Showing titles in Historical

'A dirty little jewel of a novel' Julia Armfield 'Malory Towers meets The Conjuring' Alice Slater 'Gory, tender, sexy' Krystelle Bamford 'Compulsively readable' Guardian In 1928, Emily Locke's final year at the isolated Briarley School for Girls is derailed when Violet, the school's brightest...

We're all something else inside.... 1952. Standing in a cold Suffolk field with her family, six-year-old Mary Ward has a revelation: I am not Mary. That is a mistake. I am not a girl. I'm a boy. So begins Mary's heroic struggle to change gender. Moving from the claustrophobic rural community of the 1950s to London in the swinging '60s and beyond to the glitter of America in the '70s, Sacred Country is the story of a journey to find a place of safety and fulfilment in a savage and confusing world.

In this riveting historical thriller, a deadly plot unfolds aboard a train hurtling towards Paris. From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Room, Emma Donoghue takes you on a heart-pounding ride in The Paris Express. 'Ratchets up the pace until it's hurtling along as fast as the train itself'...

Originally published in 1982 as the first of Edmund White's trilogy of autobiographical novels, A Boy's Own Story became an instant classic for its pioneering portrayal of homosexuality. The audiobook's unnamed narrator, growing up during the 1950s, is beset by aloof parents, a cruel sister, and relentless mocking from his peers, compelling him to seek out works of art and literature as solace-and to uncover new relationships in the struggle to embrace his own sexuality.

Jilted bride. Mad witch. Tragic villainess. This time, she will have her revenge. ‘Dazzling’ HEAT MAGAZINE ‘This is a novel of enormous élan’ THE TIMES  Charlotte Havisham has a secret. She's been underestimated for too long: by her former fiancé, Compeyson; by her family; and by...

Poland, 1980. Anxious, disillusioned Ludwik Glowacki, soon to graduate university, has been sent along with the rest of his class to an agricultural camp. Here he meets Janusz - and together, they spend a dreamlike summer swimming in secluded lakes, reading forbidden books - and falling in love. But with summer over, the two are sent back to Warsaw, and to the harsh realities of life under the Party. Exiled from paradise, Ludwik and Janusz must decide how they will survive; and in their different choices, find themselves torn apart.

In a world of bare-knuckled ideology and secret dossiers, Timothy Laughlin, a recent college graduate and devout Catholic, is eager to join the crusade against Communism. An encounter with a handsome State Department official, Hawkins Fuller, leads to Tim's first job and, after Fuller's advances, his first love affair.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Confessions of Frannie Langton, written and read by Sara Collins. They say I must be put to death for what happened to Madame, and they want me to confess. But how can I confess what I don't believe I've done? 1826, and all of London is in a frenzy...

Bloomsbury presents You Will Be Safe Here by Damian Barr, read by Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo. An Observer, Guardian, Financial Times, Irish Times, Irish Independent, Big Issue and Strong Words Pick of the Year ‘This is a book that tilts the world’ STYLIST 'A gripping, heartbreaking tale of...

**LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2026** **Winner of the National Book Award for Translated Literature** A sumptuous and surreal historical reimagining of one of South America’s best-known trans men, Antonio de Erauso From deep in the wilds of the New World, Antonio de Erauso...

Laurence Fitzroy is trapped in a golden cage. The only son of a wealthy London baronet, he's struggling to escape his father's suffocating world. But Laurie is losing his fight. At 19 years of age, bright and imaginative, he's no match for the brutal Sir William. Laurie wants to be an actor - bad enough as far as Sir William is concerned, but, worse than that, he's gay.

Once upon a time, there was a winter that wouldn't end. And all that stands between the people of White Meadows and starvation is a young man called Lance. Lance is 16 years old, and for all his courage and hunting skills, he's running out of fight. His family has been wiped out in a border raid, and he's drowning in loneliness. When strangers arrive at White Meadows, all Lance can think of is using his last strength to drive them away. But these men have come in peace, not to burn and destroy. Among them is a hot-headed, utterly charming prince-in-training named Arthur.

'A joy to read' Sophie Ward 'Funny, sexy, heartbreaking' Ann Napolitano 'Wildly inventive and moving' Patrick Ryan East Village, summer of 1984. Renata is a young dyke-about-town who has the ability to see ghosts, which has been happening more and more frequently as her friends have started...

On the trail of an aristocrat's secret son, enquiry agent Mark Braglewicz finds his quarry in a music hall, performing as a trapeze artist with his twin sister. Graceful, beautiful, elusive, and strong, Pen Starling is like nobody Mark's ever met - and everything he's ever wanted. But the long-haired acrobat has an earldom and a fortune to claim.

In West Berlin in 1989, 18-year-old Ralf has just left school and is living a final golden summer with his three best friends. They spend their days swimming, smoking and daydreaming about the future, oblivious to the storm gathering on the other side of the Berlin Wall. But an unsettling discovery about his family and a meeting with the mysterious Oz shatters everything Ralf thought he knew about love and loyalty.

After Sappho is Selby Wynn Schwartz's joyous reimagining of the lives of a brilliant group of feminists, sapphists, artists and writers in the late 19th and early 20th century as they battle for control over their lives; for liberation and for justice. Sarah Bernhard—Colette—Eleanora Duse—Lina Poletti—Josephine Baker—Virginia Woolf... these are just a few of the women (some famous, others hitherto unsung) sharing the minutes of a novel as fierce as it is luminous—lush and poetic; furious and funny.

Meet Orlando: a young nobleman in Elizabethan England, poet, lover, adventurer—and, after a transformational sleep, a woman. Spanning over 300 years of British history, Orlando bends the rules of time, gender, and narrative as its protagonist navigates shifting societies, identities, and expectations, all while seeking something elusive: the truth of the self. Playful, profound, and radically ahead of its time, Virginia Woolf's groundbreaking novel is part love letter, part satire, and part meditation on the fluid nature of existence.

Three years after Whiskey War, Dax and Rose live the high life at the Foster House, running the poshest speakeasy on the west coast. Half Moon Bay is about to claim its place as the top tourist destination in Northern California, with a second club and the remodeled Seaside Hotel under Grace Parsons's ownership and Dax's management. Repeal of Prohibition is on the horizon with the prospect of making their illegal liquor businesses legitimate. Dax's fractured friendship with Charlie Dawson is the only blowback from her battle with Frankie Wilkes

EVIE EPWORTH IS TEN YEARS OLDER. BUT IS SHE ANY WISER?! 'A golden ray of sunshine. If you're after a funny, uplifting summer read then this is for you!' Libby Page, author of The Lido 'A joyous way to spend an afternoon.' Joannna Nadin, author of The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings Yorkshire Post...

After the devastating loss of her beloved brother, young Katharine Hepburn makes two vows: she will become famous, and she will never let anyone hurt her again. Leaving behind her East Coast marriage and icy patrician family, she arrives in 1930s Hollywood – accompanied by her lover and determined to live on her own terms. But the studio system has rules. And Kate – brilliant, bisexual, and fiercely independent – refuses to follow them.