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Recommendations based on Company of Liarsby Karen Maitland
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
Wolf Hall
by Hilary Mantel
A historical fiction about the rise of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII.
England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry ... (Goodreads)
Revelation
by C.J. Sansom
A gripping tale of betrayal and conspiracy set in Tudor England.
The plot centres around the challenges of Reformation England , and draws on the prophesies of the Book of Revelation and features Archbishop Cranmer . , Revelation was short listed for the Books ... (Wikipedia)
The Blade Itself
by Joe Abercrombie
Epic fantasy saga of an unlikely band of misfits and their struggle against an oppressive empire.
Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he’s on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian – leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead ... (Goodreads)
Fall of Giants
by Ken Follett
Epic historical fiction recounting the tumultuous events of World War I and its aftermath.
The novel begins with the thirteen-year-old Billy Williams, nicknamed 'Billy With Jesus', going to work his first day in the coal mine underneath the fictional Welsh town of Aberowen in 1911. Three ... (Wikipedia)
The Flame and the Flower
by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
A historical romance novel set in the 18th century, following the story of a young woman who falls in love with a wealthy aristocrat.
The novel is set at the turn of the 19th century. After Heather Simmons, a penniless orphan, kills a man named William Court who was attempting to rape her, she flees the scene. Near the London ... (Wikipedia)
A Hat Full of Sky
by Terry Pratchett
A young witch must use her newfound magical powers to survive the trials of her witch apprenticeship.
A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett is a fantasy novel about a girl who is learning her place as a witch. Early in the novel, Tiffany Aching leaves her home in the chalk country (based on England's ... (Wikipedia)
Dissolution
by C.J. Sansom
A lawyer in Tudor England investigates a suspicious death, uncovering a vast conspiracy.
Henry VIII has ordered the dissolution of the monasteries and England is full of informers. At the monastery of Scarnsea, events have spiralled out of control with the murder of Commissioner Robin ... (Goodreads)
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
by Susanna Clarke
A whimsical tale of two magicians mastering the mysteries of English magic.
The novel opens in 1806 in northern England with The Learned Society of York Magicians, whose members are "theoretical magicians" who believe that magic died out several hundred years earlier. The ... (Wikipedia)
Royal Assassin
by Robin Hobb
A journey of self-discovery and growth, as a young man discovers his hidden powers and learns to use them.
Fitz has survived his first hazardous mission as king’s assassin, but is left little more than a cripple. Battered and bitter, he vows to abandon his oath to King Shrewd, remaining in the distant ... (Goodreads)
Heresy
by S.J. Parris
A historical thriller set in 16th century England, where philosopher Giordano Bruno investigates a murder and uncovers a dangerous conspiracy.
Masterfully blending true events with fiction, this blockbuster historical thriller delivers a page-turning murder mystery set on the sixteenth-century Oxford University campus. Giordano Bruno was a ... (Goodreads)
The Loney
by Andrew Michael Hurley
A haunting tale of a pilgrimage to a desolate stretch of the English coastline, where dark secrets and supernatural forces lurk.
"If it had another name, I never knew, but the locals called it the Loney - that strange nowhere between the Wyre and the Lune where Hanny and I went every Easter time with Mummer, Farther, Mr and ... (Goodreads)
The End of Mr. Y
by Scarlett Thomas
An adventure through alternate universes to unlock the mysteries of a mysterious book.
A cursed book. A missing professor. Some nefarious men in gray suits. And a dreamworld called the Troposphere? Ariel Manto has a fascination with nineteenth-century scientists–especially Thomas Lumas ... (Goodreads)
The Valley of Horses
by Jean M. Auel
Prehistoric adventure of a young woman navigating a dangerous, but beautiful landscape.
The book starts off from the events at the end of, The Clan of the Cave Bear, detailing the life of a young Cro-Magnon woman named Ayla who has just been exiled from the Clan, the band of ... (Wikipedia)
Birdman
by Mo Hayder
A gritty crime thriller, delving into the dark depths of the criminal underworld.
DI Jack Caffery gets involved in a frightening case of five mutilated bodies of women whose corpses are found on the outskirts of London. His investigation yields a treasure trove of abominations. ... (Wikipedia)
Drood
by Dan Simmons
Victorian mystery novel, exploring the unsolved mystery of the death of Charles Dickens.
Drood … is the name and nightmare that obsesses Charles Dickens for the last five years of his life. On June 9, 1865, Dickens and his mistress are secretly returning to London, when their express ... (Goodreads)
The Coroner's Lunch
by Colin Cotterill
A grizzled coroner investigates a suspicious death in a small Laotian village.
Despite a total lack of training, an utter dearth of experience and a complete absence of inclination, Dr. Siri Paiboun has just been appointed state coroner for the Lao People's Democratic Republic. ... (Wikipedia)
Queen Margot
by Alexandre Dumas
An epic tale of political and religious intrigue, filled with love and revenge.
The story begins in Paris in August 1572, during the reign of the Valois King Charles IX , it is the French Wars of Religion . The protagonist is Marguerite de Valois , better known as Margot, the ... (Wikipedia)
Middlemarch
by George Eliot
A grand narrative of life in a small English town, exploring the lives of its inhabitants.
Middlemarch centres on the lives of residents of Middlemarch, a fictitious Midlands town, from 1829 onwards – the years up to the 1832 Reform Act . The narrative is variably considered to consist of ... (Wikipedia)
World Without End
by Ken Follett
Epic tale of love and war, tracing the lives of two families over centuries.
The novel begins in the fictional city of Kingsbridge, England in the year 1327 . Four children - Merthin, Caris, Gwenda, and Merthin's brother Ralph - head into the woods on All Hallows Day . ... (Wikipedia)
The 19th Wife
by David Ebershoff
A hybrid of historical fiction and detective novel, exploring the realities of polygamy.
Jordan Scott has been expelled from his fundamentalist sect in modern-day southern Utah, but returns to determine whether his mother killed his father. His mother is the 19th wife of his father. ... (Wikipedia)
Sovereign
by C.J. Sansom
A lawyer's quest to uncover the truth behind a mysterious death in Tudor England.
Set in the autumn of 1541, the novel describes fictional events surrounding Henry VIII's 'Progress' to the North (a state visit accompanied by the royal court and its attendants, the purpose of which ... (Wikipedia)
An Instance of the Fingerpost
by Iain Pears
A murder mystery spanning four centuries and four perspectives, uncovering secrets of the past.
An ingenious tour de force: an utterly compelling historical mystery with a plot that twists and turns and keeps the reader guessing until the very last page. We are in England in the 1660s. Charles ... (Goodreads)
Dragonfly in Amber
by Diana Gabaldon
Romantic adventure through history as two time travelers fight to change their destiny.
Claire Randall has returned to her own time, where she has been living for 20 years with her husband Frank. Following his death, she brings her daughter, Brianna, to the home of the Randalls' old ... (Wikipedia)
The Crimson Petal and the White
by Michel Faber
A prostitute's journey of self-empowerment as she navigates the seedy underbelly of Victorian England.
Sugar, 19, prostitute in Victorian London, yearns for a better life. From brutal brothel-keeper Mrs Castaway, she ascends in society. Affections of self-involved perfume magnate William Rackham soon ... (Goodreads)
Those Left Behind
by Joss Whedon
Survivors of a post-apocalyptic world struggle to build a brighter future.
Here's how it is – in a universe filled with hearts and minds as cold and dark as the reaches of space, one small Firefly -class starship named Serenity takes its ragtag crew of mercenaries, outlaws, ... (Goodreads)
The Woman in Black
by Susan Hill
A Victorian lawyer is tasked with investigating a mysterious and frightening ghost.
The novel is narrated by Arthur Kipps, the young lawyer who formerly worked for Mr. Bentley. One Christmas Eve he is at home with his wife Esme and four stepchildren, who are sharing ghost stories. ... (Wikipedia)
The Iron King
by Maurice Druon
Epic historical fiction of the Middle Ages, as dynasties pay the price of ambition.
Set in the 14th century during the reigns of the last five kings of the direct Capetian dynasty and the first two kings of the House of Valois , the series begins as the French King Philip the Fair , ... (Wikipedia)
Titus Groan
by Mervyn Peake
A young man's rise to power in a decaying castle, amidst a backdrop of a decaying world.
The novel begins as the imperious and ritual-driven servant Mr. Flay seeks to tell someone new of the birth of an heir to the House of Groan in a remote part of the sprawling castle of Gormenghast. A ... (Wikipedia)
The House at Riverton
by Kate Morton
A family saga spanning generations, uncovering secrets and lies of a mysterious house.
Ninety-eight-year-old Grace Bradley, a maid at Riverton Manor in the 1920s, has long hidden a terrible secret. A film is being made about a famous incident at Riverton when well-known poet Robbie ... (Wikipedia)
L.A. Confidential
by James Ellroy
An epic crime noir set in 1950s Los Angeles, exploring the dark underbelly of the city.
The story is about several Los Angeles Police Department officers in the early 1950s who become embroiled in a mix of sex, corruption and murder following a massacre at the Nite Owl coffee shop. The ... (Wikipedia)
