The People's Queen

In a Treacherous Court

Michelle Diener · 301 pages

In 1525, artist Susanna Horenbout is sent from Belgium to be Henry VIII's personal illuminator. After an attempt is made on Susanna's life, John Parker, the king's most lethal courtier, is charged with keeping her safe.Further attacks are made and Susanna and Parker realize that she unknowningly carries the key to a plot against the throne. With a gang of urchins, their wits and instincts, the two

Prisoners in the Palace

Michaela MacColl · 362 pages

Recently orphaned and destitute, seventeen-year-old Liza Hastings earns a position as a lady's maid to sixteen-year-old Princess Victoria at Kensington Palace in 1836, the year before Victoria becomes Queen of England.

A Dangerous Inheritance

Alison Weir · 509 pages

Alison Weir's engrossing new novel of historical suspense tells the dramatic intertwined stories of two women: Katherine Grey, whose world falls apart when her older sister, Jane, is imprisoned and executed for unlawfully accepting the English crown; and her distant kinswoman Kate Plantagenet, the bastard daughter of Richard III. Separated by time, Katherine and Kate are linked by twin destinies i

Palace of Spies

Sarah Zettel · 367 pages

In 1716 London, an orphaned sixteen-year-old girl from a good family impersonates a lady-in-waiting only to discover that the real girl was murdered, the court harbors a nest of spies, and the handsome young artist who is helping her solve the mystery might be a spy himself.

Royal Harlot

Susan Holloway Scott · 384 pages

A young but far from innocent Barbara marries rich but proper Roger Palmer, whose Royalist politics set them on the path that will make her a famous courtesan and favorite of King Charles II. Lusty, bawdy and cunning, she's a fine match for the king, whose reign is portrayed as fraught with great expectations that go largely unfulfilled. Both Charles and his court are pleasingly debauched, and Cha

The Queen's Lady

Barbara Kyle · 576 pages

London, 1527. Marry or serve: for Honor Larke, the choice is clear. Unwilling to perish of boredom as an obedient wife, she leaves the home of her ward to attend Her Majesty, Queen Catherine of Aragon. But life at Henry VIII's court holds more than artifice for an intelligent observer, and Honor knows how to watch--and when to act...Angered by the humiliation heaped upon her mistress as Henry cavo

Victoria

Daisy Goodwin · 404 pages

***"I do not like the name Alexandrina. From now on I wish to be known only by my second name, Victoria."*** ***Melbourne nodded. "Queen Victoria."*** Early one morning, less than a month after her eighteenth birthday, Alexandrina Victoria is roused from bed with the news that her uncle William IV has died and she is now Queen of England. The men who run the country have doubts about whether t

Midnight Never Come

Marie Brennan · 400 pages

England flourishes under the hand of its Virgin Queen: Elizabeth, Gloriana, last and most powerful of the Tudor monarchs. But a great light casts a great shadow.In hidden catacombs beneath London , a second Queen holds court: Invidiana, ruler of faerie England , and a dark mirror to the glory above. In the thirty years since Elizabeth ascended her throne, fae and mortal politics have become inext

Buckingham Palace Gardens

Anne Perry · 312 pages

Anne Perry's Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mysteries are perhaps the best loved of all her Victorian bestsellers, luring us into the multilayered richness of London, from the great mansions and secluded drawing rooms to the city's festering slums. Now, in her most mesmerizing novel yet, she invites us to a house-party at Buckingham Palace. The Prince of Wales has asked four wealthy entrepreneurs and t

The Queen's Confidante

Karen Harper · 389 pages

The War of the Roses may be over, but the throne is far from safe ... London, 1501. Henry VII's heir is dead ... Queen Elizabeth fears foul play but there are few she can trust with her suspicions that their son has been murdered. Instead she turns to Varina Westcott, candlemaker and widow. Despite the difference in their stations, Varina shares a bond with her royal mistress. Both women know what

The Taming of the Queen

Philippa Gregory · 450 pages

Kateryn Parr, a thirty-year-old widow in a secret affair with a new lover, has no choice when a man old enough to be her father who has buried four wives -- King Henry VIII -- commands her to marry him. Kateryn has no doubt about the danger she faces: the previous queen lasted sixteen months, the one before barely half a year. But Henry adores his new bride and Kateryn's trust in him grows as she

The Mirror & the Light

Hilary Mantel · 759 pages

The Perfect Royal Mistress

Diane Haeger · 410 pages

Born into poverty and raised in a brothel, Nell Gwynne sells oranges in the pit at London's King's Theater, newly reopened after the plague and the Great Fire devastated the city. Soon, her quick sense of humor and natural charm get her noticed by those who have the means to make her life easier. But the street-smart Nell knows a woman doesn't get ahead by selling her body. Through talent, charm,

Shadow of Night

Deborah Harkness · 592 pages

Picking up from A Discovery of Witches’ cliffhanger ending, Shadow of Night takes Diana and Matthew on a trip through time to Elizabethan London, where they are plunged into a world of spies, magic, and a coterie of Matthew’s old friends, the School of Night. As the search for Ashmole 782 deepens and Diana seeks out a witch to tutor her in magic, the net of Matthew’s past tightens around them, and

Cruel as the Grave

Sharon Kay Penman · 272 pages

Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore

Stella Duffy · 339 pages

Theodora of Constantinople started as an actress and prostitute and rose to become the empress of Rome and a saint in the Orthodox Church. Roman historian Procopius publicly praised her piety and saintliness while his Secret History gave salacious details of her stage act and maligned her as ruthless and power hungry. So who was Theodora? Feisty and quick-witted, by the time she was fifteen she wa

The Devlin Diary

Christi Phillips · 352 pages

In 1672, London, although women enjoy greater freedom, they are not allowed to practice medicine, a restriction that Hannah Devlin evades by treating patients that most other doctors shun: the city's poor. But Hannah has a special knowledge, and she's drawn into a murder investigation that may conceal a conspiracy as far-reaching as the king himself. She leaves a diary that Claire Donovan, a histo

The Secret History: A Novel of Empress Theodora

Stephanie Thornton · 440 pages

Traces the early life of Theodora, who, in sixth century Constantinople, defied every convention and rose from a common theater tart to become the empress of a great kingdom and the most powerful woman the Roman Empire would ever know.

Exit the Actress

Priya Parmar

Babylonia

Costanza Casati · 432 pages

The Darling Strumpet

Gillian Bagwell · 423 pages

"She sold her innocence and captured the heart of a king... Growing up in the bawdy atmosphere of 17th Century Covent Garden, Nell Gwynn is little more than a girl when she enters the world of the courtesan. But Nell learns the hard way that to be at the mercy of unscrupulous men is no life at all. With London's theatres flourishing, Nell seizes an opportunity to change her luck and takes a job se

World Without End

Ken Follett · 1,056 pages

En 1327, quatre enfants sont les témoins d'une poursuite meurtrière dans les bois : un chevalier tue deux soldats au service de la reine, avant d'enfouir dans le sol une lettre mystérieuse, dont le secret pourrait bien mettre en danger la couronne d'Angleterre. Depuis ce jour, le destin des enfants se trouve lié à jamais.

Anna of Byzantium

Tracy Barrett · 209 pages

In the eleventh century the teenage princess Anna Comnena fights for her birthright, the throne to the Byzantine Empire, which she fears will be taken from her by her younger brother John because he is a boy

Tarnish

Katherine Longshore · 442 pages

"King Henry VIII's interest in Anne Boleyn could give her an opportunity to make a real impact in a world with few choices for women, but when poet Thomas Wyatt reveals he's fallen for her, Anne must choose between true love and the chance to make history"-- King Henry VIII's interest in Anne Boleyn gives her a chance to make an impact in a world with few choices for women, but Anne must choose b