Showing titles in Biographical Fiction

42 letters written by Titanic passengers and crew, plus two documentaries relating survivors' stories and bringing the tragedy to life through the voices of the wireless operators The largest, most luxurious liner in the world, the RMS Titanic captured the public's imagination. But four days...

In the heat and dust of 18th-century India, the young British officer William Culpepper faces his first true test of command. When a Company supply convoy vanishes into the thorn-choked hills beyond Madras, it sparks a chain of events that will plunge Culpepper into the brutal heart of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. In this conflict, courage, discipline, and fate collide beneath an unforgiving sun. As Mysorean cavalry prowl the jungles, William must lead his men through ambush, intrigue, and betrayal.

Brought to you by Penguin. 'Life without her would be death' The lost novel from the author of The Second Sex. The compulsive story of two friends growing up and falling apart. INTRODUCED BY DEBORAH LEVY. When Andrée joins her school, Sylvie is immediately fascinated. Andrée is small for her...

From the author of The Other Einstein, the mesmerizing tale of what kind of woman could have inspired an American dynasty. Clara Kelley is not who they think she is. She's not the experienced Irish maid who was hired to work in one of Pittsburgh's grandest households. She's a poor farmer's...

What happens when the life you’ve built perfectly is the one you can no longer live? Sean was good at his job. He knew how to pace a slide deck, read a boardroom, and make a twenty-million-pound renewal sound like a foregone conclusion. But in the middle of a high-stakes meeting in London, the practiced mask of corporate competence finally cracked. In a single moment of uncontrolled laughter, he walked out of his career, left his laptop glowing on the table, and didn't look back.

Wang Er, a twenty-one-year-old ox herder, is shamed by the local authorities and forced to write a confession of his crimes, but he instead takes it upon himself to write a modernist literary tract. Later, as a lecturer at a chaotic, newly built university, Wang Er navigates the bureaucratic maze of 1980’s China, boldly writing about the Cultural Revolution’s impact on his life and those around him. Finally, alone and humbled, Wang Er must come to terms with the banality of his own existence.

Daughter of the ambitious Earl of Warwick, Anne Neville is drawn into the ferocious war between Lancaster and York; a series of battles we now know as the Wars of the Roses. When Anne's father falls foul of Edward IV she is married without royal sanction to the Lancastrian heir, a man she has been taught to loathe.

Bloomsbury presents Madwoman by Louisa Treger, read by Laurel Lefkow. **A HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE TIMES AND THE SUNDAY TIMES** The extraordinary story of a woman's quest for the truth against all odds – and how her story changed the world 'A moving story' SUNDAY TIMES, Best...

Paris, 1940: Madeline tries to scream, but she can’t breathe. A German soldier is working to free her from the rubble–but if he reaches her, he will find the books hidden beneath her clothes… When the Germans seize Paris, its peaceful streets fill with terror overnight, and nowhere is safe. Desperate to help her friends, Parisian bookseller Madeline Valette turns her bookshop into a sanctuary for those in hiding, but she knows it’s only a matter of time before she’s found out.

In this novel about Ralph Waldo Emerson’s wife, Lidian, Amy Belding Brown examines the emotional landscape of love and marriage. Living in the shadow of one of the most famous men of her time, Lidian becomes deeply disappointed by marriage, but consigned to public silence by social conventions and concern for her family’s reputation. Drawn to the erotic energy and intellect of close family friend Henry David Thoreau, she struggles to negotiate the confusing territory between love and friendship while maintaining her moral authority and inner strength.

I would like to make myself the heroine of this story and my character to be noble - an innocent victim led astray. But alas, sir, I would be lying.... Tully Truegood: orphan. Magician's apprentice. Whore. In prison, accused of murder, Tully begins to write her life story. A story that takes her from a young daughter-skivvy in the back streets of 18th-century London to her stepmother Queenie's fairy house - a place where decadent excess is a must....

In the throes of crisis, Rome braces for change. Caesar, Rome’s greatest general and conqueror of Gaul, now faces being stripped of his command and dragged back to Italy for prosecution by his enemies. His former ally, Pompey, has sided with his opponents in the Senate and frustrates all efforts to find peace. With no alternatives, Caesar crosses the Rubicon and spearheads an invasion of Rome with Mark Antony at his side, throwing the empire into civil war. Will Antony rise to the heights of power or be executed as a traitor?

1469. For almost ten years, Edward IV has ruled with the Earl of Warwick's support, but now rebellion threatens the fragile peace. Heiress Isobel Fenton is determined not to be separated from her beloved manor of Beaumancote. But as unseen witness to a summary execution, she is propelled into the world of personal feud and national politics. She's left in the protection of the formidable Earl, who has begun to foment rebellion, but is set to marry his enemy's heir, Thomas Lacey.

On the evening of July 27th, 1890, Vincent van Gogh, aiming for his heart, shot himself with a revolver. He missed. Today, Vincent van Gogh is considered one of history's most brilliant artists, revered by millions the world over. However, he sold only one painting in his lifetime, spent years in insane asylums, and died penniless in a garret. Haunted by his failures, riddled with addiction, and debilitated by mental illness, van Gogh eventually took his own life.

Based on a seldom-told true story, this novel is perfect for everyone who is fascinated by Britain’s royal family—a behind the scenes look into the nurseries of little princes and the foibles of big princes. April, 1897: A young nanny arrives at Sandringham, ancestral estate of the Duke and...

‘1993 was the year that Stephen Lawrence got murdered by racists, and I became an angry Black lad with a “chip on his shoulder”’ Aeon, a mixed-up and mixed-race teenager from a leafy Liverpool suburb, is desperate to understand the Black identity thrust upon him. He grows dreadlocks and...

'I absolutely adored this… sharp, witty, and so relatable… unputdownable. No notes!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Twenty years of marriage. Twenty years of ignored red flags. And one very smug ex-girlfriend. He seemed perfect at first. Don’t they always? I fell fast, and I fell hard. So when I...

Inspired by real life stories of the Windrush Generation and her mother’s own experiences as a nurse coming to Britain from the Caribbean, Sarah Lee’s debut novel An Ocean Apart is a must for fans of Call the Midwife. It’s 1954 and, in Barbados, Ruby Haynes spots an advertisement for young...

When beautiful cloth merchant's daughter Elizabeth Williams is widowed at the age of 22, she is determined to succeed in the business she has learned from her father. But many are opposed to a woman making her own way in the world, and Elizabeth could have powerful enemies - enemies who know the truth about her late husband. Then Elizabeth meets kindly, ambitious merchant turned lawyer Thomas Cromwell.

Norbert Gstrein schenkt uns ein ganzes Menschenleben. Dabei ist jedes Leben zerbrechlich in diesem Roman, der mit einem Axthieb beginnt: Adrians Vater macht ihn als Jugendlichen untauglich für den Ersten Weltkrieg, rettet ihn so vielleicht. Der störrische, zärtliche Mensch, der von da an durch über achtzig Lebensjahre hinkt, ist das Wunder dieses Erzählens. Adrian sieht zweimal seine Welt untergehen, hat zweimal mit jungen Männern zu tun, die weniger Glück hatten als er, und erlebt im Alter die unverhoffte Liebesgeschichte eines Mannes, der zu allem erzogen wurde, bloß nicht zum Lieben.