Historical Fiction, Realistic Fiction

Madrid, 1877, young Celia Gross works in the exclusive La Perla Pastry Shop, tasked with making the desserts for King Alphonse XII's wedding. Due to her family s precarious financial situation, she marries an Austrian salesman who is an old family...

Vienna, 1938. Samuel Adler is five years old when his father disappears during Kristallnacht--the night his family loses everything. As her child's safety becomes ever harder to guarantee, Samuel's mother secures a spot for him on a Kindertransport train...

From the author of Like Water for Chocolate comes this novel about the much-maligned Malinalli, known as Malinche, the woman who betrayed her people by aiding Cortes and his men. Laura Esquival relies upon new information about Malinalli to show she was...

France, 1789, Gilles Etienne works in a soap factory in Marseilles. Life is hard, but he and a group of friends plan to go to Paris and fight in the Revolution. Things become more complicated when he meets Marie-Caroline Daubin, the daughter of the...

Clara Button is not your average librarian. She has created the only underground library in England, built over the railroad tracks of the unused Bethnal Green subway station. A secret community flourishes there, providing a much-needed distraction...

Set in Somerset, England at the end of the 18th century, young aristocrat Isabella Woodford does not share society's view on the role of women. Now she is in a bind. After a night of passion with an army officer, her reputation is at risk. Her only...

This critically acclaimed novel is set in 1828. The Royal Institute of Translation in Oxford University, also known as Babel, is the world s leading magical institution. Working with silver to reveal the hidden secrets in translation has made the...

India, 1969, Lakshmi, the henna artist, got to the Himalayas 12 years ago. She now dedicates her time to natural medicine. Malik, her protegee, leaves to intern at the Facilities Department of the Royal Palace of Jaipur. The young man soon realizes...

In 1596, Isabel Barreto, the first female admiral in history, kept a log of her expedition in the Pacific that she had to take charge of after her husband's death. She is the inspiration for the strong women in this novel, who live through some of the...

Set in Oxford at the end of the 19th century, Esme lives in a world of words. Sitting under her father's desk, she rescues slips of paper with words that are no longer used. These words help her make sense of the world. As she gets older, she realizes...

One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton, England was the last place where Jane Austen lived. At the end of World War II, only a handful of her relatives remain there. To help preserve her legacy, a diverse group of people who love her work band...

In the fall of 1918, Pia Lange is a 13-year-old daughter of German immigrants living in a marginal neighborhood in Philadelphia. Her father enlists in the army to demonstrate his loyalty to his adopted country. World War I is not the only threat. The...

Havana, 1958, Elisa P rez, daughter of a sugar baron, is a member of Cuban high society and is sheltered from the country's political instability until she begins a secret affair with an ardent revolutionary. Her family is forced to flee to Miami after...

At the end of World War II, Cyril Conroy makes a wise investment that allows to him to build a real estate empire. His family goes from poor to rich and he decides to buy the Dutch House, a mansion outside of Philadelphia. His wife cannot stand living...

On a deserted road in the Dominican Republic in 1960, the three Mirabal sisters were murdered after visiting their husbands who had been jailed as suspected rebel leaders. The martyrs became known as 'Las Mariposas,' the butterflies. Acclaimed...

This runaway bestseller is set in Barcelona in 1945. A father takes his son to the Cemetery for Lost Books, a secret place he considers a sanctuary. The father proceeds to tell his son that each book has a soul and imparts his love of reading to the...