Drawing on the author's own experiences of WW2, the novel's protagonist rebels against the pressures of family and politics in Fascist Italy. First published in 1949. By the author of Forbid... read more
The story of the inimitable Maria Callas - conflicted, disappointed, ambitious and supremely gifted - and of her love affair with Aristotle Onassis - by the author of The Fortune Hunter, My ... read more
Spiced with Dickens's wit and eye for detail, this is a tautly plotted, dazzling historical thriller. Set before and during the French Revolution, it turns on a French nobleman who repudiate... read more
Spiced with Dickens's wit and eye for detail, this is a tautly plotted, dazzling historical thriller. Set before and during the French Revolution, it turns on a French nobleman who repudiate... read more
Written in the form of a letter to Marcus Aurelius, this timeless novel reimagines the Roman emperor Hadrian, looking back on his life. The prose is exquisite, the musings on art and death, ... read more
Reminiscent of S?skind's Perfume or Andrew Miller's Ingenious Pain, this is set in C18th France and involves a physical prodigy. In this case, it is his ability to eat... By the author of Th... read more
Fleeing starvation in the Jameston settlement, a servant girl sets out alone into the wilderness. An historical novel set in early colonial America, by the author of Matrix.
This excellent author has set his new novel in Roman Britain: a tribal princess given away as part of a peace treaty flees through Wales with her Roman lover.
A first historical novel, set in Willesden and Jamaica. Brilliant and funny, of course, not least for its opening in Harrison Ainsworth's collapsing library.
Somerset Maugham appears as one of two narrators in this atmospheric novel of love, truth, secrecy and betrayal in 1920s' colonial Penang. Eng's airy storytelling is a rare gift: he gives hi... read more
A clever counter-factual historical novel set in C16th Mexico; the Arabs still rule Spain and have discovered what they call New Maghreb. Hunt made his name with non-fiction; this is his fir... read more
This love story tacks between an English boarding school and the Western Front. A moving historical debut; compelling and unexpectedly funny (for the Somme).
A vulnerable young man travels to Rome in 1934 with his family for his sister's wedding. The car journey is full of mishaps and squabbles, with tempers fraying over divided attitudes towards... read more
A rich historical novel of Jacobean power games - politics and palaces, parliaments and surely poison too? A first novel by the biographer of Adam Smith and Edmund Burke.
In a remote Austrian valley during WW1, a woman tries to provide for her family after her husband is drafted into the army. Based on the author's own family history. Powerful, succinct.
A dark tale of obsession and hysteria, set in a small French town in the aftermath of WW2. McIntosh is a clever writer already well known for The Water Cure.
The discovery of a corpse sends Cat Hakesby and James Marwood on a dangerous path that seems to lead to Charles II's favourite courtier... The sixth in this excellent series of historical th... read more
Published in 1954, STW's wonderful last novel depicts an early Victorian merchant family on the Norfolk coast, harried by the good intentions of its flawed paterfamilias. Her coruscating int... read more