Brief Gaudy Hour: The novel of Anne Boleyn’s passionate love by Margaret Campbell Barnes The beautiful temptress of Henry VIII’s court… Anne Boleyn bewitched King Henry VIII with her dark beauty. For her he divorced Katherine of Aragon, who could not give him the son he longed for, and broke England’s link with the Church of Rome. As Queen, Anne triumphed over her enemies at court – but her triumph was as short-lived as it was brilliant. Her child, the heir that Henry was so desperate for, was another daughter. And this unforgivable error was to cost Anne her life…. Read more »
Posts Tagged: historical
Flesh by Khanh Ha
Flesh by Khanh Ha The setting is Tonkin (northern Vietnam) at the turn of the 20th century. A boy, Tai, witnesses the beheading of his father, a notorious bandit, and sets out to recover his head and then to find the man who betrayed his father to the authorities. On this quest, Tai’s entire world will shift. FLESH takes the reader into dark and delightful places in the human condition, places where allies are not always your friends, true love hurts, and your worst enemy may bring you the most comfort. In that emotionally harrowing world, Tai must learn to… Read more »
The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
The Last Kingdom (The Saxon Stories 1) by Bernard Cornwell Uhtred is an English boy, born into the aristocracy of ninth-century Northumbria. Orphaned at ten, he is captured and adopted by a Dane and taught the Viking ways. Yet Uhtred’s fate is indissolubly bound up with Alfred, King of Wessex, who rules over the only English kingdom to survive the Danish assault. The struggle between the English and the Danes and the strife between Christianity and paganism is the background to Uhtred’s growing up. Marriage ties him to the Saxon cause but when his wife and child vanish in the… Read more »
A Breath of Snow and Ashes and An Echo In The Bone by Diana Gabaldon
A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander 6) by Diana Gabaldon It is 1772, the eve of the American Revolution, and the long fuse of rebellion has already been lit. Governor Josiah Martin calls upon Jamie Fraser to unite the backcountry and safeguard the colony for King and Crown. But there is one problem: Jamie Fraser´s wife, Claire, is a time-traveler, as are his daughter and son-in-law. And Jamie knows that three years hence, the shot heard round the world will be fired, and the end of it all will be independence –with those loyal to the King either dead… Read more »
A Tainted Dawn: The Great War by B. N. Peacock
A Tainted Dawn: The Great War by B. N. Peacock August 1789. The Rights of Man. Liberty. Equality. Idealism. Patriotism. A new age dawns. And yet, old hostilities persist: England and Spain are on the brink of war. France, allied by treaty with Spain, readies her warships. Three youths–the son of an English carpenter, the son of a naval captain, an the son of a French court tailor–meet in London, a chance encounter that entwines their lives thereafter. The English boys find themselves on the same frigate bound for the Caribbean. The Frenchman sails to Trinidad, where he meets an… Read more »
To Die For by Sandra Byrd
To Die For (Ladies in Waiting 1) by Sandra Byrd Meg Wyatt has been Anne Boleyn’s closest friend since they grew up together on neighboring manors in Kent. So when twenty-five-year-old Anne’s star begins to ascend, of course she takes Meg along for the ride. Life in the court of Henry VIII is thrilling… at first. Meg is made mistress of Anne’s wardrobe, and she enjoys the spoils of this privileged orbit and uses her influence for good. She is young and beautiful and in favor; everyone at court assumes that being close to her is being close to Anne…. Read more »
The Falcons Of Montabard by Elizabeth Chadwick
The Falcons Of Montabard by Elizabeth Chadwick Sabin FitzSimon, disgraced son of an earl, has the opportunity to rebuild his career and salvage his reputation when the knight Edmund Strongfist leaves for the Holy Land to offer his sword and services to the King of Jerusalem. He asks Sabin to join him. Accompanying Strongfist is his daughter Annais. Sabin, he warns, is to keep away from her. Being grateful for the chance that Strongfist has given him, Sabin does so, but not without a feeling of regret, for he is attracted to Annais’s spirit, her courage and wonderful harp playing…. Read more »
Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness
Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy 2) by Deborah Harkness Historian Diana Bishop, descended from a line of powerful witches, and long-lived vampire Matthew Clairmont have broken the laws dividing creatures. When Diana discovered a significant alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, she sparked a struggle in which she became bound to Matthew. Now the fragile coexistence of witches, daemons, vampires and humans is dangerously threatened. Seeking safety, Diana and Matthew travel back in time to London, 1590. But they soon realise that the past may not provide a haven. Reclaiming his former identity as poet and spy for Queen… Read more »
Pendragon’s Banner by Helen Hollick
Pendragon’s Banner (Pendragon’s Banner 2) by Helen Hollick Three years have passed since the mists cleared to reveal the Pendragon Banner triumphant. Arthur is king. But the crown, once won, must be defended. He is a man about whom legends will be told. With his loyal and fiercely valiant wife Gwenhwyfar by his side, and three sons to his name, twenty-four-year-old King Arthur takes on the burden of a country battling for its very soul. But before the harpers sing of glory, before the tales of brave daring and skill, a young man must win his place as the greatest… Read more »
To Be Queen by Christy English
To Be Queen by Christy English Taught by her father, the Duke of Aquitaine, how to be powerful in the midst of the ruthless politics of the court, Eleanor learned at an early age to inspire love and loyalty in the people around her. Those lessons serve the fifteen-year-old well when — after her father’s sudden death — she is crowned Duchess of Aquitaine and becomes the most eligible, sought-after woman in France. Enamored of the young and beautiful Eleanor, King Louis VII claims her as his own, but the newly crowned monarch is easily manipulated by the Church and… Read more »
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