Showing titles in Biographical Fiction

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.

Nineteen-year-old Anne of Denmark, Queen of Scotland, is thrilled and triumphant at the birth of a healthy baby boy, destined to reign as King of Scotland and, possibly, England. But Anne's enjoyment of maternal glory quickly fades as her husband King James, fearing his son will be politically manipulated against him as he was against his mother, the deceased Mary Queen of Scots, removes the child permanently from her care. Outraged, Anne tries to regain control of her son, initiating a bitter marital struggle which sours what had been a loving and harmonious marriage.

1950: late summer season on Cape Cod. Michael, a 10-year-old boy, is spending the summer with Richie and his glamorous but troubled mother. Left to their own devices, the boys meet a couple living nearby - the artists Jo and Edward Hopper - and an unlikely friendship is forged. She, volatile, passionate and often irrational, suffers bouts of obsessive sexual jealousy. He, withdrawn and unwell, depressed by his inability to work, becomes besotted by Richie's frail and beautiful aunt Katherine who has not long to live - an infatuation he shares with young Michael.

Step into the gritty streets of East London at the turn of the 20th century, where Through the Changing Tides immerses you in the lives of the Cooper family, ordinary people navigating extraordinary hardships. This historical family saga follows Thomas and Mary Cooper and their two young daughters, Elizabeth and Alice, as they struggle against poverty, exploitation, and the ceaseless demands of survival. Thomas, a dockworker hardened by years of backbreaking labour, shoulders the weight of his family’s survival with stoic resilience.

Una ciudad mítica, París. Un lugar mítico, el Grand Hotel Ritz. Un barman mítico, Frank Meier, el barman del Ritz. Todos habían degustado sus célebres cócteles: Ernest Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald, Coco Chanel, Mistinguett, Sacha Guitry, Jean Cocteau, Arletty. Pero en julio de 1940, las tropas alemanas ocupan París y sus responsables deciden hospedarse en el Ritz, como lo harán los jerarcas nazis como Göring y Goebbels cuando visiten la capital francesa.

Barely five feet tall, suicidally courageous, obsessed with tigers, and sexually eccentric, Mabel Stark was the greatest female tiger trainer in history. Clad in her leather suits and married five times, she was the Mae West of tiger taming. In the 1910s and 1920s, when circus was the most popular entertainment in America, Mabel Stark was the biggest attraction for the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey circus.

Versailles, 1789. As the burgeoning rebellion reaches the palace gates, Marie Antoinette finds her privileged and peaceful life swiftly upended by violence. Once her loyal subjects, the people of France now seek to overthrow the crown, placing the heirs of the Bourbon dynasty in mortal peril. Displaced to the Tuileries Palace in Paris, the royal family is propelled into the heart of the Revolution. There, despite a few staunch allies, they are surrounded by cunning spies and vicious enemies.

James, Lord of Douglas, known to his foes as the Black Douglas, leads a flank of the Scottish army in crushing a vast invading English force at the waters of the Bannockburn. Fresh from battle, James revels in honors heaped on him by the Scots and in the hatred of the enemy. When King Robert the Bruce orders him to push their advantage and force the English to the peace table, they both know the only way James can do so is by fire and the sword - the only language King Edward of England understands. 

From a young age, Cäcilie Bertha Ringer is fascinated by her father's work as a master builder in Pforzheim, Germany. But those five words, which he wrote next to her name in the family Bible, haunt Bertha. Years later, Bertha meets Carl Benz and falls in love—with him and his extraordinary dream of building a horseless carriage. Bertha has such faith in him that she invests her dowry in his plans, a dicey move since they alone believe in the machine. When Carl's partners threaten to withdraw their support, he's ready to cut ties. Bertha knows the decision would ruin everything.

Elizabeth's parents warned her that Alexander Blackwell would not make a dependable husband, and only after eloping with him did she learn they may have been right... After their marriage, the couple finds lodgings in London. Alexander looks for work while Elizabeth learns engraving. Before long, though, Alexander is in the Marshalsea, the notorious debtors' prison, and she is left to fend for herself. Alone and penniless, she has a few things going for her: a skill, an idea, and an acquaintance.

J’ai voulu y croire, j’ai voulu rêver que le royaume de la littérature m’accueillerait comme n’importe lequel des orphelins qui y trouvent refuge, mais même à travers l’art, on ne peut pas sortir vainqueur de l’abjection. La littérature ne m’a pas sauvée. Je ne suis pas sauvée. Neige Sinno lit elle-même son texte, insufflant une force supplémentaire à son bouleversant récit autobiographique.

Set against the sprawling backdrop of 1930s Australia, Anna May Shahan is a wild child raised on a lush farm by the sea, always barefoot and playing in her neighbor’s secret garden. Her Aboriginal nanny teaches her the ways of the land, and she grows up to be a quirky, eccentric, and sweet woman. But she is not without her demons, as she struggles with bizarre behaviors and a haunting, dark side. Soon after marriage, Anna inherits Sugar Alexandria, her family’s sheep station, and she and her Irish husband James lead a simple, hardworking life.

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.

In this book, Stefan Zweig traces 12 fateful events of world history in his unique artistic style: from the conquest of the Byzantine capital of Constantinople by the Turks, to the Battle of Waterloo to Sir Robert Falcon Scott's tragic South Pole expedition. The human character and sometimes simple fate are decisive historic factors that have led to dramatic and lasting changes in the past. Often short, coincidental and highly dramatic moments have the potential to change the future of mankind in a decisive manner – the so called "Great Moments of Humanity".

An International Bestseller While men have long been credited with producing the first abstract paintings, the true creator was actually a woman – Swedish artist Hilma af Klint, who was inspired by her mystic visions. Acclaimed authors Sofia Lundberg, Alyson Richman, and M.J. Rose bring her...

"Depuis tant d'années, je tourne en rond dans ma cage, mes rêves sont peuplés de meurtre et de vengeance. Jusqu'au jour où la solution se présente enfin, là, sous mes yeux, comme une évidence : prendre le chasseur à son propre piège, l'enfermer dans un livre." Séduite à l'âge de quatorze ans par un célèbre écrivain quinquagénaire, Vanessa Springora dépeint, trois décennies plus tard, l'emprise que cet homme a exercée sur elle et la trace durable de cette relation tout au long de sa vie de femme.

Marie Sklodowska, 25, is studying science at the Sorbonne—one of the only universities in the world that has begun to admit women. A thousand miles from her native Poland, with no money and the odds stacked against any woman daring to pursue a career in such a rigorous field, Marie throws herself into her studies. She’s certain that to succeed in a man’s world, she will have to go it alone.

From the day he was crowned, Henry V was determined to prove the legitimacy of his house. His father's usurpation weighed heavily on his mind, and he needed a grand gesture to capture the respect of his own countrymen and the rest of Europe. What better way than to follow in his great-grandfather Edward III's footsteps, and recover the territory lost in France over the previous fifty years? Better yet, why not go for the crown? Poor, deranged Charles VI couldn't manage his own barons.

From the moment she first holds him, Gladys Presley loves her son Elvis ferociously. She will be his greatest influence, the love of his life. And he will love her back. But while he makes it big in Hollywood and achieves unimagined wealth and fame, there is another story - of drinking and diet pills, loneliness and loss. While the heat and music of the American South play in the background, a heartbreaking portrait of a mother’s love and a son’s devotion takes centre stage.

Writers from William Shakespeare to best-selling modern authors have tried to show what sort of man Richard Neville must have been, with quite different results. Sometimes Warwick is portrayed as the skilled political manipulator behind the throne, shaping events for his own advantage. Others describe him as the last of the barons, ruling his fiefdom like an uncrowned king. Whatever the truth, his story is one of adventure, power, and influence at the heart of one of the most dangerous times in the history of England.