If you liked
Books like King John
Loved King John by William Shakespeare? Here are 10 books with a similar appeal — drawn mostly from historical fiction, ranked by how confidently we'd recommend them next.
10 books · ranked
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1
Wolf Hall
Thomas Cromwell's rise in the court of Henry VIII; political intrigue rendered in extraordinary close-up prose.
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2
The Pillars of the Earth
The building of a cathedral across decades of medieval turmoil; a vast, addictive saga.
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3
The Book Thief
A girl in Nazi Germany who steals books, narrated by Death itself; original, tender and devastating.
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4
All the Light We Cannot See
A blind French girl and a German boy whose paths cross in occupied France; luminous, intricate storytelling.
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5
Princesse de Clèves
The Princess of Cleves is a French novel published in 1678 that is regarded as one of the first psychological novels. The plot is set in the royal court of Henry II of France.
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6
Death Comes for the Archbishop
In 1851 French Bishop Latour and his friend Father Valliant are dispatched to New Mexico to reawaken its slumbering Catholicism. Moving along the endless prairies, Latour spreads his faith the only wa
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7
Manon Lescaut
Set in France and Louisiana in the early 18th century, the story follows the hero, the Chevalier des Grieux, and his lover, Manon Lescaut. Des Grieux comes from noble and landed family, but forfeits h
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8
Lorna Doone
This work is called a 'romance,' because the incidents, characters, time, and scenery, are alike romantic. And in shaping this old tale, the Writer neither dares, nor desires, to claim for it the dign
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9
Memoirs of Fanny Hill
Memoirs of Fanny Hill was written in debtor's prison in 1784 and was the first modern erotic novel in English. A young woman, Fanny Hill, is forced by poverty to go into service, but is tricked into b
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10
Bring Up the Bodies
Cromwell engineers the fall of Anne Boleyn; tense, brilliant and even sharper than its predecessor.