Historical fiction

Tense and heartbreaking to its last page, 'The Cellist of Sarajevo' shows how life under seige creates impossible moral choices. When the everyday act of crossing the street can risk lives, the human spirit is revealed in all its fortitude - and frailty.

Berlin, 1926: After the death of their parents, sisters Leni and Annette only have each other. Desperate, but dreaming of better days, Leni finds work at a notorious cabaret: the Babylon Circus. From the dancer's barely-there costumes, to the glimmering mirrors that cover the walls, the Babylon C...

1816. A massive volcanic eruption has caused the worst storms that Europe has seen in decades, yet Percy and Mary Shelley have chosen to visit the infamous Lord Byron at his villa on Lake Geneva. It wasn't their idea: Mary's eighteen year old step-sister, Claire Clairmont, insisted. But the reaso...

Marcus Aquila and his patron Rutlius Scaurus have fought a superior enemy force to a standstill in Thracia, gaining the favour of the gods but paying a grievous cost in their family's blood. Battle-weary and mourning their losses, they are tasked with rooting out a spy ring operating in the lands...

Summer is coming to the four streets - but so is trouble, especially for its redoubtable women, who've struggled through a bitter winter to put food on the table. The Dock Queen Carnival is only weeks away, but there's no money for the usual celebrations. No sign of a tramp ship with illicit carg...

The Welsh Marches, 1301. Strong-willed heiress Johane de Geneville is married to Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, at just fifteen years old. Soon Johane finds herself swept up in a world of treacherous court politics and dangerous secrets as her husband deposes Edward II and rules England alongside...

In Strasbourg, in the boiling hot summer of 1518, a plague strikes the women of the city. First it is just one - a lone figure, dancing in the main square - but she is joined by more and more and the city authorities declare an emergency. Musicians will be brought in. The devil will be danced out...

The Sinai desert, 1973. As the Yom Kippur War flares into life, a state-of-the-art Soviet MIG fighter is racing at breakneck speed over the arid scrublands below - and promptly disappears. NASA Flight Controller and former US Navy test pilot Kaz Zemeckis watches the scene from the ground - and is...

Henry VIII has ordered the dissolution of the monasteries and England is full of informers. At the monastery of Scarnsea events have spiralled out of control with the murder of Commissioner Robin Singleton. Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer, and his assistant are sent to investigate.

In the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera, Maria Callas is known simply as la divina: the divine one. With her glorious voice, instinctive flair for the dramatic and striking beauty, she's the toast of the grandest opera houses in the world. Yet her fame has been hard won: raise...