Showing titles in Historical

England 1616. Robert Belstrang, ex-magistrate bored with country life, comes to London to investigate the strange disappearance of Thomas Jessop, son of a poor Catholic neighbor. He locates the youth in Bedlam asylum, silent and starving himself. When he tries to free Jessop, he is warned off the case by a politic lawyer, Anstis. Soon after, Belstrang finds himself drugged, robbed and falsely imprisoned. Once released Belstrang persists in his investigation, but he is thwarted at every turn: unseen forces are at work who seemingly want Thomas Jessop to die.

First there was the mystery of the film star and the diamond… then came the ‘suicide’ that was murder… the mystery of the absurdly cheap flat… a suspicious death in a locked gun-room… a million dollar bond robbery… the curse of a pharoah’s tomb… a jewel robbery by the sea…...

The new novel in Bernard Cornwell's number-one best-selling series on the making of England and the fate of his great hero, Uhtred of Bebbanburg. BBC2's major autumn 2015 TV show The Last Kingdom is based on the first two books in the series. A fragile peace is about to be broken.... King Alfred's son, Edward, and formidable daughter, Æthelflaed, rule Wessex, Mercia and East Anglia. But all around the restless Northmen, eyeing the rich lands and wealthy churches, are mounting raids.

Everyone blamed Emily's accident on a rubber ball left on the stairs by her frisky terrier. But the more she thought about her fall, the more convinced she became that one of her relatives was trying to kill her.

Eye of the Needle, Ken Follett's historical thriller, is a heart-racingly exciting tale about the fate of the war resting in the hands of a master spy, his opponent and one brave woman. Victory Hangs in the Balance 1944. In the weeks leading up to D-Day the Allies are disguising their invasion...

Winter of the World is the second novel in Ken Follett's uniquely ambitious Century trilogy. On its own or read in sequence with Fall of Giants and Edge of Eternity, this is a spellbinding epic of global conflict and personal drama during World War II. A Battle of Ideals It is 1933 and, at...

1521. Young Mary Boleyn arrives at court, maid in waiting and favourite to Queen Katherine of Aragon. Yet Mary catches the eye of the capricious king and – propelled by the ambitions of the powerful Boleyn family – she betrays her queen, and takes her place as Henry VIII’s new mistress. But while Mary is in childbed, a rival comes to court – her sister Anne, a young woman ruthless in her drive to become queen. With her own destiny unknown, and the Boleyn enemies gathering, Mary must defy her family – and command her own fate.

The Sunday Times No. 1 Bestseller ‘Mosse is a master storyteller’ – Madeline Miller, bestselling author of Circe Bringing sixteenth-century France vividly to life, Kate Mosse’s historical epic The Burning Chambers is a gripping story of love, betrayal, war and conspiracy. It is the first...

Heartstone is C. J. Sansom's fifth spellbinding mystery in C. J. Sansom's number one bestselling Shardlake series, for fans of Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory. 'When it comes to intriguing Tudor-based narratives, Hilary Mantel has a serious rival' - Sunday Times ‘Sansom has the trick of...

This is the story of the most successful espionage coup of the twentieth century. Taut, political and utterly captivating, Triple is a spy thriller from master storyteller and author of The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett. A Frightening Discovery 1968. The fledgling nation of Israel is...

Chief Inspector Mason of Erdington Police Station is summoned to a suspicious death at the BB Sauce factory in Aston on a wet Monday morning in late November 1944. Greeted by his enthusiastic sergeant, O’Rourke, Sam Mason finds himself plunged into a challenging investigation to discover how Harry Armstrong met his death in a vat containing BB Sauce – a scene that threatens to put him off BB Sauce on his bacon sandwiches for the rest of his life.

Quirke's pathology department, set deep beneath 1950s Dublin, is his own gloomy realm: always quiet, always night, and always under his control. Until, late one evening, he stumbles across a body that should not be there. The investigation he opens uncovers a dark secret at the heart of the city's high Catholic network - a secret with the power to shake his own family and everything he holds dear.

Brought to you by Penguin. 'From what is it they flee?' He took a while to reply. By the time he spoke the men had gone inside. He said quietly, 'They killed the King.' 1660, General Edward Whalley and Colonel William Goffe, father- and son-in-law, cross the Atlantic. They are on the run and...

From the bestselling author Ken Follett, The Evening and the Morning is a historical epic that ends where The Pillars of the Earth begins. 'Another historical thriller of mighty proportions' – The Times A Time of Conflict It is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. The king’s grip on the country...

Jackdaws by Ken Follett is an irresistible novel of the French Resistance, love, courage and revenge set in the Second World War, read by Emilia Fox, who expertly brings the story to life. A Failed Mission Two weeks before D-Day, the French Resistance try to destroy a telephone exchange vital to...

February 1981. The Cold War is in full swing. Richard Brodick decides to follow in his father’s footsteps, joining Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service. As a contract ‘head agent’ based in Pakistan, Brodick’s job is to train Afghans to capture video of the war against the Soviets. However, he finds himself in a murky world of blurred lines and conflicting stories, where he cannot trust anything he has been told, by anyone. What he had thought would be an adventure spying on the Soviets and their Afghan communist allies turns sour when he's ordered to kill his best friend. 

Brought to you by Penguin. Long-suffering spy Bernard Samson has, against all the odds, enticed a Soviet agent to defect to London - but this proves to be the start of something even bigger. For he learns that there is treachery within his own Service, and no one is free from suspicion. To...

Lisbon, 1943. After escaping from Nazi-Occupied France, SOE agent Elisabeth de Mornay, codename Cecile, receives new orders: she must infiltrate high society in neutral Lisbon and find out who is leaking key information to the Germans about British troop movements. As Solange Verin, a French widow of independent means, she will be able to meet all the rich Europeans who have gathered in Lisbon to wait out the war. One of them is a traitor, and she must find out who before more British servicemen die.

Newly crowned Margaret knows exile, estrangement and terror all too well. When William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066, Margaret and her family fled to Scotland, where she was hurriedly wed to Malcolm, King of the Scots. She’d craved the quiet life of a nun but now finds herself thrust into the public sphere with a duty to save souls—and lives—in the bloody aftermath of the Norman conquest.

The third book in the epic and bestselling series that has gripped millions. A hero will be forged from this broken land. As seen on Netflix and BBC around the world. The year is 878 and the Vikings have been thrown out of Wessex. Uhtred, fresh from fighting for Alfred in the battle to free...