanged as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts. This is the haunting story of Carrier's courageous defiance and ultimate death, as told by her daughter, Sarah.

Cathedral of the Sea

By Ildefonso Falcones de Sierra

Follows the fortunes of the Estanyol family in medieval Barcelona, whose rise from peasantry is marked by their stoneworker son's role in building the Santa Maria del Mar cathedral and his forbidden love for a Jewish woman.

The Glass of Time

By Michael Cox

"In the autumn of 1876, nineteen-year-old orphan Esperanza Gorst arrives at the great country house of Evenwood in Northamptonshire. There she will serve as the new lady's maid to the former Emily Carteret, now Lady Tansor. But Esperanza is no ordinary servant. She has been sent by her guardian, the mysterious Madame de l'Orme, to uncover the secrets that her new mistress has sought to conceal - and to set right a past injustice in which her own life is intertwined. Unable to escape the reverberations of past misdeeds, Lady Tansor finds herself desperate to keep Esperanza from learning dark, dangerous truths." "As well as a page-turning period mystery, The Glass of Time is a beautifully written and vividly imagined study of seduction, betrayal, and friendship between two powerful women bound together by the past."--BOOK JACKET.

The Other Queen

By Philippa Gregory

Presents a tale inspired by the story of Mary, Queen of Scots, in a work that follows the doomed monarch's long imprisonment in the household of the Earl of Shrewsbury and his spying wife, Bess.