Book picks similar to
Red Horse by M.J. Logue


historical-fiction
english-civil-war
17th-century
fiction

Cairnaerie


M.K.B. Graham - 2017
     Geneva Snow commits the unforgivable Southern sin. No longer the apple of her father’s eye, she is a pariah, defying her society's most sacrosanct rule. To protect her—and hoping for a change of heart—her shattered yet steadfast father hides her at Cairnaerie, his mountain estate. But his iron-willed daughter is unrepentant. After years of solitude, an older and wiser Geneva is finally mellowing, and she is desperate to leave a legacy worthy of the father she loved and lost. To that end, she engages an unwitting young history professor for help to escape Cairnaerie long enough to attend the wedding of her granddaughter—a girl dangerously unaware of her lineage. But when a postman’s malevolence and a colleague’s revenge converge, Geneva's long-kept secret is exposed. For a second time, she faces a calamity of her own making. Only this time, there is no place to hide.

Orphan Girl


Lila Beckham - 2014
    She never overcame her humble beginnings and when Willie Eubanks rescued her from the orphanage by marrying her, she ended up right back where she started. Living in the same cabin, she was born in twelve and a half years earlier. However, she grew to love Willie and was determined that she and Willie were not going to end up as her parents had. In addition, she wanted to make sure her children were not going to have to suffer through the same experiences she had.

Libbie


Judy Alter - 1994
    Reprint.

Escaping On The Danube River


Shmuel David - 2020
    Realizing the Nazi threat is advancing towards the Balkans with giant strides, his parents are prepared to do anything to save their son’s life.The road to survival, however, is not easy.Just as Europe’s gates are about to shut down, Hanne and 1,100 other youths sail away on the Danube River. On board the ship, under appalling living conditions, Hanne falls in love with Inge, a young German Jewish girl.Soon their love intensifies, and with it, the desire to build a new life together in the Land of Israel. But their journey for survival is becoming increasingly difficult with each passing day.When promises of a boat that should take them to the Black Sea prove false and Nazi army forces are right around the corner, their plan for escape is in real danger. What fate awaits Hanne and Inge? Will they be able to make the dream they share a reality?

The Falcon's Flight: A novel of Anne Boleyn (The Falcon's Rise Book 2)


Natalia Richards - 2020
    

The Last Word: A Novel Of The War In The Pacific


Ron Miner - 2020
    Dan Callahan doesn’t know why he landed this coveted assignment or what to expect from 112-year-old Owen Trimbel, currently living with his daughter on a rural Minnesota farm even now beyond the reach of pervasive tech. But he sensed that it might be one of those rare opportunities to capture something singular: living memories from the last of a resilient, resourceful, and determined generation, a veteran from a war and a time encased in sepia tones in the minds of a distracted public. He finds his subject waning but still humored by life and surprisingly keen of mind. Dan spends the next three days riveted to Owen’s adventures as a young gunner with a night-flying crew, transported with him from New Guinea to the Mariana Islands on harrowing rescue missions to remote river outposts, and long flights over endless black seas broken only by sightings of enemy ships far below. And finally, the sweet homecoming, complicated by the challenges Owen faces while navigating a new life of unfamiliar circumstances and some very old secrets. Although fictionalized, The Last Word is an amalgam of stories and characters shaped and informed by filmed interviews with ten, real-life squadron members who served in the Pacific during World War II and who graced the author with their time, narratives, and importantly, their wisdom and good friendship.

Rough Justice


Gilda O'Neill - 2007
    It’s 1936 and Britain is in the grip of the Depression.Nell Flanagan is a decent, hardworking woman, married to Stephen, a tough, heavy-drinking brute of a man, who works as a casual in the docks — when there’s work available. Nell has hidden the abuse she has suffered at his hands from her young children, although most of the neighbours realise what’s going on.The Tanners think she must be asking for it, but nineteen-year-old Martin Lovell, has always admired Nell. When he sees Stephen actually attacking Nell, he can stand back no longer, but his actions have repercussions for all the families…

TWICE ROYAL LADY a compelling historical fiction novel (Standalone Historical Saga Novels)


Hilary Green - 2015
    

The Shadows of Versailles


Cathie Dunn - 2020
    Broken by tragedy. Consumed by revenge.Fleur de La Fontaine attends the court of King Louis XIV at Versailles for the first time. Dazzled by the opulence, she is soon besotted with handsome courtier, Philippe de Mortain. When she believes his words of love, she gives in to his seduction – with devastating consequences.Nine months later, when the boy she has given birth to is whisked from her grasp, she flees the convent and finds shelter at the brothel of Madame Claudette.Jacques de Montagnac, a spy working for the Lieutenant General, investigates a spate of abducted children from the poorer quartiers of Paris when his path crosses Fleur’s. He searches for her son, but the trail leads to a dead end – and a dreadful realisation.Her son’s suspected fate too much to bear, Fleur decides to avenge him. With the help of her new acquaintance, the Duchess de Bouillon, Fleur visits the famous midwife, La Voisin, but it’s not the woman’s skills in childbirth that Fleur seeks.La Voisin dabbles in poisons.Will Fleur see her plan through? Or can she save herself from a tragic fate?Delve into The Shadows of Versailles and enter the sinister world of potions and black masses during the Affairs of the Poisons, a real series of events that stunned the court of the Sun King!

Birbal the Genius


Dev Nadkarni
    While his courtiers were jealous of Birbal, the emperor was quick to notice his agile mind. While the two men loathed hypocrisy and deceit; they also relished a good joke.

A Glimpse of the Mersey


Anne Baker - 2001
    Daisy yearns for the love and security that a family of her own would give her, but she finds comfort in her relationship with Brenda, her older 'sister'. One day in 1919 Brenda arrives home flushed with excitement. She has agreed to marry local businessman Gil Fox. Daisy is dismayed at the news, for she doesn't trust the handsome Gil. Not long after their wedding, Brenda begins to realise that Gil isn't the man she thought he was. But Daisy's dreams are about to come true. Ellis - Gil's upright, kind and dependable brother - falls in love with Daisy. A family of her own is finally within her reach. But will it be enough to get her through some stormy times?

Succession


Steven Veerapen - 2020
    She has yet to nominate an heir.The crown looks set to fall to James of Scotland.But it is far from inevitable.Gowrie, a sinister Scottish traitor, has arrived in England. On him is a document containing a shocking secret that will compromise King James.Languishing in prison, artful thief Ned Savage is freed by his patron, the queen’s principal secretary, Sir Robert Cecil. His mission is to find the document before it can be made public. If he succeeds, his life will be spared.But he is not alone in seeking Gowrie.On his trail are a ruthless gang of conspirators. The Red Cross Plot aims to prevent any foreigner from taking the English throne. And the Knights of the Red Cross will kill to secure the document.In a journey that will take him from London to Derbyshire and Scotland, Savage must foil the Red Cross Plot, protect King James’s darkest secret, and keep himself safe from execution.And he must do it all before the curtain falls on Elizabeth’s reign.

Exodus and QB VII: Two Leon Uris Classics


Leon Uris - 2013
    But the path that Jewish immigrants took to enter British-controlled Palestine was a difficult one, fraught with danger and political intrigue. The boat was intercepted by British forces and the refugees were placed in concentration camps.Uris’s blockbuster novel traces the lives of the men and women who brave British naval blockades to help Israel come into being, from Ari Ben Canaan, who works tirelessly to smuggle in settlers, to Kitty Fremont, an American nurse drawn into a vast, tragic history. Weaving together fact and fiction, history and dramatic storylines, Exodus stands today as one of the most influential narratives of the founding of the State of Israel.In QB VII, for Abe Cady, settlement is not an option when the facts of the Holocaust are on trial. A journalist and screenwriter, Cady produced the definitive account of the Holocaust just after World War II. But Polish doctor Adam Kelno, who was pressed into service in a notorious concentration camp, sues Cady for his book’s claim that the doctor conducted terrible experiments on camp inmates. The libel trial that follows tears open old wounds, disrupts lives, and becomes a battle for justice on behalf of tens of thousands of lost and damaged souls.QB VII is a gripping drama, largely based on author Uris’s own protracted libel defense against a former concentration camp surgeon named in his novel Exodus. It was made into the first miniseries in television history.

The Jacobite Lass


Janet MacLeod Trotter - 2014
    That child is the passionate and free-spirited Flora, daughter of Marion. Flora’s early years are spent roaming around her father’s cattle farm, running wild and free with her brother and his friends. From early on she adores fair Neil MacEachen. But when her father dies suddenly, Flora and her mother are plunged into poverty and it seems beautiful Flora is destined to skivvy in the kitchen and dairy for her harsh aunt. Until one night dashing soldier, One-eyed Hugh, her mother’s former lover, kidnaps mother and daughter and takes them to Skye where he swiftly marries Marion.Back on the Outer Isles they settle into family life and Flora is taken under the wing of the lively Lady Clan, the chief’s wife, who teaches her the skills of a noblewoman. Flora still dreams of the day she might marry the handsome Neil, who has by now disappeared to France. But when the Clanranalds are invited to the grand wedding of the MacDonald chief of Sleat in Skye, Flora finds herself irresistibly drawn to dark-haired, teasing and passionate Allan of Kingsburgh, one of the mighty Skye MacDonalds, who makes no secret of his desire for her. Her heart is torn; she loves the mysterious and increasingly elusive Neil but struggles to control her attraction to Allan, who is meanwhile being groomed for a prestigious match with the chief of MacLeod’s daughter.Before affairs of the heart can be resolved, the exiled Prince Charles Stuart lands on the Outer Isles in his bid to win back the crown and his arrival ignites the Jacobite Rising of 1745. Scotland is plunged into bloody civil war; families and clans are torn apart in their loyalties and Flora’s fate is changed forever. She faces the biggest decision of her life – whether or not to help the now fugitive Prince to escape the islands and certain execution – knowing that to do so will not only put her own life in danger, but those of the people she loves most in the world.Deeply emotional and uplifting, The Jacobite Lass is set in the turbulent times of 18th century Scotland and is based on the true story of Scottish heroine, Flora MacDonald and Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Of the Ring of Earls


Juliet Dymoke - 2016
     For Waltheof of Huntington and his fellow survivors of the Battle of Hastings, there is a simple choice: submit to this new foreign king, or die at the gallows. Follow the heart; or follow the head. As the country bows under the Norman yoke and Waltheof struggles to come to terms with his decision, a new Saxon hope emerges. A last challenge to the Norman might, a final chance for glory, a decisive test of old allegiances and new loyalties. Of the Ring of Earls, the first in Juliet Dymoke’s epic Conqueror Trilogy, charts the fate of Waltheof of Huntington: a knight whose true story embodies the turmoil that followed the last successful invasion of Britain.