Showing titles in Biographical Fiction

Spanning almost thirty years, My Other Life traces the journey of a fictional Paul Theroux—from young bachelorhood in Africa to his travels between continents, from in and out of marriage through various affairs and multiple means of employment. From his early education at the knee of a highly eccentric uncle until his years as a fledgling novelist in London under the wing of the rapacious Lady Max, this writer of different guises eventually retreats alone to his hometown, where he finds the raw material to begin again.

Like the creation myths they supersede, the revelations of science are seared into our collective imagination through storytelling. From Archimedes' bath to Newton's apple, vivid accounts of scientific discovery help us understand the principles behind each theory, and add to the larger narrative of how the universe works, and how we came to be here. This anthology draws out and distils science's love of narrative from a wide range of scientific disciplines, weaving theory into very human stories.

At the age of 19, Queen Victoria's granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth of Hesse, stepped into the glittering court of the Romanovs, beginning a journey that would lead her from the shimmering ballrooms of St. Petersburg to the back streets of Moscow. Through intrigues, assassination, war and revolution, to the tragedy of her own horrific murder, she remained true to her calling to bring beauty into the world. Based on the true story of "the most beautiful princess in Europe", this novel is written in tribute to a remarkable and courageous woman.

Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize 2025 The knock on the door changed everything. Until then, we were happy; we knew who we were. ‘You’ve got the wrong person,’ I told him. ‘My wife is gentle and kind. She wouldn’t hurt a fly.’ In 1939, when she was just nineteen years old...

Salisbury, 1226. A mysterious poacher claims to be a long-lost heir - to a man found crushed by his own cart wheel. Ela Longespée is determined to find the truth, even though the king has coldly appointed another sheriff in her place. Ela takes pity on the man - an injured knight who once saved her husband’s life - and convinces the sheriff to release him from jail while she investigates. Will it turn out to be a deadly mistake?

In the Sicily of the ’50s, still haunted by memories of Fascism and the war, Giuseppe Tomasi, the last Prince of Lampedusa, struggles to complete the novel that will be his lasting legacy, The Leopard. In 1943, an Allied bomb destroyed the Lampedusa palace in Palermo; in 1955, Giuseppe Tomasi...

Francis Cornish was always good at keeping secrets. From the well-hidden family secret of his childhood to his mysterious encounters with a small-town embalmer, an expert art restorer, a Bavarian countess, and various masters of espionage, the events in Francis' life were not always what they seemed. This wonderfully ingenious portrait of an art expert and collector of international renown is told in stylish, elegant prose and endowed with lavish portions of Davies' wit and wisdom.

Nineteen-year-old April Wilton has just enlisted in the WRENs in Portsmouth, where she works servicing engines on ships. She finds herself immersed in dockyard life and surrounded by soldiers - from England and America. The atmosphere is one of spontaneity and impulsiveness, brought on by the...

Giulia Tofana longs for more responsibility in her mother’s apothecary business, but Mamma has always been secretive and refuses to tell her the hidden keys to her success. But the day Mamma is arrested for the poisoning of the powerful Duke de Verdi, Giulia is shocked to uncover the darker side of her trade. Giulia must run for her life and escapes to Naples, under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, to the home of her aunt Isabetta, a famous courtesan.

'Rich, layered, and deeply thoughtful' - LUCY STEEDS 'A magnificent novel - vivid, moving and utterly convincing' - S.G. MACLEAN In the suffocating summer of 1858, Sir Edwin Landseer faces the monumental task of sculpting the Trafalgar Square lions. The nation is watching, the Royal Academy is...

Random House presents the audiobook edition of History of Violence by Edouard Louis, read by Joseph Kloska. The radical and urgent new novel from the author of The End of Eddy I met Reda on Christmas Eve 2012. I was going home after a meal with friends, at around four in the morning. He...

Thomas Wolfe’s first novel, Look Homeward, Angel, is at once a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story and a dark novel depicting a cynical post-war world view. The book follows the life of Eugene Gant, a young man driven by passion, intellect, and a search for something greater than himself. His earliest years in rural North Carolina include a wonderful education in poetry and literature against the backdrop of a loving, but tumultuous family life.

England. 1535. Jane Seymour is 27 years old and increasingly desperate to marry and secure her place in the world. When the court visits Wolf Hall, the Seymour ancestral manor, Jane has the perfect opportunity to shine: her diligence, efficiency, and newfound poise are sure to finally attract a suitor. Meanwhile, King Henry VIII is 45 and increasingly desperate for an heir. He changed his country's religion to leave his first wife, a princess of Spain, for Anne Boleyn—but she, too, has failed to provide a son.

When a health scare forces Orla, 29, to move in with her secretive father, she decides it's time to swap family drama for sun-soaked Greek beaches. After checking into a charming B&B, she realises the turquoise sea isn't the only eye-catching sight. Her neighbour, brooding writer Georgios, is in dire need of inspiration – and Orla seems to be the muse he's been waiting for. But over candlelit dinners and Greek wine, he persuades Orla to share her past. As soon as she does, however, Georgios abruptly ends their rendezvous.

Brought to you by Penguin. Can one rash decision prove the difference between a life well lived and a life destroyed? When the Marquis of Queensbury left his calling card at the Albemarle Club in February 1895, it bore only his name and five words: ‘For Oscar Wilde, posing Somdomite’. The...

Andrea llega a Barcelona, con una maleta llena de libros, para estudiar letras. Sus ilusiones chocan de inmediato con el ambiente de tensión y violencia que reina en casa de su abuela. El sórdido microcosmos familiar y la frágil cordialidad de sus relaciones universitarias, centradas en la...

From the best-selling author of Miss Appleby's Academy comes a gritty saga perfect for fans of Dilly Court, Maggie Hope and Nadine Dorries. Prue's heart beat hard - she had heard of the low seams of the mines of Northwest Durham, and she had always had a fear of being enclosed. This was her job, she told herself; this was what she had wanted. She must do it. So she picked up her bag and followed them to the cage which carried the miners belowground, praying that the man did not die, that she need not produce some miracle....

My name is Wen Alder. My name is Foolish Cur. All my life, I have been torn between two legacies: that of my father, whose roots trace back to the right hand of the emperor. That of my mother's family, who reject the oppressive Empire and embrace the resistance. I can choose between them - between protecting my family, or protecting my people - or I can search out a better path...a magical path, filled with secrets, unbound by empire or resistance, which could shake my world to its very foundation. But my search for freedom will entangle me in a war between the gods themselves.

Ein Schicksal, das über eine halbe Million Russland-Deutsche teilten. Nummer-1-Bestseller-Autorin Hera Lind erzählt die wahre Geschichte der Schwarzmeer-Deutschen Lydia, die erst 16 Jahre alt ist, als sie in einen sibirischen Gulag verschleppt wird. 1944 beginnt für die 16-jährige Lydia ein Alptraum, der nicht enden will: Als die Rote Armee auf ihr kleines Dorf bei Odessa in der Ukraine vorrückt, flieht die Familie. Sie schaffen es sogar bis nach Deutschland, doch sie werden zurückgeholt. Mit Mutter und vier Geschwistern wird Lydia bei minus 50 Grad nach Sibirien verschleppt.

1522, England. Anne Boleyn has lived an adventurous youth in the glittering courts of Europe, now, promised in marriage to a man she knows nothing of, Anne has been called home by her ambitious father. She will enter the English Court, to find many admirers courting her. Anne finds potential for love in three men, but there is one... more unexpected than all the others, who claims her heart. The beginning of a love which would change the course of English history, and shake the foundations of the Church... The courtier's daughter who captured the heart of a king, Anne Boleyn.