Book picks similar to
The Eagle and The Nightingale by Juliette Benzoni
historical-fiction
historical
france
marianne
Sea of Memories
Fiona Valpy - 2018
They spend the summer together, exploring the island’s sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters, and, for the first time in her life, Ella feels truly free.But the outbreak of war casts everything in a new light. Ella is forced to return to Scotland, where she volunteers for the war effort alongside the dashing Angus. In this new world, Ella feels herself drifting further and further from who she was on the Île de Ré. Can she ever find her way back? And does she want to?From the windswept Île de Ré to the rugged hills of Scotland, Sea of Memories is a spellbinding journey about the power of memory, love and second chances.
Burgundy Gloves
Julia David - 2017
Temperamental Allison Kent finally finds a chance to soar into her dreams of adventure. Except… In the spring of 1880, one tragic moment changes everything. Allison's planned future comes to a devastating halt when she is found at the bottom of a ravine, left for dead. Levi Graham is a strong independent backwoodsman, who stumbles upon the injured young woman. Good Samaritan, he’s finding out the hard way, is not his best strength. In addition to caring for this helpless, confusing woman, he encounters a robbery, a fire, visits from relatives, and the cabin’s previous owners, all disrupting his former peaceful life of solitude and trapping. Clutching her mother’s Burgundy Gloves, Allison can only hope time will awaken her from this awful nightmare. Strange people, strange ideas and a strange young man looking long and wanting at her. How can she convince him she has nothing to give when she no place to call home? Will she rouse from the dark fog before she’s left to fend for herself? Will her heart heal before she breaks his to pieces? See below for a look at the Burgundy Gloves Short Video Clip.
Overweight Mail Order Bride For A Half-Blind Cowboy
Terri Grace - 2015
Spurned for her size, and broken hearted as she stands by and watches all of her peers married off, Mindy is led by God to respond to an advert to become a Mail Order Bride to a mystery man on the wilds of the Western Frontier. It’s 1871 and the Frontier is as wild, and as lonely, as ever. Mindy Silvers is a gutsy and beautiful young lady, who dares to believe God and respond to a call into the unknown as a Mail Order Bride. But her journey to Horatio Attwood’s homestead will not be an easy one. She failed to mention her size to her husband-to-be, and Mindy must overcome insurmountable odds, both inwardly and outwardly, to win her prize. And Mindy is not the only with a secret. Horatio too must overcome his own doubt and shame before he can embrace his destiny, and is bride. ‘Overweight Mail Order Bride For A Half-Blind Cowboy’ is a sweet, clean, historical Mail Order Bride tale of one gutsy woman’s journey to love and happiness. In this heart warming 'Destined For Love' series, strong and courageous Mail Order Brides overcome deep personal challenges to find lasting love with faithful men on the Western Frontier. Visit all the books in the series! Overweight Mail Order Bride For A Half-Blind Cowboy Crippled Mail Order Bride For A Faithful Frontier Cowboy (COMING SOON – JULY 2015) Burned But Beautiful Mail Order Bride For A Pioneer Doctor (COMING SOON – JULY 2015)
Almost a Queen: A Three Graces Novella (The Three Graces Trilogy #1)
Laura Du Pre - 2016
Youngest sister, Marie is trapped in an unhappy arranged marriage with her cousin, Henri, Prince de Conde. Determined to make the best of her situation, she awaits the wedding of the King of Navarre in Paris. Paris of 1572 boils with religious war, and few will make it out of the wedding celebrations alive. Those that do survive face an impossible choice: convert or die. Will Marie and Conde make the decision to abandon their Protestant faith in order to save their lives? Will it cost them their souls? Along with the threat of death comes a change for true love with the king's younger son, the Duc d'Anjou. Yet Marie promised to love honor and cherish her husband till death did them part. Will death part them soon? Is it possible to find love in the midst of tragedy? Based on a true story The Cleves sisters' story starts with Marie, the youngest sister introduces you to the world of court politics in France of the 1500s. Like most great noble families of the period, the web of intermarriages and alliances made enemies out of blood relatives. It also meant that the stories of the people who served the Valois monarchs were as intertwined and as complicated as their marriages. Led by the ever-vigilant Catherine de Medici, Queen Mother of France and a force of nature, the members of the court shaped the political and religious future of France of the Sixteenth Century. In upcoming novels, you'll meet the often- derided Charlotte, Madame de Sauve, and enough royal mistresses to satisfy your need for scandal. ˃˃˃ Don't miss out! Marie's story is one for the ages, and one that needs to be told. So don’t wait, scroll up and grab your copy today. You'll instantly be front and center at the world of the Valois court, and all of the danger and splendor of Renaissance France! Review “A beautifully written book!” About the Author Reading historical fiction was my guilty pleasure when I was a kid. I think I learned more about history from reading Jean Plaidy's novels. It wasn't a big surprise when I decided to go to graduate school and get my own degree in history. Before I became a writer, I worked full time as an archivist. I spent 40 hours a week talking with full time academics and researchers, secretly envying them for being on the other side of the table. Eventually, I got tired of handing historical documents to other people and decided to write historical fiction full time. Man, am I glad I made that switch! In school, I researched the Gilded Age and the 1920s of the American South, so French history really wasn't part of my curriculum. I ran across some stories about my ancestor, who I was shocked to learn had a “French sounding last name.” While I researched her and her Huguenot ancestors, I ran across the people of the Valois dynasty. I really never left their era, so you're looking at my refusal to leave. The Three Graces Trilogy continues with eldest sister, Henriette and will conclude with middle sister Catherine's story.
The Beautiful and the Cursed
Page Morgan - 2013
It’s an abandoned abbey, its roof lined with stone gargoyles that could almost be mistaken for living, breathing creatures.And Grayson has gone missing.No one seems to know of his whereabouts but Luc, a devastatingly handsome servant at their new home.Ingrid is sure her twin isn’t dead—she can feel it deep in her soul—but she knows he’s in grave danger. It will be up to her and Gabby to navigate the twisted path to Grayson, a path that will lead Ingrid on a discovery of dark secrets and otherworldly truths. And she’ll learn that once they are uncovered, they can never again be buried.
Mr Cavell's Diamond
Kathleen McGurl - 2014
He is in possession of a large diamond, given to him in India, which he vows he will give to the woman he loves – when he finds her, that is. Jemima Brown, sixteen, good-hearted and hard-working, comes to work for him as a general maidservant. When Mr Cavell stands up for her against the unwanted attentions of some tradesmen working in his house, she sees at once that here is a man of high morals and integrity. But it is Caroline Simpson, daughter of Henry’s house-painter, who catches his eye. She may be socially his inferior, but she is good-looking, flirtatious and knows how to use her charms. She manipulates Henry into marrying her, and only the loyal Jemima knows he’s been tricked. How can Jemima fight her growing feelings for her master, maintain her morals and stay in Mr Cavell’s employment, despite her mistress’s increasingly erratic behaviour?
Sentimental Education
Gustave Flaubert - 1869
It is the beginning of an infatuation that will last a lifetime. He befriends her husband, an influential businessman, and as their paths cross and re-cross over the years, Mme Arnoux remains the constant, unattainable love of Moreau’s life. Blending love story, historical authenticity, and satire, Sentimental Education is one of the great French novels of the nineteenth century.
The Velvet Hours
Alyson Richman - 2016
With Europe on the brink of war, she shares her story with her granddaughter Solange Beaugiron, using her prized possessions to reveal her innermost secrets. Most striking of all are a beautiful string of pearls and a magnificent portrait of Marthe painted by the Italian artist Giovanni Boldini. As Marthe’s tale unfolds, like velvet itself, stitched with its own shadow and light, it helps to guide Solange on her own path. Inspired by the true account of an abandoned Parisian apartment, Alyson Richman brings to life Solange, the young woman forced to leave her fabled grandmother’s legacy behind to save all that she loved.
In the Land of the Long White Cloud
Sarah Lark - 2007
Responding to an advertisement seeking young women to marry New Zealand’s honorable bachelors, she corresponds with a gentleman farmer. When her church offers to pay her travels under an unusual arrangement, she jumps at the opportunity.Meanwhile, not far away in Wales, beautiful and daring Gwyneira Silkham, daughter of a wealthy sheep breeder, is bored with high society. But when a mysterious New Zealand baron deals her father an unlucky blackjack hand, Gwyn’s hand in marriage is suddenly on the table. Her family is outraged, but Gwyn is thrilled to escape the life laid out for her.The two women meet on the ship to Christchurch—Helen traveling in steerage, Gwyn first class—and become unlikely friends. When their new husbands turn out to be very different than expected, the women help one another in ways they never anticipated. Set against the backdrop of colonial nineteenth-century New Zealand, In the Land of the Long White Cloud is a soaring saga of friendship, romance, marriage and adventure.
The Painted Girls
Cathy Marie Buchanan - 2012
Following their father's sudden death, the van Goethem sisters find their lives upended. Without his wages, and with the small amount their laundress mother earns disappearing into the absinthe bottle, eviction from their lodgings seems imminent. With few options for work, Marie is dispatched to the Paris Opéra, where for a scant seventeen francs a week, she will be trained to enter the famous ballet. Her older sister, Antoinette, finds work as an extra in a stage adaptation of Émile Zola's naturalist masterpiece L'Assommoir. Marie throws herself into dance and is soon modeling in the studio of Edgar Degas, where her image will forever be immortalized as Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. There she meets a wealthy male patron of the ballet, but might the assistance he offers come with strings attached? Meanwhile Antoinette, derailed by her love for the dangerous Émile Abadie, must choose between honest labor and the more profitable avenues open to a young woman of the Parisian demimonde. Set at a moment of profound artistic, cultural, and societal change, The Painted Girls is a tale of two remarkable sisters rendered uniquely vulnerable to the darker impulses of "civilized society." In the end, each will come to realize that her salvation, if not survival, lies with the other.
The Pale Assassin
Patricia Elliott - 2009
Set during the French Revolution, this novel about a teen aristocrat who must question the justice of her own wealth while facing the cataclysmic divisions of her society will captivate readers as secrets come out, sympathies shift, and every choice can change or end a life.
Niccolò Rising
Dorothy Dunnett - 1986
The time is the 15th century, when intrepid merchants became the new knighthood of Europe. Among them, none is bolder or more cunning than Nicholas vander Poele of Bruges, the good-natured dyer's apprentice who schemes and swashbuckles his way to the helm of a mercantile empire. Niccolò Rising, Book One of the series, finds us in Bruges, 1460. Jousting is the genteel pastime, and successful merchants are, of necessity, polyglot. Street smart, brilliant at figures, adept at the subtleties of diplomacy and the well-timed untruth, Dunnett's hero rises from wastrel to prodigy in a breathless adventure that wins him the hand of the strongest woman in Bruges and the hatred of two powerful enemies. From a riotous and potentially murderous carnival in Flanders, to an avalanche in the Alps and a pitched battle on the outskirts of Naples, Niccolò Rising combines history, adventure, and high romance in the tradition stretching from Alexandre Dumas to Mary Renault.
The Woman in the Moonlight
Patricia Morrisroe - 2020
Countess Julie Guicciardi’s life is about to change forever. The spirited eighteen-year-old is taking piano lessons with Ludwig van Beethoven, the most talented piano virtuoso in the musical capital of Europe. She is captivated by his volatile genius, while he is drawn to her curiosity and disarming candor. Between them, a unique romance. But Beethoven has a secret he’s yet to share, and Julie is harboring a secret of her own, one so scandalous it could destroy their perfect love story.When Beethoven discovers the truth, he sets his emotions to music, composing a mournful opus that will become the Moonlight Sonata. The haunting refrain will follow Julie for the rest of her life.Set against the rich backdrop of nineteenth-century Vienna, The Woman in the Moonlight is an exhilarating ode to eternal passion. An epic tale of love, loss, rivalry, and political intrigue. A stirring portrait of a titan who wrestled with the gods and a woman who defied convention to inspire him.
The Last Time I Saw Paris
Lynn Sheene - 2011
May 1940. Fleeing a glamorous Manhattan life built on lies, Claire Harris arrives in Paris with a romantic vision of starting anew. But she didn't anticipate the sight of Nazi soldiers marching under the Arc de Triomphe. Her plans smashed by the German occupation, the once- privileged socialite's only option is to take a job in a flower shop under the tutelage of a sophisticated Parisian florist. In exchange for false identity papers, Claire agrees to aid the French Resistance. Despite the ever-present danger, she comes to love the enduring beauty of the City of Light, exploring it in the company of Thomas Grey, a mysterious Englishman working with the Resistance. Claire's bravery and intelligence make her a valuable operative, and slowly her values shift as she witnesses the courageous spirit of the Parisians. But deception and betrayal force her to flee once again-this time to fight for the man she loves and what she knows is right-praying she has the heart and determination to survive long enough to one day see Paris again.
Ireland Rose
Patricia Strefling - 2011
Rose's father finds a suitable husband, Captain Camden Lovell, twenty-seven years her senior. Captain Lovell takes his bride to Charleston, provides her with a beautiful home on the Battery and good standing in Charleston Society.Three years later Rose is a widow. Captain Wyatt, her husband's trusted employee is now in charge of her affairs. Rose senses he does not like her. One day he brings a young woman with child to her - and a secret that must be kept. A little girl is born, and Rose becomes a mother. Captain Wyatt offers to marry her in name only to protect her from Charleston society gossip, but she is determined she will not marry a second time for protection. She will marry for love or live alone.Just three months later, August 31st, 1886 the city of Charleston suffers the worst earthquake of the century. Her beautiful home is in shambles. Rose has no choice but to return to her parents' birthplace in Ireland. The only record she has of her Irish ancestry is in her mother's Bible. She and her infant daughter take the next ship to Ireland. She has begun to hope she has finally found happiness when Captain Wyatt comes with news that shatters her heart.Every person Rose loves is taken away. Her faith in God is shaken. There is a plan for her, but she can't see it. Captain Wyatt breaks her heart, not once but twice.