Fiction
Sweeping Historical Fiction
The past made vivid — sagas, single lives and turning points.
14 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
Bring Up the Bodies
Cromwell engineers the fall of Anne Boleyn; tense, brilliant and even sharper than its predecessor.
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6
Regeneration
Shell-shocked officers and the psychiatrist treating them; a quiet, powerful look at war's hidden wounds.
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7
A Little Princess
This is a story about a different kind of princess than one might imagine; a princess that is an orphan - lonely, cold, hungry and abused. Sara Crewe begins life as the beloved, pampered daughter of a
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8
An Old-Fashioned Girl
Polly visits her wealthy friend Fanny Shaw in the city and is overwhelmed by the fashionable and urban life they live--but also left out because of her "countrified" manners and outdated clothes.
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9
Antony and Cleopatra
A magnificent drama of love and war, this riveting tragedy presents one of Shakespeare's greatest female characters--the seductive, cunning Egyptian queen Cleopatra. The Roman leader Mark Antony, a vi
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10
Astoria
In 1811 a group of American traders built a fort at the mouth of the Columbia River, named Fort Astoria in honor of its financier, John Jacob Astor. Envisioned as the spur of a fur-trading empire, by
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11
Cymbeline
Cymbeline, King of Britain is one of the best-known works of William Shakespeare. It is a romantic play interwoven with war and tragedy. It revolves around Cymbeline and his daughter, Imogen. Imogen d
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12
Cyrano de Bergerac
Cyrano de Bergerac, verse drama in five acts by Edmond Rostand, performed in 1897 and published the following year. It was based only nominally on the 17th-century nobleman of the same name, known for
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13
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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14
Henry IV, Part 1
Presents the original text of Shakespeare's play side by side with a modern version, discusses the author and the theater of his time, and provides quizzes and other study activities.