I’m an author of historical fiction as well as an artist, so love to read books that capture my imagination and show me other times and places in a realistic and visual way. My love of history, particularly European history, is fuelled by a lifetime of travel visiting museums, castles, and ancient sites. Being transported into a story is something I both try and achieve as a writer and crave as a reader.
Blois, 1705. The château of Duc Hugo d’Amboise simmers with rivalry and intrigue. Henriette d’Augustin, one of five mistresses of the Duc, lives at the chateau with her daughter. When the Duc’s wife, Duchesse Charlotte, maliciously undermines a new mistress, Letitia, Henriette is forced to choose between position and morality. She fights to maintain her status whilst targeted by the Duchesse who will do anything to harm her enemies. The arrival of charismatic tarot reader, Romain de Villiers, further escalates tensions as rivals in love and domestic politics strive for supremacy.
In a society where status is a matter of life and death, Henriette must stay true to herself, her daughter, and her heart, all the while hiding a painful secret of her own.
Reading this novel, I was completely immersed in the settings of a Nazi training school in Germany, and Paris and St Malo in France. Feeling connected with the setting as a reader is so important for a story to come to life, and the author’s depiction of wartime St Malo made me feel as if I had visited the town in real life. The rhythms of the sea, the ancient buildings, and landmarks were all depicted in detail. Anthony Doerr’s sense of place is intimate, sensory, and absorbing. When you combine this with a tale that explores moral integrity, the deep attachments we make with others, and the horrors of war, you have a story that will take you on a vivid and emotional journey.
WINNER OF THE 2015 PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR FICTION
A beautiful, stunningly ambitious novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II
Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.'
For Marie-Laure, blind since the age of six, the world is full of mazes. The miniature of a Paris neighbourhood, made by her father to teach her the way home. The microscopic…
The setting of 17th century Amsterdam was one I was unfamiliar with, so it was a delight to be taken into the intimate domestic life of Petronella Oortman and the intrigue of her dollhouse, the secret lives of her servants, and the complex social hierarchy of this time and place. Jessie Burton’s writing is both rich in detail and emotive, so I felt privy to both the psychological complexity of the characters and the life they spend traversing the canals and streets of the city.
The phenomenal number one bestseller and a major BBC TV series. Winner of the Specsavers National Book Award and Waterstones Book of the Year. A Richard and Judy Book Club selection.
Beautiful, intoxicating and filled with heart-pounding suspense, Jessie Burton's historical novel set in Amsterdam, The Miniaturist, is a story of love and obsession, betrayal and retribution, appearance and truth.
On an autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman knocks at the door of a grand house in the wealthiest quarter of Amsterdam. She has come from the country to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant…
14th century England was another period I knew little about, and this wonderfully researched story made it real to me. With authentic and witty dialogue, a setting where sheep farming and weaving are predominant as means to make a living, and women are the property of their husbands, I was transported into Eleanor’s world and deeply invested in her fate. The true-to-life setting and emotional subtleties made it an immersive and enjoyable read.
A provocative, immersive medieval novel starring one of literature's most unforgettable characters in her own words-Chaucer's bold and libidinous Wife of Bath.
"So damned readable and fun...This is the story of a woman fighting for her rights; it breaches the walls of history."--The Australian
In the middle ages, a famous poet told a story that mocked a strong woman. It became a literary classic. But what if the woman in question had a chance to tell her own version?
England, 1364: When married off at aged twelve to an elderly farmer, brazen redheaded Eleanor quickly realizes it won't matter what…
The upper echelons of Russian society of the 19th century and their surroundings are realistically depicted in this classic novel, where a doomed love story is set against the opulent backdrops of St Petersburg, Moscow, and rural Russia. The balls, luxurious restaurants, and parties of pre-revolutionary Russia are rendered in exquisite detail, the yearnings and preoccupations of the nobility well drawn. It’s even more fascinating to read about this society knowing that it was coming to an end.
In 1872 the mistress of a neighbouring landowner threw herself under a train at a station near Tolstoy's home. This gave Tolstoy the starting point he needed for composing what many believe to be the greatest novel ever written.
In writing Anna Karenina he moved away from the vast historical sweep of War and Peace to tell, with extraordinary understanding, the story of an aristocratic woman who brings ruin on herself. Anna's tragedy is interwoven with not only the courtship and marriage of Kitty and Levin but also the lives of many other characters. Rich in incident, powerful in characterization,…
In this epic story spanning multiple locations and the 18th and 19th centuries, we follow Alma Whittaker, heiress and lover of moss, whose quick wit and adventuring spirit make her a wonderful heroine. But it’s also the finely observed settings of this novel that make it a story to fully inhabit and read compulsively. It’s a book to travel through as we inhabit Philadelphia, Tahiti, London, and Peru, seeing everything in vivid detail through Alma’s eyes.
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SHORTLISTED FOR THE WELLCOME BOOK PRIZE
LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
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'Quite simply one of the best novels I have read in years' - Elizabeth Day, Observer
'Charming ... extensively researched, compellingly readable' - Jane Shilling, Daily Telegraph
'Sumptuous ... Gilbert's prose is by turns flinty, funny, and incandescent' - New Yorker
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A captivating story of botany, exploration and desire, by the multimillion copy bestselling author of Eat Pray Love
Everything about life intrigues Alma Whittaker. Her passion for botany leads her far from home, from London to Peru to Tahiti, in pursuit of…
Neuroscience PhD student Frankie Conner has finally gotten her life together—she’s determined to discover the cause of her depression and find a cure for herself and everyone like her. But the first day of her program, she meets a group of talking animals who have an urgent message they refuse to share. And while the animals may not have Frankie’s exalted human brain, they know things she doesn’t, like what happened before she was adopted.
To prove she’s sane, Frankie investigates her forgotten past and conducts clandestine experiments. But just when she uncovers the truth, she has to make an impossible choice: betray the animals she’s fallen in love with—or give up her last chance at success and everything she thought she knew.
Frankie Conner, first-year graduate student at UC Berkeley, is finally getting her life together. After multiple failures and several false starts, she's found her calling: become a neuroscientist, discover the cause of her depression and anxiety, and hopefully find a cure for herself and everyone like her.
But her first day of the program, Frankie meets a mysterious group of talking animals who claim to have an urgent message for her. The problem is, they're not willing to share it. Not yet. Not until she's ready.
While Frankie's new friends may not have her highly evolved, state-of-the-art, exalted human brain,…
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