As a lifestyle reporter, my favorite stories were those of ordinary people doing both great and small things that are extraordinary. I've written since I could string sentences together, beginning with a desire to create what I wanted to read. That need has landed me in historical fiction. Nothing else is as satisfying as plunging down rabbit holes of research to come up hours later wondering where the day went. I strive to make my novels as historically accurate as possible because the combination of emotional involvement of fiction is a great way to learn about history. I'm not here to rewrite history but to give my readers a chance to relive it.
Reality sets in as the Civil War wears on, and the horrors begin to haunt those who survive. Morgan’s cavalry knows the war is turning against the South. Their endless nights and days are haunted by the past and fear for the future.
Destruction spreads, and lives are lost as the Civil War rages. Supplies diminish, and the haggard armies continue pushing through the battles, hunger, and illnesses. After years of tenacious fighting, can the darkened souls of the survivors find peace?
Before Gerard Butler played Leonidas I in 300, Steven Pressfield wrote his version of the historical event of the Battle of Thermopylae. I loved this book because it does not hide the darker side of the 300 Spartans’ heroism as they stand to fight for their home. This is a well-researched novel about the invading Persians and the significantly fewer number of defenders who held them off long enough for the Greek navy to defeat the Persians at sea and save Greece.
In the Sunday Times bestseller Gates of Fire, Steven Pressfield tells the breathtaking story of the legendary Spartans: the men and women who helped shaped our history and have themselves become as immortal as their gods.
'Breathtakingly brilliant . . . this is a work of rare genius. Savour it!' DAVID GEMMELL
'A tale worthy of Homer, a timeless epic of man and war, exquisitely researched and boldy written. Pressfield has created a new classic' STEPHEN COONTS
'A really impressive book - imaginatively framed, historically detailed and a really gripping narrative' ***** Reader review
I was blown away by the history provided by Gilman in this book about his character Thomas Blackstone. It starts out with Blackstone as a blacksmith apprentice who is recruited to fight in the 100 Years War. He is made an archer with a strong arm, and the reader is transported into battles with Blackstone. The details of the archers, their importance to the army, and their equipment are a true learning experience.
'Like a punch from a mailed fist, MASTER OF WAR gives a true taste of the Hundred Years War. It is a gripping chronicle of pitched battle, treachery and cruelty. The stench and harshness of medieval life is ever present' ROBERT FABBRI, bestselling author of the Vespasian series.
England, 1346: For Thomas Blackstone the choice is easy - dance on the end of a rope for a murder he did not commit, or take up his war bow and join the king's invasion.
As he fights his way across northern France, Blackstone learns the brutal lessons of war - from…
This is the first in a trilogy that combines authentic history with riveting fiction. This book is focused on Thomas Cromwell, a henchman for King Henry VIII. Mantel creates a compelling depiction that readers have no choice but to believe. It is impossible not to sympathize with the Cromwell character she creates.
Winner of the Man Booker Prize
Shortlisted for the the Orange Prize
Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award
`Dizzyingly, dazzlingly good'
Daily Mail
'Our most brilliant English writer'
Guardian
England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey's clerk, and later his successor.
Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with…
Battles in this novel are written brilliantly and encompass the character Henry Flemings, and how he reacts to his surroundings is impressive. Readers can experience the Civil War’s fear, horror, dread, exhilaration, triumph, exhaustion, and hunger through Fleming’s eyes. As he navigates the war, Fleming is unsure whether he would be considered a man or a coward after the last shot is fired.
Here is Stephen Crane's masterpiece, The Red Badge of Courage, together with four of his most famous short stories. Outstanding in their portrayal of violent emotion and quiet tension, these texts led the way for great American writers such as Ernest Hemingway.
This is one of those stories about a career I would have never considered. After the Civil War, Captain Kidd travels to Texas doing live readings of newspapers. He is tasked with caring for an orphan who is reluctantly being transported to a family she does not remember. This tells a story of an individual, Joanne, lost between two cultures as a bond is created with the elderly and honorable Kidd. This holds a vivid description of the place and time.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction from the author of Enemy Women that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust. In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. An elderly widower who has lived through three wars and fought in two of them, the captain enjoys his…
In 1662, a man is wrongly executed for signing the death warrant of Charles I. Awaiting execution, he asks to speak with a priest, to whom he declares a curse on the village that betrayed him. The priest responds with a counter-curse, leaving just one option to nullify it.
Over four centuries later, Faith and James move to the country to start a new life and a family. They discover their village lives under the curse uttered by the hanged man. Could their arrival be connected? They fear their choice of new home is no coincidence. Unexplained events hint at threats or warnings to leave. They become convinced the village remains cursed despite their friends’ denials. Who can they trust, and who are potential enemies?
In 1660, a man is wrongly executed for signing the death warrant of Charles I. While awaiting execution, he asks to speak with a priest, to whom he declares a curse on the village that betrayed him. The priest responds with a counter-curse, leaving just one option to nullify it. Over four centuries later, Faith and James move to the country to start a new life and a family. They learn that their village lives under the curse uttered by the hanged man. Could their arrival be connected? Faith and James fear that their choice of a new home is…
