Showing titles in Biographical Fiction

Elizabeth I has survived hundreds of plots against her, but now she faces the revelation of a secret she thought would remain hidden forever. Elizabeth is not the last of the Tudor line - there are two more legitimate heirs to her crown. Her sworn enemy, Philip II, king of Spain, has discovered the secret and thinks he can control the missing princess as his puppet queen. Can Elizabeth maintain control over her throne? Meanwhile, in 2018 - Dr Perdita Rivers and her twin sister, Piper, are safely hidden in Andorra....

"The others form the human being, I depict him; and here I present an individual who is quite poorly formed and whom I would certainly make largely differently if I had to reshape him. But now that's the way he is." This phrase from the famous essays of Michel de Montaigne outlines the character of the author and his work. Montaigne wrote his essays not from a position of certainty but from an awareness of his inadequacy. He thus reveals a level of critical self-reflection that, before his time, was rarely put on paper.

From Brexit to Covid, parties to pig culling, the Conservative government has lurched from crisis to crisis. With a front-row seat on the, erm, backbenches, the Secret Tory has picked up on all the petty rivalries, bad decision-making and scandalous affairs that Whitehall has to offer. And he’s got no qualms about sharing it. All. Join the mystery MP as he drunk-texts Liz Truss after a crate of WKD, accompanies Jacob Rees-Mogg (and his kids) to picket a foodbank, takes on the French in the ‘Trawler Wars’, and euthanises Rishi Sunak’s dog—and that’s just October.

1431 is a dangerous time for a woman to be defiant. England has been fighting France for 100 years. At home, power-hungry men within a corrupt government manipulate a weak king - and name Cecily's husband, York's loyal duke, an enemy. As the king's grasp on sanity weakens, plots to destroy York take root. It will take all of Cecily's courage and cunning to save her family. But when the will to survive becomes ambition for a crown, will she risk treason to secure it?

Knowing she was seen as a threat to the queen she served, Lady Katherine Grey, legitimate heir to the throne, longs only for the comfort of a loving marriage and a quiet life far from the intrigue of the Tudor court. After seeing her sister become the pawn of their parents and others seeking royal power and then lose their lives for it, she is determined to avoid the vicious struggles over power and religion that dominate Queen Elizabeth's court. Until she finds love - then Kat is willing to risk it all, even life in prison.

Rosalind Franklin has always been an outsider - brilliant, but different. Whether working at the laboratory she adored in Paris or toiling at a university in London, she feels closest to the science, those unchanging laws of physics and chemistry that guide her experiments. When she is assigned to work on DNA, she believes she can unearth its secrets. Rosalind knows if she just takes one more X-ray picture - one more after thousands - she can unlock the building blocks of life.

'I cried my eyes out' Reader review⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1941, Nazi-occupied Paris: In the glamorous Ritz hotel there is a woman with a dangerous secret… As Coco Chanel’s assistant, Adèle lives side by side with German officers in the splendour of The Ritz hotel. But Adèle has a secret. She is...

Based on the true story of the Jane Collective, an illegal underground abortion service, Looking for Jane reimagines the fraught battle for reproductive rights and the women who demanded the right to choose. Spanning decades, Evelyn, Nancy and Angela's lives intertwine to reveal the devastating consequences that come from a lack of choice and the buried truths that will always find a way to the surface.

This series features a real historical figure—the formidable Ela Longespée. The young Countess of Salisbury was chosen to marry King Henry II’s illegitimate son William. After her husband’s untimely death, Ela served as high sheriff of Wiltshire, castellan of Salisbury Castle, and ultimately founder and abbess of Lacock Abbey.

Francis Cornish was always good at keeping secrets. From the well-hidden family secret of his childhood to his mysterious encounters with a small-town embalmer, an expert art restorer, a Bavarian countess, and various masters of espionage, the events in Francis' life were not always what they seemed. This wonderfully ingenious portrait of an art expert and collector of international renown is told in stylish, elegant prose and endowed with lavish portions of Davies' wit and wisdom.

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1989, Jigsaw: An Unsentimental Education is a semi-autobiographical novel that tells the story of Billi, a girl growing up in Europe between the two World Wars. Upon the death of her German baron father, Billi moves from the family château to live with her vibrant and erratic English mother on the French Riviera. From there she is sent for schooling in England, where she lives an itinerant life, boarding among a bohemian crowd, attending galleries and public lectures, and reading some of the greatest books of the era.

For everyone who has fallen through the wardrobe door, experienced the magic of Narnia, and longs to know more, New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan delivers a heartfelt story that is simultaneously a fascinating look into the bond between siblings, a peek behind the curtain of...

Brought to you by Penguin. Listen. My one-time friend Maria did tell me once: "Make your own paradise, Tibb, since this world is no sweet place for people like us." Born a vagabond, Tibb Ingleby has never had a roof of her own. But her mother has taught her that if you're not too bound by the...

Occupied France, 1942: Psychiatrist Dr. Adélaïde Hautval is arrested for defending a Jewish family. When she’s deported to Auschwitz and assigned to the women’s infirmary, she’s ordered to assist with sterilization experiments under SS doctors—including the infamous Josef Mengele. As the line between healing and harm blurs, Adélaïde makes a choice that could cost her everything. London, 1964: Two decades later, one of the Nazi doctors is on trial—and Adélaïde is the key to exposing the truth.

The comical tales of a new mum on her journey from postnatal depression to the dawning of her self-worth as she discovers adventure, friendship, and the healing power of horses. Join Grace as she battles her negative thought patterns and fears among a backdrop of eccentric characters, pampered farm animals, and the glorious Yorkshire countryside.

The New York Times-bestselling author of Elizabeth I brilliantly reimagines the story of the most mysterious woman in the Bible Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute, a female divinity figure, a church leader, or all of those? Biblical references to her are tantalizingly brief, but we do know that she...

In the tradition of The Paris Wife and Mrs. Poe, The Other Einstein offers us a window into a brilliant, fascinating woman whose light was lost in Einstein's enormous shadow. This is the story of Einstein's wife, a brilliant physicist in her own right, whose contribution to the special...

In this charming patchwork of fever dreams and memories, Pirkko Saisio transports us to the 1950s Finland of her youth, where she navigates life as an only child of communist parents. Convinced she will grow up to become a man, a young Pirkko keeps trying and failing to meet the expectations of the adults around her. But as she discovers that she can be the narrator of her own story, it is in language that she finds a refuge and a way to be seen at last.

Who was the real George Eliot? In Love with George Eliot is a glorious debut novel which tells the compelling story of England’s greatest woman novelist as you’ve never heard it before.

Connie Fitzwalter never imagined that her passion for music would lead her into a world of danger and intrigue. When her old family friend, Stephen, who works for the foreign office, tells Connie the true scale of the violence against Jewish people in Germany and Austria, she can stand aside no longer. Together, Stephen and Connie devise a daring mission to help families escape the clutches of Nazi persecution. Under their cover as music enthusiasts traveling to high-society concerts in Europe, Connie and her sister Dottie begin by smuggling money and valuables for families over the border.