Collection: Historical Fiction

Taken from the poverty of her parents' home in Portsmouth, Fanny Price is brought up with her rich cousins at Mansfield Park, acutely aware of her humble rank and with her cousin Edmund as her sole ally. During her uncle's absence in Antigua, the Crawford's arrive in the neighbourhood bringing with them the glamour of London life and a reckless taste for flirtation. Mansfield Park is considered Jane Austen's first mature work and, with its quiet heroine and subtle examination of social position and moral integrity, one of her most profound.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The great filmmaker Werner Herzog, in his first novel, tells the incredible story of Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier who defended a small island in the Philippines for twenty-nine years after the end of World War II.

In 1997, Werner Herzog was in Tokyo to direct an opera. His hosts asked him, Whom would you like to meet? He replied instantly: Hiroo Onoda. Onoda was a former soldier famous for having quixotically defended an island in the Philippines for decades after World War II, unaware the fighting was over. Herzog and Onoda developed an instant rapport and met many times, talking and unraveling the story of Onoda's long war.

At the end of 1944 on Lubang Island, with Japanese troops about to withdraw, Onoda stayed behind under orders from his superior officer. For years, Onoda continued to fight his fictitious war--at first with other soldiers, and then, finally, alone, a character in a novel of his own making.

In The Twilight World, Herzog immortalizes and imagines Onoda's years of absurd yet epic struggle in an inimitable, hypnotic style--part documentary, part poem, and part dream--that will be instantly recognizable to fans of his films. The result is a novel completely unto itself: a glowing, dancing meditation on the purpose and meaning we give our lives.

Based on the experience of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, journalist Antonio Iturbe tells the incredible story of a girl who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust.

Fourteen-year-old Dita is one of the many imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Taken, along with her mother and father, from the Terezín ghetto in Prague, Dita is adjusting to the constant terror that is life in the camp. When Jewish leader Freddy Hirsch asks Dita to take charge of the eight precious volumes the prisoners have managed to sneak past the guards, she agrees. And so Dita becomes the librarian of Auschwitz.

Out of one of the darkest chapters of human history comes this extraordinary story of courage and hope.

This title has Common Core connections.

Godwin Books

"Dunmore is my new find in historical romance. Her A League of Extraordinary Women series is extraordinary."--Julia Quinn, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"This series balances friendship, politics, history, and romance in just the right mix."--U.S. Representative Katie Porter

An Indie Next/LibraryReads pick!
An Apple Must Listen Audiobook for September!

A lady must have money and an army of her own if she is to win a revolution--but first, she must pit her wits against the wiles of an irresistible rogue bent on wrecking her plans...and her heart.

Lady Lucie is fuming. She and her band of Oxford suffragists have finally scraped together enough capital to control one of London's major publishing houses, with one purpose: to use it in a coup against Parliament. But who could have predicted that the one person standing between her and success is her old nemesis and London's undisputed lord of sin, Lord Ballentine? Or that he would be willing to hand over the reins for an outrageous price--a night in her bed.

Lucie tempts Tristan like no other woman, burning him up with her fierceness and determination every time they clash. But as their battle of wills and words fans the flames of long-smoldering devotion, the silver-tongued seducer runs the risk of becoming caught in his own snare.

As Lucie tries to out-maneuver Tristan in the boardroom and the bedchamber, she soon discovers there's truth in what the poets say: all is fair in love and war...

"Rich with subplot, historical detail and beautifully descriptive writing that keeps the pages turning until the delightfully unconventional happy ending."--NPR

In 1934, a backyard auto mechanic, his dullard brother, and an M.I.T. graduate fleece the Massachusetts State Police at a Boston auto show when the trio steals a Thompson submachine gun from an exhibit.

Days later, the bandits turn the weapon on hostages used as human shields, while killing two police officers during a bank heist in the sleepy suburb town of Needham.

For the first time in Massachusetts history a machine gun has been used in a crime.

It is yet another job during a ruthless deluge of bloodshed which leaves two more citizens dead and a pair of taxi cab drivers caged in a courtroom surrounded by a legion of vengeful witnesses on the verge of convincing a jury to sentence the friends to death by electrocution.

Mired by political motivation and turmoil within an unorganized police force, tenacious detectives, known as "The Four Aces", find themselves clashing with more than just gangsters.

Now, two rival crime reporters must combine wits to piece together the truth under the weight of competition between the city's mightiest newspapers.

Against them are the tick of time, deficient evidence, and the indifference of cold blooded killers.

An uplifting and inspiring novel based on the true story of a librarian who created an underground shelter during World War II, perfect for readers of The Paris Library or The Last Bookshop in London.

London, 1944: Clara Button is no ordinary librarian. While war ravages the city above her, Clara has risked everything she holds dear to turn the Bethnal Green tube station into the country's only underground library. Down here, a secret community thrives with thousands of bunk beds, a nursery, a café, and a theater--offering shelter, solace, and escape from the bombs that fall upon their city.

Along with her glamorous best friend and assistant Ruby Munroe, Clara ensures the library is the beating heart of life underground. But as the war drags on, the women's determination to remain strong in the face of adversity is tested to the limits when it may come at the price of keeping those closest to them alive.

EDGAR AWARD FINALIST - "Epstein's page-turning historical novel--an indictment of the medical establishment's manipulation of women--remains eerily relevant and timely."--Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Spectacular

Two women fall under the influence of a powerful doctor in Paris's notorious nineteenth-century women's asylum--a gripping novel inspired by true events, from the bestselling author of Wunderland.

After being dragged into the Salpêtrière asylum screaming, covered in blood, and suffering from amnesia, Josephine is diagnosed with what the nineteenth-century Parisian press has dubbed "the epidemic of the age" hysteria. It's a disease so uniquely baffling that Jean-Martin Charcot, the Salpêtrière's acclaimed director, devotes popular lectures to it, using hypnosis to elicit fits and fantastical symptoms in front of rapt audiences. Young, charismatic, and highly susceptible to this entrancement, Josephine quickly becomes a favorite of the powerful doctor and the Parisian public alike.

But her true ally at the Salpêtrière is Laure, a lonely ward attendant. As their friendship blossoms into something more, the two women find comfort and even joy together despite their bleak surroundings. Soon, Josephine's memory returns, and with it images of a gruesome crime she's convinced she's committed. Ensnared in Charcot's hypnotic web, she starts spiraling into seeming insanity, prompting a terrified Laure to plot their escape together. First, though, Laure must solve a grim mystery: Who, really, is the girl she's grown to love? Is Josephine a madwoman . . . or a murderer?

Inspired by true events, expertly researched, and masterfully written, The Madwomen of Paris is a Gothic saga for the ages with themes that remain hauntingly resonant today.

In April 1975, Saigon was a dangerous place. American forces had left Vietnam two years prior, and the northern and southern governments were functioning as two independent countries following the Paris Peace Accords of 1973. But peace wouldn't last. By the early months of 1975, northern communist forces had begun making their way violently southward to depose the American-backed South Vietnamese government and "unify" the country.

Knowing his family could face imprisonment or execution if they stayed, Chau Tan Nguyen, a 40-year old lieutenant colonel and C-130 pilot in the South Vietnamese Air Force, hatched a daring plan to save his family - his wife, Mai, their 3-year-old daughter Truc, 18-month-old son Trung, Mai's parents, Hong and Dat, and Mai's three younger brothers, Son, Dzung, and Tuan.

Uncommon Cargo is based on the true story of the Nguyen family's harrowing race against time to escape South Vietnam and reach freedom. It would not be without heartache, tragedy, and despair, but it is also a story of love, strength of family, and raw determination.

Much has been written about the American war experience in Vietnam, but precious little chronicles the lives of the Vietnamese families who survived it. Uncommon Cargo is the incredible story of one that did.

The first published novel from the controversial Nobel Prize winning Russian author of The Gulag Archipelago.

In the madness of World War II, a dutiful Russian soldier is wrongfully convicted of treason and sentenced to ten years in a Siberian labor camp. So begins this masterpiece of modern Russian fiction, a harrowing account of a man who has conceded to all things evil with dignity and strength.

First published in 1962, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is considered one of the most significant works ever to emerge from Soviet Russia. Illuminating a dark chapter in Russian history, it is at once a graphic picture of work camp life and a moving tribute to man's will to prevail over relentless dehumanization.

Includes an Introduction by Yevgeny Yevtushenko
and an Afterword by Eric Bogosian

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends comes the "equal parts intoxicating and dazzling" (Roshani Chokshi, New York Times bestselling author of The Gilded Wolves) first book in a captivating new duology following an ill-matched pair of spies posing as a married couple to investigate a series of brutal murders in 1930s Shanghai.

It's 1931 in Shanghai, and the stage is set for a new decade of intrigue.

Four years ago, Rosalind Lang was brought back from the brink of death, but the strange experiment that saved her also stopped her from sleeping and aging--and allows her to heal from any wound. In short, Rosalind cannot die. Now, desperate for redemption for her traitorous past, she uses her abilities as an assassin for her country.

Code name: Fortune.

But when the Japanese Imperial Army begins its invasion march, Rosalind's mission pivots. A series of murders is causing unrest in Shanghai, and the Japanese are under suspicion. Rosalind's new orders are to infiltrate foreign society and identify the culprits behind the terror plot before more of her people are killed.

To reduce suspicion, however, she must pose as the wife of another Nationalist spy, Orion Hong, and though Rosalind finds Orion's cavalier attitude and playboy demeanor infuriating, she is willing to work with him for the greater good. But Orion has an agenda of his own, and Rosalind has secrets that she wants to keep buried. As they both attempt to unravel the conspiracy, the two spies soon find that there are deeper and more horrifying layers to this mystery than they ever imagined.

The literary masterpieces of the three Brontë sisters in one volume: Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

This handsome leather-bound edition includes the most acclaimed novels of each of the Brontë sisters: Charlotte's Jane Eyre, Emily's Wuthering Heights, and Anne's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Originally published under male pseudonyms in the 1840s, these three novels later helped give rise to the feminist literary movement of the late nineteenth century, in which women's perspectives became more accepted by the mainstream reading public. A scholarly introduction provides an overview of the sisters' childhood in northern England, their literary influences, and their enduring legacy.

Hugo, Locus, and Nebula-Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal blends her no-nonsense approach to life in space with her talent for creating glittering high-society in this stylish SF mystery, The Spare Man.

A 2023 Hugo Award Finalist!
A 2022 Locus Magazine Recommended Reading List pick!

Tesla Crane, a brilliant inventor and an heiress, is on her honeymoon on an interplanetary space liner, cruising between the Moon and Mars. She's traveling incognito and is reveling in her anonymity. Then someone is murdered and the festering chowderheads who run security have the audacity to arrest her spouse. Armed with banter, martinis and her small service dog, Tesla is determined to solve the crime so that the newlyweds can get back to canoodling--and keep the real killer from striking again.

A smart and enchanting postwar mystery that will appeal to fans of the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear

It is 1946, and war-weary young ex-intelligence officer Lane Winslow leaves London to look for a fresh start. When she finds herself happily settled in King's Cove, a sleepy hamlet nestled in the idyllic interior of British Columbia surrounded by a suitably eclectic cast of small-town characters she feels like she may finally be able to put her past to rest.

But then a body is discovered, the victim of murder, and although she works alongside the town's inspectors Darling and Ames to discover who might possibly have motivation to kill, she casts doubt on herself. As the investigation reveals facts that she has desperately tried to keep a secret, it threatens to pull her into a vortex of even greater losses than the ones she has already endured.

A clever postwar mystery that will appeal to fan of historical mysteries with women sleuths like the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear or the Bess Crawford series by Charles Todd.

Michael Jordan's mother and sister team up for this heartwarming and inspirational picture book about faith and hope and how any family working together can help a child make his or her dreams come true.

Michael Jordan.

The mere mention of the name conjures up visions of basketball played at its absolute best. But as a child, Michael almost gave up on his hoop dreams, all because he feared he'd never grow tall enough to play the game that would one day make him famous.

That's when his mother and father stepped in and shared the invaluable lesson of what really goes into the making of a champion--patience, determination, and hard work.

A New York Times bestseller--now available in paperback.

INCLUDES AN EXCLUSIVE BONUS STORY about the medieval Secret Order of the Unicorn!

Unicorns are real. (At least we think they are.)

Are you ready to protect the creatures of myth and legend? Then you belong in The Unicorn Rescue Society. HURRY-THE CREATURES NEED YOU!

Elliot Eisner isn't exactly thrilled with the first day at his new school. His class is going on a field trip to a creepy forest called the Pine Barrens. The trip is being led by Professor Fauna, the weirdest teacher
Elliot has ever met. And the only kid who will talk to Elliot, Uchenna Devereaux, isn't afraid of danger. She likes danger.

Elliot and Uchenna are about to become part of a secret group of adventurers, The Unicorn Rescue Society, whose goal is to protect and defend the world's mythical creatures. Together with Professor Fauna, Elliot and Uchenna must help rescue a Jersey Devil from a duo of conniving, greedy billionaires, the Schmoke Brothers.

Join Elliot and Uchenna on their very first quest as members of the Unicorn Rescue Society in this fantasy-adventure series from Adam Gidwitz, the beloved bestselling and Newbery Honor-winning author of The Inquisitors Tale and A Tale Dark & Grimm.

Illustrated throughout, this is the perfect fit for newly independent readers looking for a story full of adventure, fun, and friendship.

From NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION 5 UNDER 35 HONOREE and FLANNERY O'CONNOR AWARD WINNER Melinda Moustakis, a debut novel set in Alaska, about the turbulent marriage of two unlikely homesteaders

"A beautiful novel, quiet as a snowfall, warm as a glowing wood stove...Admirers of Marilynne Robinson and Alice Munro are bound to appreciate." --NPR

"Spare and exquisite, tough and lovely. The sentences build on themselves, becoming expansive and staggering in their sweep." --The New York Times Book Review

Anchorage, 1956. When Marie and Lawrence first lock eyes at the Moose Lodge, they are immediately drawn together. But when they decide to marry, days later, they are more in love with the prospect of homesteading than anything else. For Lawrence, his parcel of 150 acres is an opportunity to finally belong in a world that has never delivered on its promise. For Marie, the land is an escape from the empty future she sees spinning out before her, and a risky bet is better than none at all. But over the next few years, as they work the land in an attempt to secure a deed to their homestead, they must face everything they don't know about each other. As the Territory of Alaska moves toward statehood and inexorable change, can Marie and Lawrence create something new, or will they break apart trying?

Immersive and wild-hearted, joyfully alive to both the intimate and the elemental, Homestead is an unflinching portrait of a new state and of the hard-fought, hard-bitten work of making a family.