Smart Historical Fiction (Heavy on the Tudors light on romance)
Explore smart historical fiction with a focus on the Tudors—light on romance, rich in detail. Discover top books blending meticulous research with gripping narratives for history lovers.
Book
The Autobiography of Henry VIII
by Margaret George
The novel that started it all: Margaret George's debut novel of the legendary British king
Book
Mary Queen of Scotland & The Isles
by Margaret George
A fictional account of the life of Mary Queen of Scots traces her lineage and describes her historic fight with Elizabeth over the throne of …
Book
Mrs. Shakespeare
by Robert Nye
In this humorous and bawdy fictional memoir, Shakespeare's wife Anne Hathaway reminisces about her famous husband seven years after his death.
Book
Sacajawea
by Anna L. Waldo
Clad in a doeskin, alone and unafraid, she stood straight and proud before the onrushing forces of America's destiny: Sacajawea, child of a Shoshoni chief, …
Book
The Sunne in Splendour
by Sharon Kay Penman
A historical novel that re-creates the life of Richard III in fifteenth-century England, presenting the monarch as a gifted man and romantic hero who was …
Book
Memoirs of a Geisha
by Arthur Golden
A literary sensation and runaway bestseller, this brilliant debut novel tells with seamless authenticity and exquisite lyricism the true confessions of one of Japan's most …
Book
Artemisia
by Alexandra Lapierre
Artemisia Gentileschi, a significant female artist of the late 1600s, is brought to life as Lapierre captures the flavor of Baroque Italy as well as …
Book
The Mists of Avalon
by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The magical saga of the women behind King Arthur's throne. “A monumental reimagining of the Arthurian legends . . . reading it is a deeply …
Book
The Concubine
by Norah Lofts
"All eyes and hair" a courtier had said disparagingly of her - and certainly the younger daughter of Tom Boleyn lacked the bounteous charms of …
Book
The Alexandrian
by Martha Rofheart
She ruled a mighty nation-- and the hearts of the ancient world's greatest men. Her beauty was matched only by her passion for life and …
Book
Johnny Got His Gun
by Dalton Trumbo
A powerful narrative which exposes the brutalities and useless suffering caused by war.
Book
Roots
by Alex Haley
It begins with a birth in 1750, in an African village; it ends seven generations later at the Arkansas funeral of a black professor whose …
Book
Nothing Like the Sun
by Anthony Burgess
Before Shakespeare in Love, there was Anthony Burgess's Nothing Like the Sun: a magnificent, bawdy telling of Shakespeare's love life.
Book
Slammerkin
by Emma Donoghue
Mary Saunders' lust for linen, lace and a shiny red ribbon leads her to a life of prostitution.
Book
Mozart's Wife
by Juliet Waldron
Based on original sources, including family letters and scholarly biographies this is a biographical novel about Constanze, Moazrt's wife.
Book
The Oxford Book of Historical Stories
by Michael Cox
Historical fiction is as popular today as it was at its birth in the nineteenth century. The imaginative recreation of a period beyond living memory …
Book
The Hundred Secret Senses
by Amy Tan
Chinese-American Olivia Laguni has a battle of wills with her half-sister and lifelong nemesis, Kwan Li, whose haunting predictions and implementation of the secret senses …
Book
The Clan of the Cave Bear
by Jean M. Auel
This novel of awesome beauty and power is a moving saga about people, relationships, and the boundaries of love. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved …
Book
The Wind Done Gone
by Alice Randall
A parody of Gone with the wind, this novel tells the story of Cynara, the mulatto half-sister born into slavery who eventually triumphs.