The King's Mistress

The Forbidden Queen

Anne O'Brien · 400 pages

An innocent pawn A kingdom without a King A new dynasty will reign... 1415. The jewel in the French crown, Katherine de Valois, is waiting under lock and key for King Henry V. While he's been slaughtering her kinsmen in Agincourt, Katherine has been praying for marriage to save her from her misery. But the brutal King wants her crown, not her innocent love. For Katherine, England is a lion's den o

The Red Queen

Philippa Gregory

The Queen's Vow: A Novel of Isabella of Castile

C.W. Gortner · 382 pages

"No one believed I was destined for greatness. So begins Isabella's story, in this evocative, vividly imagined novel about one of history's most famous and controversial queens--the warrior who united a fractured country, the champion of the faith whose reign gave rise to the Inquisition, and the visionary who sent Columbus to discover a New World. Acclaimed author C. W. Gortner envisages the tur

The Time of Singing

Elizabeth Chadwick · 528 pages

"Roger Bigod is heir to the earldom of Norfolk but all is lost when his father loses everything in a rebellion against King Heny II. Roger encounters Ida de Tosney, the king's mistress who sees Roger as an escape from the fickle court and when King Richard comes to the throne Roger's lands are restored and he becomes a great earl."--Provided by publisher.

A Rose for the Crown

Anne Easter Smith · 650 pages

In A Rose for the Crown, we meet one of history's alleged villains through the eyes of a captivating new heroine -- the woman who was the mother of his illegitimate children, a woman who loved him for who he really was, no matter what the cost to herself. As Kate Haute moves from her peasant roots to the luxurious palaces of England, her path is inextricably intertwined with that of Richard, Duke

The Shadowed Land

Signe Pike · 400 pages

Grave Mercy

Robin LaFevers · 549 pages

*Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?* Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassi

Here be Dragons

Sharon Kay Penman · 720 pages

The Tudor Throne

Brandy Purdy · 382 pages

"In the wake of King Henry VIII's death, England's throne is left in a precarious state - as is the peculiar relationship between his two daughters. Mary, the elder, once treasured, had been declared a bastard in favour of her flame-haired half-sister, Elizabeth, born of the doomed Anne Boleyn. Yet the bond between the sisters was palpable from the start. Now reinstated, Mary eventually assumes he

Katherine

Anya Seton · 575 pages

Fictional account of the life of Katherine Swynford (de Roet) and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the third surviving son of King Edward III. It is a love story between 2 people who have political marriages before they finally get married. Henry Tudor along with Elizabeth II are both descended from her. It is ranked in the top 100 books of its kind in England.

Mary, Queen of France

Jean Plaidy · 331 pages

egendary historical novelist Jean Plaidy brings to life the story of Princess Mary Tudor, a celebrated beauty and born rebel who would defy the most powerful king in Europe—her older brother. Princess Mary Rose is the youngest sister of Henry VIII, and one of the few people whom he adores unconditionally. Known throughout Europe for her charm and good looks, Mary is the golden child of the Tudo

Menewood

Nicola Griffith · 720 pages

The Commoner

John Burnham Schwartz · 368 pages

It is 1959 when Haruko, a young woman of good family, marries the Crown Prince of Japan, the heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne. She is the first non-aristocratic woman to enter the longest-running, almost hermetically sealed, and mysterious monarchy in the world. Met with cruelty and suspicion by the Empress and her minions, Haruko is controlled at every turn. The only interest the court has in her

Patience, Princess Catherine

Carolyn Meyer · 198 pages

Daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, the famous catholic kings, Catherine of Aragon was a young Spanish princess known as Catalina when she left her home in the summer of 1501 to sail to England. Catherine had known since childhood that she was betrothed to Prince Arthur, heir to the throne of England, and that one day she would have to leave Spain to marry him. Now that she is fifteen, that day ha

Secrets of the Tudor Court

D.L. Bogdan, Darcey Bonnette · 336 pages

When young Mary Howard receives the news that she will be leaving her home for the grand court of King Henry VIII, to attend his mistress Anne Boleyn, she is ecstatic. Everything Anne touches seems to turn to gold, and Mary is certain Anne will one day become Queen. Discovering that she is a pawn in a carefully orchestrated plot devised by her father, the duke of Norfolk, Mary dare not disobey him

The Last Great Dance on Earth

Sandra Gulland · 390 pages

*The Last Great Dance on Earth* is the triumphant final volume of Sandra Gulland's beloved trilogy based on the life of Josephine Bonaparte. When the novel opens, Josephine and Napoleon have been married for four tumultuous years. Napoleon is Josephine's great love, and she his. But their passionate union is troubled from within, as Josephine is unable to produce an heir, and from without, as Engl

Seraphina

Rachel Hartman · 465 pages

In a world where dragons and humans coexist in an uneasy truce and dragons can assume human form, Seraphina, whose mother died giving birth to her, grapples with her own identity amid magical secrets and royal scandals, while she struggles to accept and develop her extraordinary musical talents.

The Agincourt Bride

Joanna Hickson · 592 pages

The Pleasure Palace

Kate Emerson · 372 pages

The Lady Elizabeth

Alison Weir · 496 pages

Following the tremendous success of her first novel, Innocent Traitor, which recounted the riveting tale of the doomed Lady Jane Grey, acclaimed historian and New York Times bestselling author Alison Weir turns her masterly storytelling skills to the early life of young Elizabeth Tudor, who would grow up to become England's most intriguing and powerful queen.Even at age two, Elizabeth is keenly aw

The Palace of Illusions

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni · 372 pages

A reimagining of the world-famous Indian epic, the Mahabharat--told from the point of view of the wife of an amazing woman.Relevant to today's war-torn world, The Palace of Illusions takes us back to a time that is half history, half myth, and wholly magical. Narrated by Panchaali, the wife of the legendary Pandavas brothers in the Mahabharat, the novel gives us a new interpretation of this ancien

The Scarlet Contessa

Jeanne Kalogridis · 454 pages

Daughter of the Duke of Milan and wife of the conniving Count Girolamo Riario, Caterina Sforza was the bravest warrior Renaissance Italy ever knew. She ruled her own lands, fought her own battles, and openly took lovers whenever she pleased. Her remarkable tale is told by her lady-in-waiting, Dea. Dea reviews Caterina's scandalous past and struggles to understand their joint destiny, while Caterin

Beneath a Marble Sky

John Shors · 334 pages

The Oracle Glass

Judith Merkle Riley