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Recommendations based on In the Company of the Courtesanby Sarah Dunant
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The Birth of Venus
by Sarah Dunant
A passionate story of love and art set in 15th century Florence.
Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family’s Florentine palazzo. ... (Goodreads)
Sacred Hearts
by Sarah Dunant
In 16th century Italy, a young noblewoman is forced into a convent against her will and must navigate the complex politics and relationships within its walls.
The year is 1570, and in the convent of Santa Caterina, in the Italian city of Ferrara, noblewomen find space to pursue their lives under God's protection. But any community, however smoothly run, ... (Goodreads)
The Other Boleyn Girl
by Philippa Gregory
A historical fiction recounting the rivalry between two sisters vying for the love of King Henry VIII.
In 1521 England, Queen Catherine of Aragon's failure to provide King Henry VIII a male heir has strained their marriage. Thomas Boleyn and his brother-in-law Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, plan ... (Wikipedia)
The Queen's Fool
by Philippa Gregory
A young girl's journey to the court of Queen Mary I of England, learning secrets and truths.
Nine-year-old Hannah Green sees Thomas Seymour and Elizabeth flirting when she delivers books for her father. When asked why she seems surprised, she tells him she has seen a scaffold behind him. ... (Wikipedia)
The Last Queen
by C.W. Gortner
A historical fiction novel about the life of Juana of Castile, the last queen of Spain. Her tumultuous reign and personal struggles are explored.
Juana of Castile, the last queen of Spanish blood to inherit her country's throne, has been for centuries an enigmatic figure shrouded in lurid myth. Was she the bereft widow of legend who was driven ... (Goodreads)
Year of Wonders
by Geraldine Brooks
A small English village grapples with the effects of the bubonic plague.
When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of ... (Goodreads)
March
by Geraldine Brooks
A story of courage and resilience during the Civil War, through the eyes of a father.
Winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. From the author of the acclaimed Year of Wonders , a historical novel and love story set during a time of catastrophe, on the front lines of the ... (Goodreads)
Blood & Beauty: The Borgias
by Sarah Dunant
A historical fiction novel about the infamous Borgia family, their rise to power, and their scandals and betrayals.
By the end of the fifteenth century, the beauty and creativity of Italy is matched by its brutality and corruption, nowhere more than in Rome and inside the Church. When Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia buys ... (Goodreads)
Mistress of the Art of Death
by Ariana Franklin
In medieval Cambridge, a female doctor investigates a series of child murders. A thrilling historical mystery with a strong female lead.
A chilling, mesmerizing novel that combines the best of modern forensic thrillers with the detail and drama of historical fiction. In medieval Cambridge, England, four children have been murdered. ... (Goodreads)
A Reliable Wife
by Robert Goolrick
A dark tale of deception, secrecy and manipulation between two strangers in rural Wisconsin.
Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Hour I First Believed
by Wally Lamb
A teacher's life is shattered by the Columbine shooting, leading to a journey of self-discovery and healing.
When high school teacher Caelum Quirk and his wife, Maureen, move to Littleton, Colorado, they both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999, while Caelum is away, Maureen finds herself in ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Thorn Birds
by Colleen McCullough
A powerful tale of forbidden love, set in rural Australia in the early 20th century.
The story begins in New Zealand on 8 December 1915, the fourth birthday of Meghann "Meggie" Cleary who is the only daughter of Padriac ("Paddy"), an Irish farm labourer, and Fiona ("Fee"), his wife. ... (Wikipedia)
Stones from the River
by Ursula Hegi
A dwarf girl navigates life in a small German town during WWII, facing discrimination and secrets.
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780684844770 From the highly acclaimed, award-winning author of Floating in My Mother's Palm comes a stunning novel about ordinary people living in extraordinary ... (Goodreads)
Shanghai Girls
by Lisa See
Two sisters navigate the turmoil of 1930s Shanghai, while struggling to protect each other.
Shanghai Girls is divided into three parts: Fate, Fortune, and Destiny. Here See treats Chinese immigration from a personal view through Pearl's narration. In, On Gold Mountain, she objectively ... (Wikipedia)
The Miniaturist
by Jessie Burton
Set in 17th century Amsterdam, a woman is given a mysterious gift of a dollhouse replica of her home.
Set in seventeenth century Amsterdam–a city ruled by glittering wealth and oppressive religion--a masterful debut steeped in atmosphere and shimmering with mystery, in the tradition of Emma Donoghue, ... (Goodreads)
The Borgia Bride
by Jeanne Kalogridis
Historical fiction about Sancha of Aragon, who becomes the bride of the notorious Cesare Borgia. A tale of love, betrayal, and political intrigue.
Vivacious Sancha of Aragon arrives in Rome newly wed to a member of the notorious Borgia dynasty. Surrounded by the city's opulence and political corruption, she befriends her glamorous and deceitful ... (Goodreads)
The Thirteenth Tale
by Diane Setterfield
A mysterious storyteller reveals a dark family secret, transforming the lives of those around her.
Vida Winter, a famous novelist in England, has evaded journalists' questions about her past, refusing to answer their inquiries and spinning elaborate tales that they later discover to be false. Her ... (Wikipedia)
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
by David Wroblewski
An epic tale of family and loyalty set in a rural Wisconsin landscape.
Forte's Children Edgar comes from a line of dog breeders. After buying a farm, his grandfather, John Sawtelle, rents out the farmland and starts dog breeding . He and his wife have two sons, Edgar's ... (Wikipedia)
Mrs. Poe
by Lynn Cullen
A fictionalized account of the tumultuous relationship between Edgar Allan Poe and poet Frances Osgood, told from Osgood's perspective.
A vivid and compelling novel about a woman who becomes entangled in an affair with Edgar Allan Poe—at the same time she becomes the unwilling confidante of his much-younger wife. It is 1845, and ... (Goodreads)
The Serpent's Tale
by Ariana Franklin
A medieval mystery novel following Adelia Aguilar, a female doctor, as she investigates a series of murders in a convent.
Ariana Franklin combines the best of modern forensic thrillers with the drama of historical fiction in the enthralling second novel in the Mistress of the Art of Death series, featuring medieval ... (Goodreads)
Daughter of Fortune
by Isabel Allende
A young woman's epic journey to find her lost love, and rediscover her roots.
In Chile during the 1840s, young Chilean Eliza Sommers is raised and educated by English Anglican siblings Rose, Jeremy, and John Sommers. The Victorian-Spinster Rose, strict Jeremy, and sailor John ... (Wikipedia)
What She Left Behind
by Ellen Marie Wiseman
Abandoned by her mother in a mental institution, Clara uncovers the truth about her family's past.
In this stunning new novel, the acclaimed author of THE PLUM TREE merges the past and present into a haunting story about the nature of love and loyalty—and the lengths we will go to protect those ... (Goodreads)
A Prayer for Owen Meany
by John Irving
A boy's search for faith, set against a backdrop of unlikely events.
The story is narrated by John Wheelwright, a former citizen of New Hampshire who has become a voluntary expatriate from the United States, having settled in Toronto , Ontario , Canada and taken on ... (Wikipedia)
A Home at the End of the World
by Michael Cunningham
Childhood friends Jonathan and Bobby navigate love, loss, and self-discovery in New York City and rural Woodstock.
Bobby had grown up in a home in suburban Cleveland, Ohio during the 1960s and 1970s where partying and drugs were a recurring theme. He has already witnessed the death of his mother and beloved older ... (Wikipedia)
Clock Dance
by Anne Tyler
A woman's life changes when she receives a call to care for her son's ex-girlfriend's daughter. She discovers new relationships and a sense of purpose.
Willa Drake can count on one hand the defining moments of her life: when she was eleven and her mother disappeared, being proposed to at twenty-one, the accident that would make her a widow at ... (Goodreads)
The Other Queen
by Philippa Gregory
A powerful Tudor Queen battles her rival for the throne, while the fate of England hangs in the balance.
Mary Stuart , cousin to Queen Elizabeth , has fled to England after she has lost the support of the Scots after marrying Bothwell , whom the people believe murdered her second husband, Henry Stuart, ... (Wikipedia)
Atonement
by Ian McEwan
A tale of the consequences of a child's mistake, and how its effects ripple through generations.
Briony Tallis, a 13-year-old English girl with a talent for writing, lives at her family's country estate with her parents Jack and Emily Tallis. Her older sister Cecilia has recently graduated from ... (Wikipedia)
Katherine
by Anya Seton
A historical romance novel set in 14th century England, following the life of Katherine Swynford and her love affair with John of Gaunt.
Katherine tells the true story of Katherine de Roet, born the daughter of a minor Flemish herald , later knight . Katherine has no obvious prospects, except that her sister is a waiting-woman to ... (Wikipedia)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
by Lisa See
Story of two women in 19th-century China, exploring the power of female friendship.
In rural Hunan province called Puwei (nicknamed the Common Beauty Village), a county in China, Lily is destined to become a, laotong, pair with Snow Flower, a girl of the same age from Tongkou (the ... (Wikipedia)
The Lady and the Unicorn
by Tracy Chevalier
A tapestry weaves the story of a noblewoman, her maid, and the mysterious unicorn. A tale of love, desire, and art in medieval France.
A tour de force of history and imagination, The Lady and the Unicorn is Tracy Chevalier’s answer to the mystery behind one of the art world’s great masterpieces—a set of bewitching medieval ... (Goodreads)
