Forthcoming Books for 2005

This list of adult historical fiction titles has been compiled from publishers’ catalogs, publisher home pages, Publishers Weekly forecasts, Amazon.com, and information supplied by authors.  Titles and dates on this list are subject to change. For additions or corrections, or to inquire about an address to send catalogs, please contact Sarah Johnson.  We list mainstream and small press titles set in the 1950s and earlier. 

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View Archive: Historical Novels from 2004 and from 2003

January 2005

US Titles

Mary di Michele, The Tenor of Love, Touchstone (story of Enrico Caruso, seen through the eyes of the women who loved him)

David Durham, The Pride of Carthage: A Novel of Hannibal, Random House

Margaret Frazer, The Widow's Tale, Berkley Prime Crime (latest Sister Frevisse medieval mystery)

David Fulmer, Jass, Harcourt (mystery set during the 1920s New Orleans jazz scene)

Nicole Galland, The Fool's Tale: A Novel of Medieval Wales, William Morrow (epic tale of politics, loyalty, love, and betrayal set in the court of Maelgwyn ap Cadwallon, Welsh king in the 12th century)

Pip Granger, Trouble in Paradise, Poisoned Pen Press (the end of the Blitz and the war doesn't spell the end of trouble for Londoners)

Barbara Hambly, The Emancipator's Wife, Bantam (novel of Mary Todd Lincoln)

Lee Kirby, 7,000 Clams, Doubleday (hard-boiled adventure from the Roaring '20s that follows a small-time bootlegger from the seedy shores of Jersey to the Florida coast to collect a handwritten IOU from Babe Ruth)

Sandra Kring, Carry Me Home, Delta (Two brothers bond in rural Wisconsin during WWII)

Bonnie Leon, The Heart of Thornton Creek, Revell (a proper Bostonian must navigate an Australian cattle station of the late 19th century; historical romance)

Elizabeth Lord, Company of Rebels, Severn House (romance and treachery amidst the 14th century Peasants' Revolt)

Allan Massie, Arthur the King, Carroll & Graf (boldly original retelling of the King Arthur legend)

Gilbert Morris, The Virtuous Woman, Bethany House (new in House of Winslow series set in 1935)

Elizabeth Edmondson, The Frozen Lake, HarperCollins ("A marvelously absorbing story of long-hidden family secrets set in the Lake District in the 1930s")

Leonardo Padura Fuentes, Adios Hemingway, Canongate (detective story about Hemingway’s lost years)

Francisco Goldman, The Divine Husband, Atlantic (ex-convent girl in 19th C Central America & USA)

Helen Hollick, A Hollow Crown, Arrow (novel of Emma, Queen of Saxon England)

Conn Iggulden, Emperor: The Field of Swords, HarperCollins (The third volume in the Emperor series, in which Conn Iggulden interweaves history and adventure to recreate the astonishing life of Julius Caesar)

Neil Jordan, The Past, John Murray (20^th C: Child searching for truth about parents)   

Tim Severin, Viking I: Odin's Child, Macmillan (First volume of an epic trilogy beginning in the year 1001)

Mary Jane Staples, Ups and Downs, Doubleday (Another episode in the life of the Adams family)         

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February 2005

US Titles

Megan Abbott, Die a Little, Simon & Schuster (a femme fatale costume girl finds her disguise as a perfect housewife unmasked in 1950s Hollywood)

Ginny Aiken, Spring of My Love, Revell (final installment of Silver Hills trilogy of historical romances set on a cattle ranch in 1894)

Nick Arvin, Articles of War, Doubleday (haunting novel of a young soldier's life during WWII)

Lynn Austin, Gods & Kings, Bethany House (story of King Hezekiah, heir to the throne of King David; rewritten and repackaged)

Zsuzsa Bank, Swimmer, Harcourt (literary family saga set in 1956 Hungary)

Maria R. Bordihn, The Falcon of Palermo, Atlantic Monthly Press (novel of Emperor Frederick II)

Linda Lee Chaikin, Today's Embrace, WaterBrook (finale of East of the Sun trilogy set in late 19th century South Africa; Christian fiction)

Stephen Dando-Collins, The Inquest, IBooks (adventure novel set in Vespasian's reign; a Roman Questor tries to stifle the new Christian movement)

Will Davenport, The Sinner's Tale, Bantam (haunting novel of mediaeval loves, lies and loyalties set in Slapton, Devon, 1372.  Combines with a modern story)

Frank Delaney, Ireland: A Novel, HarperCollins (epic novel of Ireland)

David Dickinson, Death of a Chancellor, Carroll & Graf (Lord Francis Powercourt mystery set in 1901 England)

Thomas Dyja, The Moon in Our Hands, Carroll & Graf (racial tension in 1918 rural Tennessee)

Elizabeth Gaffney, Metropolis, Random House (In the second half of the 19th century, a young German emigrates to New York City and is falsely implicated in the arson of P.T. Barnum's stable)

Brad Geagley, Year of the Hyenas: A Novel of Murder in Ancient Egypt, Simon & Schuster (historical mystery set in the court of Ramses III)

Janet Gleeson, The Serpent in the Garden, Simon & Schuster (literary historical mystery set in 18th century England)

Pauline Holdstock, A Rare and Curious Gift, Norton (art, love, science, and nature in Renaissance Italy, loosely based on the life of Artemisia Gentileschi)

Thomas Kelly, Empire Rising, Farrar Straus & Giroux (urban melodrama set around the construction of the Empire State Building in 1930)

Morgan Llywelyn, 1972: A Novel of Ireland's Unfinished Revolution, Forge (part of the Irish Century series)

Andrei Makine, The Earth and Sky of Jacques Dorme, Arcade (love story set in 1942 Germany and Russia, and following the narrator to France several decades later; book 3 of trilogy)

Thomas Mann, Joseph and His Brothers, Knopf (new translation from the German; entire tetralogy in one volume)

Ann Moore, 'Til Morning Light, NAL Accent (conclusion to Gracelin O'Malley trilogy set in 19th century America)

Mary McGarry Morris, The Lost Mother, Viking (chronicle of a family in rural Vermont during the Great Depression)

Kathleen Morgan, Child of the Mist, Revell (first in new series set in the Scottish highlands of 1565; historical romance and suspense)

Gilbert Morris, Till Shiloh Comes, Bethany House (Biblical fiction, the story of patriarch Jacob and his twelve sons)

Rebecca Pawel, The Watcher in the Pine, Soho (the third in the Lt. Tejada mystery series set in post–Civil War Spain)

Jean Plaidy, Katharine of Aragon, Three Rivers Press (omnibus of three Katharine of Aragon novels)

Jean Plaidy, The Sixth Wife, Three Rivers (novel of Katharine Parr, 6th wife of Henry VIII)

Jonathan Rabb, Rosa, Crown (in post-WWI Berlin, a police inspector is caught up in the investigation of a serial murder that takes him to the highest levels of the new socialist government)

Mary Doria Russell, A Thread of Grace, Random House (wartime conspiracy of Italian civilians, partisans, nuns and priests who saved the lives of 42,000 Jews during WWII)

March 2005

US Titles

William Dietrich, The Scourge of God, HarperCollins (novel of the clash between the Roman Empire and Attila the Hun in the 5th century, another epic adventure in the ancient world)  

Michael Curtis Ford, The Sword of Attila, St. Martin's Press (novel of the clash at Chalons - Attila the Hun against Count Aetius of the Roman army)

Jane Guill, Nectar from a Stone, Touchstone (set in 14th century Wales, a young widow's journey toward salvation, and a soldier's quest for revenge)

Homer Hickam, The Ambassador's Son, St. Martin's Press (adventure in the South Pacific during WWII; sequel to The Keeper's Son)

Liz Curtis Higgs, Whence Came a Prince, WaterBrook (recasting of Jacob-Leah-Rachel triangle set in 18th century Galloway; third in series)

Rupert Holmes, Swing: A Mystery, Random House (historical thriller set during the 1940 World's Fair, a musical murder mystery that comes complete with a CD of original music)

Conn Iggulden, Emperor: The Field of Swords, Delacorte (The third volume in the Emperor series, in which Conn Iggulden interweaves history and adventure to recreate the astonishing life of Julius Caesar)

Jeff Janoda, Saga, Academy Chicago (novel set in medieval Norse Iceland, c. 970 AD, following the struggle between the Norse settlers for land and wealth in one small corner of the island)

Michele Lucas, A High and Hidden Place, HarperSanFrancisco (a young girl struggles with the consequences of a great tragedy, the murder of over 600 French civilians by Nazi troops in 1944)

Naguib Mahfouz, Rhadopsis of Nubia, Vintage (novel of Pharaoh Menrera III and the ravishing courtesan Rhadopsis in ancient Egypt)

Valerio Massimo Manfredi, The Last Legion, Atria (imagines the beginning of the Arthurian legend in post-Roman Britain, adventure novel)

Karen Mercury, The Hinterlands, Medallion Press (romantic adventure set in the ancient kingdom of Benin in 1896)

Beverle Graves Myers, Painted Veil, Poisoned Pen Press (mystery set in Baroque-era Venice starring castrato soprano Tito Amato, second in series)

Owen Parry, The Rebels of Babylon, William Morrow (latest Civil War mystery)

Anne Perry, Long Spoon Lane, Ballantine (new Thomas Pitt mystery set in Victorian England)

Tracie Peterson, The Hope Within, Bethany House (book 4 in Heirs of Montana series, Christian frontier fiction set in 1886)

Douglas Reeman, Knife Edge, McBooks (Royal Marines Saga, book 5; naval adventure fiction)

William Riviere, By the Grand Canal, Grove/Atlantic (romantic novel set in post-WWI Venice)

John Maddox Roberts, Seven Hills, Ace (alternate history of the Roman Empire)

Peter Rushforth, Pinkerton's Sister, MacAdam/Cage (woman lives alone with her books in a late 19th century NYC townhouse)

Rene Steinke, Holy Skirts, William Morrow (novel based on the life of Elsa von Freytag-Lorenhoven, sculptor and bohemian in NYC in the years surrounding World War II)

V.A. Stuart, Guns to the Far East, McBooks (Phillip Hazard Novels #7, adventure during the Crimean War)

Peter Tremayne, Badger's Moon, St. Martin's Minotaur (mystery of ancient Ireland)

Brenda Rickman Vantrease, The Illuminator, St. Martin's Press (epic novel of love, art, religion, and treachery in 14th century England)

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UK Titles

Tash Aw, The Harmony Silk Factory, Fourth Estate ("This novel juxtaposes three accounts of a crucial and haunting episode in the history of a Malaysian Chinese family, set in 1940 against the threatened invasion by the Japanese.")

Carla Banks, The Forest of Souls, HarperCollins ("A powerful and moving debut thriller. The murder of a colleague and the enigmatic notes she leaves behind set in motion a nightmarish train of events for Faith Lange, a university lecturer, when she discovers that her frail, beloved grandfather may be a fugitive war criminal.")

Alessandro Barico, Without Blood, Canongate (20^th C: Girl investigates her father’s murder)  

Julia Bryant, The Water is Wide, Hodder & Stoughton (1900s Portsmouth saga)     

Catherine Chidgey, The Transformation, Picador. 1898 mystery thriller featuring Monsieur Lucien Goulet, wigmaker to the rich and famous.

Will Davenport, The Perfect Sinner, HarperCollins (haunting novel of mediaeval loves, lies and loyalties set in Slapton, Devon, 1372.  Combines with a modern story)

Sara Donati, Fire Along the Sky, HarperCollins (continuation of romantic epic set in early 19th century New York)

Pamela Evans, Sparrows of Sycamore Rd, Headline (1940s Blitz saga)       

Max Gallo, Napoleon: The Immortal of St. Helena, Macmillan. The fourth and final book in the Napoleon series.

Posie Graeme-Evans, The Innocent, Hodder & Stoughton (15thC servant caught up in forbidden love at court)

John Maclachlan Gray, White Stone Day (Century) Journalist Edmund Whitty, reporting the underworld of London 1850, finds a sinister group photographing dead children.

Ruth Hamilton, The Bell House, Bantam Press. A secret love threatened by religious differences.

Peter Hobbs, The Short Day Dying, Faber & Faber. A story of love and loss set against the backdrop of Cornwall in the late 19^th century.

Thomas Holt, Meadowland (Abacus) - In 1037 a senior civil servant of the Byzantine empire escorting an army payroll meets the Vikings who discovered America.

Michelle Lovric, The Remedy (Virago) 1785 - a Venetian actress and a London physician, love and murder, the underworld and the strange arts of healing.

Jonathan Lunn, Killigrew & the Sea Devil, Headline (latest in 19^thC seagoing adventure series)

Allan Mallinson, An Act of Courage, Bantam Press. Seventh book in the popular Matthew Hervey series.

Annie Murray, Miss Purdy's Class, Macmillan. Set in poverty stricken Birmingham 1936, Gwen Purdy arrives as a new teacher to a class of fifty-two.

Rosemary Rowe, Enemies of the Empire, Headline (Roman Britain mystery series) 

Mary Doria Russell, A Thread of Grace, Doubleday. WWII story of a Jewish family’s flight from Nazi Germany.

Robert Ryan, After Midnight, Headline Review (thriller set among the Italian partisans in WWII)

Mary Stanley, Searching for Home, Headline Review (novel of survival and self-discovery set in 1940s Ireland, and 60s/70s England and Malta)                  

Kate Tremayne, The Loveday Pride, Headline (6^th in late 18^th-C Cornish series)      

John Wilcox, The Road to Kandahar, Headline (19thC Northwest Frontier military adventure)

David Wishart, Food for the Fishes (1^st-C sleuthing series set in Ancient Rome)

Wesley Stace, Misfortune (Jonathan Cape) - Early 19^th c: the richest man in England, Lord Loveall, brings home a baby who he names Rose, to be his heir. Rose, though, is a boy… 

Eva Stachniak, Garden of Venus, HarperCollins ("An alluring, exotic novel set in the early nineteenth century, based on the life of the famous and much-painted courtesan, La Belle Phanariote")

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April 2005

US Titles

Antonio Orlando Rodriguez, The Masquerade, HarperCollins (literary novel set in 1920s Havana)

Rebecca Wells, The Ya-Yas in Bloom, HarperCollins (reveals the roots of the Ya-Ya sisterhood from the 1930s through 1990s)

Jay Worrall, Sails on the Horizon, Random House (novel of the Napoleonic Wars in the tradition of Horatio Hornblower; first in Charles Edgemont series, beginning in 1797)

John Wray, Canaan's Tongue, Knopf (allegorical novel, set on the eve of the Civil War, about a gang of men hunted by both sides for dealing in stolen slaves)

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UK Titles

May 2005

US Titles

Jane Alison, Natives and Exotics, Harcourt (three characters connected by blood and legacy; set in the 19th century Azores, early 20th century Australia, and modern South America)

Isabel Allende, Zorro, HarperCollins (a retelling of this Latin American legend)

Lynn Austin, Song of Redemption, Bethany House (the powerful story of King Hezekiah, heir to the throne of King David)

Fiona Avery, The Crown Rose, Pyr (historical fantasy about Isabelle, Princess of France in the mid-13th century)

Rick Bass, The Diezmo, Houghton Mifflin (re-imagining the "diezmo" of the early Republic of Texas, when Mexicans decreed that one of every 10 men in a Texas border patrol must die)

Amy Belding Brown, Mr. Emerson's Wife, St. Martin's Press (portrait of a marriage between a strong-minded woman and one of America's greatest philosophers; novel of Emerson's wife, Lidian)

Caleb Carr, The Italian Secretary, Carroll & Graf (Sherlock Holmes investigates a pair of gruesome murders which cast an otherworldly shadow as far as Queen Victoria herself)

John Crowley, Lord Byron's Novel, William Morrow (a novel written by Lord Byron during that infamous night in Switzerland is encoded by his daughter and rediscovered a century later)

Amy Ephron, One Sunday Morning, William Morrow (society women during the Jazz Age)

Eric Flint, The Rivers of War, Del Rey (first book in a new alternate history saga of the American frontier)

Kathleen O'Neal Gear, It Sleeps in Me, Forge (novel of women's powerful role in the Black Falcon Nation)

Beth Gutcheon, Leeway Cottage, William Morrow (novel told against the backdrop of the Danish Resistance and their protection of Dutch Jews)

Linda Holeman, The Linnet Bird, Crown (romantic epic set in 19th century England and India)

Jeanne Kalogridis, The Borgia Bride, St. Martin's Griffin ( sumptuous historical novel of passion, betrayal, scheming and incest, set in the Vatican during the 15th century)

Joseph Kanon, Alibi, Henry Holt (novel of love, revenge, and murder set in post-WWII Venice)

Philip Kerr, Hitler's Peace, Putnam (alternative ending to WWII)

Lorna Landvik, Oh My Stars, Ballantine (At the dawn of rock'n'roll, a down-and-out woman falls for a budding musician)

Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, HarperCollins (lawmen and felons in 1930s Oklahoma)

Zelda Lockhart, Cold Running Creek, Atria (a Mississippi Choctaw woman coming of age during the final years of Native American village life in the 19th century)

Philip McCutchan, Halfhyde on Zanatu, McBooks (Halfhyde Adventures, book 7; naval historical adventure)

Katherine Mosby, Twilight, HarperCollins (woman of a certain age who finds romance and adventure in pre-WWII Paris)

Albert Noyer, The Cybeline Conspiracy, Toby Press (historical mystery set in Ravenna of 440 AD; a eunuch archpriest and an unscrupulous senator smuggle products from China to Italy that will change the course of western history)

Alexander Parsons, In the Shadow of the Sun, Doubleday (traumatic impact of WWII on an American family at the dawn of the nuclear age)

Arturo Perez-Reverte, Captain Alatriste, Putnam (hero of Spain's 16th C imperial warfare)

Jean Plaidy, Victoria Victorious, Three Rivers (life of Queen Victoria, narrated by herself)

Lucia St. Clair Robson, Shadow Patriots, Forge (a novel of the American Revolution, seen through the eyes of a Quaker brother and sister)

Wilbur Smith, The Triumph of the Sun, St. Martin's Press (epic adventure set in ancient Egypt)

Grace Tiffany, The Turquoise Ring, Berkley Signature (a radical retelling of Shakespeare's most controversial play, The Merchant of Venice)

Nancy E. Turner, Sarah's Quilt, St. Martin's Press (the continuing story of pioneer woman Sarah Agnes Prine, heroine of Turner's These Is My Words, beginning in 1906)

Luiz Alberto Urrea, The Hummingbird's Daughter, Little, Brown (woman with healing powers emerges during Mexico's Civil War)

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UK Titles

Ann Chamberlin, Gloria, High Country (novel in Joan of Arc Tapestries series, a fictional account of the life of Joan of Arc.  What if she was really a witch?)

Christopher John Farley, Kingston by Starlight, Three Rivers (the legendary exploits of Anne Bonny, an Irish-born woman pirate who sailed the West Indies in the 1700s)

Newt Gingrich and William Fortschen, Never Call Retreat, St. Martin's Press (alternate history of the Civil War, 3rd in series)

Alan Gold, Warrior Queen, New American Library (the story of Boudica, Celtic Queen)

Posie Graeme-Evans, The Exiled, Atria (romantic novel set in medieval England)

Kerry Greenwood, Ruddy Gore, Poisoned Pen Press (latest Phryne Fisher mystery set in 1920s Australia)

Tom Harper, The Mosaic of Shadows, Minotaur (mystery set in the 10th century Byzantine Empire)

Laurie R. King, Locked Rooms, Bantam (Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes mystery set in 1924 San Francisco)

Edward Marston, The Excursion Train, Allison & Busby (historical mystery set amidst the Industrial Revolution in 1852 England)

Gilbert Morris, The Gypsy Moon, Bethany House (latest in House of Winslow series set in Nazi Germany)

Lynn Morris and Gilbert Morris, There Is a Season, Bethany House (book three of Cheney & Shiloh, the Inheritance, set in 1864 Florida)

Scott Oden, Men of Bronze, Medallion Press (novel set in ancient Egypt during the Persian invasion of 525 BCE)

Cheryl Sawyer, The Chase, Signet (romantic adventure set in Napoleonic Europe)

Steven Saylor, A Gladiator Dies Only Once, Minotaur (short stories in the Gordianus the Finder series)

Olen Steinhauer, 36 Yalta Boulevard, St. Martin's Minotaur (mystery set in a nameless eastern European country in the 1960s)

Will Thomas, To Kingdom Come, Touchstone (historical mystery of Victorian London)

Victoria Thompson, Murder on Lenox Hill, Berkley Prime Crime (mystery set in late 19th century New York, part of Gaslight Mystery Series)

Trevanian, The Crazyladies of Pearl Street, Crown (coming-of-age novel set in Albany during the Great Depression and WWII)

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Lindsay Clarke, Return from Troy, HarperCollins ("In the sequel to The War at Troy, Agamemnon returns home to meet his fate at the hands of his wife Clytaemnestra who is enraged over his sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigeneia and Odysseus begins his arduous ten year journey home to Ithaca and his beloved wife, Penelope.")

July 2005

US Titles

Susan Wittig Albert, The Tale of Holly How, Berkley Prime Crime (Beatrix Potter mystery set in the sleepy village of Sawrey, England)

Christine Echeverria Bender, Sails of Fortune, Caxton Press (captures the poignant intimacies and bold endeavors of Magellan and his men as they voyage around the world in 1519)

Milton T. Burton, The Rogues' Game, Minotaur (high-stakes mystery set in 1947 West Texas)

Susan Carroll, The Courtesan, Ballantine (sequel to The Dark Queen, a novel of fantasy and romance set in Catherine de Medici's France)

Donis Casey, The Old Buzzard Had It Coming, Poisoned Pen Press (historical mystery surrounding a family in 1912 Oklahoma)

Max Allan Collins, The War of the Worlds Murder, Berkley Prime Crime (latest novel in Disasters mystery series)

Deeanne Gist, A Bride Worth Begrudging, Bethany House (a historical romance with a humorous twist, set in 1640s colonial Virginia)

Stan Gordon, Moon in the Water, Five Star (novel of Lozen, woman warrior of the Apaches)

Ron Goulart, Groucho Marx: King of the Jungle, Minotaur (5th book in this series set during Hollywood's Golden Age)

Abdulrazak Gurnah, Desertion, Pantheon (a passionate love affair begins that brings two cultures together and that will reverberate through three generations and across continents, beginning in Mombasa in 1899)

Marek Halter, Zipporah: Wife of Moses, Crown (Biblical fiction about the African wife of Moses)

Cameron Judd, Boone: A Novel of an American Legend, High Country (re-issue of a paperback classic about Daniel Boone - summer 2005)

Leisha Kelly, Rorey's Secret, Revell (continuation of Wortham family saga set in rural Illinois toward the end of the Depression)

Jeffrey Lent, War Gardens, Atlantic Monthly (epic and love story spanning the course of the two world wars)

Edward Marston, The Malevolent Comedy, Minotaur (latest in Lord Westfield's Men mystery series set in Elizabethan England)

Elizabeth McGregor, The Girl in the Green Glass Mirror, Bantam (a modern fine art expert and an architect share a fascination with an insane Victorian painter; set in both periods)

Pat McIntosh, The Nicholas Feast, Carroll & Graf (A Gil Cunningham murder mystery set in 1492 Glasgow)

Judith Miller, First Dawn, Bethany House (two families and two towns struggle to carve lives for themselves from the Kansas prairie, first in new series set after the Civil War)

Mary Anne Mohanraj, The Body in Motion: Stories, HarperCollins (trace the lives of two generations of two families living on the cusp of disparate worlds: America and Sri Lanka)

Neil Olson, The Icon, HarperCollins (novel of espionage set in Nazi-occupied Greece and modern New York City)

I. J. Parker, The Dragon Scroll, Viking (first in Akitada mystery series set in 11th century Japan)

Craig Parshall, Janet Parshall, Crown of Fire, Harvest House (the truths of the Reformation have set Scotland aflame; epic love story, first in new Thistle and the Cross series)

Matt Pavelich, Our Savage, Shoemaker & Hoard (bawdy comic novel set in the late 19th and early 20th century American West)

Michael Phillips, A Perilous Proposal, Bethany House (1st in new series set after the Civil War, continuation of plot from Shenandoah Sisters series)

David Poyer, The Anvil of our Souls: A Novel of the Monitor and Merrimack, Simon & Schuster (Civil War naval adventure)

Peter Prince, Adam Runaway, Touchstone (1721 sees a heady tale of love, lust and money set against the magical backdrop of Lisbon)

Thomas Quinn, The Lion of St. Mark, St. Martin's Press (about the bitter conflict that consumes two proud Venetian families between 1452 and 1492)

Joel N. Ross, Double Cross Blind, Doubleday (WWII thriller)

Shirley Tallman, The Russian Hill Murders, Minotaur (latest Sarah Woolson mystery set in 19th century San Francisco)

Peter Weiss, The Aesthetics of Resistance, Duke University Press (first of three-part epic historical novel of the World War II Resistance, translated into English for the first time)

Richard Zimler, Guardian of the Dawn, Delta (story of cruelty, conspiracy, hunting, and escape set in Goa in 1591)

UK Titles

Ellen Feldman, The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank, Macmillan (What might have happened if Peter and Anne had survived the war)

Rebecca Kohn, The Gilded Chamber, Michael Joseph (Esther's story is one of the most dramatic in the Bible.  A novel of seduction and survival)

David Maine, The Flood, Canongate (story of Noah)

Arthur Mapin In Lucia’s Eyes (Chatto & Windus) According to Casanova’s memoirs, his first love disappeared into a brothel – or did she? And may they have met again?

Michelle Paver, The Serpent's Tooth, Bantam (from the Scottish Highlands to the battlefields of Flanders in search of truth)

Susan Sallis, After Midnight (Bantam) - continuing family saga concerning secrets hidden in the past

Philip Sington, Zoia’s Gold, Atlantic (early 20th C story of a legendary Russian aristocrat and artist)

Edwin Thomas, Treason's River (Bantam) - the third adventure in the Martin Jerrold series

Paul Watkins, The Ice Soldier (Faber & Faber) - Story set in 1950s about British attempt to conquer Everest

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August 2005

US Titles

Jack Cavanaugh, Dear Enemy, Bethany House (transforming and heroic love on both sides of the Atlantic during WWII)

Jill Ciment, The Tattoo Artist, Pantheon (the story of an acclaimed American painter, lost for 20 years on a South Pacific island; tells the story of her life beginning in the 1920s)

Barbara Cleverly, The Palace Tiger, Carroll & Graf (India, 1922; latest in Joe Sandilands murder mystery series)

Martin Davies, Mrs. Hudson and the Malabar Rose, Berkley Prime Crime (Mrs. Hudson, Holmes's housekeeper, in her second mystery)

Clare Dudman, 99 Reasons for Being, Viking (original and shocking tale set in a 19th-century asylum)

Karen Fisher, A Sudden Country, Random House (sweeping novel based on the true events of the 1847 Oregon migration)

Margaret Frazer, A Play of Dux Moraud, Berkley Prime Crime (2nd in Joliffe mystery series set in 15th century England)

Alexander Fullerton, All the Drowning Seas, McBooks (Nicholas Everard WWII saga of military adventure, book 3)

Tobsha Learner, The Witch of Cologne, Forge (novel of star-crossed lovers: a Jewish midwife and a Catholic bishop in 17th century Germany)

Naguib Mahfouz, Khufu's Wisdom, Anchor (literary novel about Fourth Dynasty monarch Khufu (Cheops), for whom the Great Pyramid of Giza was built.  First English translation)

Bev Marshall, Hot Fudge Sundae Blues, Ballantine (coming-of-age tale set in Mississippi in the 1960s)

Philippa Morgan, Chaucer and the Legend of Good Women, Carroll & Graf (medieval mystery featuring Geoffrey Chaucer)

Gilbert Morris, By Way of the Wilderness, Bethany House (the story of Moses)

Douglas Reeman, For Valour, McBooks (defending vital convoys to Russia in the bloodiest days of WWII; naval adventure fiction)

James Reese, The Book of Spirits, William Morrow (Herculine, the heroine of the author's previous Book of Shadows, sails in 1826 for Virginia; her erotic, gothic journey)

Laura Joh Rowland, The Assassin's Touch, Minotaur (latest in mystery series set in 1695 Japan)

Gwyn Hyman Rubio, The Woodsman's Daughter, Viking (powerful family saga set in 19th-century Georgia)

Stephanie Grace Whitson, Footprints on the Horizon, Bethany House (romantic western set around Fort Robinson, Nebraska, in the WWII era)

UK Titles

George Green, Hawk, Bantam Press (set in Rome 34 AD against a background of war and treachery, Hawk is torn between love and loyalty)

Peter Prince, Adam Runaway, Bloomsbury (1721 sees a heady tale of love, lust, and money set against the magical backdrop of Lisbon)

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September 2005

US Titles

Chantel Acevedo, Love and Ghost Letters, St. Martin's Press (chronicles the haunted relationship between a daughter and her exiled father; set in Cuba, 1930s-60s)

Paul Anderson, Hunger's Brides: A Novel of the Baroque, Carroll & Graf (lengthy novel about Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz, the 17th century Mexican nun who inspired numerous writers)

Lynn Austin, The Strength of His Hand, Bethany House (Biblical fiction about King Hezekiah)

Deborah Bedford, Blessing, Steeple Hill (inspirational romance set in the 1880s mining town of Tin Cup, Colorado)

John Biggins, A Sailor of Austria, McBooks (Austrian U-Boat captain during WWI)

Win Blevins, Dancing with the Golden Bear, Forge (young mountain man Sam Morgan's California adventure)

Marlon Brando and Donald Cammell, Fan-Tan, Knopf (story of an eccentric early 20th century pirate and his adventures in the Orient)

T. Davis Bunn and Isabella Bunn, The Noble Fugitive, Bethany House (book 3 in Heirs of Acadia series, set in Venice and the English countryside in the 1800s)

Jonatha Ceely, Bread and Dreams: Mina in America, Delacorte (adventures of a young Irish immigrant in New York harbor in 1848, sequel to Mina)

Marian Coe, Rachel's Story, High Country (tale of a Southern girl in pre-Civil War Boston; her hunger for knowledge leads her into the world of the literary greats of the time)

Lyn Cote, Bette, Warner Faith (second in Women of Ivy Manor series; coming of age of a young woman in the years before WWII)

John Darnton, The Darwin Conspiracy, Knopf (explores the mysteries that have become attached to the life and work of Charles Darwin; told from the points of view of Darwin, his daughter Lizzie, and two present-day scholars)

Anita Diamant, The Last Days of Dogtown, Scribner (historical fiction set in rural Gloucester, Massachusetts, in the 19th century)

E. L. Doctorow, The March, Random House (major novel of the Civil War, centering on Sherman's march through Georgia)

Ronlyn Domingue, The Mercy of Thin Air, Atria (after her death in 1920s New Orleans, a woman narrates the story of her lost love, as well as the story of a young couple whose house she haunts 70 years later)

Carola Dunn, Fall of a Philanderer, St. Martin's Minotaur (Daisy Dalrymple mystery set in 1924 England)

Kathy Lynn Emerson, Fatal as a Fallen Woman: A Diana Spaulding Mystery, Pemberley Press (Diana's mother is accused of murdering her gold baron father in 19th century Denver)

Louise Erdrich, The Painted Drum, HarperCollins (traces a moose-skin drum's passage back and forward in time, as it touches the lives of those whose path it crosses)

Carolly Erickson, The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette, St. Martin's Press (the imagined diary of this controversial queen)

Eva Etzioni-Halevy, The Song of Hannah: A Biblical Novel of Love, Temptation, and the Making of a Prophet, Plume (about Hannah, one of the most well-known and beloved heroines of the Old Testament)

Jane Finnis, A Bitter Chill, Poisoned Pen Press (second Aurelia Marcella mystery, set in Britannia of 95 AD)

Diana Gabaldon, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, Delacorte (latest in Jamie and Claire Fraser romantic saga, set at the beginning of the American Revolution)

Ricardo L. Garcia, Coal Camp Justice, University of New Mexico Press (coal camps of northeastern New Mexico, in 1931; an African-American coal mining family takes in the town drunk)

Judith Geary, Getorix: The Eagle and the Bull, High Country (Can Getorix accept friendship with the Roman who spares his life when the cost is his honor?)

David Gemmell, Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow, Del Rey (re-imagining of the Trojan War)

Myla Goldberg, Wickett's Remedy, Doubleday (novel about the dream of progress, set in Boston in the early 20th century)

Tricia Goyer, Dawn of a Thousand Nights, Moody (story of honor during World War II)

Robert Hicks, The Widow of the South, Warner (Civil War-era epic about Carrie McGavock, the legendary Southern woman who tended to wounded soldiers at the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, based on a true story)

Alexander C. Irvine, The Narrows, Del Rey (historical fantasy centering on the life of a Detroit man working in Henry Ford's top secret plant, where helps to make golems for the war effort)

Jane Jakeman, The Egyptian Coffin, Berkley Prime Crime (latest mystery featuring Lord Ambrose, set in 1830 England and Egypt)

Gregg Keizer, Midnight Plague, Putnam (World War II thriller)

Kevin King, All the Stars Came Out That Night, Dutton (novel of the Tigers and Cardinals at the World Series)

Dewey Lambdin, What Lies Buried, McBooks (a mystery of Old Cape Fear; pre-Revolutionary North Carolina)

Simon Levack, Demon of the Air, St. Martin's Minotaur (Aztec murder mystery set in AD 1517)

Robert N. Macomber, A Dishonorable Few, Pineapple Press (naval historical fiction set just after the Civil War in Florida)

Robin Maxwell, To the Tower Born, William Morrow (novel of the Princes in the Tower)

Kim Murphy, Glory and Promise, Coachlight Press (last in trilogy of romantic historical novels set during the Civil War)

Anne Perry, Angels in the Gloom, Ballantine (World War I mystery)

Caryl Phillips, Dancing in the Dark, Knopf (reimagines the remarkable, tragic life of Bert Williams, the first black entertainer in the US to reach the highest levels of fame and fortune)

Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller, The Pattern of Her Heart, Bethany House (latest in Lights of Lowell series, set in mid-19th century Lowell, Massachusetts, and on a southern plantation)

Francine Rivers, The Prince, Tyndale House (the life of Jonathan from the Bible, book 3 in Sons of Encouragement series)

Eric Schumacher, God’s Hammer, Paul Mould Publishing (Hakon Haraldsson fights his ruthless brother Erik Bloodaxe to claim the throne of Viking Norway, yet learns that true victory might come only by sacrificing that which he holds most dear.)

Whitney Terrell, The King of Kings County, Viking (a young man’s coming- of-age as he confronts his father’s—and his city’s—dissolution; set in Kansas City, circa 1956)

Diane Coulter Thomas, The Year the Music Changed, Toby Press (imaginary letters exchanged between a teenage girl and a young Elvis Presley)

Penny Vincenzi, Into Temptation, Overlook (third in saga of the Lyttons, a publishing family in the early 20th century)

UK Titles

Barbara Cleverly, The Bee's Kiss, Constable (In 1920s Jazz Age London Joe Sandilands investigates a murder at the Ritz.)

Jose Luis de Juan, This Palpitating World, Arcadia (1^st-C Rome & modern times) 

Magnus Mills, Explorers of the New Century, Bloomsbury (Two teams of explorers race across cold, deserted land to reach the furthest point from civilisation)

James Nelson, Thieves of Mercy, Bantam & Corgi (After the Battle of New Orleans, Captain Bowater takes command of a new warship as the enemy closes in)

Michael Pearce, A Dead Man in Istanbul, Constable (In 1908 a British Diplomat is murdered. Seymour investigates and gets into deep water.)

Peter Prince, Adam Runaway, Bloomsbury (1721 and George I is on the throne. Adam Hanaway sets out to restore the family fortune after the collapse of the South Sea Bubble.)

Derek Robinson, Goshawk Squadron, Constable (The war in the air, 1918.)

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October 2005

US Titles

Tasha Alexander, And Only to Deceive, William Morrow (novel of suspense set in Victorian England)

Tracey Bateman, The Color of the Soul, Barbour (100-year-old woman in the South in 1948 reveals her past)

Emily Brightwell, Mrs. Jeffries and the Silent Knight, Berkley Prime Crime (first hardcover in this popular Victorian series, featuring Mrs. Jeffries, housekeeper of Inspector Witherspoon; Christmas story)

Tony Broadbent, Spectres in the Smoke: A Creeping Narrative, Minotaur

Clare Clark, The Great Stink, Harcourt (corruption both above and below ground in 1855 London)

Bernard Cornwell, The Pale Horseman, HarperCollins (second book in the tale of Uhtred; set in Alfred the Great's England)

Loraine Despres, The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell, Morrow (about the feisty grandmother of Sissy LeBlanc in 1920s Gentry, Louisiana, by the author of The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc)

Annabel Dilke, The Inheritance, St. Martin's Press (novel of the aristocracy in 1960s and modern England)

Joan Druett, Shark Island, St. Martin's Minotaur (seafaring historical mystery featuring Wiki Coffin, set aboard the U.S. Exploring Expedition)

Chris Elliott, The Shroud of the Thwacker, Miramax (19th century serial killer)

Amanda Elyot, The Memoirs of Helen of Troy, Crown (the story of one of history's most notorious women, told from her own perspective)

Robert L. Foster, Fort Zion, Horse Creek (wagon train of Mormons travels to Salt Lake City in 1844)

W. Michael and Kathleen O'Neal Gear, People of the Moon, Forge (novel of the Chaco Anasazi; part of First North Americans series)

Micaela Gilchrist, The Fiercer Heart, Simon & Schuster (romance that sweeps across three continents in the three decades leading up to the Civil War, based on a true story)

John MacLachlan Gray, A White Stone Day, St. Martin's Minotaur (corruption and murder in Victorian London)

Livia Hallam and James Reasoner, Call to Arms, Cumberland House (Civil War family saga novel)

Hank Hanegraaff and Sigmund Brouwer, The Last Sacrifice, Tyndale House (thriller set during Nero's reign of terror, Christian fiction)

Haim Hazaz, Gates of Bronze, Toby Press

Alexander Kent, Band of Brothers, McBooks (a Richard Bolitho novel; naval adventure)

Mercedes Lackey, The Wizard of London, New American Library (historical fantasy set in Britain at the end of its imperial days)

Naguib Mahfouz, Thebes at War, Anchor (ancient Egypt's defeat of Asiatic foreigners who had dominated the country for over 200 years)

Paul McCusker, A Season of Shadows, Zondervan (a socialite in WWII-era Washington DC and London searches for the truth about her late husband)

Gilbert Morris, The Unlikely Allies, Bethany House (WWII saga, part of the House of Winslow series)

Deborah Noyes, Angel and Apostle, Unbridled Books (novel of Pearl, daughter of Hester Prynne, and the path she takes to carve a place for herself in the New World)

Jean Plaidy, The Loves of Charles II: The Stuart Saga, Three Rivers (three of Plaidy's novels about Charles II in a single volume)

Robert Raymond, Fire and Bronze, IBooks (a novel of Carthage)

Nicholle Rosen, Mrs. Freud, Little Brown (an American journalist questions Martha Freud after her husband's death)

Christine Schaub, Finding Anna, Bethany House (story of tragedy and hope set in 1871 America, based on the soul-stirring story behind the hymn "It Is Well With My Soul")

Julian Stockwin, Quarterdeck, McBooks (a Kydd sea adventure, book #5)

Judith Tarr, King's Blood, Roc (alternate history fantasy about William Rufus, son of William the Conqueror)

Edwin Thomas, The Chains of Albion, St. Martin's Press (book two of the reluctant adventures of Lt. Martin Jerrold; naval fiction)

Victoria Vinton, The Jungle Law, MacAdam/Cage (novel of the explosive and redemptive powers of the imagination, set during the year Rudyard Kipling lived in Vermont and wrote The Jungle Books)

UK Titles

Elizabeth Chadwick, The Greatest Knight, Time Warner (novel of 12th century superhero who rose from humble knight to Regent of England)

Silvia di Natale, Kuraj, Bloomsbury (Moving story of a clash of cultures set in early 20th century Russia)

Alexander Kent, Band of Brothers, William Heinemann (Midshipman Richard Bolitho sets sail for further adventure in 18th Century navy)

James Nelson, Thieves of Mercy, Corgi (Continuing the series of the Civil War at sea.)

David Roberts, A Grave Man, Constable (Verity Browne and Lord Edward Corinth investigate a murder in Westminster Abbey.)

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November 2005

US Titles

Julie Baumgold, The Diamond, Simon & Schuster (novel about the diamond that passed from the hands of William Pitt's grandfather to the Kings of France to Napoleon)

Jill Churchill, Who's Sorry Now?, Morrow (sixth Depression-era mystery in the Grace and Favor series, about sister/brother Lily and Robert Brewster in the Hudson Valley)

Robb Forman Dew, Truth of the Matter, Little Brown (family drama in 1940s Washburn, Ohio, second in trilogy following The Evidence Against Her)

James Duffy, Sand of the Arena, McBooks (first in Gladiators of the Empire series, about the gladiatorial games of the Roman Empire in 63 AD)

Cindy Dyson, And She Was, William Morrow (generations of Aleut women's stories, juxtaposed against the story of Brandy, a modern-day cocktail waitress who follows her lover to the Aleutian Islands)

George MacDonald Fraser, Flashman on the March, Knopf (twelfth book in Fraser's scandalous Flashman Papers series, set in 1868)

Judith E. French, The Warrior, Leisure (third and final book in Alexander the Great trilogy, about Alexander and Roxanne's son)

Alexander Fullerton, Share of Honour, McBooks (Nicholas Everard WWII series, #4; naval adventure fiction)

Gene Guerin, Cottonwood Saints, University of New Mexico Press (chronicles the lives of a New Mexico woman and her son; spans the 20th century)

C.S. Harris, What Angels Fear, New American Library (historical suspense novel set in 1811 London, first in new series, pseudonym of Candice Proctor)

Christian Jacq, The Flaming Sword, Atria (final volume in Queen Liberty trilogy, novel of ancient Egypt)

Arthur Japin, In Lucia's Eyes, Knopf (takes us to 18th century Europe in the company of a serving girl who becomes Casanova's lover)

Elmer Kelton, Six Bits a Day, Forge (the return of America's greatest cowboy, Hewey Calloway, in a novel about his younger years)

Alexander Kent, Band of Brothers, McBooks (last novel in Richard Bolitho series)

Deryn Lake, The Governor's Ladies, Allison & Busby (British governor of Massachusetts in 1775 and his relationship with a young slave girl)

Jane Langton, Steeplechase, St. Martin's Minotaur (new Homer Kelly mystery, in which Homer and Mary pursue a mysterious lost church; intertwines with a story set in 1868 Nashoba, Massachusetts)

Jude Morgan, Passion, St. Martin's Press (a novel of the romantic poets)

Frank Nappi, Echoes from the Infantry, St. Martin's Press (fictionalization of the story of a WWII vet from Long Island)

Anne Perry, A Christmas Guest, Ballantine (Grandmama, from the Pitt mystery series of Victorian England, plays amateur detective herself)

Morag McKendrick Pippin, Blood Moon Over Britain, Leisure (WWII-era romantic thriller)

Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, Six for Gold, Poisoned Pen Press (sixth John the Eunuch mystery, surrounding the mysterious deaths of sheep in a remote Egyptian village)

Laura Restrepo, Isle of Passion, Ecco/HarperCollins (on a Pacific island in 1908, a ship captain's wife takes charge when a group of castaways falls victim to illness, hunger, despair, and violence)

Anne Rice, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, Knopf (novel about Christ's early years, based on the gospels and New Testament scholarship)

Simon Scarrow, The Eagles' Prey, St. Martin's Press (adventure among the Roman Legions in Britain of 44 AD)

Lauraine Snelling, Amethyst, Bethany House (part of Dakotah Treasures series)

Tommy Tenney and Mark Andrew Olsen, The Hadassah Covenant, Bethany House (historically based saga of Mordecai and Esther is woven together with a contemporary thriller, sequel to Hadassah)

Bodie and Brock Thoene, Fourth Dawn, Tyndale House (Biblical fiction set at the time of Jesus Christ)

Harry Turtledove, End of the Beginning, NAL (alternate history of World War II, military thriller; second in series)

Jan Watson, Troublesome Creek, Tyndale House (inspirational historical novel set in the late 1800s, about a woman born and raised in the hills of Kentucky)

UK Titles

Philip Ardagh, The Silly Side of Sherlock Holmes, Faber & Faber (A shameless piece of frivolity involving the eponymous hero)

June Francis, Look for the Silver Lining (Allison & Busby – Nellie faces the London Blitz pregnant and alone - wartime romance)

Mark Gatiss, The Vesuvius Club (Pocket Books) – debut for Lucifer Box – low life and high society in Edwardian London)

Hushang Golshiri, The Prince – (Harvill Secker – dying Iranian prince remembers his life, set in 1920’s)

Ruth Hamilton, Dorothy's War, Bantam Press (One girl's struggle to free herself from a controlling mother as Hitler enters the arena)

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, Dynasty 28: The White Road (Time Warner – epic family saga reaches First World War)

Alanna Knight, The Stuart Sapphire (Allison & Busby – time-travelling detective seeks to bring to justice the murderer of the Prince Regent’s mistress, strangled with her own pearls)

Deryn Lake, Death and The Cornish Fiddler (Allison & Busby – The Blind Beak mysteries. This time the case of a missing child)

Fenella-Jane Miller, The Unconventional Miss Walters, Robert Hale (A romantic adventure set in the Regency.)

Bahiyyih Nakhjavani, Paper, Bloomsbury (An allegorical tale of following one’s dreams.)

Tim Severin, Viking 3, Macmillan (Conclusion of the epic Viking adventure)

Norman Spinrad, Mexica (Time Warner – a novel of Cortes and the conquest of Mexico)

E.V. Thompson, The Vagrant King (Time Warner – politics and romance for cavalier during the English Civil War)

Valerie Wood, The Songbird, Bantam Press (Story of a music hall star, lost love and inspiration)

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December 2005

US Titles

Tony Broadbent, Spectres in the Smoke, St. Martin's Minotaur (mystery set in post-WWII Britain)

Laurinda D. Brown, The Highest Price for Passion, Strebor (fireworks explode when a promiscuous slave master and his wife both find themselves attracted to a beautiful slave named Passion; set during the Civil War)

Elizabeth Chadwick, Shadows and Strongholds, St. Martin's Press (tale of deadly rivalry and an impossible love, set in 12th century England)

Edward Cline, Sparrowhawk Volume 5: Revolution, MacAdam/Cage (final volume in series based around the origins of the American Revolution)

Catherine Cookson, The Cultured Handmaiden, Simon & Schuster (published for the first time in the US, story of a young secretary looking for romance and respect, set in the 1970s)

Ellen Cooney, A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies, Pantheon (a young married woman in 1900s Massachusetts leaves her unfaithful husband and is swept up in a dizzying sexual awakening)

David Garland, Saratoga, St. Martin's Press (a novel of the American Revolution, first in new series)

Kerry Greenwood, Urn Burial, Poisoned Pen Press (Phryne Fisher mystery set in 1920s Australia)

Karen Harper, The Fatal Fashione, St. Martin's Minotaur (Elizabeth I mystery)

Cecelia Holland, The Serpent Dreamer, Forge (continuing the 10th century historical saga begun in The Soul Thief and The Witches' Kitchen)

David Holland, The Devil's Game, Minotaur

Lauro Martinez, Loredana: A Venetian Tale, St. Martin's Press (a beautiful widow and her lover in Renaissance Venice)

Ruth Axtell Morren, Lilac Spring, Steeple Hill (inspirational historical romance set amid the shipbuilding industry in 19th century Maine)

Nicholas Nicastro, The Isle of Stone: A Novel of Ancient Sparta, Signet

Marge Piercy, Sex Wars: A Novel of the Turbulent Post-Civil War Period, William Morrow (novel of gender, power, and the American Dream in post-Civil War NYC, featuring Freydeh, a spirited young Jewish woman from Russia)

Lucia St. Clair Robson, The Tokaido Road, Forge (reprint, novel of a woman's adventure and revenge set in 17th century Japan)

Shamin Sarif, Despite the Falling Snow, St. Martin's Press (true love lost, and friendships betrayed, in 1950s Moscow)

Peter Tremayne, An Ensuing Evil and Others, Minotaur (fourteen historical mysteries)

Peter Tremayne, The Leper's Bell, Minotaur (mystery of ancient Ireland)

Walter Wangerin, Jesus: A Novel, Zondervan (the life of Jesus, presented in the form of a literary novel)

Lauren Willig, The Masque of the Black Tulip, Dutton (swashbuckling romance set in Napoleonic Europe)

UK Titles

Christian Jacq, <