Showing titles in Biographical Fiction

A tour-de-force of historical imagination, this is the story of three young men at the dawn of the French Revolution. Georges-Jacques Danton: zealous, energetic, debt-ridden. Maximilien Robespierre: small, diligent, and terrified of violence. And Camille Desmoulins: a genius of rhetoric, charming, handsome, but erratic and untrustworthy. As these key figures of the French Revolution taste the addictive delights of power, they must also come to face the horror that follows.

First published in the 1930s, The Berlin Stories contains two novels, The Last of Mr. Norris and Goodbye to Berlin. Classics of modern fiction, these novellas capture 1931 Berlin—charming, grotesque, and dangerous, as Hitler was ascending to power. The Berlin Stories is inhabited by a wealth of characters, in particular the nightclub performer Sally Bowles, whose misadventures were popularized on stage and screen in I Am a Camera and Cabaret.

From the author of The Other Einstein, the mesmerizing tale of what kind of woman could have inspired an American dynasty. Clara Kelley is not who they think she is. She's not the experienced Irish maid who was hired to work in one of Pittsburgh's grandest households. She's a poor farmer's...

An awkward misfit, nine-year-old Fulke FitzWarin leaves his family for the household of Joscelin de Dinan, Lord of Ludlow. Once there, he begins to learn the knightly arts which he desperately hopes will free him from the shadows of his past. Joscelin’s youngest daughter, Hawise, befriends Fulke when he most needs it. But as the years pass, an enemy to Ludlow changes their friendship unalterably, forcing them onto opposite sides of a cruel divide.

A dangerous mission is underway in Occupied Rome, right under the noses of the Gestapo. The acclaimed wartime thriller from the award-winning and internationally bestselling author of My Father's House. May 1944. Rome is still ruled by the Gestapo, but the Allies are closing in. As tensions rise...

After the devastating loss of her beloved brother, young Katharine Hepburn makes two vows: she will become famous, and she will never let anyone hurt her again. Leaving behind her East Coast marriage and icy patrician family, she arrives in 1930s Hollywood – accompanied by her lover and determined to live on her own terms. But the studio system has rules. And Kate – brilliant, bisexual, and fiercely independent – refuses to follow them.

Morocco, 1968. As she stands at the window, Mathilde reflects on the opportunities before her. Looking out at her garden, the roses - brought in from Marrakech - have bloomed and their sweet, fresh scent pervades the garden. Anything feels possible, and she is determined to celebrate it. Don't they have the right to enjoy life, after dedicating their best years to the war and then to this farm?

Brought to you by Penguin. THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE 2022 SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2022 From one of our greatest living writers comes a sweeping novel of unrequited love and exile, war and family. The Magician...

This audiobook is narrated with stunning authenticity by the author, Graeme Armstrong. The Times Top Ten Bestseller A Granta Best of Young British Novelist ‘Trainspotting for a new generation’ – Independent ‘An instant Scottish classic’ – The Skinny 2005. Glasgow is named Europe’s...

In Flora Thompson's semi-autobiographical series Lark Rise to Candleford, she explores the Oxfordshire country life of her protagonist Laura in the 1880s and 1890s. This collection includes all three works in the trilogy, Lark Rise, Over to Candleford, and Candleford Green.

1135, England: Matilda, daughter of Henry I, knows that there are those who will not accept her as England's queen when her father dies. But the men who support her rival, and cousin, Stephen do not know the iron will that drives her. She will win her inheritance against all odds, and despite all men. Adeliza, Henry's widowed queen and Matilda's stepmother, is now married to a warrior who is fighting to keep Matilda off the throne. But Adeliza knows that Britain's crown belongs to a woman this time. Both women will stand and fight for what they know is right for England's royalty.

This stunning novel tells the true story of the woman behind one of the world’s greatest artists, Vincent Van Gogh. In 1890, Vincent Van Gogh dies penniless, unknown, a man tortured by his own mind. Eleven years later his work is exhibited in Paris and his unparalleled talent finally recognised. The tireless efforts of one woman gave the world one of its greatest creative minds. But twenty-eight-year-old Johanna Van Gogh-Bonger, Vincent’s sister-in-law and the keeper of his immense collection of paintings, sketches and letters, has, until now, been written out of history.

Anthony Opoka and Florence Okori are coming of age in Uganda in the 1990s. Outstanding students, they believe in being good humans before they are kidnapped and forced into the fanatical Lord’s Resistance Army. In a legion of young recruits, no one gets closer than Anthony to powerful messianic warlord Joseph Kony and his darkest secrets. To stay sane as he spirals through chaos, Anthony clings to his childhood lessons about being a good human. Florence’s upbringing grounds her, too, helping her keep her dreams alive even as she’s pulled deeper into the insanity of Kony’s war.

Lady Anne Seymour knows that her family hangs by a thread. If her sister-in-law Jane Seymour cannot give the King a son, she will be executed or set aside, and her family with her. Anne throws herself into the deadly and intoxicating intrigue of the Tudor court, determined to pay any price to see the new queen's marriage succeed and the Seymour family elevated to supreme power. But Anne's machinations will earn her a reputation as a viper, and she must decide if her family's rise is worth the loss of her own soul.

In late March 1944, as Stalin’s forces push into Ukraine, young Emil and Adeline Martel must make a terrible decision: Do they wait for the Soviet bear’s intrusion and risk being sent to Siberia? Or do they reluctantly follow the wolves—murderous Nazi officers who have pledged to protect “pure-blood” Germans? The Martels are one of many families of German heritage whose ancestors have farmed in Ukraine for more than a century.

Random House presents the audiobook edition of The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe, read by Marisa Calin. From the author of The Prince of the Skies, for readers of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Choice: this is the story of the smallest library in the world - and the most dangerous...

Read in the style of a secret diary, this famous sequel to I, Claudius gives a wry and human view of the Roman world, bringing to life some of the most scandalous and violent times in history. Claudius has survived the murderous intrigues of his predecessors to become, reluctantly, Emperor of Rome. He recounts his surprisingly successful rule; how he cultivates the loyalty of the army to repair the damage caused by his nephew Caligula; his friendship with the Jewish King Herod Agrippa; and his invasion of Britain.

The greatest moment in Roman history, from the perspective of the man who could have had it all.Julius Caesar is dead. Mark Antony, his second in command, is surely also in the sights of the assassins.But for Antony, where there is danger, there is opportunity. Can he seize the chance, and replace Caesar as Rome's undisputed ruler? The portents are good until a young man named Octavian appears, claiming to be Caesar's heir... The following months and years are a time of shifting alliances, betrayals and score-settling.

Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He's a normal Italian teenager - obsessed with music, food, and girls - but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior. In an attempt to protect him, Pino's parents force him to enlist as a German soldier - a move they think will keep him out of combat.

Who is the Secret Royal? Some say they’re a disgruntled courtier; others that it’s King Charles’ Head of Pens. Perhaps it’s just the Countess of Wessex (as you’ll see they do appear to be close to the late Queen). But then they do have the same cadence as Camilla... Whoever it is they’ve written a rip-roaring diary of 18 months behind the Palace walls, during one of the most tumultuous periods of The Firm’s existence.