1169 results for "Historical Fiction"

The Sword of Moses An Ancient Book of Magic

Gaster, M.
The Sword of Moses: An Ancient Book of Magic by M. Gaster is a comprehensive study of an ancient Jewish magical text known as the Sword of Moses. The book explores the origins, history, and contents of this fascinating text, which is believed to date back to the 6th or 7th century CE. The Sword of Moses contains a variety of magical spells and incantations, including those for healing, protection, and divination. The book also includes detailed analysis of the text's language, structure, and symbolism, as well as its relationship to other Jewish magical traditions. The author provides extensive historical and cultural context for the Sword of Moses, drawing on a wide range of sources from Jewish and non-Jewish traditions. The Sword of Moses: An Ancient Book of Magic is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of Jewish magic and mysticism.1896. From a unique manuscript. With introduction, translation, an index of mystical names, and a facsimile. A Gnostic text, originally in Hebrew, discusses the names of God, which are thought by Kabbalists to have magical powers. With a complete original version and a facsimile of the original papyrus.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
Kessinger Publishing, LLC 2010-09-10 96 pages

A view from the year 3000: a ranking of the 100 most influential persons of all time

Hart, Michael H.
This book speculates about the important inventions, scientific discoveries, and political and social developments, which may occur during the coming millennium. It does this by presenting -- through the eyes of a fictitious author living in the year 3000 -- a list of the 100 men and women who have had the greatest impact on world history and on the everyday lives of individuals. The hundred persons are ranked in order of their influence. The main section of the book consists of short biographies of those 100 persons, describing what each person accomplished, and why that person is so important. Forty-five of the entries are actual historical personages. These include such well known figures as Jesus Christ, Confucius, Charles Darwin, Christopher Columbus, Albert Einstein, and George Washington. Among the fifty-five entries from the third millennium are: Sue Ellen Green (who develops a cancer vaccine); Miguel Carranza (chief founder of the United World Federation); Stella Ricardo Garcia (architect and formscaper); Mika Kivikoski (who develops the technology to control the weather); and Shu Gungwu (who finds the solution to the baffling "mind-body problem"). Other topics treated include: space travel and space colonies; medical advances (such as artificial organs, and reversible sex-change operations); arts and entertainment (including music, literature, the visual arts, and sports and games); solar power; philosophy (including political theory, epistemology, semantics, and ethics); mathematics, pollution control, robots, brainwashing; nuclear warfare; robots; and artificial intelligence. The book includes a historical chart (listing the main events of both the actual past and the projected future), a list of honorable mentions (and their accomplishments); a glossary, and an extensive index.
Poseidon Press 1999 430 pages

The living wood: Saint Helena and the emperor Constantine

De Wohl, Louis
The renowned novelist De Wohl, with his usual crisp language and descriptive narrative, as well as irony and humor, presents the colorful and tumultuous times of the early Christian era in this story of intrigue, romance and power politics revolving around Helena, the devoted and saintly mother of Constantine, the first Christian emperor. This historical novel tells the story of the quest for the True Cross through fifty years of the most exciting events in Roman and Christian history. The narrative begins when the Tribune Constantius, a Roman officer stationed in Britain, meets and wins Helena, only daughter of the mystical and oracular King Coel of Britain. Through the course of their early lives together, and during their ten-year separation when Constantius returns to Britian as a conquering Caesar and Helena has become a rejected wife, devoted mother, and militant Christian, there is a sure and convincing portrayal of character growth and personal conflict. Helena's fierce determination to raise Constantine as a warrior son and her gradual discovery and dramatic acceptance of Christianity prepare her for the final miracle of her life discovery of the True Cross, the Living Wood on Calvary. The Living Wood is a chapter from the turbulent half-forgotten pages of early Christian history and legend in which the religious conflicts and problems are handled with moving simplicity. It is also an action-packed novel of those times--with a lesson for us today--that captures with equal skill and tumult and the shouting of the battlefield and the devious plots and counter-plots of the court.
Ignatius Press 2008 370 pages

The Spagnoletto

Emma Lazarus
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
BiblioBazaar 2016-05-16 60 pages

City of God

E. L. Doctorow
In his workbook, a New York City novelist records the contents of his teeming brain -- a virtual repository of the predominant ideas and historical disasters of the twentieth century. But now he has a story he thinks will become his next novel: The large brass altar cross from a run-down Episcopal church in lower Manhattan disappeared, then mysteriously reappeared on the roof of the Synagogue for evolutionary Judaism on the Upper West Side. He befriends the church's maverick rector and the synagogue's young female rabbi as they try to learn who committed this strange double act of desecration and why.
Thorndike Press 2000 514 pages

Mystery men

Liss, David
Introducing Marvel's all-new, never-before-seen heroes of the 1930s! With a new evil washing over an unsuspecting New York City, the Operative, the Aviatrix, the Surgeon, the Revenant and Achilles blast through dangers from blood-soaked mob warehouses to monster-infested mansions, and fight to blow the lid off a conspiracy that could bring the nation itself to its knees! Award-winning historical thriller novelist David Liss (Black Panther: The Man Without Fear) and acclaimed artist Patrick Zircher (Spider-Man Noir) weave an edge-of-your-seat and in-continuity adventure intertwined with America's most scandalous crimes! Before the Invaders...before the Twelve...who were the Mystery Men? COLLECTING: MYSTERY MEN 1-5
Marvel 2012-01-11 120 pages

The secrets of Blythswood Square

Sheridan, Sara
LONGLISTED FOR SCOTLAND'S NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS 2024. THE ENCHANTING NEW NOVEL BY THE AUTHOR OF THE 2022 WATERSTONES SCOTTISH BOOK OF THE YEAR, THE FAIR BOTANISTS. 'Gripping' Good Housekeeping 'S ecrets discovered, ruinous rumours scotched, happiness regained and friendships founded' Daily Mail 'A novel of feeling and intellect which will surely and deservedly be a great success' Allan Massie, The Scotsman You wouldn't suspect it, but scandalous secrets are being kept on Blythswood Square... 1846. Glasgow is a city on the cusp of great social change, but behind the curtains, neighbours are watching, and rumours of improper behaviour spread like wildfire on the respectable Blythswood Square. When Charlotte Nicholl discovers that the fortune she has been bequeathed by her father is tied up in a secret collection of erotic art, she is faced with a terrible dilemma: sell it and risk shaming her family's good name or lose her home. An encounter with Ellory Mann, a talented working-class photographer newly arrived in Glasgow, leads Charlotte to hope she has found not only someone who might help her, but also a friend. Yet Ellory is hiding secrets of her own - secrets that become harder to conceal as she finds herself drawn into Charlotte's world. As the truth begins to catch up with both women, will it destroy everything they've fought to build - or set them both free? Readers love Sara Sheridan's storytelling! 'I absolutely love Sara Sheridan's books. They're so easy to get into and so hard to put down. The Secrets of Bythwood Square is no exception. It's a great story populated with excellent, believable characters and woven with rich historical detail' 5* reader review, NetGalley 'A fascinating, atmospheric story which I greatly enjoyed' 5* reader review, NetGalley 'I absolutely loved it, finished it within 2 days' 5* reader review, NetGalley 'Wonderful characters and a beautifully interwoven story.' 4* reader review, NetGalley PRAISE FOR THE FAIR BOTANISTS : 'Sheridan creates an evocative, enjoyable portrait of two women determined to lead independent lives' SUNDAY TIMES 'Completely enchanting and fascinating . . . a rollicking and immensely readable tale' SCOTSMAN 'Lush, seductive and scandalous, this is a gorgeous read' DAILY MAIL 'A cracking good read' VAL MCDERMID 'Dazzling, original, full of wonderful characters' KATIE FFORDE 'What a beautiful, immersive gem of historical fiction' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'An absolute treat for fans of historical fiction and rich storytelling' RED
Hodder 2024 352 pages

Death in the arena

Lawrence, Caroline
Third in a new historical adventure series from million copy selling Caroline Lawrence, set in Roman Britain during the reign of the evil Emperor Domitian. Eleven-year-old Ursula is happily learning to be a Druid in the woods of Britannia. But then she is asked to go on a quest to find a boy who was abducted as a baby. Will her mystical training equip her for life on the road - with a troupe of Roman pantomime dancers and beast hunters? Her task: to adapt to life in the arena Her quest: to find the boy everyone is seeking Her destiny: to protect children and animals From the bestselling author of THE ROMAN MYSTERIES, perfect for children studying at Key Stage 2.
Orion Children's Books 2017 256 pages

Berlin shuffle: a novel

Boschwitz, Ulrich Alexander
"A prophetic lost classic from interwar Germany, now translated into English for the first time, following a group of Berliners on the skids as their nation unravels. Berlin in the 1920s is the largest city in Europe, a cultural mecca, and a political mess: a hedonistic Babylon, though there's little glamour for the hundreds of thousands out of work, the war wounded, the prostitutes, and the beggars. Come evening, they too want to shed their cares at the Jolly Huntsman pub, where they gather to drink, dance, and reassert their pride. But there's always disaster lurking in the alleys and flophouses, a disaster that the twenty-two-year-old author Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz clearly saw coming for his nation. In this dark comedy of petty theft, soapbox speeches, and bar fights is the disarray of a country devouring itself. Tragically, Germany's self-destruction engulfed the author, who was killed five years after finishing this novel. When Boschwitz's The Passenger was rediscovered in 2021, it was heralded as a masterpiece that terrifyingly captured the zeitgeist of life under Nazism. Now, Berlin Shuffle-his literary debut from 1937, finally available in English, with a preface by the preeminent translator Philip Boehm-brings to life the society that would enable fascism's takeover. The triumph of one of world literature's spectacular talents, Berlin Shuffle is a dire warning, sent from a pivotal moment in history to our own time"-- Provided by publisher.
Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and Company 2025-12-09 237 pages

Xanadu

Jane Yolen
Publication of Xanadu marks the beginning of an original anthology series that will include brand-new stories by some of the finest writers in the world. This volume opens with "The Poacher" by Ursula K. Le Guin, a fairytale in the grand tradition. Xanadu also includes "It Comes Lightly Out of the Sea, " a new poem by William Stafford, one of the best-known poets in America; "The Hound of Merlin" by Eleanor Arnason, who won both the Philip K. Dick Award and the Tiptree Award in 1992; "The Perfectly Round Bagel" by Robert Abel, who won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction in 1989; "To Scale" by Nebula Award winner Nancy Kress; "Still Life with Woman and Apple" by Leslea Newman, author of Heather Has Two Mommies; "Unnalash" by Tanith Lee; "The Pale Thin God" by Hugo and Nebula award winner Mike Resnick; "Gravity" by Pat Schneider, poet and playwright; "Time Travel, The Artifact, and A Famous Historical Personage" by Minnesota Book Award-winner Will Shetterly; and a dozen other ventures into the realms of magic, including stories by Lisa Tuttle, Steven Brust, Anna Kirwan-Vogel, Gardner Dozois, and a new poem, "The Ring at Yarrow, " by Jane Yolen herself.
Tor Books 1994-02-08 384 pages

The wall: a novel

Adler, H. G.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Compared by critics to Kafka, Joyce, and Musil, H. G. Adler is becoming recognized as one of the towering figures of twentieth-century fiction. Nobel Prize winner Elias Canetti wrote that “Adler has restored hope to modern literature,” and the first two novels rediscovered after his death, Panorama and The Journey, were acclaimed as “modernist masterpieces” by The New Yorker . Now his magnum opus, The Wall, the final installment of Adler’s Shoah trilogy and his crowning achievement as a novelist, is available for the first time in English. Drawing upon Adler’s own experiences in the Holocaust and his postwar life, The Wall , like the other works in the trilogy, nonetheless avoids detailed historical specifics. The novel tells the story of Arthur Landau, survivor of a wartime atrocity, a man struggling with his nightmares and his memories of the past as he strives to forge a new life for himself. Haunted by the death of his wife, Franziska, he returns to the city of his youth and receives confirmation of his parents’ fates, then crosses the border and leaves his homeland for good. Embarking on a life of exile, he continues searching for his place within the world. He attempts to publish his study of the victims of the war, yet he is treated with curiosity, competitiveness, and contempt by fellow intellectuals who escaped the conflict unscathed. Afflicted with survivor’s guilt, Arthur tries to leave behind the horrors of the past and find a foothold in the present. Ultimately, it is the love of his second wife, Johanna, and his two children that allows him to reaffirm his humanity while remembering all he’s left behind. The Wall is a magnificent epic of survival and redemption, powerfully told through stream of consciousness and suffused with daydream, fantasy, memory, nightmare, and pure imagination. More than a portrait of a Holocaust survivor’s journey, it is a universal novel about recovering from the traumas of the past and finding a way to live again. Praise for The Wall “[A] majestic novel . . . Adler’s prose is tidal, surge after narrative surge rushing forward and then enigmatically receding, the moment displaced by memory, and memory by introspective soliloquy.” —Cynthia Ozick, The New York Times Book Review “A towering meditation on the self and spirit . . . The writing is sonorous and so entirely devastating that the reader is compelled to pore over every word.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Masterful and utterly unique.” —The Jerusalem Post “Haunting and utterly heart-wrenching . . . a literary masterpiece.” —Historical Novels Review “An epic novel . . . an unforgettable portrait.” —The Jewish Week “[A] pensive portrait of a man struggling to find a place in the world after enduring transformative calamity . . . an eloquent record of suffering—and perhaps of redemption as well.” — Kirkus Reviews Praise for H. G. Adler’s novels The Journey and Panorama, translated by Peter Filkins “Modernist masterpieces worthy of comparison to those of Kafka or Musil.” — The New Yorker “Haunting . . . as remarkable for its literary experimentation as for its historical testimony.” —San Francisco Chronicle , on Panorama
Modern Library 2015-09-08 656 pages

Fatal Crossroads A Novel of Vietnam, 1945

Seymour Topping
"Ho Chi Minh was not always an enemy of the United States. There was a time near the close of World War II when American agents of Wild Bill Donovan's Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency, lived with Ho Chi Minh, trained and armed his Vietminh cadres. One of them, a medic, saved his life. This novel, based on those OSS operations, unfolds as the United States is poised at a fatal crossroads-to pursue President Roosevelt's vision of a trusteeship for Indochina leading to independence or allow France to resume its colonial control. On a secret mission to realize Roosevelt's vision, Travis Duncan, a special agent of the OSS, undertakes a perilous journey across the China border, eluding bandits and Japanese patrols, to Ho Chi Minh's jungle camp. Duncan is witness in North and South Vietnam to the brutality of the no-holds struggle between Vietnamese nationalists and the French for control of the country. Two women out of Duncan's past become key actors in his mission, one, an aide to Ho Chi Minh, and the other, a Gaullist agent. The reader will recognize the historical characters in this novel; the other characters are based on real individuals or are fictional personages. They speak to a lost opportunity in dealing with Ho Chi Minh and the French at a turning point in history that might have spared America the agony of the Vietnam War."--Publisher's website.
EastBridge 2005 275 pages

Tigerheart A Novel

Peter David
Paul Dear is a good and clever boy, but he’s special in ways that even his adoring parents could never have imagined. For by day, in London’s Kensington Gardens, he walks and talks with the pixies and sprites and other magical creatures that dwell among the living–but are unseen by most. Then everything changes when tragedy strikes–and a quest begins that will lead Paul to a curio shop where a magical ally awaits him and launches him into the starry skies, bound for a realm where anything is possible. Far from home, Paul will run with fierce Indian warriors, cross swords with fearsome pirates, befriend a magnificent white tiger, and soar beside an extraordinary, ageless boy who reigns in a boundless world of imagination.
Random House Worlds 2009-05-12 320 pages

Beyond the pale

Dykewomon, Elana
Beyond the Pale -- winner of the Lambda Literary Award -- tells the stories of two Jewish women living through times of darkness and inhumanity in the early 20th century, capturing their undaunted love and courage in luminous and moving prose. The richly textured novel details Gutke Gurvich's odyssey from her apprenticeship as a midwife in a Russian shtetl to her work in the suffrage movement in New York. Interwoven with her tale is that Chava Meyer, who was attended by Gurvich at her birth and grew up to survive the pogrom that took the lives of her parents. Throughout the book, historical background plays a large part: Jewish faith and traditions, the practice of midwifery, the horrific conditions in prerevolutionary Russia and New York sweatshops, and the determined work of labor unionists and suffragists.
Raincoast Books 2003 406 pages

Paris Requiem

Lisa Appignanesi
Paris 1899. Theaters and galleries are vibrant with artistic energy. The new Metro is under construction, and so is the site for the centennial Universal Exhibition. But there is also savage political upheaval. Asylums and jails are overcrowded. The Dreyfus Affair has released a riotous surge of anti-Semitism. Bostonian lawyer James Norton has been sent by his mother to bring back his invalid sister Elie and his younger brother Raf, a journalist., but the brutal deaths of the actress Olympe Fabre, and then of her sister Judith in the asylum of Salpêtrière, draw the siblings into a dark web of violence.
McArthur 2002 590 pages